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 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. Moretti's drumming style has been called crisp and clean, Early on, he was known for drumming very hard, often breaking his drumsticks.
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 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 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),
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.
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, with
Devendra Banhart,
Gregory Rogove and
Noah Georgeson in 2008. The group released one album,
Surfing. The following year, Moretti and Banhart collaborated on a project called Permanent Adventure. Moretti played drums for
Neon Neon, on their track "Dream Cars", from 2008's
Stainless Style. Moretti also played on
Kesha'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 and Nick Valensi, he covered "I Love You All the Time." Moretti sat-in as drummer for
The 8G Band, the
house band for
Late Night with Seth Meyers, 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; 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's "tribute" album,
Souris Calle. In 2007, it was announced that Moretti was to executive produce a
VH1 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. 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 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, "[t]he 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, "[t]he 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==