Albert Hammond Jr

0:05Pushkin. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human Every December, we start singing. At church, around the fire, in our cars, with the radio turned up. But have we ever stopped to ask, where did our favorite Christmas carols come from? And what makes them so magical? Join me in unwrapping the meaning and the magic behind these caroling classics. Listen to Hark, the stories behind our favorite Christmas carols. available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and at americamagazine.org. You want your master's degree? You know you can earn it, but life gets busy. The packed schedule, the late nights, and then there's the unexpected.

0:50American Public University was built for all of it. With monthly starts and no set login times, APU's 40-plus flexible online master's programs are designed to move at the speed of life. Start your master's journey today at apu.apus.edu. You want it? Come get it at APU. When it comes to the holidays, I believe you fall into one of two camps. Someone who loves holiday music, or someone who won't admit they love holiday music. There's something about a voice you love singing a familiar opening phrase, maybe it's Donny Hathaway, maybe it's Mariah Carey, that just flips a switch, and you instantly back into that warm and cozy headspace only the holidays can bring.

1:30For me, that feeling pairs perfectly with a cup of Starbucks caramel brulee latte. That's their signature espresso with steamed milk and a rich caramel brulee flavor topped with whipped cream and a crunchy caramel brulee topping. It's like the sound of the season, but in drink form. And that's really what this season's about. Because this season and every season together is the best place to be. Come together over your favorite holiday favorites at Starbucks. Albert Hammond Jr. first rose to prominence as the lead guitarist of The Strokes. a band at the forefront of New York City's indie rock renaissance and the early odds.

2:07The Strokes released their debut album, Is This It?, in 2001 to huge commercial success. Two decades, five albums, and a Grammy later, The Strokes have become a modern successor to the bands that influenced them, The Cars, The Stooges, The Velvet Underground. In 2007, Albert Hammond Jr. launched his solo career, putting his songwriting and abilities as a frontman to the test. He's now released five albums of his own, including his latest, Melodies on Hiatus, which came out just a couple of months ago. It's a double album that he co-wrote with Canadian singer Simon Wilcox and features collaborations with Goldlink and Matt Helders from the Arctic Monkeys.

2:51On today's episode, Albert Hammond Jr. and I discuss his parents' recent divorce and how despite the fact that he's in his early 40s, he was still dramatically impacted by it. Albert also reminisces about his past life as a champion roller skater who was once scouted by Christy Yamaguchi's Olympic ice skating coach. And he also explains why he's never been a fan of everyone else's favorite bands, Radiohead and Led Zeppelin. This is Broken Record, liner notes for the digital age. I'm Justin Richman. Here's my conversation with Albert Hammond Jr. When did you record the new solo record, Melodies on Hiatus?

