KoЯn, occasionally typeset as KoЯn, is a band from Bakersfield, California, and is often credited with creating and popularizing the nu metal genre. Along with other bands at the time, they have also inspired many nu metal and alternative metal bands throughout the mid 1990s and early 2000s.

The band's catalogue consists of nine consecutive debuts in the top ten of the Billboard 200,including a compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, and their untitled eighth album, released on July 31, 2007. To date, Korn has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, including 16.5 in the U.S.whilst earning six Grammy nominations—two of which they have won.

Origin Bakersfield, California, USA
Genre(s) Nu metal, Alternative metal, Industrial metal
Years active 1993–present
Label(s) Immortal/Epic, EMI/Virgin
Associated acts Jonathan Davis and the SFA,Fear and the Nervous System, StillWell, Fieldy's Nightmare, Head

Members
Jonathan Davis
James "Munky" Shaffer
Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu
Former members
Brian "Head" Welch
David Silveria

History

Formation, Neidermeyer's Mind demo, Korn (1993-1995)

Korn formed after the group L.A.P.D. folded, due to singer Richard Morrill's drug addiction. Musicians Reginald Arvizu, James Shaffer, and David Silveria wanted to continue, and recruited guitarist Brian Welch and a singer named Corey and started a new band called Creep. Corey was soon dropped due to the band being dissatisfied with him.

In 1993, the band took notice of vocalist Jonathan Davis after seeing his band Sexart and attempted to get him to join Creep. Davis initially did not want to join the band, but after consulting a psychic he decided to audition and then joined the band.The band soon changed their name to Korn.

Later that year, the band began a working relationship with producer Ross Robinson, which led to their first demo tape entitled Neidermeyer's Mind. The band had problems getting signed during its first year, due to the 1990s rock scene, which was primarily grunge. After many attempts at a record deal, Paul Pontius from Immortal/Epic Records heard the band in a nightclub and was so impressed, he signed them on the spot.With a producer and a label, Korn started work on their self-titled debut album.

Musically, the album was a mix of both heavy metal and hip hop, funk, and Punk rock the middle of which in rhythms and beats. "Blind" was the first single from the album, which got a decent amount of airplay and attention. Once Korn saw a release on October 11, 1994, the band toured incessantly with no support from radio or video stations. They relied solely on their intensive live shows, which created a large cultlike following of dedicated fans.It was through the effort of this fanbase that helped push Korn onto the Billboard 200, eventually peaking at #72 in 1996,with "Shoots and Ladders" being their first Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance.

On their first large tour, Korn opened for Danzig alongside Marilyn Manson. Other bands for which Korn opened in 1995 included Megadeth, 311, Fear Factory, Flotsam and Jetsam, and KMFDM. However, the first tour that widely exposed the band was opening for Ozzy Osbourne alongside the Deftones. After opening for lesser-known bands such as Dimestore Hoods, Sugar Ray (at the time), and Life of Agony, Korn returned to the studio to record a second album.

Life Is Peachy (1996-1997)

Korn teamed up with Robinson once again for their second album, Life Is Peachy, released on October 15, 1996. Musically, it was similar to the first album, but also showed more of a funk influence on tracks like "Porno Creep" and "Swallow". The album included two covers, War's "Low Rider", with Davis' bagpipes and Head on vocals, and Ice Cube's "Wicked", with guest vocalist Chino Moreno of Deftones.

To help promote their new album, Korn opened for Metallica, along with utilizing the Internet. Life Is Peachy sold more than 106,000 copies in its first week and reached #3 on the Billboard 200.The first single, "No Place to Hide", spawned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance."A.D.I.D.A.S." was the second single and only music video, which also did well.

The band gained more populary after co-headlining the Lollapalooza music festival in 1997 with Tool. However, Korn were forced to drop off the bill after Munky was diagnosed with viral meningitis.Also that year, Korn augmented their growing crossover appeal by collaborating with Los Angeles-based production and remix duo the Dust Brothers on the track "Kick the P.A.". This track appeared on the motion picture soundtrack of the film Spawn.

In late 1997, Korn formed their own record label, Elementree Records. The first signing was Videodrone,whose singer, Ty Elam, is credited for giving Jonathan Davis singing lessons. Orgy, however, released their debut album prior to Videodrone's, giving Elementree its first Platinum certification.Orgy's guitarist, Ryan Shuck, is known for playing alongside Davis and Elam in the band Sexart. Over the next few years, Korn signed other acts like rapper Marz and Deadsy.

Follow the Leader, mainstream success (1998-1999)

Prior to the release of the band's third album, Korn produced a weekly online TV show, KornTV,which documented the making of the record and featured special guests such as porn star Ron Jeremy, Limp Bizkit, and 311. The project also gave fans the chance to call in and ask the band questions, an approach that represented one of the first times a band utilized the Internet in such a way. Korn released their third album, Follow the Leader, on August 18, 1998, which featured a number of guest vocalists such as Ice Cube, Tre Hardson from the Pharcyde, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit and actor Cheech Marin on the hidden track "Earache My Eye" (written by Marin himself).

Korn launched a political campaign-style tour to promote the release of Follow the Leader.The tour took the group, on a chartered jet, all over North America to help promote Follow the Leader. They talked to fans and answered questions during special "fan conferences", which were organized at every stop along the tour route, and signed autographs. Jim Rose hosted the entire "Kampaign" tour.

