Pitchfork: The Strokes Party In Vegas For New Years; New Single In January

The Strokes Party In Vegas For New Years; New Single In January
Siegfried has an extra ticket, if you're gay and like cats

[Posted Tuesday, November 18th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The drinks are stiff, the slots are loose, and Vince Vaughn won't stop calling me "honey baby" (that fag). Or, to put it another way entirely: road trip! The Strokes, Pitchfork's little darlings of pretentious (oh, wait, I already called them pretentious in the last article), artfully rough-around-the-edges pop are set to play a special show in the partiest city in the country, on the partiest day of the year-- that's Las Vegas and New Year's Eve, in case you're just waking up.

The show will go down at the Cox Pavilion at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. These are the same guys and gals that romp around half naked in your dad's Girls Gone Wild tapes, but just to up the ante all tickets will feature the word "Strokes" in close proximity to the word "Cox." The current Vegas line puts the chances of the Strokes opening with current single "12:51" at 3:1, with the more thematically relevant "Trying Your Luck" and Room on Fire opener "What Ever Happened" in a dead heat at even odds. "New York City Cops" and a cover of ABBA's "Waterloo" are clear longshots at over 300:1 odds, but if you can get enough drinks into Albert Hammond, Jr. you may just walk away from Sin City a very wealthy sonofabitch.

In other Strokes news, the indie-rock Monkees will be sporting a new single come January 12th. The Billy Idol-esque "Reptilia" will be backed by... hold your breath... a demo version of "Meet Me In The Bathroom." All right! 'Cause that's so much cooler than, say, an unreleased track. Or an Billy Squier cover. But, folks, don't be too disappointed. "12:51" only gave us a demo of "The Way It Is." And that's the way it is.

In case you forgot, The Strokes are jammin' alongside Conan O'Brian every Tuesday throughout this fine month of November. So, if you're out of skrilla, or unluckier than Scott Weiland on a post-binge beer run, you can still check them live.