Fabrizio Moretti (born June 2, 1980) is a Brazilian-American musician and
visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band
The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001. A collaborative artist, he has been part of a series of groups since the mid-2000s, most notably the Brazilian-American band
Little Joy, which released one album in 2008, and the experimental pop collective Machinegum, which he has led since 2018. Throughout his career, Moretti has worked on a variety of art projects which span the mediums of drawing,
sculpture, and
installation and
performance art.
Early life
Moretti was born in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Stefano, an Italian
nuclear engineer, and Ana Moretti, a Brazilian.
He was raised with his older brother, Leo Moretti.
Moretti and his family moved to
New York City when he was three years old for his father's career;
they planned to live there for only three years, but ended up staying for seventeen before returning to Brazil.
Speaking on identity during his young adulthood in New York, Moretti said, "I didn't feel like a Brazilian, I didn't feel like an Italian, and I certainly didn't feel like an American. So I was walking around trying to find my identity through New York City."
He began playing the drums at age five, playing in a soundproofed closet in his family's
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
apartment, and became more serious during high school.
As an adolescent, Moretti attended the Anglo American International School, which later merged with the
Dwight School
Dwight School is an independent college preparatory school located on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Dwight offers the International Baccalaureate curriculum to students ages two through grade twelve.
History
Founded in 1872 by Julius Sachs as ...
and is where he met fellow band members
Nick Valensi
Nicholas Valensi (born January 16, 1981) is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his role as lead and rhythm guitarist in the American rock band The Strokes. Since 2001, the band has released six studio albums, some of which Valen ...
and
Julian Casablancas
Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of Rock music, rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since the ...
. Upon graduating high school, Moretti studied
sculpture at
SUNY New Paltz
The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ac ...
before dropping out to focus on his music career with The Strokes.
Career
The Strokes
Moretti began drumming in an informal band with vocalist Casablancas and guitarist Valensi in high school, and continued after the two left Dwight. Later,
Nikolai Fraiture joined as the bassist and the band was formed when guitarist
Albert Hammond Jr. joined in fall 1998. Their first show as
The Strokes was at the Spiral in New York City on September 14, 1999. The band released ''The Modern Age'' EP in 2001 under
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...
and was signed for a five-album record deal by
RCA Records. The band released six LPs including ''
Is This It'', ''
Room on Fire'', ''
First Impressions of Earth'',
''Angles'', ''
Comedown Machine and
The New Abnormal'' with tours and festival sets in the North America, Europe, South America, East Asia and Australia. Following the completion of their album contract deal with RCA Records in 2013, the band has continued to release new music through Casablancas'
Cult Records
Cult Records is an independent record label founded by Julian Casablancas (of The Strokes) in 2009. Initially used as an imprint for Casablancas' solo releases, Cult later became a standalone label, and in June 2014 entered a label services ag ...
.
Moretti's drumming style has been called crisp and clean,
and having a mature elegance.
He has said that he wants to provide a steady, driving force with his playing which resulted in him simplifying his
drum kit to a four-piece set up with a
hi-hat
A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...
and
ride cymbals. He commonly uses a
Ludwig
Ludwig may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Ludwig (surname), including a list of people
* Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and co ...
Classic Maple drum kit with
Zildjian cymbals and Ahead sticks. Early on, he was known for drumming very hard, often breaking his drums sticks.
Early records convey a more simplistic and 'punk' style of playing and recording while later records feature more
compressed drums in the style of
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
and dance music.
Little Joy

In 2007, Moretti joined with
Los Hermanos guitarist, singer, songwriter
Rodrigo Amarante and
Binki Shapiro to form the trio
Little Joy, a Los Angeles-based Brazilian/American rock supergroup. Amarante and Moretti had met in 2006, at a festival in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
where both their bands were performing, and the idea came up to start a new musical project unrelated to their respective bands.
Little Joy was signed to
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...
label. Their debut album, produced by Noah Georgeson, was released in 2008.
