|
|
 |
|
Nightlife
Best New Band
The Strokes
Of all the bands to mine the glamorous desperation of seventies New York punk, the Strokes are among the first who weren’t around to see it. On the basis of one three-song EP, they may also be the first band to be influenced by grunge when they were teenagers. When three of the five members met as students at the Dwight School, “Nirvana and Pearl Jam were really big,” says guitarist Nick Valensi, 20. “Plus the Velvet Underground, Talking Heads—all the stuff that happened before we were born.” On their first EP, The Modern Age—initially issued on the U.K. label Rough Trade but available in the U.S. at the end of April—they combine those influences with the arty style of Wire and the hairstyles of the Replacements into an aural assault that evokes both the New York grit of the past and the New York grit that may lie ahead of us yet. Perhaps preparing for a return to recession-era rock, record labels have come courting to release the band’s first full album, due later this year. “They’re all taking us out to dinner,” says Valensi. “We’ve gained at least ten pounds each.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
