Up unto this point, there had been only one member of the Strokes who hadn’t branched out with his own musical project, although that changes now with guitarist Nick Valensi and his new band, CRX.
Switching from lead guitar in the Strokes to now rhythm guitar, and more noticeably taking on lead vocals, the move has been a tricky adjustment for Valensi with him recently telling NME, “It took a little bit of time for me to figure out how my voice sounded the most natural and, to be perfectly honest, at first I really hated my own voice… And with the lyrics too, it did take me a little while to get the hang of being a lyricist.”
It seems like Valensi got the hang of it as now CRX has an album, New Skin, said to be inspired by Cheap Trick, the Cars, and Elvis Costello, ready to go. Add in that Queens of the Stone Age frontman Joshua Homme produced New Skin, and fans definitely have something to be excited about!
Take a listen to CRX’s great new single “Broken Bones” below, and check out New Skin when it arrives October 28th via Columbia Records.