Unapologetically frank, if also somewhat emotionally unavailable in interviews, Julian Casablancas often comes off as much too aggressive and confident for his own good. However, many of the people who assume this about him fail to take into account his youthful passion and desire for integrity concerning his art and work. The progeny of a beauty queen and a modeling agency mogul, it was probably only too appropriate that Julian would find interest in the glamour/grunge world of Rock and Roll. In his early teens, having started to hungrily absorb the musical sustenance of artists like The Velvet Underground, The Cure and Bob Marley, he realized his only choice in life was to be a songwriter. " ... And for me, as soon as I started to understand how music worked, I couldn't get enough and I was stuck. That's what I had to do. Or just, you know. Kill myself. 'Cause I didn't want to be a dentist, or anything else." [G]

O T H E R   " F U N "   F A C T S

• Started songwriting at age 14.
• His middle initial is F. Many a man has been driven to the precipice of insanity trying to figure out what it stands for. Now that I think of it, I probably shouldn't have mentioned his middle initial is F. Remember. F.
• Received his first kiss at nine from his ten-year-old Danish cousin. It's nice to see the youth of America keeping it in the family.
• He was awarded a two year scholarship to Long Island's Five Towns college to study music composition.
• Vetoed "Come On" as the original name of the band in favor of "The Strokes."