Julian Casablancas by the same thing twice!" After the release of the two other albums and several major tours, the band took a 5-year break before returning with their fourth album "Angles" in 2011. The five year hiatus was said to be the result of conflicting solo projects, sobriety issues, and unspoken emotions.The Strokes' drummer Fab Moretti claimed the band struggled to process such "subconscious volcanic emotions", partly because they were still "children" at the time. Though their creative processes has been critiqued by outside observers as “a democracy under a dictator”, Casablancas has encouraged each band member to contribute their own
Julian Mandrake in the Teri Timms fronted rock band "Onyxx" from Austin, Texas as well as the band "Litzbomb". In 2002 Julian temporarily joined Matt Noveskey's band A+ Machines and recorded demos with the band, but departed before playing any public shows. Julian played lead guitar in the band Canvas from 1999 until the band parted ways in 2006. That same year, Julian played guitar on Blue October's "Foiled" tour, covering Justin Furstenfeld's guitar parts while Justin was injured. His performances included Lollapalooza on August 4, 2006, as well as Jimmy Kimmel Live! on June 28, 2006. Julian can be seen performing