-Nick Valensi
"Every time I go to Bonnaroo something magical happens and I'm fuckin' stoked for whatever happens this year."
-Fab Moretti
"Good venue, good food, good people.
-Nikolai Fraiture
"What's not to love? It called BONNAROOOOOOO"
-Albert Hammond Jr.
"Ah man, I've been fuckin pumped all week for this. And we're not going on till later tonight!"
-Julian Casablancas
"Backstage is way cooler than in front of it, you get to smell their sweat instead of just seeing it."
-Ryan Gentles
Here's a lovely interview at Bonnaroo with NME! Everyone at NME is awesome by the way, definitely some Strokes lovers down at NME
NME INTERVIEWS THE STROKES
NME: How have fans reacted to your fourth album 'Angles' ?
JULIAN: Pretty positively, I think that everyone had their own expectations as to what the album would be and I think to an extent that we reached that goal.
NME: Now for this album it wasn't just Julian writing the songs, correct?
JULIAN: Yeah.
NME: So which songs were written by who?
NICK: Well Julian still worked on all of them, but they weren't worked on ONLY by him, you know?
ALBERT: Fab and Nick both worked together on 'Gratisfaction', 'Taken for a Fool' and 'Metabolism' with Julian and then Nick wrote 'Machu Picchu' and 'Call Me Back'.
FAB: Then everyone worked on 'Under Cover of Darkness' and same for 'Games' except Nikolai didn't work on that one too much...
NIKOLAI: Too busy with 'You're So Right'.
ALBERT: Oh of course.
JULIAN: Then I wrote 'Two Kinds of Happiness' and 'Life is Simple in the Moonlight'.
NME: By yourself?
JULIAN: ...yeah.
NME: Are you guys working on a fifth album?
ALBERT: Trying, we're still riding on the coattails of 'Angles' so after this tour we'll really buckle down for work.
NME: Now for your solo albums, are those just going to be dropped or are any of you going to be continuing that.
FAB: I mean, it wasn't exactly MY side project, just a thing I did with some cool people so I mean if they need me then yeah I'm gonna go help them but it's not like I'm going to be leaving The Strokes. Strokes will always be number 1 priority.
NIKOLAI: Yeah I'm dropping it.
JULIAN: If the situation arises where The Strokes aren't working then yeah I'll probably continue 'Phrazes'...but for now obviously I'm with The Strokes.
ALBERT: Same.
NME: Are you guys pumped for Bonnaroo?!
HELLZ MOTHER FUCKIN YES.
Backstage at any show is an incredible experience, and Bonnaroo is no exception. I love the fact that backstage brings you closer to the artists and it also pulls you away from the excitement of being in an audience. So for the actual Strokes performance I rocked it in the audience. It's fuckin' intense.The audience is so freakin' pumped for everything they do and being in the middle of that is really just incredible. One of the girls in the audience recognized me and freaked the fuck out. There was definitely a fit of jealously when Jules called me out of the audience.
We were hanging out with Neon Trees backstage and as I was talking to Elaine Bradley (drums, percussion, vocals) Tyler Glenn (vocals, keyboards) challenged Albert to a break dancing contest. Obviously Tyler won, Albert is maybe the clumsiest person I know. Silly Albert. Speaking of clumsy people I got a call from Nasim today that Balki (she's taking care of Jules' dogs and my fish, yes) is entirely depressed. He doesn't eat unless Voltron eats, doesn't sleep anywhere besides Julian's side of the bed, it's adorable. I love those dogs. Picture of the day is obviously not my picture.
This was written on Monday because it happened late last night! So I was in a giant crowd of people (this was after The Strokes played) and I was with Julian initially but then he wandered off (not intentionally) and started calling out for him when Matt Damon grabs my shoulder and I turn around to face him, scream, and run in the opposite direction. Last time I saw Matt I promised him that every time after that that I saw him I would scream and he'd have to chase me. It came up in a conversation, I'm not sure which, but that's what happened. So Matt and I are running at the speed of freakin' light around Bonnaroo and there came a point where I jumped up into one of the T-Shirt tents and balanced myself on the wood frame of the tent and confused Matt for a bit. That was kind of awesome because I felt like a BAMF. However the wood started to crack so I fell down and he saw me and we were at it again. We ran everywhere, there was not a section of Bonnaroo we didn't run around. Then as we were running around the side of Which Stage (I'm going to try and explain this as best as I can...which will involve my script-ness [BTW can I just say I love having a little script part of this because it makes me feel awesome...anyways])
CHRISTINA
(she runs alongside stage right and out from behind the stage ALBERT grabs CHRISTINA roughly by the arms and sits her down quickly and then goes to MATT. As ALBERT was grabbing CHRISTINA, JULIAN had roughly grabbed MATT by the back of the collar which made him slide on the grass and fall on his back. Once ALBERT let's CHRISTINA go he walks over to MATT raising a fist ready to strike) STOP STOP!! (they look up at her confused then look down at her chaser) It's just Matt Damon!
ALBERT
What the-...Oh my God.
MATT
Holy shit I thought you guys were gonna kill me. (he raises a hand and ALBERT grabs it helping him up)
JULIAN
I was about to!
ALBERT
Holy fuck, why the fuck were you chasing her?
CHRISTINA
It's just a thing we do...(CHRISTINA goes over and hugs MATT) Sorry guys...haha.
MATT
Damn, can you run fast...
CHRISTINA
Haha, it's practically required if you're a good thief.
MATT
You're weird, I love you.
CHRISTINA
(winking) Get outta here. (she laughs and ALBERT starts to talk to MATT)
JULIAN
(JULIAN rolls his eyes and MATT walks away with ALBERT talking about something, to CHRISTINA) God Christina...one of these days you're gonna give me a heart attack.
CHRISTINA
(looking down sadly) I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...
JULIAN
(he grabs her and hugs her tightly not letting go. He pets her hair consolingly) God I thought he was trying to hurt you...I thought I was going to have to see you in a hospital bed again...
CHRISTINA
Oh sweetie...I'm sorry I made you worry...
JULIAN
(kissing the top of her head he sways her in his arms) Where did you go before?
CHRISTINA
YOU DISAPPEARED.
JULIAN
(he grabs her arms and pushes her back at arms length) YOU DEFINITELY LEFT ME.
CHRISTINA
DID NOT.
JULIAN
(grasps her again in a bear hug) Whatever. You're here now...and are safe...
CHRISTINA
It's nice to know what you would do if you ever saw someone attacking me...
JULIAN
What, did you think I would just stand by??
CHRISTINA
No, but I now I know exactly what you would do. (she pushes him back at arms length and kisses him passionately on the lips, leaving him breathless) You're so cute when you're protective of me.
JULIAN
Aw man, I'm fuckin' sexy.
CHRISTINA
(laughing she takes his hand and leads him towards the crowd of people) Let's party.
-after party