The album was a complete success, debuting at #1 on Billboard with 268,000 copies sold,and spawning the singles "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash". They both exposed Korn to a wider, mainstream audience, with the music videos being mainstays on MTV's Total Request Live. "Got the Life" was the show's very first "retired" video, with "Freak on a Leash" reaching that same success months later.The singles also fared well on Billboard, with "Freak on a Leash" peaking in the top 10 of both Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock, the latter of which it spent 27 weeks on—more than any other Korn single to date.

"Freak on a Leash" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.The video also earned nine MTV Video Music Awards nominations for Video of the Year, Best Rock Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Viewer's Choice.It eventually won two, for Best Rock Video and Best Editing. Follow the Leader is the band's most commercially-successful album, being certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA and having sold almost ten million copies worldwide.

The same year Follow the Leader was released, Korn started their own annual tour called the Family Values Tour. Korn headlined the highly-successful tour along with Incubus, Orgy, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, and Rammstein. A live CD and DVD were released and earned Gold and Platinum certifications, respectively. In 1999, Limp Bizkit headlined, along with Primus, Staind, The Crystal Method, Method Man & Redman, and Filter. Korn were not featured on the bill and instead only made surprise appearances at a few of the stops to perform their first single from their next album. The tour took a break in 2000.

Issues (1999-2001)

The band's fourth album, Issues, produced by Brendan O'Brien, was released on November 16, 1999, featuring cover art designed by Alfredo Carlos, who won a contest held for the fans by MTV.Issues was released during a week of many highly-anticipated records. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with more than 573,000 copies sold,keeping Dr. Dre's long-awaited album 2001 and Celine Dion's greatest hits album from hitting #1.

To celebrate the album's release, the band performed the record in its entirety in front of a live audience at New York's historic Apollo Theater and broadcast the concert simultaneously across many radio stations.This performance made Korn the first rock band, and only the second predominantly white musical group, to ever perform at The Apollo, after the legendary Buddy Holly in the late 1950s. This special event featured the NYPD marching drum and bagpipe band conducted by Richard Gibbs as well as a group of back-up singers to enhance the more melodic choruses Davis used on the album.

Earlier that year, Korn had appeared on an episode of South Park, titled Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery, in which the first single from Issues, "Falling Away from Me", was premiered.Korn released two more singles from Issues, "Make Me Bad" and "Somebody Someone", both of which fared well on Billboard. Videos were shot for all three singles, with longtime friend Fred Durst directing "Falling Away from Me", and Martin Weisz directing a concept video for "Make Me Bad", as well as a performance video for "Somebody Someone", which featured the use of CGI effects. Every video was a staple on Total Request Live, two of which made it to retirement.Issues is considered by some critics to be less hip hop-influenced and closer to alternative metal than nu metal.It was certified 3x Platinum, following up the success of Follow the Leader.

Untouchables (2002-2003)

On June 11, 2002, after a year and a half of hard work and a long creative process, Korn re-emerged into the media spotlight with their fifth album, Untouchables. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 434,000 in sales.Sales were disappointing in comparison to the first four albums, as Untouchables has only been certified Platinum once. The band has blamed Internet piracy for the drop in sales, as an unmastered version of the album had leaked three months prior to its official release date.

The release of this album was preceded by a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, a day prior to the album's release, broadcast digitally throughout U.S. movie theatres.Untouchables featured electronic beats, strings and various guitar effects the band had never used in an album before. The overall feel was drastically different from previous efforts, particularly tracks like "Alone I Break", "Hating", and "Hollow Life", which singer Jonathan Davis claims is one of his favorite Korn songs to this day.

The first two videos from Untouchables were directed by the Hughes Brothers (best known for their films, Menace II Society and From Hell). The first video, "Here to Stay", has the band playing inside a TV with a static background along with controversial news stories and world issues being presented. The song itself earned Korn a Grammy for Best Metal Performance,and would become their highest-peaking single on Billboard's Modern Rock chart.The second video, "Thoughtless", was a nod back to Davis' childhood as the character in the video (previously featured in the first Vanilla Coke commercial) is picked on and constantly beaten. The third video for Untouchables, "Alone I Break," was directed by Sean Dack, who won the honor of directing the video through an MTV contest.

Prior to their next album, Korn released a new single, "Did My Time" on July 22, 2003,which was used to promote the film and appeared on the soundtrack to Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Angelina Jolie appeared in the Dave Meyers-directed video. "Did My Time" also gave Korn yet another Grammy nomination in the Best Metal Performance category.

Take a Look in the Mirror, Greatest Hits, Head's departure (2003-2005)

Korn's sixth album, Take a Look in the Mirror, was released on November 21, 2003,four days earlier than originally planned. Korn produced the album themselves, and released "Right Now", "Y'All Want a Single", and "Everything I've Known" as singles. "Right Now" and "Everything I've Known" had animated music videos, whereas "Y'All Want a Single" featured Korn and a large group of fans destroying a record store. The album was an attempt by the band to return to its roots with a more raw and heavier sound. The album peaked at #9 on Billboard, selling over 179,000 copies in its first full week.

Korn released their greatest hits album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, on October 5, 2004. The album debuted at #4 on Billboard, selling more than 129,000 copies.It featured two cover songs as singles, and a compilation of the band's hits from the past 10 years. The first single was a cover of the song "Word Up!", which was originally made popular by the group Cameo. The second single was a medley of all three parts of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall". A remix of their hit single "Freak on a Leash" was also included as a bonus track. Special editions of the album included a DVD titled Korn: Live at CBGB featuring seven select songs from their November 24, 2003 show at CBGB.

Prior to Korn starting work on their next album, Brian "Head" Welch announced that he had "...chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end,"and was formally leaving Korn. Initial speculations that this was a hoax or practical joke were proven wrong; he has become highly spiritual, even being baptized in the Jordan River and speaking openly about his faith and conversion. This was the band's first official line-up change in their history.

