The moment Julian Casablancas and Karen O interviewed each other
During the early 2000s, a garage rock revival dominated the alternative music scene, led by New York natives The Strokes. Inspired by garage and art rockers from the 1960s, such as The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, a new wave of musicians helped revitalise the state of rock and roll, which was overpopulated with commercial nu-metal, pop-punk, and ‘bland’ post-Britpop acts like Coldplay.
The release of The Strokes’ debut album, Is This It, which shot straight to number two in the UK Album Charts, and the success of The White Stripes’ third album White Blood Cells, helped to propel a new wave of vintage-inspired bands into wider public consciousness. Bands such as The Vines from Australia and The Hives from Sweden also enjoyed much success, leading many media outlets to dub the movement “the saviours of rock ‘n’ roll.”
Around this time, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, formed in 2000, built traction through supporting slots for The Strokes and The White Stripes. The band released their debut self-titled EP in late 2001, which helped earn the band more buzz in the scene. As the garage-rock/post-punk revival gained more popularity, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were signed to a major label and became one of the most successful bands of the movement. As the 2000s progressed, the movement gave rise to bands inspired by its spearheaders – as Alex Turner sang in Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Star Treatment’, “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes.”
The early 2000s alternative music scene was not only a vital influence on music but fashion, too. A distinctive vintage-inspired aesthetic was popularised, leading to a phenomenon now looked back on fondly as ‘indie sleaze’. The influence of this era, and particularly the sounds of The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, cannot be understated. Thus, it was only fitting for Julian Casablancas and Karen O to interview each other in 2014 for Time Out, coinciding with their solo ventures.
In 2014, the Strokes frontman released his debut album with The Voidz, formerly known as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. Aiming to represent “things unseen” and explore music “from the margins,” the band’s first album, Tyranny, was released on Casablancas’ own label, Cult Records. Meanwhile, O dropped her first solo venture, Crush Songs, also via Cult Records, which she described as “the soundtrack to what was an ever continuing love crusade.”
The pair, despite their connections in the scene, were never friends. In the interview, Casablancas states, “We had met each other; we’d played some festivals and said hi, but we’d never really hung out until recently.” He continued, “Only in my thirties have I made a concerted effort to connect with other frontpeople, and it’s awesome, because I relate! I kind of wish I would’ve done that when I was younger and more insecure.”
Although they quiz each other on Radiohead, aliens, and Dirty Dancing, Casablancas also discusses his songwriting process at length. When asked if lyrics come easy to him, Casablancas replies, “No! It’s the hardest thing.” O even tells the musician that he is “one of the greatest lyric writers since we’ve been around,” stating, “some of the songs you’ve written. And the lyrics are sublime.” Furthermore, O also touches upon the dominance of male bands in the early 2000s scene, “It was kind of like a boys’ club around that time, so I always felt a little bit like a black sheep, but in a good way. I used that to rev me up.”
The meeting not only provides us with a sense of closure on one of the most hectic moments of pop culture, a time before the technological boom truly hit the airwaves, but it also reminds us of the people at the centre of these cultural shifts.
Read the full interview here.