Casablancas, Moretti and Valensi were the first members of the band and started playing together when they were still in high school. In 1998, Hammond joined the band. They spent two years playing live in New York City, but no one really listened to them. They recorded some songs and sent them to record labels, but their offers were not accepted. On October 2000, the band went to Gordon Raphael's studio and recorded songs, but with no extra effects. Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis found out the songs and released them as "The Modern Age" EP. The Strokes were also featured in a famous magazine, the "NME". Because of these, the band was noticed by a lot of people, but most of those people were in the UK.