But one Stroke, 35-year-old guitarist Nick Valensi, has yet to go solo.
This was my first time out as a singer, first time out as a lyricist, Valensi says.
There were definitely moments in this process where I could dip into second guessing myself.
Credit: Amanda de Cadenet
Josh was there every time to reassure me and to keep me on track.
I started by myself demoing songs, working at home.
Little by little, I brought guys in one by one.
The band kind of came together in an organic way.
Im lucky that I didnt have to audition anyone to be in this band or anything were all friends.
I just wanted to take the time to woodshed.
I didnt want to come out not sounding great.
It was a deliberate learning process for me.
Probably just because growing up as a kid I identified with Izzy and Slash.
I didnt identify with Axl.
GnR was a big touchstone for you, I take it.I was like five years old whenAppetitecame out.
It wasnt my parents thing, it wasnt my older sisters thing.
It was my thing that I listened to on my Walkman incessantly.
Guns n Roses was a kind of formative band for me.
How long were the sessions?
We didnt tour it at all, we didnt do any shows to promote it.
Thats when I started writing songs.
But I believed in them and I approached Josh for insight and advice.
I played him the songs and I was pleasantly surprised at how into the songs he was.
I threw it out there that maybe [hed] produce and he was on board right away.
Half of them were power-pop leaning, like Cheap Trick or the Cars or Elvis Costello.
The other half of the songs were a little bit more aggressive and a little bit more uptempo.
He wanted me to bounce back and forth between these two things.
It was his idea to actually even highlight that more.
He wanted to do stuff that he maybe hadnt done before and that people might not associate him with.
Can you give any update about new Strokes music?Strokes are doing pretty great.
Theyre all pretty excited for me, super supportive, which feels great and Im very thankful for.
