Strokes Of Luck

New York quintet The Strokes have the coolest names in the world… ever. They've also already been compared to bands who broke up before these kids were able to pee standing up. Lou and Iggy might be part of their musical family tree, but Bill and Ted or Wayne and Garth are closer cultural cousins to the early twentysomething Manhattan punksters.

Talking to them, though, is like a step back in time. Thoughout our conversation, the two extremely likeable Strokes I speak to end every other sentence with the word 'man'. Still, it's hard not to be caught up by their infectious good humour and before our interview is over, I find myself responding in kind and even (shudder) using the word 'like' as punctuation - thankfully, I stopped short of 'dude'.

Their debut single, 'The Modern Age' is picking up amazing reviews on this side of the pond, including a plethora of 'Single of the Fortnight/Week' awards, including one in this very organ, which they find pleasantly surprising.

"It is amazing," gushes Albert Hammond Jnr, guitarist. "It is almost like a dream. I'm glad people like it - I dig it, so I'm glad that we're on the same page."

"You have no idea how exciting this is, man. It is so strange that there is a land across the sea that is interested in us," says Julian Casablancas, vocalist.

Why so? What is the reaction like in New York?

"Well, our local shows are a bit crazy," Julian says. "We have a good following here in the city but not in the public eye. We haven't released anything here. We have our own local following but we are pretty much strangers in America."

The other three magically named 'strangers' are Fabrizio Moretti on drums (didn't he play up front for Vicenza…), Nick Valensi on guitar (a Milwall centre half if ever I heard one) and Nikolai Fraiture on bass (surely a tricky Belarussian full-back…).

Despite their youthful age and the fact that their names would give even Jimmy Magee nightmares, The Strokes' old-style r'n'r has already been likened to some other classic Noo Yawk rawk acts, namely The Velvet Underground and The Stooges, thanks to the rifferama of 'The Modern Age'. The reaction to the song is even more amazing when you consider it was never intended for public consumption.

"We recorded it as a demo to hopefully get signed," recalls Julian. "Geoff Travis decided to release it in England on his Rough Trade label and we just said, 'OK, that's great'. To be honest, at the start I didn't believe it was true. I thought it was all a lie and that Geoff Travis was a make-believe character or a con artist but now it's happening and it's so weird. I'm here in my robe - I just woke up. Ten minutes ago, my mom calls me and is like 'Whaddaya doin'?' and then some guy [yours truly - JW] calls from a magazine on the other side of the world to talk about 'The Modern Age'."

They're certainly enjoying the ride so far though, as Albert elucidates: "Life is great, man - it's like a video game. I put in a quarter and I'm doing pretty good. At this stage, you grow so fast so what you did a month ago is, like, passé. We want to grow so much higher. Our goal is to be really good and write really great songs."

They have already made a brilliant start but The Strokes are not taking their limbs off the pedals just yet. Stateside tours with Guided By Voices and Doves are already organised, and they're heading into the studio two days after we speak to record their second single, which should be released in late March/early April. They will be touring the UK to support its release and also plan their first ever trip to these shores. There's also the small matter of the debut album to fit in.

"I'm personally anxious and excited to make everyone hear all our songs," Julian enthuses, "because our goal is not to have any weak songs. Having an album is what we wanna do. We're ready to record right now - we just have to find the right people who we have the right vibe with to put the magic on tape," he offers, and sounds serious for all of 10 seconds before adding, "It better happen very soon or someone's getting fired."

So they're going to be extremely busy between now and the summer.

"Yeah, but we all love the studio - it's a great place to be in," Albert chortles. "It's gonna be busy but it's gonna be fun busy. It's really exciting. We're that kind of balls-to-the-walls type of band."

'The Modern Age' is out now on Rough Trade