See You on the Other Side, EMI/Virgin (2005-2006)

Upon completing their record deal with Sony, Korn partnered with EMI and signed to Virgin Records. As part of this innovative arrangement, Virgin paid Korn $25 million upfront in exchange for a share in the profits of their next two studio albums, including tours and merchandising. Virgin also received a 30 percent stake in the band's licensing, ticket sales and other revenue sources.

The band's first album for Virgin, See You on the Other Side, was released on December 6, 2005, and debuted on #3 on the Billboard 200, scanning close to 221,000 copies.The album managed to stay in the top 100 of the Billboard 200 for 34 consecutive weeks. The first single from the album, "Twisted Transistor", was accompanied by a comedic video directed by Dave Meyers in which rap stars Xzibit, Lil' Jon, Snoop Dogg, and David Banner portray Korn. The single itself peaked at #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks, Korn's highest entry thus far, and #9 on Modern Rock.The second single, "Coming Undone", had its performance-based video directed by Little X, who previously helmed only hip hop and R&B videos. See You on the Other Side is certified Platinum, and has sold over two million copies worldwide.

Korn held a press conference at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on January 13, 2006, announcing the See You on the Other Side Tour.10 Years and Mudvayne were selected to open all dates of the trek, which kicked off in their hometown of Bakersfield, on what Mayor Harvey Hall officially declared as "Korn Day", February 26.The resurrection of their Family Values Tour was announced on April 18, 2006, which featured co-headliners Deftones, Stone Sour, Flyleaf, and Dir en grey on the main stage.Korn and Evanescence co-headlined the 2007 edition, with Atreyu, 2006 alumni Flyleaf, Hellyeah, and Trivium rounding out the main stage.

While promoting See You on the Other Side in Europe, Jonathan Davis was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a blood platelet disorder that hospitalized him for the weekend and prevented him from performing at the renowned Download Festival.The band still performed, with guest singers including Corey Taylor of Slipknot/Stone Sour fame, Skindred's Benji Webbe, and Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows. This led to Korn canceling the rest of their European bill for 2006,[38] including the Hellfest Summer Open Air. It was originally unknown to the public what his ailment was, but the singer revealed in a letter to fans that he was "dangerously low on blood platelets and at a high risk of death from a hemorrhage if the problem was not treated".His illness did not affect the 2006 Family Values Tour.

Untitled album, MTV Unplugged, David Silveria's departure (2006-2008)

In early December it was announced that founding drummer David Silveria would be taking an indefinite “hiatus” from the band. Korn then performed at the MTV studios in Times Square on December 9, 2006, for the MTV Unplugged series, which was broadcast on February 23, 2007, through MTV.com and on March 2, 2007, across North American, South American, European and Asian MTV stations. In front of a crowd of approximately 50 people, Korn played a 14-song acoustic set complete with guest appearances by The Cure and Amy Lee of Evanescence. The performance was eventually cut down to 11 songs for the album, two of which did not air on MTV. Sales of nearly 51,000 brought MTV Unplugged: Korn to #9 in its first week out.The disc has yet to receive a Gold or Platinum certification.

Korn's untitled eighth album was released on July 31, 2007, debuting at #2 with 123,000 copies in its first week.The album has been certified Gold for shipments in excess of 500,000 copies.It also concludes Korn's unique deal with Virgin Records, and features touring keyboardist Zac Baird, giving the tracks a deeper, atmospheric sound.Drumming duties were left up to Terry Bozzio, Jonathan Davis, and Bad Religion's Brooks Wackerman, as well as Joey Jordison from Slipknot (who played for the band on live shows) as David Silveria went on a hiatus."Evolution", "Hold On" and "Kiss" have been released as singles, with the former two charting on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks at #4 and #9, respectively.

Recent events, ninth studio album (2008-)

Korn was nominated, along with 31 other artists, for the Best of 2007 by Fuse in November 2007. They ended up making it to the final round, but lost to 30 Seconds to Mars by roughly 200,000 votes.

Ubisoft reported in October that "Korn has written and recorded an original song inspired by Ubisoft's upcoming Haze video game", simply entitled "Haze",[45] which was released on April 22, 2008. As a first in the video game industry, "Haze" will be released and promoted as a full-fledged single and music video, not just as an exclusive download with the video game.

In 2008 The band played in Dubai for the annual Dubai Desert Rock Festival.

Korn performed their second leg of the Bitch We Have a Problem Tour in Australia, with drummer Ray Luzier of David Lee Roth and Army of Anyone fame, which was preceded by a Latin American and European run, plus festival dates in the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.Munky left the Bitch We Have A Problem Tour shortly after the beginning the European leg began due to his father becoming ill. Despite rumors that he was leaving the band, Shane Gibson has stated on Kornspace.com that his [Munky's] father had fallen ill and that Munky was not leaving the band, but Munky returned to the tour in Milan on February 23rd. This has been confirmed also as a video of Munky playing "Falling Away From Me" surfaced on Kornspace on Feb. 24th, filmed the night before. Due to Munky's return, Rob Patterson is no longer touring with Korn.

In an interview, Fieldy stated that Korn would be recording a new album sometime this year (2008), and that it would be a return to their heavy roots. He stated in the same interview that he would also be releasing a solo album of funk and jazz fusion pieces, as well as releasing his own book.

A Korn Locker article announced that Korn would be releasing a new DVD, Korn: Live in Montreux 2004, one of their performances with former guitarist Brian Welch on May 12th, 2008. Additionally, a second greatest hits compilation titled, "Playlist: The Very Best of Korn" was released on April 29th, 2008.