3:33Man, I thought it was going to come out a lot sooner. I started in 2019 right at the end of touring my last record, Francis Trouble. I had no idea of making a double album. It wasn't like I want to make two records. All I thought was, I can start now. and because i knew i wanted to deconstruct the band and i wanted to keep it meaning like the record before that was a live band in a room in a studio like this a studio i had upstate it was very like studio live takes band and this one new york upstate new york yeah sorry i think you live in new york long enough you just call it up so i wanted to just like i usually i love plugging my guitar and direct even if it's just to like an apollo i mean i would plug it into a board i love that too or just like a neve like that over there but i was like let's just do it all like we do the demos drum machines kind of play all the different parts with instruments and we're just trying to create a vibe for each song to then play for people to be like this is where i want it to go right help me get it there yeah so it started in 2019 my parents were getting divorced and my mom was in this rental right by the beverly center very very cool rental yeah just started there with my laptop but your parents just got divorced well when we were recording in 2017 here they just started wow but it was still happening in 2019 i think it ended i think it took like four or five years it was it was kind of ridiculous wow i was gonna ask you i because i guess you know old man seemed like an obvious jumping off point it's so funny because some songs come you know they just kind of like lay themselves out i remember i was i was at my this whole time 2016 17 18 i was staying a lot in my parents apartment here they weren't here and i my life was a lot here the strokes were doing stuff i had my solo manager and my label here working with people so it was just easy to come here and i was just playing the guitar and it kind of just like it kind of came i said my old man blah blah blah and i kind of just had it it wasn't intended to be a dig at him or anything and then by the time i got to doing lyrics and simon actually simon wilcox did lyrics because by the time i got to 20 songs i looked at all 20 and i was like there's no way i'm gonna finish these this is too much work i'd rather start from scratch but you but you knew you liked all 20 yeah i knew well by then it was like the album's a double album but like i song titles little lines here and there lyrics for me are last so i'll do i sang all the songs parts i knew i had melodies for and ones i was searching or if i wanted to change it a little bit you know it still punched me in i'd be like oh that's that's fine for them to be similar this one should be a little different let me just kind of find it yeah you're just making shit up and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't what was cool was that simon kept phrasing of mine that had i written lyrics i wouldn't even have kept because these were just like little rambling things i did like i was making stuff up on the spot maybe it's a mistake or you don't fit the words you want but she was able to keep them in and so there's there's something really magical in in that but yeah old man is not about it's not like a dig going back to that it's not a dig on my dad it was quite the opposite it's kind of like you just realize in life how your perspective changes over time yeah you know and like so you've you see your parents and you're like a kid and you have all these feelings and thoughts and you know teenager 20 and all of a sudden you end up being their age that you remember looking up at them and then you're kind of like oh this is so strange how did i get here and how you're viewing stuff but now they're older so you can't see so it's just this cycle of you know maybe we just have to be more gentle with with everyone just because we're all you know human beings and we make mistakes and like i feel like the more you judge the more you end up doing the same things later on yeah and so it was that kind of idea in there and that's the other thing i would do with simon is that when i was doing it she would be like you want to keep the word old man or maybe she even said like i really like it let's let's keep it and i was like no i wanted to keep it it was very natural it's the first thing that i sang when i was trying to find the melody so yeah it's kind of hard to change those words so how much of that did she write versus i would say she wrote the lyrics just because i said old man or like if she kept a line or two of mine that i said that worked everything is there yeah by her hand you know like i wouldn't i wouldn't take that uh away from her but the conversations that we had dictated sometimes where where songs would go and it was a definite point where i was like it's not about fuck you to my dad it's not it's not it's not like that at all if anything it's like oh man like all the times i said that and now i'm in your shoes when i would say that to you and i'm like i kind of i kind of get it kind of get and you you know you did a lot like you know i appreciate it were your parents getting divorced at that time yeah they were still yeah but it wasn't a dig at the but did it must have spurred it right i mean i just imagine sure it was definitely not you know divorce is it's funny divorce is not i was 36 when i started it wasn't any easier yeah it wasn't like i'm 36 like i didn't feel it yeah felt it just as hard very weird it's always weird when it's the idea like never call the cops never get as soon as you get other people involved and your stuff you can't just talk it out yeah you can't you can never go back yeah it's you know and that's what it was i would get a lot of um the weirdest things i got is just we were like a tripod of a family my mom's from argentina and my dad's from gibraltar which is the craziest place to be from right i know people don't even they're like gibraltar where the hell is that the rock yeah living daylights james bond the opening scene is in gibraltar if you want to know what it what it looks like it's just a giant rock off the coast of spain though it's british and they're angry about that but yeah so so far away and they met in argentina they moved to la and i grew up here so i didn't grow up with like yes a family every couple years when they'd come visit for three months right not like cousins or aunts who live in the same city so we're like a tripod so that interaction still existed even in the divorce so that was like the hard part was like even though i was not getting involved or i was just trying to help out where i could it's gonna affect me yeah and anger will come out from different people and it's gonna you know i'm in the middle yeah regardless of if they notice or not i imagine some things came from it but that's like it uh god writing songs are so so funny there's so many different spots and you might even have one line that means something to someone but the whole song it's a different meaning meaning like it's not just not so like i'm gonna write about how much i like or dislike this person yeah even if you do that you might venture off and have a whole story or a line works i mean it's a combination of music and words sometimes stuff that's really simple is more powerful the music to me is what i want to have move you and then though the words on top or like a cherry but these conversations i had with simon were like amazing we would have hour-long conversations about what i felt where i wanted to go or what she thought or we would disagree or agree or like it would be amazing but like remember an old man the second verse just wasn't right and then she came up with the bullet wounds and self-defense even like in never stop she had this story it didn't feel like that to me but she had this story about this older person who just like never this character who like who never stops even though he you know he hasn't made it he doesn't care i was like sure i guess try writing that and i didn't connect with me and then she sent me the lyrics and i was just like this is so great but uh this is not what i would have thought it would have been did it ever connect with you at any point i mean the lyrics connected with me when I sang them for sure I wouldn't have sang them this is the first time I wrote with someone else I didn't do anything that didn't fully connect feel authentic you know yeah yeah it wasn't like I just mean sometimes the way the way someone tells a story about where they're gonna go you're kind of like yeah okay I don't I don't know what's in your head but it's yeah it's funny to not get it and then get something back and being like well whatever was in your head it was it's not what i thought it was going to be and this is amazing but yeah no it wasn't like just write lyrics i had thought i was gonna like try to get a bunch of friends to help me write lyrics but it's a lot harder to get people to help you out than you might think what kind of trouble did you come across with that no nothing just people yeah what kind of trouble oh i got in a lot of trouble i get in a lot of trouble but it's not from asking people to write songs

