Anonymous asked: favorite side project??

CHELSEA: Albert’s by far, both albums. I love his solo work just as much as I love The Strokes together as a whole. I also love Julian’s, even though it took me some time to grow into. 

SARAH: i genuinely like all of their side stuff for different reasons. i don’t think any of them put out a bad album. i think little joy is probably my favorite with julian’s close behind. of course i love albert’s self-titled album, and nickel eye is really great too.

Anonymous asked: wich label is the strokes on? are they still on rough trade? according to rough trade's website julian's solo stuff was released there to but i thought that he had his own label.

The Strokes are on Rough Trade in England and RCA in the US and I think the rest of the world. They are still on Rough Trade, and Julian’s (and Albert’s, and Little Joy’s) solo records were released on Rough Trade in England. However, in the US and the rest of the world, Julian’s solo record was released on Cult Records, his own label, which is an imprint of RCA.

Anonymous asked: thoughts on nickel eye?

CHELSEA: Personally, I haven’t listened to Nikolai’s solo stuff nearly as much as I should have in order to be able to give a fair opinion on it. I’ve listened a few times and I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t really grab me personally. Albert’s solo project is by far my favorite and I love his stuff JUST as much as I love all of The Strokes’ work, and I love Julian’s as well, but outside of a few Little Joy and Nickel Eye songs, I really haven’t been as into their efforts on the same level. 

Anonymous asked: That's close but that's not the interview :( it was definitely in the UK, he even talked about Christmas a bit. Thanks for trying though :)

Try this from another anon!

Thanks for the help, guys, I’m rubbish at solo stuff. Sorry to clog up the blog with text, we’re going to lay off the questions for awhile to get the balance back. 

Anonymous asked: Hey I saw this interview on tumblr a few days ago from Julian's solo days, I think it was a radio interview and he's got a cold or something and talking about baby names. I can't remember where I saw it, can you please help? thank you :)

Is this it? (hahahaha, that wasn’t even intentional)

I had to ask my friend because I really suck at the finer points of the solo stuff, like interviews and what was said when, at least in comparison to the band stuff!

—Chelsea

Anonymous asked: Can you explain Julian's latest tweet because I don't really understand it. Is he signing to do another solo record or not to do it?

We’ve gotten a lot of questions about this overnight. 

Basically, everyone was jumping to conclusions when they said they thought the tweet and picture had to do with Julian starting another solo record…frankly, I don’t even understand how what he said had to do with that at all and what that rumor was based on to begin with. The tweet clearly said that they were signing NEW ARTISTS to Julian’s Cult Records label, nothing at all about a solo record. Yes, Warren Fu and Richard Priest are in the picture, but they almost definitely have pretty big stakes in Cult Records and would have to be there to sign the paperwork as well. 

Richard confirmed this via Twitter:

Some people guessed that maybe Julian signed new artists to the label so he could collaborate with them on his next solo projects, but artists that someone collaborates with on their own album do not have to be signed to the same label—they just appear “courtesy of” their own label and that’s that. Richard confirms that this has nothing to do in either direction with Julian starting work on a new solo record of his own and that all of the rumors were pretty baseless since the tweet said pretty much exactly what they were doing in the first place.

—Chelsea

Anonymous asked: i have a downloaded version of Albert's song In Transit called Obstinate, but it's not the version you typically hear, it's the film version. so were the two separate songs released both or were the names just changed or something? do any of you know?

You mean the version in In Transit? As far as I know, the version in In Transit is the only version of Obstinate out there. Obstinate is the demo version of “In Transit,” which showed up on Albert’s first solo album but was originally a Strokes demo. I’ll upload the song in a minute so everyone knows what we’re talking about!

—Chelsea

Anonymous asked: Do you guys know if Ryan managed their solo careers? I know he was really involved in Albert's but I don't know about the rest. Thanks :)

i don’t believe he took part in anyone else’s solo careers aside from albert’s. and as for albert, i’m not sure if he was actually managing his band, or just very involved. i think the latter.

—sarah

Anonymous asked: I remember that Jules got the question "what does the rest of the strokes think of your solo album?" back in 2009, and he joked "they say that they like it, but I just think they're being polite!" ALso not to forget that "the strokes" is under the "thank you" list on phrazes..

Both good points, thanks!

Anonymous asked: Do you know if any of the strokes ever commented on the solo albums put out by the other members? I mean commented as in said they liked the music. Random question I know, but I don't remember reading anything about them talking about the music specifically.

The only time I can think of is when Nick talked about Julian’s solo work in a controversial quote, which is quoted and discussed here. However, Julian plays bass and does background vocals on Albert’s song “Scared,” so even though that’s not a comment on it, I think it’s probably a seal of approval. Nick was in Little Joy’s video for “No One’s Better Sake” and has hung out with all the members, and Fab and Nick are credited on Julian’s “4 Chords Of The Apocalypse” as additional composers. Also, Nick was going to play guitar for Julian when he was on his solo tour, but that didn’t end up happening. I think all of those things point to liking each others’ music, even if they aren’t coming out in interviews talking about how much they love it all the time. 

—Chelsea

Anonymous asked: Do you have the My Drive Thru download?

I actually didn’t have it myself, which I found surprising because I quite like the song. Research tells me it was a free download originally, though it’s no longer available on the Converse website, but I Googled and found it HERE!

(That’s not our link, just FYI)

Anonymous asked: do you think there will be another little joy album?

I’m not hopeful for it, no. Anything’s possible, but there didn’t seem to be plans for one, and I don’t know if the working relationship between the members is the same anymore, if you know what I mean. 

—Chelsea

Anonymous asked: Why is Albert's second solo album called "Como Te Llama?" shouldn't it be Como Te Llama's? Asking this question, because my mom always says, "Llama is supposed have an s at the end, I thought Albert speaks Spanish?" And I said, " Let's take this to the experts."

I haven’t taken Spanish since 2006, even though I was decent at it at one point, so I took to the internet, and this was found on Wikipedia:

The title ¿Cómo Te Llama? is Spanish for How does he/she/it call you?. It could be a misspelling of either ¿Cómo se llama?(formal second person singular conjugation of the present of indicative of llamar, which is Spanish for What’s his/her/its/your name?) or ¿Cómo te llamas? (casual second person singular of the same tense, which is Spanish for What’s your name?).

Google is your friend!