As editor and publisher of his own Independent Music Press, Martin Roach is an experienced chronicler of modern rock. Following the critical success of The Right To Imagination And Madness, Martin has written biographies on Blur, The Prodigy and others.

The Strokes arrived on the scene surrounded by rumor and myth but they also made a blistering album – Is This It – and left no one in any doubt that rock ‘n’ roll is alive and well and living in New York City. Their album subsequently won the NME Album of the Year award.

Julian, Fabrizio, Albert, Nick and Nikolai had built the group in the painstaking way their 70s and 80s heroes used to, and after a few false starts, The Strokes proved themselves to be a band with the look, the sound, the attitude, and above all, the talent. In this first biography of The Strokes, Martin Roach lifts the lid on a phenomenon that the media raved about but didn’t create. As manufactured pop idols multiply, The Strokes are the real deal.