Casablancas was born in New York City to business mogul John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish former model and Miss Denmark (1965). When Casablancas was eight, his parents divorced. He once stated that he wanted to be closer to his father, and this, "translated into teenage rebelliousness." His mother subsequently married painter Sam Adoquei.

Casablancas met guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fab Moretti and played together at the Dwight School in Manhattan. He reconnected with guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. when the latter moved to New York. The band was formed in 1998 when Hammond was accepted into the band, with Casablancas as the lead vocalist and main songwriter.  The band began rehearsing a fourteen-song set which included "Alone, Together", "Barely Legal", "Last Nite", "The Modern Age", "New York City Cops", "Soma", "Someday", "Take It or Leave It" and "This Life" (an early version of "Trying Your Luck"). Most of these songs now feature different lyrics. A demo sent to the newly reformed Rough Trade Records in the UK sparked interest there, leading to their first release via the website of the UK magazine NME who gave away a free mp3 download of "Last Nite" a week prior to the physical release as part of The Modern Age EP in 2001. The EP sparked a bidding war among record labels, the largest for a rock and roll band in years. Shortly after, The Strokes' critically acclaimed debut album Is This It was released.  After the release of two other albums Room on Fire and First Impressions of Earth and several major tours, the band took a 5-year break before returning with their fourth album Angles in 2011. This was followed by several headlining appearances at musical festivals, including Reading, Coachella, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.  The band released Comedown Machine in 2013, as their last album under the contract with long-time label RCA, for which they did no promotion. The band released an EP, Future Present Past, on Casablancas' own label Cult Records in 2016.

Answer the following question by taking a quote from the article: Was Casablancas just a singer, or did he play an instrument, too?