Nikolai Fraiture / The Strokes

About this episode

Nikolai Fraiture discusses the journey of The Strokes and their recent work in this encore episode.

ENCORE EPISODE — To celebrate the landmark performance The Strokes delivered at Coachella 2026, we're revisiting this conversation. Nikolai Fraiture — bassist and founding member of The Strokes — sits down to talk about what it actually looked like from the inside of one of the most hyped band launches in rock history, and what's happened in the two decades since. We get into the Grammy win for The New Abnormal and the making of Reality Awaits with Rick Rubin in Costa Rica — and what it took for Rubin to get a band that started in a New York basement back to playing like one. The Strokes were the first band any of them had ever been in. After 20 years, Nikolai describes a lock-in with his bandmates that he says can't be manufactured: "I wouldn't walk away from something that special that comes along so rarely." And he's candid about early fame in a way that doesn't feel performed: "I don't think I handled it very well." Reality Awaits is coming. This is where it started. YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@theplugwithjustinjay Website → https://www.theplugwithjustinjay.com Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-plug-w-justin-jay/id1517322794 Spotify →…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Jay

Guest: Nikolai Fraiture

Topics covered

• music
• band history
• fame
• interviews
• rock
• The Strokes

Keywords

• The Strokes
• Nikolai Fraiture
• Rick Rubin
• Reality Awaits
• The New Abnormal
• Coachella 2026
• rock history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Strokes, Rick Rubin

Books & works: The New Abnormal, Reality Awaits

Places: Costa Rica