The Strokes | Gallery Bershad | April 21, 2001
By PHOENIX STAFF | October 25, 2006
Julian Casablancas, in recent times |
In early 2001, out of nowhere, a little band with a whole lot of attitude started playing T.T.’s every couple of months. With each gig word of mouth spread until it seemed a forgone conclusion that they were either too good to be true or the next rock-and-roll saviors from the returning plague of kiddie-corn pop. So when word filtered out that the Strokes were coming up from Brooklyn for a show at a little art space in Davis Square, well, you just had to be there. The keg beer was in paper cups, the PA was less than excellent, and there was no stage. People were literally standing on top of the band. And, for all the technical snafus, the band sounded great: nasty, hard, melodic, and full of NYC attitude filtered down from Richard Hell, Lou Reed, and David Johanson, as two guitars did short garage-rock interpretations of the long dances Television used to indulge in. It seemed as if everything good about NYC rock and roll had been distilled into these three-minute gems. If this were the new future of rock and roll, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing at all. |
Were you there? Wish you were? Seen better? Tell us about it below.
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- Different Strokes?
I feel bad for Julian Casablancas, as strange as that may sound. Slideshow: The Strokes at Bank of America Pavillion Slideshow: The Mess Hall and Wolfmother at Bank of America Pavillion
- Television personality
Though he often sounds like Lou Reed on Quaaludes, his guitar never fails to ring through loud and clear.
- On the racks: October 24, 2006
Plus Miho Hatori and Arctic Monkeys.
- Cowboy Junkies
Regardless of whether you think of this Canadian outfit as pretentious somnambulists or artful rock poets, they’ve carved out a grass-roots career since bursting onto alt-rock radio with a barbiturate cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane” in 1988. Cowboy Junkies, "Sweet Jane" (mp3) Cowboy Junkies, "Misguided Angel" (mp3)
- Boston music news: November 3, 2006
Drop a 10-spot, walk into the Opera House this Wednesday at 7:30 pm, and you’ll find almost the entire line-up of headliners that played Bank of America Pavilion last summer.
- Slouching toward irrelevance
Albert Hammond Jr. may come from money, but he also comes from music.
- Digging it
If a Weezer/Talking Heads supergroup is something you’d look forward to, the Spinto Band is worth checking out .
- On the Racks: May 23, 2006
Plus new releases by Osaka Popstar, PJ Harvey, and the American Idol kids.
- Cinematic trends
If it seems there’s a glut of good shows around town this week, that’s because hundreds of bands have converged on the Northeast for New York’s answer to South by Southwest, the CMJ Music Marathon, which wraps up this weekend.
- Life after The Sopranos
If you’re a Sopranos fan, you remember the demise of Christopher Moltisanti in an overturned SUV.
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Live Reviews
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, Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Lou Reed, The Strokes, Julian Casablancas, Richard Hell, Less
