Indie-rock group formed in 1998, The Strokes are wasting no time with their upcoming project, “Reality Awaits.”
A puzzling Instagram story launched on April 1 put fans on their toes, with many skeptical if it was a hint at new music for the first time in six years or nothing more than an April Fool’s joke.
Supply chain freshman Mason Smith said he thought the post “could be something” but that he “never takes anything too seriously” on April Fool’s, while chemistry sophomore Jack Hudson-Nelson thought the post was entirely a prank.
Confirmation came for Smith, Hudson-Nelson and fans around the world on Monday morning when The Strokes announced the June 27 arrival of the album via Instagram. Before anyone could process the news, fans on the internet revealed they had been sent cassette tapes from the band in the mail of a new song Going Shopping. By Tuesday morning, The Strokes had released the song as the album’s lead single and performed it live for their San Francisco crowd that night.
Having got ahold of videos of the live performance before hearing the studio recorded version, journalism sophomore Jayda Groth had higher expectations for song than what was met, noting that she was “disappointed” by it.
“The overwhelming use of auto tune– [the studio version] kind of fell flat,” Groth said. “The live had more of the emotion that The Strokes bring. It [became] more than the band, you have a crowd [who] loves them, they don't know the words, they didn't know this was happening, but seeing them dancing along anyway, trying to find that beat. The guitar, the production, the lyrics– watching it live, you're not thinking about those, you're just thinking about the moment. I think it just encapsulates a much bigger, more memorable feeling.”
Despite first encountering the song Reptilia on Guitar Hero, a live performance in 2022 was Smith’s proper introduction to the band. While waiting to see rock band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, Smith saw The Strokes come out and open with “pretty much their entire first album.”
“They were just absolutely jamming, and there was nobody, like, really in the venue yet,” Smith said. “I was just sitting there and (Strokes frontman) Julian Casablancas was just screaming into the mic, and the lead [guitar] and the rhythm guitar just worked together so well, and I always love the way that the drone sound of their song. It really kept my interest and I just was, like, ‘I gotta listen to these guys.’”
Relating this “early 2000s garage rock” sound to what was already one of his favorite bands, The White Stripes, Smith decided to keep listening to this opening act. He received a copy of the band’s debut album “Is This It” from his father and even went on to perform Reptillia on guitar for public audiences multiple times through his guitar lesson program.
Noting shifts within the band’s history, Smith called their debut album “Is This It” a “garage rock” album, then said the band was “kind of indie rock for three albums,” and finally noted that “The New Abnormal” of 2020 was “psychedelic rock.”
