They certainly look the part: stylishly dishevelled just-got-out-of-bed
barnets, their informal policy of always dressing as if they're about to
play a show, with a penchant for suits or leather jackets and ties. The
whippet-thin fivesome of Julian Casablancas (vocals), Nick Valensi (guitar),
Albert Hammond Jr. (guitar),

Nikolai Fraiture (bass) and Fabrizio Moretti (drums) have definitely managed
to wow more than their fair share of

style mags.

Ryan and Matt use to be in a band together known as the

Selzer's].Matty Romano on the drums. He was the original drummer, then

he left, then they fired the new guy, so he came back. Ryan did a great

job managing them for awhile, and towards the end, they got a real

manager. They did one full length CD ["Carolyn"]]

mp3.com/selzers

[how ryan became the manager]: He was the band booker at the

Mercury Lounge club in NYC and only really started managing the Strokes

because he liked their music and knew a little more about the music

business than they did.

JP Bowersock GURU [how JP became the GURU]

Hammond: 'I didn't really know many people, and I was walking around

with this Rickenbacker 360 that I had, that I was trying to get fixed, this

guy came up to me and asked: "Do you use handmade strings on that

guitar? I sell them."

'He looked a little shady, but I took a friend and went to this guy's

apartment. And though I never see that guy now, he put me in touch with

Richie Baxt, who put me in touch with JP.'

Baxt is a retired New York police officer who runs a guitar shop from his

apartment and is the man who fixes up The Strokes' guitars. JP

Bowersock, who has officially been installed as band 'guru', is the man

Hammond, followed by Casablancas and, briefly, Valensi turned to for

guitar tutelage and lessons in the history of music.

'JP helped me discover what it was that I wanted to discover about music,

things like how to discover empty spaces,' explains Hammond. It wasn't

this strict teacher thing. We'd just go over there and have an hour's

lesson and then hang out for a couple of hours, talk about music and drink

beer.

'He showed me Freddie King - his '60s/'70s stuff was amazing - Link

Wray for the balls, Elmore James... I'm still gonna get lessons from JP

when I get home.'

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Ryan Gentles (November 28, 1977) is the manager of the New York City-based band, The Strokes.
Before meeting the Strokes, he was the vocalist and guitarist in two bands, Timmsie's First Time, which
broke up in 1995 and The Selzers, which broke up in 2000. Matthew Romano, The Strokes' drum technician
and back-up drummer, was also in both bands, playing drums. Recently Ryan has stated that being part of
the Selzers "was not exactly a proud moment" for him. Gentles met the Strokes when he was booking bands
for the Mercury Lounge in New York. He was so impressed by them that he quit his job to become their
manager. He is now often considered to be "the sixth Stroke". He played a starring role in their music video
"The End Has No End".