Promotion and Release
Following the album's completion, The Strokes performed at Philadelphia music venues on every Wednesday of May 2001. The band revealed the track listing of Is This It on May 15. A June headlining tour of the UK and Ireland was also confirmed, and almost immediately after the announcement, some venues sold out. "Hard to Explain" was named as the album's first single with a release date of June 25 to coincide with the tour. At the time, Moretti stated, "In Britain, people are much more responsive ... I'm so psyched to be going back, every show we played people were enjoying it. There's a lot of people here in America who think we've had it too easy, but they have never really heard the music."
Following The Strokes' June 20 show in Glasgow, Moretti suffered an awkward fall and was hospitalized with a broken hand. Two of the last five UK gigs were canceled and a friend of the group, Matt Romano, flew to England to replace the injured drummer in the remaining concerts. In a press release, Gentles explained, "They will only carry on if they feel that they are 100% after rehearsing with Matt, as they wouldn't offer anything less to their fans." With Romano as a substitute, the band managed to satisfy the outstanding commitments. Live recorded versions of "Hard to Explain", its B-side "New York City Cops", and "Last Nite" from The Modern Age EP aired on UK music show Top of the Pops on July 6, 2001. The Strokes headlined the T in the Park festival in Scotland on July 7 after alternative rock group Weezer pulled out. A large part of the month of July was spent performing in cities in the West Coasts of America and Canada.
Is This It was released in Australia on July 30, 2001 to capitalize on The Strokes' recent tour of the country. The record was streamed on Australian websites by the band's distributor BMG and remained available for listening even after the CD release. Geoff Travis, head of The Strokes' UK label Rough Trade, commented that the Australian continent had "special dispensation" and that an export ban was put in place to ensure no interferences with release plans in the rest of the world. The Japanese release date of August 22 was timed to occur after two one-off shows by the band at the Summer Sonic Festival, while the UK release of August 27 coincided with the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City postponed the group's CMJ Music Marathon performance, and shifted RCA's U.S. release of Is This It from September 25 to October 9. A newly recorded song, "When It Started", replaced "New York City Cops" on the CD version of the album after The Strokes witnessed the "valiant response" of the city's police department during the tragedy. The vinyl release retained the original track list.
Read more about this topic: Is This It
Famous quotes containing the words promotion and/or release:
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