The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti.

The release of their debut EP The Modern Age in early 2001 sparked a bidding war among minor labels, with the band eventually signing to RCA Records.

The band were relatively inactive throughout the rest of the decade, making infrequent live appearances and directing most media attention to individual projects.

[1] Lead singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti started playing together as teenagers while all of them were attending Dwight School in Manhattan, and formed an informal band in 1997.

They later added bassist Nikolai Fraiture to their ranks, a close childhood friend of Casablancas who had attended the Lycée Français de New York with him.

[2] He had just moved to New York City and reconnected with Casablancas, whom he knew from their brief stints at the private boarding school Institut Le Rosey, near Nyon, Switzerland.

The band connected with producer Gordon Raphael in 2000 following a show at Luna Lounge and made a demo, The Modern Age EP, with him.

RCA replaced the track "New York City Cops" with "When It Started", as the former featured potentially inflammatory lyrics in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

While critics noted the influence of CBGB stalwarts Television, Casablancas and bandmates said they had never heard the band, instead citing the Velvet Underground and the Doors as reference points.

In August 2002, the band headlined the UK's Carling Weekend festivals for the second time, subsequently playing at New York's Radio City Music Hall on a bill with the White Stripes.

[13] In August 2003, the band toured Japan, playing a couple of the upcoming songs: "Reptilia", "Meet Me in the Bathroom", "The Way It Is", "Between Love & Hate" (formerly known as "Ze Newie") and "12:51" (formerly known as "Supernova").

The album's sound maintained The Strokes' familiar reference points,[14] while also evoking groups such as the Cars,[15] Bob Marley,[16] and Blondie.

In November 2003, The Strokes played on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, performing "Reptilia", "What Ever Happened", "Under Control" and "I Can't Win".

While on tour, Spektor and The Strokes recorded the song "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men", released as a B-side on the "Reptilia" single.

The Live in London LP was planned for release in October 2004, but was abandoned, reportedly due to recording quality problems.

During November and December 2005 The Strokes did a promotional tour for the still unreleased album, which involved doing one-off shows in major cities around the world.

The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas and guitarist Nick Valensi started writing material for the album in January 2009, intent on entering the studio that February.

[25] This followed the news that Casablancas had collaborated with both Williams and Santigold on "My Drive Thru", a track commemorating the 100th anniversary of Converse's Chuck Taylor All-Stars shoe.

Inspired, in part, by other contemporary bands like MGMT, Arctic Monkeys, and Crystal Castles, The Strokes decided to experiment with various production techniques,[29] and recorded the rest of the album's material at Albert Hammond Jr.'s home studio in upstate New York with award-winning engineer Gus Oberg.

[37] Frontman Julian Casablancas claimed that the band was eager to begin working on new material[38] and were already supposed to, but it took longer than expected to master Angles.

[40] On January 17, 2013, Seattle alternative radio station 107.7 The End posted on their Facebook page that they were previewing a new song by The Strokes entitled "All the Time".

The band decided to pull a media blackout with the album: no promotion in the form of TV appearances, interviews, photos, shows, or tours.

The band played at three other shows in 2014, including two headlining slots at Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City and FYF Fest in Los Angeles.

During their performance at Landmark Music Festival lead singer Julian Casablancas stated that the band was back in the studio working on a follow-up to their 2013 album Comedown Machine.

Cult Records announced the release of Future Present Past, a four-song EP by The Strokes, in addition to the exclusive signing of the band to its roster.

The EP was released on June 3, in both digital and physical formats to coincide with the band's headlining performance at Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City.

[66] Albert Hammond Jr. took to Twitter to clarify that "we met and played a few music ideas for Rick to feel out a vibe but even a theoretical album plan would be years away, if at all".

[82][83] On June 21, 2021, the band shared a video in support of New York City mayoral candidate Maya Wiley featuring a clip of a new song "Starting Again" co-written with Gregg Alexander.

[84] Throughout 2022, the band were as present as ever in touring, including headlining at Lollapalooza dates in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, as well as other high-profile music festivals in Europe.

"[98] Additionally, he has stated that Bob Marley,[99] Nirvana and Pearl Jam are major influences on his work, the latter being the reason that he started making music after hearing the song "Yellow Ledbetter".