Nickel Eye Is A Side Project

04/29/09 2:03pm

by Matt Littlefair (CHARTattack)

Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture got a bit impatient with his once-prolific and hard touring band that's currently on a prolonged hiatus, though you'd never be able to tell.

On the phone from his native New York, the man responsible for so many infectious melodies associated with the garage rock revivalists talks about his first foray into solo territory with his new project, Nickel Eye, with all of the ease of a man about 30 seconds from sleep.

"I started out with some songs and some demos and I made the decision to go forward with [Nickel Eye] after [The Strokes] tried to get back together and sort of see how things were going," says Fraiture.

"I think at that point, when that didn't work out so well, is when I decided I couldn't really wait around any longer. I just wanted to do something."

That "something" evolved into Fraiture's debut effort, The Time Of The Assassins. Fraiture worked in both the U.K. and New York and recorded with members of South and a host of guests, including Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and Regina Spektor. Fraiture has taken a more demure approach to his own music than that of The Strokes with a collection of ramshackle, largely acoustic-driven efforts. He even covered Leonard Cohen's "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye."

"Most of [the songs] are cathartic," notes Fraiture in the same laid back timbre that imbues his debut record.

"The title of the album, The Time Of The Assassins, is kind of about killing your old self and putting that behind you in order to move on. So a lot of the [song] titles and the lyrics are about putting your past behind you and moving on.

"It's more of a direct representation of what has directly influenced me in the past. Musically, lyrically, in life... you know."

One could be forgiven for assuming Faiture is talking about the demise of his more famous quintet when he waxes about "killing your old self," but it simply isn't the case. Most of the songs were inspired by a trip Fraiture took 11 years ago when he was just 19 years old, though he insists it's "kind of applicable to many periods in your life, but that's mainly where it came from and that whole time in my life.

"It's also just a form of rejuvenating, regenerating, refilling the well again," says Fraiture of the recording and writing process.

"It's very interesting, and it's very fun. It's more of an extension of my... of kind of who I am, I guess."

It can be a bit of a challenge to get to the heart of who Fraiture is. His ease is belied by his reticence to share a whole lot. He reveals little about what transpired during this formative trip beyond what you could read into his songs. When the subject of the aforementioned Leonard Cohen cover comes up, he notes he chose it for a couple of reasons.

"One is very personal and the other part is that I really like Leonard Cohen," says Fraiture.

When pressed for the "personal" reason he only says he'd like it to stay that way. It seems a bit antithetical that he's comfortable enough to put it out into the world, but not comfortable enough to talk about it. But retaining some of that mystery adds to his charm.

As for the term "side project," which a lot of musicians see as derisive (some more angrily than others), Fraiture welcomes the handle, fully acknowledging his debt to his friends and bandmates in shaping his sound.

"I really don't mind it. It kind of is what it is," says Fraiture of the "side project" moniker.

"I've played for so many years in The Strokes. This is what I've done with my time off, so in a way, that's kind of what I would call it as well.

"I don't feel the same way about 'solo project' because that kind of discredits all of the influence that the band might have had on me as well. I'd say it's more of a side project."

It remains to be seen whether The Strokes will ever record another song again (though they were recently said to be jamming together in New York City), and the overwhelming odds are they will. That said, if the unthinkable happens and they don't, at least Fraiture has Nickel Eye to fall back on.