The Strokes didn't tour their 2013 LP 'Comedown Machine' because of "conflict and fear" spreading among the band.
The Strokes
The New York group's frontman Julian Casablancas has admitted they "weren't in harmony" back then and didn't feel it was possible to promote the record.
In an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper, Julian confessed: "You know, maybe in a few years it really won't matter and I'll just say it ... I could explain it, it's not a big deal."
The 'Last Nite' hitmakers added how they felt like they were tied to a band that was "limiting to our personal lives" and that they had lost their "pure brotherly love" and all "musical inspiration".
He continued: "I guess it's not that controversial, really.
"There was conflict and there was fear and we got through it and we made records, but it wasn't, you know, out of pure brotherly love and musical inspiration."
The group - completed by Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti - are gearing up for the release of their first studio effort since the ill-fated 'Comeback Machine, 'The New Abnormal', and they are looking to the future with the most excitement they've ever felt during their 22-year career.
He said: "What we could do next excites me more than I have been excited in, I don't know, our whole career."
The new album was recorded at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu and was produced by Rick Rubin.
Elsewhere, guitarist Albert admitted that throughout their career they never felt like they had "made it" and found success to be this "weird, vague, slow thing".
He explained: "Success was just like this weird, vague, slow thing.
"Our second album [2003's 'Room on Fire'], it was like: 'If we don't put something out quick enough, then this'll be over.'
"Then our second album didn't do as good as the first and the third album [2006's 'First Impressions of Earth'] didn't do as good as the second, so there was never a feeling of: we f***ing made it!
"Roll credits! It was always this kind of half-anxious, half-exciting 'What the hell is happening?'"
'The New Abnormal' is due for release on April 10.
Tagged in Julian Casablancas Fabrizio Moretti