According to a recent interview with Jonathan Davis after playing in Auckland, Korn will be working on their ninth studio album in winter 2008 and expect a summer 2009 release and a Family Values Tour will follow. It was also announced original Korn producer Ross Robinson will produce the next album, and that the remaining 3 members of Korn will hit the studio in November to begin progress on their Ninth studio album which would most likely mean a August 2009 release.

Jonathan Davis has stated at some concerts with the AIP tour and in some interviews, the interest of having Head back in the band, at a concert in Europe he told the audience "I miss that motherfucker and one day he will be back people". In an interview with Head, he said that he's "not ready to come back," while acknowledging that it's a possibility.

Genre

Korn can be credited for creating the nu metal genre, though the group has often said they don't like to be put in that category themselves. When asked of his opinion on Korn being dubbed the first "nu metal" band, Jonathan Davis replied:

"We've spawned a lot of clones, but let me explain... Well, I hate the nu metal term. We have always just been a band that rocks. We didn't like when people called us a metal band, we are just Korn. People just use these terms when they cannot describe something, but nu metal... when so many bands started making music that sounded like us, that is when nu metal was born. We don't have anything to do with it for real, I feel. I wouldn't wanna call Red Hot Chili Peppers a funk band, and we are not metal or nu metal, we are Korn. [Nu metal] is just a term that doesn't mean anything.

Backing band

The backup band only plays live shows with Korn. None of the members of the backup band are considered official members of Korn. For most of 2005, they wore animal masks based on the See You on the Other Side artwork to help better distinguish them as the backup band. Since the beginning of 2007, the members have performed unmasked but occasionally have their faces painted black and white with unique designs.

Band members

Current members

* Jonathan Davis – vocals, bagpipes, drums (1993–present)
* James "Munky" Shaffer – guitar (1993–present)
* Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu – bass (1993–present)

Previous members

* Brian "Head" Welch – guitar, backing vocals (1993–2005)
* David Silveria – drums (1993–2006)

Current members

* Kalen Chase – backing vocals, percussion (2006–present)
* Zac Baird – keyboards (2006–present)
* Shane Gibson – guitar (2007–present)
* Ray Luzier – drums (2007–present)

Previous members

* Rob Patterson – guitar (2005–2007, 2008)
* Clint Lowery – guitar (2007)
* Joey Jordison – drums (2007)
* Michael Jochum – percussion (2006–2007)

Discography

* Korn (1994)
* Life Is Peachy (1996)
* Follow the Leader (1998)
* Issues (1999)
* Untouchables (2002)
* Take a Look in the Mirror (2003)
* See You on the Other Side (2005)
* Untitled album (2007)
* TBA (2009)

Fabrizio Moretti is the drummer of American alternative rock band The Strokes. According to the Strokes official website, Fabrizio’s solo project with Rodrigo Amarante of Los Hermanos and Binki Shapiro, entitled “Little Joy” will be debuting this fall on Rough Trade Records. A release date has not been set yet.

He played drums on "Dream Cars" on the 2008 album Stainless Style by Neon Neon

Personal life

He was born on June 2, 1980 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to an Italian father and a Brazilian mother.He was raised Christian, but has stated that he is an atheist. He and his family moved to New York City when he was 3 years old, and as a teenager there he attended the Dwight School with fellow band members Nick Valensi and Julian Casablancas.

Moretti dated Drew Barrymore from april 2002 until January 2007, after they met backstage during a Strokes concert. Rumors of engagement arose several times, but the wedding never happened. In an interview, Moretti once stated that he believes "…marriage is not anything that will secure the future of your relationship,”and therefore plans to never get married. He is currently dating fellow musician, Binki Shapiro.

Moretti is also an enthusiastic artist, he has multiple example of his art works at http://www.thestrokes.com including a portrait of fellow bandmate, Nick Valensi.

Quotes

"It's so easy for people to jump to the wrong conclusions when they've only heard one three song EP. While we are really appreciative of some of the comparisons we have been given, it is not the full picture. Hopefully when the album comes out people will realise it isn't just some New York thing and that it is a lot more universal than that.
"I love music, but it is songs and bands and albums that excite me rather than a specific drummer's style.

Nikolai Fraiture born November 13, 1978 in New York City) is the bassist for the New York City-based band The Strokes. He is French-Russian and speaks fluent French. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father a security guard. He and five other relatives all lived in a two-bedroom apartment. Fraiture also has a sister named Elizabeth, who is 13 years younger than he is and an elder brother named Pierre. He attended kindergarten and elementary school with best friend and future bandmate Julian Casablancas. He later went to Lycée Français De New York for high school.

Although Fraiture had been interested in music since childhood, he did not begin playing bass until he was 19. His grandfather had bought him a bass guitar as a graduation gift but Fraiture gave it to Casablancas. It was not until one year later, when he contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever at a New Orleans youth hostel, that he picked it up and began to play seriously. At the time, he was attending Hunter College with future bandmate Nick Valensi, who wrote an article about Fraiture's coping with the illness in the school newspaper. Shortly afterwards, he joined his friends Casablancas, Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti in forming a band. He met Albert Hammond, Jr. at later rehearsals.

Fraiture is married to an Englishwoman named Ilona, with whom he has one daughter, Elysia, born in the summer of 2004. Of all the Strokes, he is often considered the most soft-spoken. He resides in New York and is often seen cycling around the area.

Fraiture plays a Fender Jazz Bass (the same model his grandfather bought him) and a Rickenbacker. Lately he has also been seen playing a Fender Precision Bass and a Music Man StingRay.

