The Strokes have announced that guitarist Nick Valensi will be taking a “temporary break” from the band’s upcoming tour promoting their seventh studio album, Reality Awaits.
“Nick will be taking a temporary break from the scheduled tour, but we look forward to his return,” the band wrote yesterday (May 14) on their Instagram stories.
While they did not give a reason for his hiatus, they did mention that “holding down the guitar in the meantime is our old friend Steve Schiltz, who many of you will remember from the early NY days.”
A long-time associate and friend of the band, Schiltz was part of the New York-based shoegaze band Longwave. Best known for their early albums Endsongs and The Strangest Things – released in 2000 and 2003, respectively – the band also supported the Strokes on several occasions.
Things came full circle when The Strokes invited him to fill in on guitar for a gig at New York’s Irving Plaza in 2021 and again earlier this year. He will once again take on guitar duties for the upcoming world tour, which kicks off at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee on June 12.
In related news, Haim’s Danielle Haim recently spoke to Guitar World about her experience sidemanning for Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas’ solo project early on in her career.
