On the one day of the year when big news is viewed with immediate suspicion, The Strokes have teased the possibility of new music. The band is making several festival appearances in 2026, including Coachella in less than 10 days. Their last album was The New Abnormal, which was released in 2020. Now, mysterious visuals and a text message sign-up seem to hint at something new.
Technically, The Strokes posted the visuals on their Instagram Story late on March 31, so it’s most likely not an April Fool’s hoax. The image appeared somewhat in the style of the Oregon Trail game, featuring a pixelated cassette tape pulled by a team of horses on a blue background. It alternated between that and a pixelated notepad and pencil, with the band name displayed in simple 8-bit typeface.
Below that, they included a link to a webpage labeled “????” that leads to a sign-up page with the heading “We’ll be in touch.” Entering a phone number will sign you up for text message updates. An initial message reads “Glad you’re here. We’re not available at the moment but send your mailing address and we’ll try to share something soon.”
A representative for The Strokes did not respond to our request for comment, but many signs point to something new and exciting this year.
What Are The Strokes Planning? Fans Are Hopeful for New Music
One fan posted a screenshot of the text message on The Strokes subreddit, where reactions ranged from excited to skeptical to flat-out disbelieving. A few comments called it out as an April Fool’s joke, while another questioned those who sent their address to a random phone number. However, many were thrilled at the idea of new music.
“Call me crazy but, visual of a horse delivering tape, for a sms service for fans, could it be them delivering new music??” one fan commented, speculating based on the visuals.
Another person wrote, “Maybe they’re going to mail us a floppy disk with the new single.” Meanwhile, a skeptical fan commented, “Y’all are really just sending your address to a random f—ing number you saw on social media lmao. Never mind that Julian had his insta hacked not too long ago. Common sense is dead.”
In response, someone wrote, “Albert reposted the Story and it’s on the Strokes Website. It’s unlikely that all 3 got hacked and it still being up.” They also noted that the host website for the sign-up, Laylo, is a legitimate platform for fan engagement and analytics.
Interestingly, one fan shared that they ran a reverse phone number search, which returned a landline in North Carolina. But replies noted that a 212 area code is New York City. Seems suspicious at first glance. Still, many signs point to this being legitimate news from The Strokes.
As an added bonus, several fans noticed that the last four digits of The Strokes’ phone number were 1251. Likely a nod to the track “12:51” from Room On Fire.
The post Are the Strokes Planning To Release New Music, or Is This an Elaborate April Fool’s Joke? appeared first on VICE.
