The Strokes is a name most of us know and love, but at the turn of the century, these rockers were just breaking out onto the scene with their puppy-dog eyes, messy hair and slept-in clothes. Enter SXSW 2001, a legendary night in Strokes history where they blew the roof off the Iron Cactus in Austin, Texas 17 years ago today. The Texan music conference was the perfect platform for them to show off songs they had been working hard on.
2001 was a big year for the garage-rock revivalists. They were about to release their most famous album to date, Is This It, and become rock radio’s sweethearts. But before the album became a “must-have” in every rock aficionado’s record collection, they premiered “Is This It” and “When It Started” for a very lucky crowd at SXSW on March 16, 2001.
After kicking the set off with the two new hits and blowing the crowd away, the band performed a setlist that was made up of songs from the then-unreleased album, although probably rendered somewhat differently than what we're familiar with today. The Modern Age EP was released only a couple months prior, it includes one of their most popular tracks “Last Nite.” The songs on the EP are wonderfully lo-fi and wild with a sped up tempo, unlike the final cuts that made it onto Is This It.
The second song they played that night, “When It Started,” ended up making it onto the US CD version of the album, but every other version has “New York City Cops” on it, which they also performed that night. The band went on to discover some serious fame and notoriety afterward, but we’ll never forget the seeds that were planted for the young rocknrolla's at SXSW that night.
