Anyone who's ever discussed anything music-related with me knows how much Is This It means to me as an album. I heard it for the first time when I was 16 and something about its sound immediately clicked, and my appreciation for the album has only increased over the years.

I've really enjoyed Gordon's book detailing his experiences producing that album (alongside many other fascinating stories), and it's an honour to post this interview with him today. Bolded sentences are mine, non-bolded are his.

You mention in your book that you were impressed by how The Strokes communicated with each other and how direct they were, during the recording of their first demos with you (The Modern Age EP). Can you elaborate on this? What can bands who are going into the studio learn from this?

I was very impressed because they had a level of communication that was very direct. Even if they had disagreements, like sometimes they got angry and voices were raised, nobody stormed out of the studio or got drunk. They didn't become quiet and let it fester for days on end and interfere.

I was very struck, because a lot of creative people try to avoid conflicts at all times. They try to be nice or hold it in. But these people, when they had something to say they said it and it got resolved. I thought that's a great example for all of humanity.

I remember you mentioned that they would all think of the "sound as a whole". The guitar player wouldn't think of just his guitar etc. They had a holistic view.

Yeah. Fab would listen to a playback of a take that we did, and say "Hey Nick, you played it different at the last practice you know, remember what you did then? That was really cool." Or a guitar player would say "Why is the hi-hat so..., can you tame it down?" Everybody was listening to everything, not just their own parts.

I've worked with bands, where while I'm mixing, one person at a time comes and whispers in my ear to turn themselves up. And the next person hears that and goes "oh, turn me up too". We never get anywhere because they're just hearing themselves and they wanna be the star!

Julian seems to be a perfectionist in the studio, but he also doesn't mind experimenting. One of the key things in Is This It for me is the vocal effect, and I was surprised to learn that it was a result of you playing around with the distortion on his mic. Do you think bands should be more open to experimentation while in the studio?

It depends on how much time they have. If they only have enough money to do 2 hours of something that they rehearsed and really liked, maybe they already experimented at home or in the practice room. If you have the luxury of a few days, or if you're not in a hurry or nervous about your time, then you can try different ideas in the studio.

Usually an experiment is a direct result of having an idea. "Can you make that brighter?" or "What would happen if I used this echo pedal?". People have ideas that lead to experiments. If there is time and it's comfortable to do it, it's great to try different things if you have the luxury.

Did The Strokes ever want to try going back to the non-distorted vocal sound later on, or was it a set thing from then on?

Once the vocal sound was set in the recording of the EP, it was always like "yeah just get the sound". Even one time, I mentioned in the book if you remember, I tried to substitute a better microphone. I borrowed a really good mic but it was like "No, that ain't the sound. Put back the old one."

Before a band comes into the studio to work with you, what are some things you'd like them to do or be aware of?

Well, there's a couple things. Generally the bands who come into the studio with me like the sound of their band, they don't want to reinvent their sound. So if they really rehearse and they know the songs tightly, we can get 3 songs done in a day. I got 9 songs done in a day in New York with a band that was extremely well-rehearsed and knew what they wanted. They were also very relaxed about it.

One thing that really helps and my favourite way to record unless somebody needs a click-track, is to have nobody using headphones. I don't like to record the vocals at the same time as the band. So if the band can rehearse the song, so that they know where the changes are without the singing to remind them that the chorus is coming up, that works really well.

A lot of the times I have the singer go up and he's acting like he's singing, raising his arms and cheerleading the band, that's great too. But being able to play the song without wearing headphones is the main thing, because if you don't wear headphones I think you play much better.

How has the recording experience changed for you since those early 2000s days? Do you see differences in bands' attitudes?

I started recording in the 1970s, so there's been some incredible changes in music technology, recording process, mixing process since then. We were mostly using tape recorders and big mixers where your whole band was controlling different channels of the mix and working together like in a ballet.

Now we're doing everything in Pro Tools, and it's much easier and quicker. You don't have to wait for the tape to rewind, or set up the tape to sound like the song every time you want to add a tambourine or something like that.

One thing that's really changed, that I think is cool, is that in the old days labels were paying for things more so people felt like they had endless amounts of time, maybe they wouldn't even come in with songs, "we'll make something up in the studio". Especially in the old rock 'n' roll days, bands could stay in the studio for 3 months or a year. Come with a bunch of beer and try to put something together.

Now people save up all their hard-earned money so they could have 3 days in the studio to record an album or something, so they're really focused. They're not scattered, and they're not drunken. Most of the people I work with now, nobody even smokes in the studio or gets high or drinks beer till after the project's over. They just want to be as sharp as possible since they know they have one chance to record 6 or 9 songs, so they want to be present. I think that's a really great change.

So many bands now produce their songs themselves, using Logic with their MacBooks etc., when you hear those recordings do you ever go "oh this could have been done better if it was recorded in a studio"?

I mean, a rock band doesn't usually record at home because who can play a drum set at home. Maybe they make a demo with a drum machine or something. I hear a lot of stuff that people make at home that is very impressive. I'm also not opposed to hybrid music, with electronic elements and guitars and vocals.

I have 18 albums out on the internet now, and I'd say 80% of that I did by myself in my studio, with a drum machine, guitar, synthesisers etc. And I'm proud of that music, I don't wish that I did it differently.

Yeah it was cool to read in your book that you were working on your own music all throughout producing other bands. Do you still write new songs?

Funnily enough, I didn't get to release my music until the late age of streaming, recently. I had all these albums starting from the 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s. No label was interested in releasing Gordon Raphael's weird ass music (laughing). Suddenly I can go and get a distributer like everyone else, like DistroKid or TuneCore, and put my stuff up.

