Music Folks
Julian Casablancas: The Strokes Frontman and His Many Side Projects
October 20, 2026 · by Music Folks
Julian Casablancas is the voice and main songwriter of The Strokes, the New York band that helped bring guitar rock back to the center of the music conversation in 2001. Away from that band he has built a second career as a solo artist, the leader of The Voidz, a record label founder and an occasional guest on other people’s hits.
Quick Facts
- Born: August 23, 1978, New York City
- Known for: Lead vocals and songwriting with The Strokes
- Other projects: Solo album Phrazes for the Young (2009); The Voidz; Cult Records
- Key albums: Is This It (2001), The New Abnormal (2020), Reality Awaits (2026)
- Awards: Grammy for Best Rock Album (The Strokes, The New Abnormal); shared the Album of the Year Grammy for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories
A New York Beginning
Casablancas grew up in New York City, the son of Elite Model Management founder John Casablancas and Danish former beauty queen Jeanette Christiansen. He met future bassist Nikolai Fraiture at a bilingual French school at the age of six, and later, at the Dwight School in Manhattan, he met guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. After a stretch at school in Switzerland he returned to the city, and the friendships formed in those years became the core of The Strokes.
The band took shape in 1998, with guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. completing the lineup. A demo caught the attention of Rough Trade Records, and the Modern Age EP and the debut album Is This It followed in 2001. For the full band story, see our profile of The Strokes.
Stepping Out Alone
During the band’s break after 2006’s First Impressions of Earth, Casablancas released his first solo album, Phrazes for the Young, in November 2009. It leaned toward new wave and synthesizers, a clear change from the dry guitar sound of his day job, and he toured it with a backing group called the Sick Six. The same year he started Cult Records, which he set up as an independent home for the record and which later signed acts including The Growlers, Karen O and Songhoy Blues.
In 2013 he formed Julian Casablancas + The Voidz, a noisier and stranger outfit. Their albums Tyranny (2014) and Virtue (2018) were more political and more experimental than anything The Strokes had done. The group dropped his name in December 2017 and became simply The Voidz, and returned with Like All Before You in September 2024 and the Megz of Ram EP in July 2025.
Guest Appearances
Casablancas also became a sought-after guest. He wrote lyrics and sang on “Instant Crush” for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (2013), an album that won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and he shared in that award. He also recorded “Boombox” with The Lonely Island and appeared on a 2024 remix of Charli XCX’s “Mean girls.”
Where He Is Now
The Strokes returned to the top table with The New Abnormal, produced by Rick Rubin, which won the Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2020. As of October 2026 the band’s latest release is Reality Awaits, their seventh album and first in six years, again made with Rubin and released in July 2026. NME called it “playful, powerful,” noting that the band sounds more engaged than they have in years. Casablancas remains one of the most distinctive voices of his generation, and one who has never stopped trying new things.