13:21such a troublemaker um i don't know i just this is just like an idea i thought like i would ask certain bands that i'm friends with if they and people who i like they write lyrics if they wanted to give it a go but it's hard people you did ask i did i did uh everyone was really nice but i think they were all like in the middle of records or sometimes people wanted to do it but they i think maybe they wanted to change the melody of it which i wouldn't have minded but i've been like okay well now we're working on the song very differently you know what i mean i think it was just the timing of it because i was just recording right it's recording i could have i could still be recording i was in such a finding voice memos and just like creating songs it was i was in such a little heaven and you were sort of doing the strokes either with the new abnormal was yeah gestating too right we'd done a little bit and then we started the promo tour and then the pandemic happened and then uh gus would just fly over gus ober he's my best friend he just front house for the strokes i was pretty loose during the pandemic i'll be honest no no precautions for you no i always just thought no no i mean there was precautions i mean he flew on the plane and i guess you have to wear a mask but he just came over precautions because you He just came over and then we just started working.

14:47My wife was pregnant. I don't know. We would still exercise and stuff like that. I always feel like I find it hard to believe. What happened there was they tell you what's happening, but no one ever tells you how to build your own immune system. It was a weird thing to navigate. It was. It was very weird. Did working on music, though. I mean, your wife was pregnant. She was. Well, she got pregnant in June. And this was, we started in March, right? And first kid, right? First and only kid. First kid. No more kids. Parents divorcing. No more kids. One is I'm grateful for her. It's changed my life.

