Fabrizio Moretti (born June 2, 1980) also known as Fab,[1] is a Brazilian-American musician and visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001.
A collaborative artist, he has been part of a series of groups since the mid-2000s, most notably the Brazilian-American band Little Joy, which released one album in 2008, and the experimental pop collective Machinegum, which he has led since 2018.
[11] Upon graduating high school, Moretti studied sculpture at SUNY New Paltz before dropping out to focus on his music career with The Strokes.
[12] Moretti began drumming in an informal band with vocalist Casablancas and guitarist Valensi in high school, and continued after the two left Dwight.
[9] He has said that he wants to provide a steady, driving force with his playing which resulted in him simplifying his drum kit to a four-piece set up with a hi-hat and ride cymbals.
[26] The group is composed of Moretti and Ian Devaney (vocalist of Nation of Language), Delicate Steve, Chris Egan, Martin Bonventre, and Erin Victoria Axtel.
He has frequently collaborated with musicians Devendra Banhart, Rodrigo Amarante, and New York City contemporaries including his Strokes bandmates.
[29][30] Moretti was part of a project, Megapuss, with Devendra Banhart, Gregory Rogove and Noah Georgeson in 2008.
In 2007, it was announced that Moretti was to executive produce a VH1 series called Clash of the Music Videos with then-girlfriend Drew Barrymore.
[54] In December 2021, Moretti designed and built, "Kube," a nine-foot tall installation made of one-way mirror, polished steel and fluorescent lights.
Inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama and Bruce Nauman, "Kube" was crafted by hand in Brooklyn with the help of welder Franco V. and artist girlfriend Gabriella Corey, and was designed to showcase the viewer and the object together as one being repeated ad infinitum.
[55] Anish Kapoor's "Mirror (Pagan Gold to Organic Green)", a disc of polished and highly reflective aluminium, is placed inside the Kube.
In an interview with Flaunt Magazine, Moretti describes the experience from within the Kube, "[t]he crux of this is that you become part of the art work when you’re in it, as you just experienced.
It’s almost like the viewer becomes this nebulous being—but outside the box, you can be seen very clearly.”[56] Speaking to the LA Times on the concept of the work, Moretti describes, "[t]he mirror can be a source of vanity...
Moretti resides in New York City;[63] he maintains an apartment near Union Square in the East Village, which he first bought in 2003.