From the turn of the millennium through to its peak in the mid-aughts, photographer Colin Lane had a front row seat to the so-called new rock revolution. As the "go-to" photographer for the Strokes, Lane parlayed a casual magazine shoot into five years documenting the New York City five-piece's rise from hotly tipped buzz band to saviours of rock 'n' roll — helping shape the group's iconic aesthetic with his eye for pretty grit, flare for rooftops and ability to capture the maelstrom from inside the eye of the hurricane.

Late last month, Lane posted many of the pictures he took under the title The Strokes 2001 - 2006. Below, he describes some of his favourite shots, including the iconic cover for the group's debut album, Is This It?

The Strokes on the roof of the Lincoln building in New York City (Colin Lane)

"I got lucky. I'd never heard of the Strokes when I got a call one day from a British magazine called The Face. This is January 2001, before they were even signed. A week or so later the guys came over to my apartment. We did some shots here in the apartment that ended up being the headshots in the foldout [of Is This It] and we went on the roof of a skyscraper.

"For years I'd been sneaking on roofs. When we got to the Lincoln building, which is right across from Grand Central, we got up to the roof and it was perfect. It had been a very grey, overcast day but by the time we got up to the roof, the sun had just come down below the clouds and the Empire State Building just lit up. So even though it was January it was a warm, sunny day just at the end. At that time, they were riding high because they knew there was a bidding war going on. They were on top of the world. They were just so excited about life.

"[The use of the Empire State building] wasn't a nod to them being the quintessential New York band. Nobody ever mentioned they wanted them to embody New York. They just are a New York band and that's where we shot so it all fits and makes sense. But no one ever came up to me and asked me to make them look 'dirty New York City.'

"Nothing was ever mentioned because it wasn't needed. They were cool. My grandmother could have done a good shoot with those guys. You just had to stick them anywhere and they looked cool."

Photo used on the original cover of The Strokes' debut Is This It (Colin Lane)

"I brought my portfolio with me the day we shot their first press photos. In hindsight, it was the smartest thing I've ever done in my life because the ass shot was in there.

"I'd shot it a year before I'd even met them. It was my ex-girlfriend, who shall remain nameless. I'd done a fashion shoot for an English magazine and the stylist had left all the clothes at my apartment. They were to be collected the next day by messenger so those Chanel gloves were lying around. It was late at night and my girlfriend was getting out of the shower and she was tired. I had to beg and plead with her to take some sexy shots until she finally agreed to do one pack of Polaroids, which has 10 frames. So we did 10 shots, that was one of them. It's all about that Chanel glove. I wasn't even thinking of Spinal Tap, I was just trying to make a sexy picture. At the time, I thought it was awesome but I wasn't thinking, 'oh, this will be a famous picture' or anything.

"So the day that we did the press shoot, spring 2001, they were leaving the next day for their first big tour of Europe and Australia and RCA's art department was really pressuring them to pick a cover before they left. So I brought my portfolio and Julian was flipping through it and he saw the ass shot and he was like, 'That would be a good cover. Would you mind if we used that?' And I was like, 'Of course not.'

"So everyone was happy. We picked the cover, they left the next day on tour. They got to Australia and Julian is flipping through a book and the atoms-colliding photo was there and he liked it even more than the ass shot. But luckily for me, it was already at the printing presses when he found it. If he'd found that picture a day or two before I might not have even had a cover. Everyone thinks that it was too risqué for America but it had nothing to do with it."

Jack White learns to play The Strokes' 'New York City Cops' during soundcheck at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. (Colin Lane)

"The Strokes hadn't told me Jack White was going to play with them. So at the soundcheck, when he sat down with Nick to play 'New York City Cops,' that was amazing. But after that, when it was time for the White Stripes to soundcheck, I took two frames and their manager bitched me out. I didn't really talk to Jack White that much. I tried to stay invisible as much as I could."

Beck, Ryan Adams and The Strokes' Nick Valensi backstage at Radio City Music Hall (Colin Lane)

Julian Casablancas and Meg White backstage before their show at Radio City Music Hall. (Colin Lane)

"That was my introduction to a cool, backstage rock 'n' roll thing. It was awesome. Beck was there and Ryan Adams was there. It was great. By this time we were friends so the guys totally trusted me. That's the great thing about them, they were really comfortable being photographed.

"The conversations were funny. They were five school chums, you know? They were mostly just goofing on each other. They were nervous. That was the biggest show they'd done at the time, I think. I never took pictures of the guys doing drugs, out of respect. I remember that Meg White called me 'sir,' which really bummed me out. At the time, there were rumours she was dating Ryan Adams and she didn't want me taking pictures of her and Ryan Adams together so she was like, 'Sir, would you mind....' but she ended up being cool."

Jack White performs with The Stokes in the U.K. (Colin Lane)

"After the concert at Radio City they took me on tour with them. It was a short tour — three festival dates: Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds) and Sunday (Glasgow) nights. It was a baptism by fire. The whole world had found out Jack White had played with them at Radio City so everyone was expecting it. He came out just on the first date, Reading, and did 'New York City Cops' and the English crowd went mental. Julian was down on all fours, worshiping at Jack White's feet and he tried to get Jack to straddle him and Jack wasn't into it so he kind of put one foot over him. Those are some great shots."

The Strokes pose for a promo picture on a New York City rooftop for second album Room on Fire. (Colin Lane)

"By now they're super famous. They don't want to go out on the street. They want to stay in the studio. They didn't want to get recognized. Julian came in and took a nap first thing. So we had to wait for Julian to wake up. It was a very different vibe from the first press shoot, but I'm really happy with what we got. We did the shoot at this huge building called the Starrett-Lehigh Building on the West Side. It has a bunch of roofs and, at the end of the day, we went up to one and I got those blue, dusky shots that made it onto the fold-out of the album. I love a good rooftop, man."

Colin Lane's Strokes prints are available here. More of his work can be viewed here.

— Jonathan Dekel, q digital staff