Fraiture is currently working on his side-project "Nickel Eye", with Regina Spector and Nick Zinner from Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Albert Hammond, Jr. (born April 9, 1980, Los Angeles, California) is a musician and member of the garage rock band, The Strokes for which he mostly plays rhythm guitar, but occasionally plays lead as well (eg. in "Last Nite"). He is also a solo musician in his own right, and released his debut album Yours To Keep in 2006 and followed up with ¿Cómo Te Llama? in 2008. The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Matthew Sweet, Television and The Velvet Underground are often cited as his major influences.

Born April 9, 1980 (1980-04-09) (age 28), Los Angeles, California
Genre(s) Indie pop
Instrument(s) Guitar, Vocal
Label(s) New Line Records, Rough Trade Records, Scratchie Records
Associated acts The Strokes

Career

The son of Gibraltarian musician Albert Hammond and Argentinian former model and beauty pageant winner Claudia Fernandez, his mother has Peruvian and Austrian roots. Albert Jr. was sent to the elite boarding school Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland at the age of 13. While there, he met Julian Casablancas, who would go on to be a fellow band member.

In 1998, Hammond met up with Julian Casablancas in New York City and together they formed The Strokes with Casablancas' former schoolmates Nikolai Fraiture, Nick Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti.

Hammond was once engaged to Catherine Pierce, one-half of the folk singing group The Pierces. He is currently dating super model Agyness Deyn. His trademark is wearing formal three-piece suits, and has been said to be the most influential on the band's style. Albert is usually seen playing a 1970's Olympic White Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul Jr. that is sometimes used by bandmate Nick Valensi. On the majority of The Strokes' songs he plays rhythm guitar, and solos are played by Valensi. The songs in which Hammond does play solos are "Last Nite," "Trying Your Luck," "Take It or Leave It," "Under Control," "The End Has No End," "Ize of the World," and "Vision of Division." His solos tend to focus largely on more emotional, "bluesy"-type melodical work, and the guitar tends to have a cleaner, softer tone in comparison to Valensi's (with a notable exception found in "Vision of Division"). He often holds his guitar in a high horizontal position, similar to Buddy Holly, which he says is so that he can dance better.

Hammond's song "Hard To Live (In The City)" appeared in an episode of teen drama, Gossip Girl.

Songwriting and solo work

Although vocalist Julian Casablancas is the major contributor to the songwriting process for The Strokes' music, Hammond has been known to write a few pieces of his own. He co-wrote the track "Automatic Stop" with Casablancas for the group's second album, Room on Fire. He has also been credited with writing three mostly instrumental songs ("Swiss Beats", "Holland", and "By The Way") for the band's 2001 tour video entitled "In Transit". These songs were then slightly reworked to appear on his later solo album, under different titles ("Everyone Gets A Star", "Bright Young Thing", and "In Transit", respectively). He had also written a song called "Elephant Song," which Hammond used when he was required to record a song for his Sound 101 class in freshman year, using the school's recording equipment. The song was played at a few shows before the release of their first album. The Strokes later re-recorded the song as a special giveaway for fanclub members.

Hammond released a solo album entitled Yours To Keep in the U.K. through Rough Trade Records on October 9, 2006 and in North America through New Line Records/Scratchie Records on March 6, 2007. Produced by Thin Lizard Dawn vocalist Lattimer and recorded at the Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the album features several musical guests, such as Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller, The Strokes' manager Ryan Gentles, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, Chris Feinstein, Mikki James, Sammy James Jr. (The Moony Suzuki) and The Strokes' lead singer, Casablancas. Bassist Josh Lattanzi and drummer Matt Romano serve as the backing band, with Hammond on guitar and vocals. The first single taken from the album, "101", was released exclusively through iTunes on 4 September 2006. The music video to "In Transit" was directed by Joaquin Phoenix.

He has said to have been "waiting to make a record like this for years".Early support from his fellow bandmates in the Strokes was only evident after Casablancas' role playing bass and back-up vocals on the track "Scared", though all of the members (with the exclusion of Nick Valensi who was busy taking care of his new-born children) attended his shows in and around New York.

"101" was the follow up single to "Everyone Gets A Star". The music video debuted online in March 2007. This will be available in general music stores, unlike "Everyone Gets A Star" which was only available through UK iTunes Music Store. This was released on 27 November 2006.

In November 2006, Hammond announced to be joining Incubus on tour during their North American tour for their new album Light Grenades.

On 16 March 2007 at the South by Southwest festival, Hammond performed a twelve song set including covers of Frank Black's "Old Black Dawning" and Guided By Voices' "Postal Blowfish". Hammond also regularly covered The Cars' "Don't Cha Stop" in live performances.

The Yours To Keep album was released in North America on 6 March 2007; he also supported Bloc Party on their world tour before making stops at Montreal's Metropolis and Toronto's Kool Haus. After this, Hammond headlined two North American tours along with a Europe tour. The North American tour featured his friends, The Mooney Suzuki. Hammond has one last tour to finish up in Europe and then he is officially done touring for Yours to Keep.

Hammond announced that "In Transit" will be his next solo single, featuring a cover of Frank Black's "Old Black Dawning" as the b-side. It was recorded live from the Bowery Ballroom.

On 29 August 2007, Hammond announced on MySpace that he is going back into the studio to record his second album in October 2007 for five weeks.

On 20 March 2008, Hammond posted a blog entry on MySpace in which he revealed the title of his second album, ¿Cómo Te Llama?. Furthermore, he wrote that it contained 13 songs with a total length of 46 minutes and 30 seconds. He also said he hoped to be touring with the new album until the end of 2008. The album will be released on July 7, 2008 .