Machinegum
Since 2018, Moretti has led the New York synth pop band and artist collective Machinegum (stylized machinegum) which both performs and records music and presents gallery installations. The group is composed of Moretti and Ian Devaney (vocalist of
Nation of Language
Nation of Language is an American indie pop band that formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. The group consists of Ian Richard Devaney (lead vocals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion), Aidan Noell (synthesizer, backing vocals), and Alex MacKay (ba ...
),
Delicate Steve, Chris Egan, Martin Bonventre, and Erin Victoria Axtel. The group has also collaborated with architect Joseph Vescio and actor/director
Justin Bartha in the past.
Machinegum released their debut album ''
Conduit'' in December 2019.
Released on
Frenchkiss Records, the group later signed to the record label in February 2020.
Other projects
Music
Outside of his more traditional musical work, Moretti's output often blends musical, performance, and visual art. He has frequently collaborated with musicians
Devendra Banhart,
Rodrigo Amarante, and New York City contemporaries including his Strokes bandmates. He has contributed songwriting and remixes to other artists and, throughout his career, has deejayed events.
Moretti was part of a project,
Megapuss Megapuss is a band with the following members: Devendra Banhart, Gregory Rogove (of Priestbird), Fabrizio Moretti (of The Strokes), and Noah Georgeson (member of Devendra's band and his producer). Megapuss formed as a joke between Banhart and Rogo ...
, with
Devendra Banhart,
Gregory Rogove and
Noah Georgeson in 2008. The group released one self-titled album. The following year, Moretti and Banhart collaborated on a project called Permanent Adventure. Moretti played drums for
Neon Neon
Neon Neon is a collaborative project from producer Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys, the frontman for the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. They began work on the project in October 2006 originally under the moniker Delorean. In March 2008 the duo, by ...
, on their track "Dream Cars", from 2008's ''
Stainless Style
''Stainless Style'' is the debut album from Neon Neon—a project from Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys and electronic artist Boom Bip—which was released in March 2008 via Lex Records. The album was streamed in its entirety on the band ...
''. Moretti also played on
Kesha
Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...
's 2012 song "Only Wanna Dance With You", together with bandmate Julian Casablancas. He co-wrote "Prisoner," from
Har Mar Superstar's 2013 album ''Bye Bye 17'', with Banhart and Amarante. Moretti and Amarante also were part of Banhart's backing band during his 2013 tour which had dates in the US and Europe. Moretti also contributed to Amarante's debut solo album in 2014.
In 2015, Moretti remixed
Spoon's 2014 track "Inside Out" for the band's remix EP. In 2016, Moretti contributed an
Eagles of Death Metal cover for the Play it Forward campaign, supporting aid for the victims of the
2015 Paris attacks; with
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...
and Nick Valensi, he covered "I Love You All the Time." Moretti sat-in as drummer for
The 8G Band, the
house band
A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment.
It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...
for
Late Night with Seth Meyers
''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...
, during the second weeks of April 2016 and January 2023. Moretti played drums on the 2017 track "Indignities” by New York synth-pop band
Nation Of Language
Nation of Language is an American indie pop band that formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. The group consists of Ian Richard Devaney (lead vocals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion), Aidan Noell (synthesizer, backing vocals), and Alex MacKay (ba ...
; he also filled in as bassist on one of the band's tours. In 2018, Moretti contributed the original instrumental song "In Case of Separation" to French conceptual artist
Sophie Calle
Sophie Calle (born 9 October 1953) is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement known as Oulipo. ...
's "tribute" album, ''Souris Calle''.
In 2007, it was announced that Moretti was to executive produce a
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
series called ''Clash of the Music Videos'' with then-girlfriend Drew Barrymore. However, the show was never produced.
Art
Moretti is an enthusiastic visual artist and enjoys sculpture and drawing. Since the mid-2000s, he has been contributing his work to various projects. This includes a 2013 art installation for
Rag + Bone and showcasing his drawings in New York. He has also worked on artistic project FUZLAB with French cartoonist
Luz in 2012; he continued to collaborate with Luz later in the decade, at one point sharing a studio with him in Paris.
