Julian Casablancas "The Strokes Are Still Going"

Julian Casablancas has assured fans his solo album 'Phrazes For the Young' does not spell the end of this band The Strokes.

The group have been absent for a few years now - in fact they haven't released any album since 2006's 'First Impressions of Earth'.

With guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. releasing two solo albums already, and Casablancas now following the same path, he's claimed the time part will in fact make the New Yorkers stronger as a band.

"The Strokes are still going, we're rehearsing now." Julian revealed in an interview with NME. "I'm finding it pretty damn fun to do different things rather than be locked down to one specific sound or whatever."

"We've been rehearsing for months! Five or six months, I think. It's going well. We're all just trying to get a real good recording identity that we're all super-psyched about."

"We've got lots of songs. We want to knock it out of the park! We're pretty much ready to go, but at the same time we're not going to rush anything. By early next year we should be done for sure."

"I hope The Strokes' best days are ahead of us."

'Phrazes For the Young' is released next month. In case you missed it, here's a video interview with Julian, discussing his current projects.