Julian Casablancas doesn’t like "playing festivals".
The Strokes frontman – who is jetting off to Australia with his band to perform at Splendour In The Grass in July – confessed he isn’t a fan of huge stage-sharing concerts and claimed he’s not the only one to not enjoy them.
He revealed "98% of the musicians I talk to (don’t like them) and he prefers to "play surprise shows in half empty bars".
The indie rock group – which is also made up of Nick Valensi (guitar), Albert Hammond, Jr. (rhythm guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums) – recently released their second EP ‘Future Present Past’ through Julien’s label Cult Records.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 show about the record – which features the tracks ‘OBLIVIUS’ ‘Threat of Joy’ and ‘Drag Queen’ – he said: "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."
And the singer recently revealed the band could set out on tour next.
He said previously: "we always do stuff.
"No specific news, sorry. It’s never… I feel like we play every year or two years or something like that. I think the idea was if we can get our stuff together to do a record, we can do more proper tours."
But Julien confessed he tries to avoid the commercial side of the group’s music once it has been recorded.
When asked if it felt good to release music again, he replied: "I mean, sure, I don’t know. I’m in a bubble. I don’t know, I try not to pay attention. I worked on it and it’s done. I don’t, like, check the internet or anything."
The band’s 2001 debut album ‘Is This It’ went to number two in the UK Albums Chart, while single ‘Last Nite’ peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart.
Julien Casablancas: I don’t like playing festivals
