Strokes get Grammy notice by turning to ‘unicorn figure’
NEW YORK — It has taken the Strokes almost two decades to earn their first Grammy nomination. But lead singer Julian Casablancas is betting they’ll walk away emptyhanded at the ceremony.
The band’s “The New Abnormal” will compete Jan. 31 in the best rock album category against “A Hero’s Death” by Fontaines D.C., “Kiwanuka” by Michael Kiwanuka, “Daylight” by Grace Potter and “Sound & Fury” by Sturgill Simpson.
“My money’s on Grace Potter,” Casablancas said. If “The New Abnormal” had been placed in the best alternative music album category, he has another favorite. “I’d probably be rooting for Tame Impala,” he says. “Lose-lose.”
“The New Abnormal” peaked at No. 8 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, but the Strokes reached No. 1 on both Billboard’s Top rock albums and alternative albums charts for the first time since 2011.
Reviews have generally cheered the band’s return to form — not that Casablancas spends a lot of time reading what music journalists write. “Care? I don’t know, probably. Read them? No.”
Casablancas has been in the Grammy spotlight before, having won at the 2014 show for his guest appearance on Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories,” which won album of the year. But the Strokes have not been nominated before.
“I’m not looking for Grammys as any kind of validation artistically,” he says. “Basically, it validates you to people that don’t really understand music. If you’re a ‘Grammynominated artist’ it’s like, ‘Whoa, you’re like a serious musician.’ ”
“The New Abnormal” arrived in April just as the pandemic was digging into everyday life. The title seemed prescient.
Formed in 1998, the
New York-based band — which includes guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture and drummer Fabrizio Moretti — burst out the gates with their full-length debut, “Is This It,” in 2001.
Though “The New Abnormal” is technically the band’s first full-length album in seven years, they put out the 2016 EP “Future Present Past” and members have had various solo projects, including Casablancas’ experimental band, The Voidz.
This time, they turned to producer Rick Rubin, who has helped sharpen an A-list of artists, including the Beastie Boys, Adele, the Chicks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and LL Cool J.
Casablancas calls Rubin
“a legend” and someone the band always wanted to work with.
“He’s like that kind of unicorn figure — someone who brings you success without diminishing you artistically,” Casablancas said.
It’s been a long wait for the Strokes to get Grammy recognition, and Casablancas suspects the breakthrough of “The New Abnormal” is due both to the band’s Rubin-helped grooves and that nominators are embracing different sounds.
“Sonically it definitely sounds I’d say more toward the Grammys’ vibe than our previous albums,” Casablancas said. “They definitely lately seem like they’ve been like choosing cooler things.”
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