The Strokes say they should be "a little quicker" than seven years making another album this time | NME
The Strokes have suggested that fans might not have quite so long to wait for a new album this time around.
The NYC indie veterans released their acclaimed sixth album ‘The New Abnormal‘ back in April, seven years after their last full studio album ‘Comedown Machine‘. Speaking to NME for this week’s Big Read cover story, the band said that they felt encouraged by their current creative chemistry and working habits – enough to turn around another record in a much shorter time frame.
“I think it will be a little quicker now,” frontman Julian Casablancas told NME. “I think we have a good thing going. We have a good relationship with Rick [Rubin, producer]. In theory, knock on wood, we should be working faster.”
Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr agreed: “A band is a funny thing. I was just thinking, it’s so positive that you can be together so long and this moment together is even better than before. It’s so easy, in time, to lose relationships with people in general. So the fact that you work together and there’s five people going in and out and you can feel better now – it’s just exciting to me.
“I personally feel very excited and I would love nothing more than to make new music, because what we have right now excites me so much.”
Despite the current lockdown due to coronavirus, the band said that they were communicating “more than ever”, with spirits remaining high.
“The irony about this time is that I feel like the five of us are just talking more clearly now than ever,” said Casablancas. “I don’t know if that’s just everyone.”
Hammond Jr added: “But we’ve also been pretty lucky. If we’re on a corner somewhere together, we’ll end up talking. We. Will. Talk.”
Read the full Big Read cover story here, where The Strokes also talk politics, their musical legacy, and fractured relationship with the NME.
The band’s world tour for ‘The New Abnormal’ looks set to continue next year, with The Strokes recently confirmed to be returning to headline Primavera Sound 2021.
