A biography of Nick Valensi ( A site written in August 2007 )
Nick Valensi (born Nicholas Valensi, January 16, 1981, in New York) is a guitarist for the New York based rock band, The Strokes.
The
Early Years
Nick Valensi's father was born in Tunisia, & his mother is
French. He has two sisters, Céline (who appeared in the video for "Juicebox")
& Danielle. He was raised Jewish.
His parents gave him his first acoustic guitar when he was 5, & his first electric at age 8. His father died when he was 10. By the time he was 11, he had mastered such advanced songs as Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", & at 13 years old he felt comfortable enough with his skills to stop taking lessons.
Valensi went to public schools his whole life except for one year at the Dwight School in Manhattan. It was there that he met future bandmates Fabrizio Moretti & Julian Casablancas.
Before starting the band Nick would hang out in Central Park with his elder sister picking out favorite songs on the guitar — including Jimi Hendrix. "I always thought I wanted to be able to play any song you could name," he says. "But once I started playing with Julian, that's when I really started to understand music"
Quotations about Nick's youth include:
"Yes, I was bullied a bit as a youth, I was. I got to a point when I was 11, 12, 13 years old where I didn't care, made myself an outsider to avoid that - stopped trying to be one of the guys - sort of said, 'fuck you, if you guys don't want me then I don't want you either.' & that's when things started to work out for me as a kid. That's when I found out who I was as a person"
"Nick would walk in stoned every day... One time, the teacher asked, 'What did you think of the books?' Nick raised his hand & said 'I thought they sucked' " Fabrizio Moretti
Valensi graduated from the NYC Lab School in 1998, & later attended Hunter College with fellow band member Nikolai Fraiture, but eventually dropped out to play with the Strokes full-time. Before they gained attention, he also worked as a part-time waiter in several upscale Manhattan restaurants. He is the youngest member of the Strokes (and at 6'4", the tallest). Being only 19 years of age when they formed, he had to borrow Nikolai's ID to gain admission to many of the clubs they played in.
Valensi The Guitarist
Valensi's
main guitar, which he uses for nearly every live show & recorded song, is
a 1990s Epiphone Riviera with Gibson P-94 pick-ups. In a 2004 interview with Epiphone,
he called it "the greatest guitar never made" because Gibson had never
produced a semi-hollow with P-90 style pickups. He has several models in different
colours (all with P-94s), including multiple naturals, one in vintage sunburst,
one in red, & a 12-string in red. In 2005, Epiphone released a signature model
of his guitar, the Elitist Nick Valensi Riviera P-94, & followed it up with
a standard model Nick Valensi Riviera P-94 in 2007. Back-up/warm-up guitars include
an Epiphone Dot fitted with 2 P-94s, an Epiphone Casino, & a Gibson Faded
Special Double Cutaway with 2 P-90s.
Valensi with fellow Strokes member Albert Hammond, Jr. (left)Valensi often borrows fellow Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s backup guitars, which include a Gibson Les Paul Jr. & Les Paul Special. New guitars used for the First Impressions of Earth tour include a Gibson Les Paul Custom in black, a Fender Telecaster Custom, & a Duesenberg semi-hollow. Valensi's main amplifier is a 2x12" Fender Hot Rod DeVille, used with Fender 4x12" extension cabinets during live shows. He also recently purchased a Carr amplifier to use on the last few stops of the First Impressions tour. His pedalboard consists of a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive pedal, Demeter TRM-1 Tremulator, Vox Cooltron Bulldog Distortion, MXR Micro-Amp (2) & a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner.
He cites his influences as Slash, The Velvet Underground, The Cars, George Harrison & Brian May
Personal life
In
Spring 2006, Nick married his girlfriend of five years, Amanda de Cadenet. She
is a British-born actress & photographer who is nine years older than Nick.
This marriage also committed him to a step-daughter (Atlanta), de Cadenet's daughter
from a former marriage to Duran Duran bassist John Taylor. De Cadenet published
a book of photographs entitled Rare Birds in 2005, which includes several pictures
of Nick, whom she refers to as her "muse" on her website.
Nick has described Amanda as "The coolest person I know." Amanda gave birth naturally to their fraternal twins, a boy (Silvan) & a girl (Ella), on October 21, 2006. The family splits their time between New York & Los Angeles.
The Future
The Strokes have just finished a world tour promoting their third
album, First Impressions of Earth. They are currently on hiatus & begin work
on album number four sometime in 2007.
Trivia
Nicknamed "The Bird"
by the rest of the band. "I don't like it, but they all tell me I look like
Big Bird from Sesame Street".
The first record Valensi bought was Appetite
for Destruction by Guns N' Roses.
He has three dogs, one is a French Bulldog
named "Lizzie".
He is a member of Sumbadia
Kimya Dawson mentions
Valensi in her song "5 Years."
Quotes
"Have you ever
been scuba-diving?...That is some serious pressure. That's more pressure than
I've ever felt doing an album or anything like that. Forty feet under water, man?
Serious fucking pressure."
"He was pretty brutal at times. I mean it really worked for me, but he could be really harsh. I would do a guitar solo or something, & he would look at me & say, 'That was really cheesy. You need to rethink that.' & I would be like, 'What did you just say to me?'" Nick on working with David Kahne
"I think guitars should be aggressive," declares Valensi. "Especially in our music, where we have often have these really beautiful melodies on top of everything. To have mean, don't-give-a-fuck guitar parts is important. Our music is all about tension, tension, tension, & then release."
"I heard a rumour that no one actually comes to our shows & that we only exist in magazines"
"Julian eats, breathes, sleeps, & shits music"
"Yes I was bullied a bit
as a youth, I was. I got to a point when I was 11, 12, 13 years old where I didn't
care, made myself an outsider to avoid that - stopped trying to be one of the
guys - sort of said, 'fuck you, if you guys don't want me then I don't want you
either.' & that's when things started to work out for me as a kid. That's
when I found out who I was as a person."
A site written in August
2007
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