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The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas: '98% of bands' don't like playing festivals

The musician also spoke about the potential of a full album following on from their Future Present Past EP. 

Clarisse Loughrey
Wednesday 08 June 2016 05:47 EDT
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"Hello, [insert name of festival]! We're so happy to be here!"

The standard proclamation of whatever headlining band is currently trailing up and down outdoor stages across the UK and the world. Well, The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas is here to break those wondrous illusions: those were all lies, and nobody is having fun.

Casablancas was asked by Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 radio show how he felt about playing huge crowds, to which he replied that "98% of the musicians I talk to" don't enjoy playing festivals and prefer to "play surprise shows in half empty bars".

The Strokes have just released the Future Present Past EP, their first record since 2013's Comedown Machine; with Casablancas further revealing the band were working on a video for the track, "Threat of Joy", following the release of a lyric video for "Drag Queen".

However, there were apparently previous plans to make a video for "OBLIVIUS", but the project was "shutdown" for its political content, though the musician did not reveal its potential subject matter.


Casablancas also hinted at the possibility that a full Strokes album could be following on from the EP; "We hadn’t anything in a while and you almost want to do something a little light, three songs no big deal, kinda get back some of the mojo before a potential album."

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