The Y2K Interview: Julian Casablancas

As regular readers are probably aware, I'm a huge fan of The Strokes. They're my musical orange and blue.

About a year ago, I was at their website, thestrokes.com, when I saw a little news item about how the guys in the band had gone to Shea Stadium to celebrate lead singer Julian Casablancas' birthday.

Knowing that he was a Mets fan, I thought it was worth asking if Julian would be so kind as to agree to an interview with Y2K, so I contacted his management team. The following is the result of the conversation I had with him about the Mets, music, and what have you.

I'd like to thank Julian again for participating in this interview. I'd also like to thank everyone at Wiz Kid Management who helped arrange for me speaking with Julian; Juliet Casablancas in particular. Without your help this interview may never well have happened, so many thanks to you.

Yankees 2000: When did you become a Mets fan? Were you a fan as far back as you can remember or did it sort of grow over the years?

Julian Casablancas: I had a long period of kind of not caring about sports at all, but before that, one of my first memories was the Mets winning the World Series in ’86.

I can also remember the first game I ever went to was with Nikolai [Fraiture, bassist for The Strokes] and his dad. I remember it was against the Astros, and that it was in the late 80s.

This would have been one of the years after they won the World Series. By that point Mookie was the last man standing, most of the team that won in ’86 was gone by that point.

So growing up, if I was rooting for anyone it was the Mets, but then I got into music, and sports kind of fell by. I continued watching basketball because of Michael Jordan but I don’t know, it’s just such an investment you make of yourself when you’re watching sports.

Whenever your team loses you get so depressed – speaking of which, I’m still fucking hurting from that Game 7; I almost don’t want to talk about it, but I know it’s gonna get to that point eventually.

Anyway though, growing up I loved basketball mostly, but then in the late 90s I started played these MLB videogames. I got into the pitching aspect in particular and got really into baseball again.

It got to the point where I wanted to play it in the park whenever I could, and I’ve been watching the Mets for the past, I don’t know, the last 7 or 8 years, since the Bobby Valentine era – that’s when I got back into it.

Y2K: Your bandmates took you to Shea for your birthday a year or two ago – whose idea was that and what was it like?

JC: That was my wife’s idea actually. We try to get to games when we can and that was a birthday idea she’d been planning for a long time. It was amazing, it was like in one of those suites they have there, and that was a different experience watching from one of those.

Actually, the game itself was not so great. It was a game started by Kris Benson where he allowed 6 runs in the first inning.

But what was good about that game though was that, and I love Carlos Delgado, but that was the Mike Jacobs’ first game and he hit a homerun, so I took a little extra something out of that experience because he went on to do so well for us and we were able to trade him for Delgado, and I got to be there for when it all started.

Y2K: You guys were on tour for much of the past year. Were you able to follow the Mets in that time or not so much?

JC: It was really cool because I got that MLB.com package and I had a laptop so I could watch games on the road.

Y2K: How about the other guys in the band, are they Mets fans?

JC: I think because of me they all root for the Mets, but they’re kinda not so into it. I kind of always want to play catch or pitch to someone – I think pitching’s really cool. If I could go back in time I’d be a minor league pitcher, a failing type of guy out there just struggling to make it by.

Y2K: Did you get to go to any games this year?

JC: I saw about 5 or 6 games, we were touring a lot though so it was tough. I was at Game 6 and Game 7 of the NCLS though.

Y2K: Have you ever seen the 1986 Mets Tape?

JC: No.

Y2K: Why the Mets and not the Yankees?

JC: Besides the fact that Yankee fans are kind of dicks? No, I mean, I don’t know, I just think they’re kind of mercenary.

There was actually a little moment in time when I didn’t really like the players, but when we went to Japan the first time the only thing on was Yankee games and, I don’t know, this was maybe 3 years ago, when they lost against Boston, I watched, and the Red Sox had a few come from behind victories when I was watching. Being in Japan I didn’t mind watching them, I don’t care what anybody says.

It’s funny though, I know a guitar tech guy, he was from Scotland and was really into soccer, football, whatever it is, but he was like “fuck the Yankees!” and he was like “change that shit!” whenever I was watching it.

Y2K: In your years as a Mets fan, is there one event or any games in particular that you remember?

JC: I mean this year does, and I don’t know think it’s because it just happened or whatever. The Mets were kind of like, watching the last few years before 2006, they would get ahead and you still would feel like, like somehow they’d kind of let you down. They’d blow the lead and crush your spirit.

This year though it was like the complete opposite. They’d be down and you’d feel like they could come back, and they did! I saw them do it a bunch of times.

Y2K: Do you have any favorite all time Mets players? How about members of the current team, any favorites in that group?

JC: I remember when I was really young it was probably Darryl Strawberry. Now though it’s hard to pick a favorite. I guess I’d say Beltran, but I like a lot of different players. It’s kind of a group thing with them, with Reyes, Wright, Delgado, Beltran and Lo Duca too, those five guys.

Beyond them, it’s funny because I never cared for Pedro before he came to the Mets, but when I watch him locate his pitches I just think he’s the most remarkable pitcher I’ve ever seen, as an individual performer it’s exciting to see him pitch.