I started putting my stuff up like 8 years ago, and it was only this year that I put up my last album. Now I don't have any previous recorded music to put up, maybe except a couple singles, so I really have to get busy remembering how to make my own music again (laughing).

Do you have a plan on when you want to start writing new music again, or are you just gonna go with the flow?

I like to think that a feeling is going to whisper in my ear like "hey let's make some music". But generally speaking, I just look at Instagram and I find that "oh there's two more bands that want me to mix something", or "oh I'm going to go to this place and record this band". My production career, for some reason even to this day, is hyperactive. I'm working with around 7 bands right now, mixing 20 songs. Bands from New York, Ireland, England...

Do they often travel to you, or do you meet somewhere else where they hire the studio?

Before the pandemic I went everywhere, or bands would come to me. During the pandemic when nobody could go to the studio, I started getting loads of mixing requests. At first I was like this is weird, I'm just mixing stuff from bands all over the world. But then I realised it's really fun, because I can mix really quickly and while I'm sending a song to one band in California to listen to it, where it might take them a couple of days, I'm recording another band from another place. So I continually have a pile of music I'm mixing. And I like doing it, it's a cool part of my job.

Do you miss being with the band in the same room?

I was just with a band last week for 3 days, and in 2 weeks I'll be with another band in a room for 4 days. In November I have another band for 7 days.. It's a right blend. After The Strokes records I was literally flying in circles around the world, I'd go to South Africa then over to Brazil, then to Mexico then California...

Nowadays I don't really like flying as much. I think I've done enough and I don't really like long flights, I kind of get bored and my body doesn't like to sit still for 14 hours on the way to LA anymore. I think I have just the right amount of travelling and recording bands in a room, and then mixing and time off.

You've lived in Seattle, New York, Berlin, London and now the northern part of UK. Do you think you're settled now or will you move again at some point?

I'm settled for the time being, I never really plan on staying anywhere. If things are going good, I stay. If I find something better or more interesting or different, I go for it. Right now I've been here for 5 years, it was hell during the pandemic because I couldn't leave this little village, I couldn't go anywhere. But now with trains and planes running again, I feel like when I want to travel I can travel and it's good.

Towards the end of the book I remember you wrote that "to get where I am now, there were probably many faster paths I could have taken but it wouldn't be the same". Can you elaborate on that a bit? If you could talk to your younger self would you give them the 'cheat code' or do it the same way?

I'd do it the same for sure. Because I look at my body of work, both in terms of what I recorded of my own music and how it sounds, and also I can listen to so many different things from so many bands I've recorded, that I'm very very proud of. I remember in the 80s I had a band called Colour Twigs in Seattle, and I got a day job for the first time in my life, to save money for studio time. I went in a really good studio and I made an album with them. Just as people started getting interested, and record labels in California showed interest, I thought "Actually, I wanna go off to Europe. I've never seen Europe".

So instead of just following through, and being practical and using my good sense, I would just go and do what I wanted to do. Suddenly when the labels were looking for me, asking "Where's that guy?", they'd learn that "Oh he's on a Greek island somewhere making music and tripping around". I was always doing stuff like that.

Do you still go to The Strokes shows if they play near you?

I haven't for a while, but I saw a Voidz show in New York around 2 Halloweens ago. I saw The Strokes the last time they played in London. I saw them in Glasgow a couple years before that. Last time, in London I talked to my publisher and she said "You've gotta come to London the day before The Strokes show and do a little book talk!". So I had a little event for my book, and the next day hung out with The Strokes.

I'm still friendly with them, they all treat me really nicely. If I talk to their manager and say "hey I'm going to be in London that day", they'll say "oh it just so happens to be Julian's birthday, you can go to his party!". Luckily there's still a good feeling, even though I don't work with them directly anymore.

Let's say someone is reading this, and they want to pursue a career in music production, but don't yet have the connections in the industry or the funds to rent a studio. What would you recommend that they do to start with?

(Thinking) well... What I did is that I had synthesisers and I learned how to play them really well. I learned everything I could to make the weirdest sounds, and become an expert in my synthesisers. I wanted to learn how to play guitar and learn how to sing, so I'd borrow friends' guitars. I'd go to people's houses that had a 4-track, that'd be the equivalent of a laptop. I did whatever I could to learn how to do stuff. I made my own songs, I made so many cool songs of my own that eventually someone heard it and said "Hey, can you record some of my stuff?".

So even though you don't have connections in the industry, or you don't have a good studio, if you have a laptop and some drum samples, some software synthesiser that's built in, show yourself that you can make the most incredible, awesome stuff. People have more actual equipment in their laptop than I ever had access to. I didn't have reverbs, or 9 different types of distortion or anything. Now, some people can be overwhelmed because there's so much choice. But if you really are determined, you can just take a laptop and show the world that you can create the craziest music, and get people to want some of that magic.

Off the top of your head, who are some up-and-coming bands that readers should check out?

Cab Ellis from New York City, they are one of the greatest bands going on right now. I just worked with a band from Ireland called Basht, they're really cool. I'm mixing some stuff from a band called The Marra. I'm working with these two brothers from Texas called Widows of the Night, they don't have anything out yet but they're going to, and it's really cool.

Check out Cab Ellis' new music video for Brand New Chair, from their new album produced by Gordon, on Youtube. To keep up to date with everything Gordon is up to these days, you can check out his website Gordotronic and his Instagram account.