Strokes Won’t Let It End
The Strokes have enlisted actresses Eva Mendes (Stuck on You, 2 Fast 2 Furious) and Mila Kunis (That ’70s Show), as well as their manager Ryan Gentiles, to star in the video for “The End Has No End” (from 2003’s Room on Fire).
“We wanted to have a third and last single for this record,” said guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. backstage at Britain’s V 2004 festival. The video, due this fall, was directed by Sophie Muller (Bjork, No Doubt).
The clip was inspired by the album cover of the 1973 Brian Eno, Robert Fripp No Pussyfooting. “It’s a great photo of them in a mirror,” Hammond said. “We’re playing in a mirrored room and there’s a million reflections of us. It’s cool . . . We even drew storyboards.”
The V 2004 show was the band’s last official date on its Room on Fire tour. The Strokes will spend the fall writing their third album. The band will also issue its first live record before the year’s end.
“We took our advance and instead of doing stupid shit, we bought equipment to record our next album in our rehearsal studio,” Hammond said. “Before, we would go into a studio, have a month and just cram it right in, and it was so tense. Now, hopefully in that setting — where we rehearse, where we feel more natural — we’ll come up with something that’s different.”
The Strokes already have a handful of tracks written. “These ones are even more extreme,” Hammond said. “Arrangement-wise, it’ll be a little more drastic.”