Master Stroke, Julian Casablancas

The Strokes Plan "Secret" Tour

From Pitchfork, Rob Kleckner reports:

Hot on the heels of Coldplay's recent tour announcement douchebaggery come some new touring shenanigans from the Strokes. Get this: the failed rock saviors have announced some secret shows. That's right, the Strokes have announced that they will be playing secret shows. Some secret, huh?

Well, the venues and times are still clandestine, but not the cities or approximate dates for this buzz-gathering jaunt promoting the Strokes’ upcoming third album, First Impressions of Earth, due on January 3. According to Billboard.com, the secret tour began in Tokyo on Monday, and will continue to small clubs in Sydney, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, and Madrid, wrapping up in mid-December.

Guitarist Albert Hammond told the site, "We'll do eight new songs and leave, just like how it was with the first record, with no one knowing any of our music. We thought it would build some excitement."

The week the album is released, the band will play more secret club gigs in U.S. cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, sayeth wise, all-seeing oracle Billboard.com. The jaunt will then morph into a regular ol' un-secret tour across the rest of North America from February through April.

First Impressions has a cut called "Ask Me Anything" that features just Master Stroke Julian Casablancas and a Mellotron. While they aren’t planning on including the ditty in the secret show sets, Hammond told Billboard, "When we start the main touring, we're definitely going to throw that song in. It will be a nice break from all the loud music."

The Strokes recently completed the video for First Impressions of Earth’s first single, "Juicebox". Far more entertaining than the song itself, the clip features David Cross as a clueless radio disc jockey, hot guy-on-guy and girl-on-girl action, and vomiting.

Here are some screencaps from the new video:

Why won't you come over here. We've got a city to LOVE!

There's a new pic of the Strokes to cheer you up on this lovely Friday.

I want to blog more. I don't really have the urge to anymore while I am at work. But it's Friday and it's slow, so I decided to update you on stuff.

This is my nostalgia weekend. Tonight I had planned girls nite at the One Year Anniversary of Liberation, but some of those girls bailed last minute, work and tests and the fact that we are going to DC9 again on Saturday. I guess my dream of having all my girls in one room drinking and dancing is dead. Why can't everyone get nostalgic with me?? Doesn't matter, I'm still going to have fun.

Tomorrow night is the next installation of the Haunted Mansion parties - TANG! Remember back to Dressed to Get Screwed and FREEZE.

So, that's my weekend, I will try to recapture and hold onto the past while enjoying and loving the present. I'll let you know how this experiment goes.