Walton Goggins Played Bongos With the Strokes on ‘SNL’ as Nick Valensi Sat Out

Longwave’s Steve Schiltz played guitar on the band’s fifth ‘SNL’ visit, its first without Valensi since his ‘temporary break’ began in May.

Walton Goggins came out on bongos when the Strokes played “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday. Nick Valensi, one of the band’s two guitarists, wasn’t there at all.

The New York band played “Lonely in the Future” and “Going Shopping” on the Nov. 7 episode hosted by Druski, Pitchfork reported. It was the Strokes’ fifth time as the show’s musical guest and their first without Valensi, Stereogum noted, with Longwave’s Steve Schiltz playing his parts. Everyone can see who’s missing. Nobody has said why.

The band announced the absence itself. In a May 14 Instagram Stories post, the Strokes wrote that “Nick will be taking a temporary break from the scheduled tour, but we look forward to his return,” NME reported, and gave no reason. Almost six months later, Consequence still describes the reasons for his leave as undisclosed.

Schiltz isn’t a hired stranger. The same post called him “our old friend Steve Schiltz, who many of you will remember from the early NY days,” according to NME. He founded Longwave, the band behind the early-2000s albums “Endsongs” and “The Strangest Things.”

Goggins is easier to explain. He plays bongos in the music video for “Going Shopping,” a single from the band’s seventh album, “Reality Awaits,” and he came out to do it again live, Stereogum and Consequence reported. He wasn’t a one-song drop-in, either.

According to Deadline, Goggins came to the show with Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler, his costars in “Miami Vice ’85,” which has been filming around New York. He stayed for a crowded curtain call that also included Emma Stone, Texas Senator-elect James Talarico, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. Druski name-checked Goggins from the stage, Deadline reported, and the show’s own post thanked him by name: “Thank you, Druski, The Strokes, James Talarico, Emma Stone, Walton Goggins! Goodnight!”

The band brought plenty of its own signals, too. Fabrizio Moretti’s drumhead carried a Palestinian flag, Consequence reported, and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. wore a Lou Reed T-shirt for both songs, according to Stereogum.

That shirt turned up again a few hours later. Once the show was over, the band put out a new clip for “Lonely in the Future,” Stereogum reported: Warren Fu directed it, and its whole cast is puppets, built by Spitting Image, the British satire outfit. Lou Reed is in it, along with Elon Musk, Rick Rubin and Greta Thunberg. So is a puppet of every Strokes member, Valensi included. On Saturday night, that puppet was the only Nick Valensi in a Strokes performance.

Source: stereogum.com, retrieved November 9, 2026. Other sources: nme.com, consequence.net, Deadline.