15:25I love her dearly. But I don't have the capacity for it. It requires a lot of bandwidth. I have two. You have two? Yeah. My eldest really liked your solo record. She had me add it to her playlist. How old are they? Seven and four. just turn seven and four mine just a little over two yeah you're in a different different spot it was terrifying at first oh my god you know some people come they come out and they're like i was born to be a parent i was like a ptsd like i was like what happened my life's completely changed yeah i love you but it's just everything's really different do you feel like it's balanced out it's balancing out for sure yeah i mean anything it makes sense any creation in the universe is through destruction you know what i mean like even how we're here it was through things banging into each other and blowing up right so it makes sense that to create something like new life i mean it's amazing to have seen it you know must be something that it you know just just an extreme thing your kid destroys your life yeah i mean that it's it's it just it just needs to re it destroys it in the sense that it's meant to and you're meant to build up deeper and and better and your your heart's richer for it and it's like yeah so you can't be the same person it would be ridiculous yeah and just to see life take shape i started to think that maybe personality traits and little things you do are just are all in there yeah it's got nothing to do with what i was saying or doing just from generations passed on and who knows which part she has some different people but it's and that's sometimes that's scary sure when i think about like damn does she have some of my uncle in there i mean i'm sure she's just like i'm sure they have different probably even ancestors you didn't even meet yeah you ever like have like your friends or friends brothers and you're like yeah it doesn't even seem like the part of the family or like their personality was just so different than the rest of the family friends who were twins and you just couldn't believe dude i was a twin it passed away at five months but i was i was so curious not not to bring it down around wow you're like oh but um yeah i always feel like there was something i'm always so curious about what that would have what my life would have been like had i had a twin were you able to glean from your parents how similar or not you were in the five months like we temperamentally five months in like my mom didn't know she had twins it was five months but it still looked like little human supposedly when it came out my dad this might be a little graphic but my dad took it out of the toilet and they brought it to the hospital and they said it looked like a little kid and i always questioned this but the doctor was like yeah you lost the baby those are just phantom feelings and like a few weeks later she found out she was still pregnant with me and i remember knowing that as a kid but as a kid you don't like really think what that must feel like for your parents yeah it wasn't until i was 36 and i was like man that must have been weird to have i think is it called stillborn to like have yeah have a kid come out like that and like it must that's heavy that's not a light thing and then i didn't realize how close she worked so much so that the nail and part of the other placenta was on mine when it came out like one of the things and so like it made me like uh and actually it made me cry because i was just like imagining just being that close to someone there must be some kind of energy in there you know when you're like being made yeah i know at the time you weren't thinking about how your parents felt but it's probably because it was super overwhelming for you too or did you really not even when i was a kid when you're a kid i mean it's hard to remember yeah maybe it was it was too much i was just i always thought it was just like a it was just a story i heard it so much when i was since i was little so it just became like it's part of my story part of your story and it wasn't i was older i was just like man this story is like a superhero story and that's when i did on the record before i was like what a cool way to create an alter ego yeah is through through that story and then this album is like the deconstruction of accepting i made a record where i accepted being the front person because all the records beforehand were just like i really just want to be in a band i just like writing songs yeah they're just exercises so i could try to write more songs in the band or just be a better songwriter in general and on the fourth one i was like okay i just have to accept that it's just my name so before you thought about it as exercise for the strokes yeah the first album was just like when i made my first album yours to keep i was like if i don't finish something and it's just done like i didn't think i was going to tour it or anything if i don't like finish it i'll never grow because i'll always be like well it's just kind of a demo i can change it you know everyone always like you know that's just a rough mix yeah i'm changing everything so felt good to commit to i just felt like i needed it i felt like i had stuff that i'd been nurturing since my late teenage years mixed with stuff that i'd done after i joined a band so i i needed to get rid of it to move on yeah yeah and i wouldn't i wouldn't be the songwriter i am today unless i had done that.

21:22But I just mean, I didn't want to be like, I didn't want to release a solo record and be like, I'm Albert Hammond Jr. Look at me. Like, I just always wanted to be in a band. That's all. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be back with more from Albert Hammond Jr. This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Everybody loves to travel, right? We can get away as a once in a lifetime vacation, all of it. And no matter where you're going, Chase Sapphire Reserve is your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. Travel is its own reward, you know.

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22:48I firmly believe when it comes to the holidays, you fall into one of two camps. Someone who loves holiday music, or someone who won't admit they love holiday music. There's something about a voice you love singing that familiar opening phrase, maybe it's Donny Hathaway, maybe it's Mariah Carey, that just flips a switch, and you're instantly back into that warm and cozy headspace only the holidays can bring. For me, that feeling pairs perfectly with a cup of Starbucks caramel brulee latte. That's their signature espresso with steamed milk and a rich caramel brulee flavor topped with whipped cream and a crunchy caramel brulee topping.

23:21It's like the sound of the season, but in drink form. And that's really what this season's about. Little moments of pairing, little moments of connection. Sharing a song, sharing a story, sharing a caramel brulee latte. Because this season and every season, together, is the best place to be. Come together over your holiday favorites at Starbucks. If you've ever hired for your small business, you know how important it is to find the right person. That's why LinkedIn Jobs is stepping things up with their new AI assistant so you can feel confident you're finding top talent that you can't find anywhere else.