Albert has also produced the new track "123 Stop" by New York band The Postelles.

On 27 May 2008, Hammond released "GfC," the first single off his new album "¿Cómo Te Llama?," on iTunes in the US. The song has already been played extensively live on his 2007 tour. A non-album song entitled "& So it Goes" was released as a B-side along with the single.

On 29 May 2008, Hammond was Myspace's featured artist and exclusively premiered his new album "¿Cómo Te Llama?" uploading all the tracks of the album on his Official Myspace page.

On 8 July 2008, Hammond played a small show at the Virgin Megastore, Union Square, in New York City to celebrate the release of his new album. A noted absence from Hammond's band was recording bassist Josh Latzanni. Steve Schiltz of the band Longwave, who toured with Hammond on his first album was also missing. Although Hammond was supposed to play only 2 or 3 songs, he ended up playing almost 10, with a selection that included both new and old tracks.

On 11 July 2008, Hammond began his worldwide tour in support of his sophomore release "¿Cómo Te Llama?" at the landmark and sold-out venue Spaceland in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA with a capacity of only 260 people. This was his only west coast appearance. Opening bands were The Shys and The Parlor Mob.

Nick Valensi (born Nicholas Valensi, January 16, 1981, in New York) is a guitarist for the American alternative rock band The Strokes.


Born January 16, 1981 (1981-01-16) (age 27), New York City, New York
Genre(s) Rock
Occupation(s) Guitarist of The Strokes
Instrument(s) Guitar
Label(s) New Line Records, Rough Trade Records, Scratchie Records

The early years

Valensi's father, Jewish, was born in Tunisia, and his mother Danielle is French . "I always thought I wanted to be able to play any song you could name," he says. "But once I started playing with Julian, that's when I really started to understand music".

Instruments and influences

Valensi's main guitar, which he uses for nearly every live show and recorded song, is a 1990s Epiphone Riviera with Gibson P-94 pick-ups. In a 2004 interview with Epiphone, he called it "the greatest guitar never made because Gibson had never produced a semi-hollow with P-90 style pickups. He has several models in different colours (all with P-94s), including multiple naturals, one in vintage sunburst, one in red, and a 12-string in red. In 2005, Epiphone released a signature model of his guitar, the Elitist Nick Valensi Riviera P-94, and followed it up with a standard model Nick Valensi Riviera P-94 in 2007. Back-up/warm-up guitars include an Epiphone Dot fitted with 2 P-94s, an Epiphone Casino, and a Gibson Faded Special Double Cutaway with 2 P-90s. Valensi often borrows fellow Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s backup guitars, which include a Gibson Les Paul Jr. and Les Paul Special. New guitars used for the First Impressions of Earth tour include a Gibson Les Paul Custom in black, a Fender Telecaster Custom, and a Duesenberg semi-hollow. Valensi's main amplifier is a 2x12" Fender Hot Rod DeVille, used with Fender 4x12" extension cabinets during live shows. He also recently purchased a Carr amplifier to use on the last few stops of the First Impressions tour. His pedalboard consists of a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive pedal, Demeter TRM-1 Tremulator, Vox Cooltron Bulldog Distortion, MXR Micro-Amp (2) and a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner.

He cites his influences as The Velvet Underground, The Cars, George Harrison.

Personal life

In Summer 2006, Nick married his girlfriend of five years, Amanda de Cadenet. De Cadenet published a book of photographs entitled Rare Birds in 2005, which includes several pictures of Valensi, whom she refers to as her "muse" on her website.

Valensi has described his wife as "The coolest person I know.

Amanda de Cadenet gave birth naturally to their fraternal twins, Silvan and Ella, on October 19, 2006.

Collaborations

Nick Valensi did backing vocals and also played guitar for Devendra Banhart's song 'Shabop Shalom' on his new album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, which was released September 25, 2007.

He also played guitar for Regina Spektor's song 'Better' which was released on her latest album 'Begin to hope' and also published as a single in a slightly different version on which the guitar parts are rearranged.

Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is the vocalist and songwriter of the alternative rock band The Strokes.

Birth name Julian Fernando Casablancas
Also known as Jules
Born August 23, 1978 (1978-08-23) (age 29)
Origin New York City
Genre(s) Garage rock, alternative rock
Occupation(s) Singer
Instrument(s) Lead vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums
Years active 2001-current
Label(s) Rough Trade, RCA, Sony BMG
Associated acts The Strokes

Early life and education

Julian Casablancas is the son of John Casablancas, a Spanish-American, the son of Catalonian immigrants from Sabadell in Spain and the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish model who was Miss Denmark in 1965, and brother of Cecile Casablancas. His paternal grandfather Ferran Casablancas was a textile businessman. His parents were divorced when Casablancas was very young and he lived with his mother and Sam Adoquei who taught him about art and work ethic. He had almost no contact with his father.

The first band member who Casablancas knew was Nikolai Fraiture while the two attended the same kindergarten. When he was 14, Casablancas was caught drinking before school and consequently forced into a rehabilitation program called Phoenix House twice a week. Soon afterwards, his father sent him to Institut Le Rosey, a boarding school in Switzerland. It was here that he encountered Albert Hammond, Jr.. Although the two were not friends at the time, they would later become band-mates and room-mates.

When Casablancas returned to New York after six months at Le Rosey, he continued his education at Dwight School in Manhattan, where he met Fabrizio Moretti and Nick Valensi, who later also became fellow band members. He dropped out in 11th grade and attended Five Towns College on Long Island for one year, receiving a scholarship after writing a classical composition. He worked as a bartender before going into music professionally.