Y2K: What are your thoughts on the 2006 season? Are you left disappointed by falling short or satisfied by how great the season was?

JC: Well, I was disappointed with how it finished, but immediately after we lost I really wished Detroit would have won.

What was consoling me after the fact was thinking that with the injuries we had maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, and maybe Detroit was the best team this year, and maybe it’s better to lose in the NLCS because losing in the World Series sucks. Losing in the finals sucks in any kind of sport, you know?

But then with them having a week off I guess a mediocre team like St. Louis was able to beat Detroit, and it kind of hurt me – it’s slowly crushing me to this point, actually.

Can I just ask you: as a Mets fan, do you think leaving Heilman in there for the 9^th inning was the right move?

Y2K: I did actually. I mean, it was tough, he’d only thrown 9 pitches or something like that, and the bottom of the order was coming up, but it was an elimination game and it clearly didn't work out, so I don’t know.

JC: I know hindsight’s 20-20 or whatever but I just feel like I saw him in situations like that all year where he was in for 2 innings and something would go wrong.

Y2K: So will you be booing him if he’s still a Met next year?

JC: No, no. And I honestly, I hope he’s not messed up, because Jesus, I would be messed up. It’s the kind of thing you think of forever, you know, the backyard dream – Game 7, 9^th inning, everybody thinks of that. It’s the fantasy.

Then to come up short like that I think that would potentially psychologically wreck me, and I just hope he’s ok. I think from the sounds of it, he seemed like he was OK. But man, redemption, I hope it’s in his future.

I’ll tell you, sometimes the New York fans are too much. I was at a Jets game, they were winning by 3 or something, so it’s not like they were losing. Then such a minor thing happened and it’s like “you suck Pennington!” and I’m like, I don’t know about whether the guy sucks just because of one missed pass or whatever.

It’s just strange, the fans they’re so eager to fucking pounce, but it cuts both ways, and they appreciate the guys who perform well. I feel like Beltran has a bright future ahead of him even though that’s the kind of treatment he got his first year.

Y2K: You’re talking about the New York/East Coast fan intensity. Do you find that the crowds you perform to are different here than they are elsewhere in the country or the world?

JC: I think it’s different for sure. For us though, we started here, so New York is kind of like where our fanbase started so we’ve always felt really welcome here.

It’s probably true for bands not from New York though, that the fans here can make them like intimidated – people here are different for sure. The crowds are obviously well informed and there’s a lot of fans to please.

So yeah, the fans are different here. For us it’s been great but for others it can be hard I’m sure.

Y2K: Every year the Mets play a song after the home team wins, like L.A. Woman (The Doors), Heroes (The Wallflowers), Who Let the Dogs Out (the Baha Men).

JC: Taking Care of Business…

Y2K: Exactly. If you could choose one song to play after the home team wins, what would it be?

JC: That’s a tough one, We Are the Champions is running through my head. I don’t know, I’m thinking of a chorus that goes “FUCK YEAH!!!” or something like that but I can’t… I can’t think of one right now.

Y2K: Are you in to any other New York area teams?

JC: No, it’s pretty much the Mets for me. The Jets I guess, but nothing compares to the Mets.

Y2K: When can fans expect a new album? Is there talk of going back into the studio?

JC: Well, we just finished touring and I’m still kind of couch-ridden at this point. I was just a week ago feeling like I was back and that I could get to work, but then I went to LA because I promised some friends I would help with their record, so I’m a little tired.

Anyway, we haven’t talked about anything specifically. We talk casually but there are no plans at the moment.

Y2K: Thoughts on Albert Hammond Jr.’s album [Yours to Keep]?

JC: It’s great. He’s my bro and I’m rooting for him. I like the album a lot, I think it’s cool. When you’re in a band it’s kind of hard to bring stuff that five people agree on, but it’s cool because he wanted to do this, he wanted to do his own thing.

I’ll tell you though, I don’t know how he does it, going straight from our tour to his tour, I think he’s gonna crash after this.

Y2K: Do you have any favorite Strokes songs? Or if you’d rather not speak to that, are there any songs in particular you like playing live?

JC: When I do it right, Ize of the World. I look forward to the easy ones [laughs].

No, I don’t know, there’s been times when we’ve talked about that. Especially when there’s a new record, the problem is with a new record, you wish you could play the songs and then see what people really like, then release whatever it is as a single.

Thinking about it more, Hard to Explain, it was the second single from our first album, it wasn’t like a hit or whatever, it wasn’t a bomb or anything but it wasn’t a hit, and that one when we play it live it’s always like one of the best ones received, so that’s our underground hit I suppose.

Y2K: What are you listening to now?

JC: It’s a little all over the place. Arctic Monkeys are great. Magnetic Fields stuff I always liked. I don’t know, it’s all over the place.

Y2K: Do you find that any part of the Mets finds its way into your music?

Probably not, no. But I always wanted to make like a baseball music video, some kind of story with some slo-mo action, maybe end with some bench-clearing brawl, something like that.

I also really want to sing the National Anthem before a game at Shea some time. I got clearance from the people at RCA but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe I should record a version and shop it around to the people at MLB.

Y2K: Thank you for speaking with Yankees 2000.

- A.F.O.M.G.