In 2017, a sculpture of his was included at a show in New York City's
Elizabeth Street Garden
Elizabeth Street Garden (ESG) is a community sculpture garden in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, located on Elizabeth Street (Manhattan), Elizabeth Street between Prince Street (Manhattan), Prince and Spring Street (Manhat ...
.
In December 2019, Moretti collaborated with Italian art dealer
Fabrizio Moretti to present the exhibit ''Fabrizio Moretti x Fabrizio Moretti In Passing'' at
Sotheby's in New York City. The latter Moretti curated a collection of
Old Master paintings and the former conceptualized the interactive exhibit.
In December 2021, Moretti designed and built, "Kube," a nine-foot tall installation made of one-way mirror, polished steel and fluorescent lights. Inspired by the work of
Yayoi Kusama
is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation, and is also active in painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes ...
and
Bruce Nauman, "Kube" was crafted by hand in Brooklyn with the help of welder Franco V. and artist girlfriend Gabriella Corey, and was designed to showcase the viewer and the object together as one being repeated ad infinitum.
Anish Kapoor's "Mirror (Pagan Gold to Organic Green)", a disc of polished and highly reflective aluminium, is placed inside the Kube. In an interview with ''Flaunt Magazine'', Moretti describes the experience from within the Kube, "
e crux of this is that you become part of the art work when you’re in it, as you just experienced. When you’re inside, you can’t see out. It’s almost like the viewer becomes this nebulous being—but outside the box, you can be seen very clearly.” Speaking to the
''LA Times'' on the concept of the work, Moretti describes, "
e mirror can be a source of vanity... But it can also be a point of self-reflection, you kind of see yourself outside yourself, one of many perhaps. And being able to see yourself and the relationship you have with the artwork kind of sanctifies that moment—I’m hoping."
Personal life
He was born in Brazil and has lived in the United States from a young age, having recently become a citizen of the United States in addition to holding citizenship with his father's country of origin, Italy.
Moretti speaks English,
Portuguese, Italian, and some French.
In the 2000s, Moretti was in a highly publicized relationship with actress
Drew Barrymore. The two dated intermittently from 2002 to 2007. In 2007, he briefly dated actress
Kirsten Dunst. Moretti has become progressively more private since this time. He was later in a four-year relationship with
Little Joy bandmate Binki Shapiro.
From late 2011 to 2013, actress
Kristen Wiig and Moretti dated.
Moretti resides in New York City; he maintains an apartment near
Union Square in the
East Village, which he first bought in 2003.
During the late 2010s, he lived in
Paris for some time.
Discography
Solo discography (as remix artist)
* "Inside Out" (2015)
(originally by Spoon)
* "Oblivius" (2016)
(originally by The Strokes)
The Strokes discography
* ''
Is This It'' (2001)
* ''
Room on Fire'' (2003)
* ''
First Impressions of Earth'' (2005)
* ''
Angles'' (2011)
* ''
Comedown Machine'' (2013)
* ''
The New Abnormal'' (2020)
Little Joy discography
* ''Little Joy'' (2008)
Other studio albums
* ''Megapuss'' (2008)
(as part of Megapuss Megapuss is a band with the following members: Devendra Banhart, Gregory Rogove (of Priestbird), Fabrizio Moretti (of The Strokes), and Noah Georgeson (member of Devendra's band and his producer). Megapuss formed as a joke between Banhart and Rogo ...
)
* ''Conduit'' (2019)
(as part of machinegum)
References
External links
*
Fab with Devendra Banhart in Megapuss' Video "Adam and Steve"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moretti, Fabrizio
1980 births
Living people
Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Brazilian people of Italian descent
Italian people of Brazilian descent
Brazilian drummers
The Strokes members
People from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Brazilian emigrants to the United States
Musicians from New York City
People with acquired Italian citizenship
21st-century drummers
Brazilian musicians