The Voidz

Emerging from Julian Casablancas' solo endeavors, the Voidz cultivated an independent identity that freely fuses indie, hard rock, electronic, and pop. Their most unrestrained blend of experimental urges and political anger surfaced on the debut album Tyranny in 2014. Although Virtue in 2018 and Like All Before You in 2024 rendered those sonic experiments somewhat more navigable, the Voidz maintained an unwavering audacity throughout.

During the 2009 tour supporting Phrazes for the Young, keyboardist Jeff Kite and drummer Alex Carapetis served in Casablancas' backing band. Kite, Carapetis, and bassist/keyboardist Jake Bercovici further collaborated with the Strokes frontman in 2011 on "I Like the Night," a track written for the French fashion label Azzaro. Casablancas responded to the rapport by inviting mutual friends Beardo and Yaghmai into the fold. Under the initial name Julian Casablancas + the Voidz, the group issued Tyranny on Casablancas' Cult Records in September 2014. Producer Shawn Everett captured the sessions at New York City's Labyrinth studio, extending the ambitious volatility of Phrazes for the Young across an 11-minute single titled "Human Sadness" and pointed attacks on corporations and organized religion. Tyranny reached number two on the Billboard Alternative Albums chart and number 39 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. A support tour extending into 2015 mixed Voidz material with Casablancas' solo work and his Strokes compositions at headline and festival dates.

The band adopted the name the Voidz in 2017 and signed with RCA. Their second album, Virtue, followed in March 2018. Once again working with Everett, the Voidz tempered the debut's sprawling sounds and political fury with tighter focus, including an acoustic cover of Michael Cassidy's 1978 disco song "Think Before You Drink." Virtue climbed to number eight on the Billboard Alternative Albums Chart and number 151 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. Short-form releases occupied the subsequent years. After the 2018 Adult Swim single "Coul as a Ghoul," Mac DeMarco and Kirin J. Callinan co-produced May 2019's "I Did My Best/The Eternal Tao." Late 2020 brought "Alien Crime Lord," placed on Casablancas' Grand Theft Auto Online station K.U.L.T. 99.1 Vespucci Beach, Low Power Beach Radio, which also featured DeMarco and David Cross. The following April the band released "The Eternal Tao 2.0," an expanded take on the 2019 track. In May 2023 the Daft Punk collaboration "Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)" surfaced on the electronic duo's tenth-anniversary edition of Random Access Memories. Weeks later the Voidz returned with "Prophecy of the Dragon," a brooding electro-metal-pop cut co-produced by Ivan Wayman, Justin Raisen, and Sadpony. That song and the later singles "Flexorcist," "All the Same," and "7 Horses" formed the core of Like All Before You. Released in September 2024, the album applied a more restrained lens to the band's experimental palette.