Gordon Raphael produced The Strokes' Is This It, which is consistently recognized as one of the greatest albums of the new millennium. The Seattle native developed into somewhat of a studio demigod by the time he recorded the band's sophomore album Room on Fire in 2003, but he's mostly stayed off the radar since.
In a rare slate of public appearances, Raphael will stop in four UK cities this winter to speak with fans in a Q&A style setting.
He recently sat down with NME to preview the dates, and revisited several crazy memories from his days with Julian Casablancas and co. at the heights of The Strokes' fame.
One incident involved Pete Doherty and The Libertines, who were so enamored with Raphael's work that they threw themselves at him.
"I was at a Strokes aftershow in London, very stoned," Raphael said of the first time he met Doherty and Carl Barat. "Pete aged about 19 and wearing a trilby hat and old English suit, got on his knee, flipped his hart down his arm into his hand and sung me and old English song. It melted my heart!"
Raphael said much of the Q&A sessions will revolve around his work with The Strokes (no surprise there).
"It just so happens I have a backlog of stories about my time with those guys," he said.
Is This It was a transcendent rock record that, along with early work from The Libertines, The Shins, The White Stripes and others, helped form a new wave of garage-style rock shortly after the turn of the century.
"I've mulled it my head a thousand times," Raphel told Sonic Scoop in 2009. "All I can say is that when people heard the authentic sound of people enjoying playing music together, rather than this manufactured, 'This-is-what-music-is' product - with all these people programming beats and technology and assembling it - they appreciated it."
Here's the short list of dates for Raphael's Q&A tour:
01/29: Manchester, UK @ Night & Day
01/30: Wakefield, UK @ Unity Works
02/05: London, UK @ Dingwalls
02/08: Leeds, UK @ Eiger Studios
