The Strokes appear to be teasing their return with new music. Check out the posts below.
The New York band’s latest studio album ‘The New Abnormal’ arrived in early 2020, with the members since working on individual projects.
Julian Casablancas and co. are due to return to the stage together for two headline gigs in San Francisco this month, ahead of appearances at Coachella 2026. They’ll make stops at various other US festivals, including Outside Lands and Just Like Heaven, as well as Japan’s Summer Sonic.
Last night (Tuesday March 31), The Strokes seemingly hinted that new material could also be imminent as they prepare to head back out on the road.
The group took to Instagram Stories to share a link alongside a ’90s PC-style notepad logo. The post directed fans to a Laylo page, which includes some similarly old-school artwork. This shows four horses pulling a cassette tape across the desert.
Users can sign up by submitting their phone number. The Strokes teased that they’d “be in touch” with “updates soon”.
On Reddit, one fan shared a screenshot of a text message they had received, in which the band promised that they’d “try to share something soon”.
URGENTE: The Strokes iniciou uma campanha misteriosa via Laylo, site usado por artistas para lançamentos e anúncios exclusivos, sugerindo o início de uma nova era da banda ou até mesmo um novo lançamento. Fãs que se cadastraram já começaram a receber mensagens diretas… … pic.twitter.com/i3Amlsqn7S
— Julian Casablancas Brasil (@casablancasfcbr) March 31, 2026
Check the insta story. Its time
byu/tonightsphantasm inTheStrokes
In the comments section, someone theorised: “Call me crazy but [the] visual of a horse delivering tape, for a sms service for fans, could it be them delivering new music??” Another person wrote: “Am I stupid to think that’s a pretty strong hint at new music?”
Someone else asked: “Odds on single this Friday? Perhaps an announcement tomorrow.” Elsewhere, a user commented: “Something before Coachella? Pleaseee.”
The Strokes’ official website currently links to the mystery page, too, with the title “????”.
Back in 2022, Rick Rubin – who produced ‘The New Abnormal’ – confirmed that he was working on a new album with The Strokes, and had finished a recording session with them in Costa Rica. “It was incredible,” he recalled at the time. “And we did that every day, playing out in the [open], and they didn’t want to leave. It was, like, the best experience.”
In response, frontman Casablancas revealed that the group had “jammed and started some stuff”, but told fans that The Strokes’ next record was “extremely v far off” from being finished. “Check back in a year or [two] honestly,” he added.
Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr later recalled the “magical” new sessions with Rubin, and looked ahead to the band’s future. “I don’t think we’ve written our best songs yet,” he said. “I really feel that in my gut.”
During an interview with NME in spring 2023, Hammond Jr gave an update on the progress of The Strokes’ next full-length effort.
The Strokes live at The Roundhouse, London. Credit: Jenn Five/NME
“I think [Rubin] was just so excited about where we recorded,” the musician told us of the producer’s revelation from the previous year. “But I don’t know what to say about it – I don’t have any information on it.
“It’s not like it’s happening and I’m hiding something. We went and did a bunch of recording. It could come out a year or two years from now – it’s an unknown amount of time when it’ll be finished but, yes, we are working on another record.”
Speaking to NME in 2020, the NYC indie icons suggested that they could “be a little quicker” to release their next album, following the seven-year gap between ‘Comedown Machine’ and ‘The New Abnormal’.
“I think we have a good thing going,” Casablancas told us. “We have a good relationship with Rick [Rubin, producer]. In theory, knock on wood, we should be working faster.”
The Strokes last played in the UK when they headlined All Points East 2023 in London. More recently, Casablancas teamed up with Charli XCX on a reworking of ‘Mean Girls’ from her ‘Brat’ remix album.
He released a new record with The Voidz, 2024’s ‘Like All Before You’, before dropping the group’s EP ‘Męğż Øf Råm’ the following year.
In 2023, Hammond Jr shared his fifth solo LP, ‘Melodies On Hiatus’, while bassist Nikolai Fraiture reunited with his other band, Summer Moon. Elsewhere, guitarist Nick Valensi released an EP with his group CRX in 2024, ‘Interiors’, and played on Ringo Starr’s ‘Crooked Boy’ collection.
In autumn 2024, Casablancas opened up about why he had “kind of stepped away a little bit” from The Strokes as he focused on The Voidz. He called his role in The Strokes “a very cool day job that I’m honoured to have”.
The frontman explained last summer that The Strokes had previously “entered a mechanism that kept us together solely for financial reasons, pushing the band’s creativity into the background”.
“If someone wants to keep creating, they have to be ready for change,” he continued. “Even if it means the death of something they held dear.”
Casablancas has expressed his dismay at performing popular Strokes songs live in the past, admitting that he’d become “sick” of doing so.
“So it was still fun, but when you start playing 30 or 40 shows, the music doesn’t move you,” he said in 2020. “You feel phoney. To some extent, that’s why I play with Voidz. I couldn’t care less about playing ‘Last Nite’.”
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