Music

Casablancas' musical influences are varied and wide ranging, including but not limited to The Velvet Underground, The Pogues, Bob Marley, Guided by Voices, The Magnetic Fields,The Stooges, The Ramones, Nirvana and The Doors. More recently he has stated that possibly two of his favorite songs of all time are Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Bill Withers's "Lean on Me."

As The Strokes' principal songwriter, he has the greatest impact on their sound and has been known to be extremely meticulous with it. While Casablancas composes on a variety of instruments, perhaps his greatest and most underappreciated innovation is his use of the keyboard to write complex arrangements that he later transposes to fit the Strokes' guitar-driven lineup. For an example of this technique, refer to the similar "I'll Try Anything Once," an unreleased demo, and "You Only Live Once," which appears on First Impressions of Earth. The former is typical of Casablancas' nascent compositions; the latter is the finished, full-band product.

Another recent change has come in the recording of his vocals, which is significantly clearer and louder than their first two albums. However Casablancas says this was adjusted only because it fit the songs more, and not because he was any less self-critical about his voice.

Known to not play much in Strokes' recordings, Julian has proved himself an able multi-instrumentalist through guest appearances. He's played guitar on "Sick, Sick, Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age, bass guitar on Albert Hammond, Jr.'s "Scared," and the second set of drums on the Strokes' "Evening Sun."

He has also served as inspiration for several other musicians. For instance, Courtney Love's song "But Julian, I'm a Little Bit Older Than You", from her debut solo album America's Sweetheart (2004), was written about Julian Casablancas.

In 2008, Julian recorded a song with Santogold and Pharrell Williams of N*E*R*D called "My Drive Thru" for Converse. He also appears in the ad campaign.

Personal life

Julian (or 'Jules' as he is known by his friends and family) is an avid baseball fan, particularly of the New York Mets, and has said that "if I could go back in time I'd be a minor league pitcher". He also likes the New York Jets football team.

On February 5, 2005, Julian Casablancas married Juliet Joslin, The Strokes' assistant manager, in a private ceremony in New York. He announced the engagement at several shows including Central Park, where prior to playing their song "Hard to Explain," he said, "I'm getting married and it's hard to explain!".

Origin New York City
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Garage rock revival, Lo-fi, Indie rock
Post-punk revival
Years active 1998–Present
Label(s) Sony BMG, RCA,Rough Trade

Members
Julian Casablancas
Nick Valensi
Albert Hammond Jr
Nikolai Fraiture
Fabrizio Moretti

The Strokes are an American rock band formed in 1998 in New York City that rose to fame in the early 2000s as a leading group in the garage rock revival. The band consists of Julian Casablancas (lead vocals, songwriting), Nick Valensi (lead guitar), Albert Hammond Jr. (rhythm guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass guitar) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums and percussion). Upon the release of their debut album Is This It in 2001, the group was met with much critical acclaim, being hailed by some as the "saviors of rock and roll." [1] NME made Is This It their Album of the Year. Since then, the band has maintained a large fan base, notably in the UK, US and Australia. Exhausted from almost nonstop recording, they have been on an unofficial hiatus since 2006's First Impressions of Earth, during which several of its members, most notably Albert Hammond Jr., have embarked on a variety of side projects, from music to film.

History

Beginnings and The Modern Age EP: 1998-2001

Lead singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, and drummer Fab Moretti started playing together while attending Dwight School in Manhattan. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture had been friends with Casablancas and was attending the Lycée Français de New York. At age 13, Casablancas was sent to Le Rosey, a boarding school in Switzerland to resolve his drinking problems and improve his academic performance. In Switzerland, Casablancas met guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr..

Later, when Hammond came to New York to attend New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he shared an apartment with Casablancas. They started a band which performed on the Lower East Side of New York, and at Manhattan's popular Mercury Lounge. Ryan Gentles, the Mercury Lounge's booker, quit his job to become the band's manager.

The band began rehearsing a twelve song set which included "Last Nite", "The Modern Age", "This Life" (an early version of "Trying Your Luck"), "New York City Cops", "Soma" and "Someday". Most of these songs now feature different lyrics. Their first release was via UK website NME.COM who gave away a free mp3 download of Last Nite a week prior to physical release as part of The Modern Age EP in 2001. The EP sparked a bidding war among record labels; the largest for a rock and roll band in years.The Strokes became the subject of enormous hype, causing a great divide among rock fans. Last Nite became the theme song for Australian department store chain Kmart.

Is This It: 2001-2003

The Strokes released their debut album Is This It in the US in October 2001 on RCA after some delay due to changes made from the UK-released version (released 27th August 2001). The cover of the latter features a black-and-white photo of a gloved hand on a woman's naked backside, shown in semi-profile, and is said to reference Spinal Tap's fictitious Smell the Glove. The naked model on the cover was photographer Colin Lane's girlfriend at the time. The North American version replaces this with an image of particle collisions taken from a bubble chamber consisting of a curious blue and anzac and replaced the song "New York City Cops" with "When It Started". The replacement of "New York City Cops", which contains the refrain "New York City Cops, they ain't too smart", was made in good faith following the September 11 attacks.

The melodic garage rock sound of Is This It received positive reviews from both mainstream and independent publications, including 4 stars from Rolling Stone, and a 9.1 from Pitchfork Media; it made many critics' top 10 lists, and was named the best album of the year by Entertainment Weekly and TIME. NME, in an article previewing summer concerts, urged readers to attend their shows, claiming that the band was touring on the strength of some of the "best pop songs ever". The influence of 1970s CBGB stalwarts Television was noted by many reviewers, although The Strokes themselves have stated that they are not fans of the band.

