The Strokes - Reality Awaits

Title: The Strokes - Reality Awaits
Year/Genre/Sub-Genre/City: 2026, Rock, Garage Rock Indie Rock, New York City, New York 8/26
Condition: New (BC) | Members: Julian C (78' - ), Nick V (81' - ), Albert H (80' - ), Nikolai F (78' - ), Fabrizio M (80' - )
Cultural Facts:

1. Personal Struggle: Albert Hammond Jr. has spoken candidly about a severe addiction to cocaine, heroin and ketamine that eventually cost him thousands of dollars a week. He entered rehab in 2009 and rebuilt his life in sobriety, allowing him to return to both The Strokes and his own music with a stability he did not have during the band's turbulent 2000s. (Rolling Stone)

2. Studio Lore: Reality Awaits reunited the band with Rick Rubin, who began recording them in Costa Rica years before the album finally appeared. The long gestation allowed the band to push further into synthesizers, manipulated vocals and the stranger experimental ideas Julian had been exploring with The Voidz. (Wikipedia)

3. Human Connection: The Strokes were built from friendships that began long before fame. Julian Casablancas and Nikolai Fraiture met as children around age six, while Julian later met Albert Hammond Jr. at boarding school in Switzerland. When Albert moved to New York years later, he happened to find Julian again, and those old friendships became the nucleus of a band still making records together more than 25 years later. (pitchfork.com)