The Strokes

The Strokes’ Nick Valensi was ‘resistant’ to using synthesisers and drum machines on the band’s new album. The guitarist admits he was unsure of stepping out of his comfort zone when making ‘Angles’, and worried about how the group would then present the album live. Speaking of the track ‘Games’, he said: ‘ think I was most comfortable working within the limitations of two guitars, bass, drums and vocal. There are some new sonic elements, which maybe I was resistant to at first. “I can stress out about how we’re going to do stuff live. Are we going to get a keyboard player? I don’t know if I want to be in that band.”

The group has previously spoken about the difficulties of recording ‘Angles’, with singer Julian Casablancas absent for parts of the recording process, and also said they plan to follow up the album quickly, with plans to start recording as early as April – a move Nick supports.

He told our source: ‘We started in January 2010. We were in a big, expensive studio for two and a half months. We spent a lot of money and recorded an album, but we kind of scrapped it and started over by ourselves.

‘n future I’d like to make albums faster.”