After the release of Is This It, the band toured around the world, featuring dates in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and North America staging for the Rolling Stones. The band headlined UK's Carling Weekend festivals in 2002, largely chronicled by a relatively hard-to-find mini-documentary entitled "In Transit" which was released to members of the now-defunct "Alone, Together" fan club.

In August 2002, the band played at New York's Radio City Music Hall on a bill with The White Stripes. Jack White joined the Strokes on stage to perform the guitar solo on "New York City Cops". During that period, the band also appeared as musical guests on various late-night talk shows. Is This It yielded several singles and music videos, all of which were directed by Roman Coppola.

The group began recording their follow-up in 2002 with producer Nigel Godrich (best known for his work with Radiohead), but later split with him in favor of Gordon Raphael, the producer of Is This It. Recordings with Godrich were never revealed. In August 2003, the band toured Japan, playing a couple of the upcoming songs: "Reptilia", "Meet Me In The Bathroom", "The Way It Is", "Between Love & Hate" (formerly known as "Ze Newie") and "12:51" (formerly known as "Supernova"). The band also played Paul Anka's "My Way" with Japanese lyrics.

As of 2007, Is This It has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

Room on Fire: 2003-2005

They released their second album Room on Fire in October 2003, to good reviews, but to less success commercially, although it still went gold. The album's sound maintained the Strokes' familiar reference points, while also evoking groups such as The Cars, Bob Marley, and Blondie. In the process, they made the cover of Spin Magazine for the second time, with each member receiving his own cover. They also made the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time. Additional media coverage of the band came from the relationship between Moretti and actress Drew Barrymore, which ended in January 2007.

The first single taken from Room on Fire was the song "12:51", which used distinct keyboard-like sounds produced by Valensi's guitar. The video was also directed by Roman Coppola, and was inspired by the futuristic look of the 1980s film Tron. This consisted of a mainly black scene, with instances of glowing picton blue and riptide. In November 2003, The Strokes played on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, performing "Reptilia", "What Ever Happened", "Under Control" and "I Can't Win". During the 2003/2004 "Room on Fire Tour", the band played with Kings of Leon as support act and Regina Spektor. While on tour, Spektor and the Strokes recorded the song "Modern Girls & Old Fashion Men", released as a B-side on the "Reptilia" single. Also during the tour, the band included The Clash's "Clampdown" as a cover, which was released as the B-side for The End Has No End.

In late 2004, The Strokes revealed plans to release a live album. The Live in London LP was planned for release in October 2004, but was abandoned, reportedly due to recording quality problems. The chosen gig was one held at the legendary Alexandra Palace in North London. In February 2005, Julian Casablancas wed long-time friend and assistant band manager Juliet Joslin. The Strokes had a three-concert South American tour in October 2005, with dates in Brazil, Chile, and Argentina.

First Impressions of Earth and a short hiatus: 2005-2008

In late September 2005, "Juicebox", the first single from The Strokes then unreleased third album, was leaked online, forcing the single's release date to be advanced. The single was then released as an exclusive on online download services. "Juicebox" became The Strokes' second UK Top 10 hit, as well as their second US Modern Rock Top 10 success. During November and December 2005 the Strokes did a promotional tour for the still unreleased album, which involved doing one-off shows in major cities around the world.

Their third album, First Impressions of Earth, was released in January 2006 to mixed reviews and debuted at number four in the US and number one in the UK, a first for the band. In Japan it went gold within the first week of release. It was also the most downloaded album for two weeks on iTunes. Fraiture claimed that the album was "like a scientific breakthrough".In January 2006, the band then made their second appearance on Saturday Night Live playing "Juicebox" and "You Only Live Once".

The album was somewhat a departure from the band's two previous albums. One reason for this was a switch of producers from Gordon Raphael to David Kahne. Despite its initial strong sales, First Impressions of Earth received the chilliest reception, both commercially and critically, of all their three albums.

In 2006, the band played 18 sold-out shows during their UK tour. In February 2006, The Strokes won "Best International Band" at the NME Awards. In March, the band returned to the US with their longest tour yet. The second single off First Impressions of Earth, "Heart in a Cage", was released in March 2006.

During the summer of 2006, The Strokes played several festival dates in Europe, including the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, the Oxegen Festival in Ireland (during this concert they were to be followed by The Who but due to the overwhelming reaction of the crowd they ended up staying on longer than scheduled), the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the FIB (Festival Internacional de Benicàssim) in Benicàssim (Spain) and Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. They then toured Australia and Mexico in late August and early September, followed by the second leg of the United States tour. While in the US, The Strokes opened for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers for five shows during their Highway Companion tour.

The Strokes went on to complete another US tour. During this final tour Casablancas stated to fans that the band would be taking an extensive break after it finished. An e-mail was sent out soon afterwards by Strokes manager Ryan Gentles, confirming that a "much needed break" would be taken. A new band website went online in May 2007 along with the release of an alternate video to their single "You Only Live Once" directed by Warren Fu. The video also featured a brief interlude with "Ize of the World", also from "First Impressions of Earth". In late 2007, the song "You Talk Way Too Much" was used in a commercial for the Ford Sync. Aleks Cisneros became the Strokes new assistant manager in late 2007.

The Strokes have annouced that they are currently planning to release their fourth studio album and follow up to First Impressions of Earth in 2009. This contradicts the suggestion that the Strokes in fact broke up in 2008.