Julian Casablancas

Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the rock band the Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since their founding in 1998. Casablancas released a solo studio album, Phrazes for the Young, in 2009, and has released three albums with the experimental rock band the Voidz.

A native New Yorker, he was born to Danish model Jeanette Christiansen and businessman John Casablancas. He met bassist Nikolai Fraiture at the age of six, and attended the exclusive Le Rosey school, where he met guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. He did not complete high school, but received a GED.

After meeting guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fab Moretti at Dwight School in Manhattan, New York the group began experimenting with music together. After adding Hammond Jr., the Strokes were formed. Their debut album Is This It was critically acclaimed, and launched Casablancas and the band to rock stardom. Casablancas was the primary songwriter and creative voice behind the band's early albums, including 2003's Room on Fire and 2005's First Impressions of Earth. After a six-year hiatus, the Strokes released Angles in 2011 and Comedown Machine in 2013 with the band taking a more collaborative approach to these projects. Casablancas would not record another record with the band until 2020's Grammy-winning The New Abnormal, the first such nomination or win for the band.

During a five-year hiatus for the band, Casablancas released his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young. In the same year he founded the independent record label Cult Records, which has represented artists the Growlers, Rey Pila and Karen O.

Since 2013, he has been the frontman of experimental rock band the Voidz. The band has released three studio albums, Tyranny (2014), Virtue (2018) and Like All Before You (2024). The band represents an ambition of Casablancas to make less commercial music and explore new themes.

Early life

Julian Fernando Casablancas was born in New York City on August 23, 1978, the son of American-Spanish businessman John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen (née Christjansen), a Danish model and the 1965 Miss Denmark who later became an artist. When Julian was eight, his parents divorced. He said that he wanted to be closer to his father, which "translated into teenage rebelliousness". His mother later married Ghanaian painter Sam Adoquei, who helped shape Julian musically by exposing him to music like the Doors, which was markedly different from the mostly Phil Collins-influenced music he listened to as a child. Prior to becoming a musician, he aspired to play professional basketball.

Julian Casablancas has several half-siblings, including an elder from his father's first marriage and three younger half-siblings from his father's fourth marriage. Julian met future Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture when they were six years old, while they both attended the bilingual French school Lycée Français de New York. When he was 13, his father sent him to the Institut Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland, to improve his grades. Julian later returned to New York City and attended Dwight School with two other future Strokes bandmates: guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Julian never finished high school, but took the GED and enrolled in music classes at Five Towns College, which he later said was the first time that he enjoyed himself in class. He later attended Adelphi University class of 2001, studying with Pulitzer prize winning composer Paul Moravec.

Career

The Strokes (1998–present)

After meeting future guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fab Moretti at Dwight School in Manhattan, Julian Casablancas began to play music with them. He reconnected with guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. when the latter moved to New York. The band was formed in 1998 when Hammond was accepted into the band, with Casablancas as the lead vocalist and main songwriter and Nikolai Fraiture on bass.

The band began rehearsing a fourteen-song set which included "Alone, Together", "Barely Legal", "Last Nite", "The Modern Age", "New York City Cops", "Soma", "Someday", "Take It or Leave It" and "This Life" (an early version of "Trying Your Luck"). Most of these songs now feature different lyrics. A demo sent to the newly reformed Rough Trade Records in the UK sparked interest there, leading to their first release via the website of the UK magazine NME, who gave away a free mp3 download of "Last Nite" a week prior to the 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. Shortly after, the Strokes' critically acclaimed debut album Is This It was released.

The band has received the highest of praise for Is This It, setting the stage for what people expected would "save rock" in the new millennium. Though some would argue that such statements left unreasonably sized shoes to fill, the Strokes are still highly recognized as one of the most influential garage rock bands of the early 2000s, paving the way for many alternative bands to come.

However, the group found it difficult to replicate their early critical success. In an excerpt from Lizzie Goodman's Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001–2011 – named after the Strokes' track – Strokes guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr., comments, "With Room on Fire [2003], people were giving us sh_ because they said we were sounding too much the same. With the third album [First Impressions of Earth], we were getting sh_ that we don't sound like Room on Fire. We got __ by the same thing twice!"

After the release of the two other albums and several major tours, the band took a five-year break, returning with their fourth album Angles in 2011. The five-year hiatus was said to be the result of conflicting solo projects, sobriety issues, and unspoken emotions. The Strokes' drummer Fab Moretti said the band struggled to process such "subconscious volcanic emotions", partly because they were still "children" at the time.

Although their creative processes have been critiqued by outside observers as "a democracy under a dictator", Casablancas said in 2010 that the band was moving "more in the direction of everyone being equal." Commenting on Casablancas' creative process, guitarist Nick Valensi has said, "his ear is so sharp. He's the one with the ear for detail in this band. Creatively, he is a force to be reckoned with." The 2011 release, Angles, is said to reflect the beginning of the more collaborative nature of the band's creative process.

The album release was followed by several headlining appearances at musical festivals, including Reading, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The band released Comedown Machine in 2013, as their last album under the contract with long-time label RCA, for which they did no promotion. The band released an EP, Future Present Past, on Casablancas' own label Cult Records in 2016.

In December 2018, it was announced that the band would headline at Bilbao BBK Live in 2019, kicking off their global comeback. Numerous dates for festivals and shows were subsequently announced, including a show at the Governors Ball Music Festival, marking the band's return to New York City.

Starting May 14, 2019, the Strokes teased some new songs, starting with "The Adults are Talking", live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, suggesting that the Strokes might release a new album. On December 31, 2019, at Brooklyn NYE, they performed "Ode to the Mets" as an offer from Casablancas to sing live instead of singing songs from Angles as requested by fans. "I don't remember Angles. What's Angles?" Casablancas responded before suggesting that the band play the new song and later confirming the release of a new project.

The band released the album The New Abnormal in April 2020, though writing sessions for songs on the album started as early as 2016. The following year, there was rumors that they were working with Rick Rubin for a new album, however Albert Hammond Jr. said they were only presenting ideas to him. However, he would eventually end up producing the album. It was their first full-length album since Comedown Machine. The album won the band their first Grammy Award, receiving the award for Best Rock Album. The album received positive reviews from critics, suggesting that the band came back with more maturity and better cohesion among the bandmates.

Cult Records

In 2009, Casablancas founded Cult Records, the creative imprint for his solo album Phrazes for the Young. The label signed a partnership agreement with Kobalt Label Services in 2014, which includes representation and product management, physical distribution across multiple territories, digital distribution through AWAL, marketing and sync licensing services. Cult currently represents the Growlers, Har Mar Superstar, Songhoy Blues, Rey Pila, Karen O, Promiseland, the Strokes, the Voidz, Exhibition and Cerebral Ballzy. The label has also released works of Albert Hammond Jr., the Virgins, Reputante, INHEAVEN, Exclamation Pony and Nelson London (C O L O R).