Two years after Comedown Machine, Julian Casablancas and the Strokes have reassembled in New York City, resuming plans to record a new album.
"It's the first time we've been exclusively writing since Comedown Machine," Casablancas said, notes Rolling Stone. "We're planning on recording stuff. I still think we could do cool things and I'll do that."
Aside from the Strokes, Casablancas has kept busy promoting Tyranny, the 2014 album he recorded with backing band, the Voidz — if he can manage to juggle both projects, he has full intentions of doing so.
"The Strokes [were] my life," he said. "It was everything, and I put everything into it — it was a journey that I wanted to keep moving forward, but I couldn't do that anymore, and it was very frustrating. So it took all this time to getting round to almost starting a new band to get to the point where I can continue to do what I set out to do from the beginning. It's like if we had the best team ever and before the championship people started celebrating and not practicing. And we still have to play the playoffs."
The Strokes are known for their history of quarrels but Casablancas admits the band's "relationship is good now," in an interview with Noisey. Their set at FYF Fest was the pivotal moment he realized the band had encouraging potential to continue.
Last year, the Voidz and U.K. punk band, Savages, played a number of South American festivals with one another, probing the idea that lead singer Jehnny Beth and Casablancas should head to the studio to record a duet. Savages released Silence, their debut album, in 2013 and are currently brainstorming ideas while working on a second LP.
On June 18, the Strokes will headline the British Summer Time Festival in London's Hyde Park.
