The Strokes soundtrack Maya Wiley mayoral ad with new song "Starting Again"
The Strokes have been supporting Maya Wiley‘s NYC mayoral bid — the band played a benefit fundraiser show at Irving Plaza earlier this month which she attended with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and did an acoustic benefit livestream for her in May. With the primaries on Tuesday, they’ve now given Wiley a new song that’s used in her new campaign commercial. The song is titled “Starting Again” and was co-written by Julian Casablancas and New Radicals‘ Gregg Alexander, who co-produced the song with veteran producer David Kahne (The Bangles, Fishbone).
“In an era of voter suppression and mega donors dismantling democracy,” Casablancas and Alexander says in a joint statement, “it’s crucial to remember New York City is too important to risk handing the reins of America’s most diverse metropolis to the same kind of party machine that’s controlled NY’s governance for most of the 20th century… one of Brooklyn clubhouse politics, big real-estate money, and mutual back-scratching. It is time we elect Maya as the city’s first woman mayor to make things better for ALL of our futures.”
The commercial is made to look like the iconic ’90s Nike “Just Do It” ads, and uses footage from The Strokes’ Irving Plaza show. You can watch it below.
The Strokes have also shared their acoustic version of “The Star Spangled Banner,” which was part of the band’s benefit livestream in May, “as a reminder to New Yorkers to get out and vote and make Maya Wiley the people’s choice for mayor of New York.” Watch that below too.