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24:31That's why LinkedIn Jobs AI Assistant suggests 25 great fit candidates daily so you can invite them to apply and keep things moving. Hire right the first time. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash broken, then promote it to use LinkedIn Jobs new AI Assistant, making it easier and faster to find top candidates. That's linkedin.com slash broken to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. We're back with more from Albert Hammond Jr. so you feel like a guitar player like that feels like you're just like writing songs i didn't even feel like i feel like my guitar player now because that's where the role like when i fell in love with music and guitar i never and it wasn't like oh i like jimmy hendrix i want to play lead i was just like i like buddy holly i like roy orbison i just wanted to sing and write songs it wasn't until i was in a band that i i don't know why it didn't click with me like guitar parts it should have maybe or i didn't understand it i just i guess i fell in love more with the song than like the instrument and it wasn't until like i i felt like i had to when i was in a band i was like okay i i'm gonna have to even when i was first playing some leads at early stroke stuff i I was like, I'm doing this?

25:51Like, wow. Like, it was so strange. When I first started writing songs, it wasn't to, like, make an album. It was just to, like, be a contributor in what we were doing, you know? It's always been a struggle. I love performing. I've been, I used to roller skate when I was a kid, so I feel like I've been performing since before in 9 10 11 12 i would you know skate in front of a lot of people back are you are you diving back in are you getting back into well no i did like my skating that i did was um you know like figure skating and ice skating yeah i did that alone with a partner on ice skates or on no roller skates they wanted me to do it's so funny the what was her name kristen yamaguchi her coach wanted to coach me for the olympics because his thing was like he was like i can teach how you can do everything you need to do to learn skates and stuff like that what i can't teach is like what you have i had like posture or like grace and i could like move i think my dad wanted me to ice skate too because there's money in ice skating there's no money in roller skating incredible i was like what i don't love ice skating like i love roller skating i mean it was fun it's very competitive i liked winning i just remember that i remember not being nervous and i liked winning i was like practicing every day like three four hours a day seven days a week and then one day at 12 i like the hairline fracture on my ankle and then i was like yeah I'm not doing that anymore.

27:33Was it like your parents being like, you have to go to practice or you wanted to? Definitely not. You can't, I don't think you could push someone into wanting to do that. If the person didn't want to do it, you might, you know, every day falling down, getting up, falling down, like you just hours and hours. It's the same thing with an instrument, right? I mean, people ask for advice on guitar and it's just like, you're going to have many moments. it's where you're going to want to quit. And it's the people that push through those moments that get better. That's all. That's all it is. Do you still have those moments where you want to quit guitar?

28:08Oh my God. Are you kidding? Like I love tennis and I was watching tennis and I was, I was, I was angry. I was like the number one tennis player has a coach teaching him more stuff, even though he's number one. I would love a guitar teacher to get me over hurdles. I have weaknesses on guitar i'm a very slow musician i'm not a studio musician my ear is slow picking stuff up i get like stage fright in playing music with the band or other people and like stuff i won't know or just not doing stuff well i'll rehearse the shit out of something so that i can perform it on stage where it looks like you can't imagine the person not belonging there yeah and i love that i love that part of entertaining but the unknown like scares me so like i'd love to strengthen that ability i mean to come up with stuff for me even like guitar parts i do on this album i mean i have to play so much bad stuff to find the good stuff like embarrassingly so you know like for like hours and then sometimes it's quicker and sometimes it's not but it's like it's hard for me to have that confidence to do it in other settings do you have days then where it's like really working like it almost comes scarily easy like ever nothing ever feels easy but i definitely have days where i i get enough confidence where i feel like maybe i'm not a mediocre piece of shit like maybe i actually am i remember turning i think it was to my wife and i was like after recording this and i was like maybe i maybe i can't i know how to i know how to write a song or something like that i kept saying like i've done it this many times like i got it there's got to be something there right yeah it's hard to the creative world can be hard you set your own boundaries and disciplines and there's a lot of time to be just destructive and there's a lot of times for my my in that inner voice i've been working on for a long time it's just we all everyone has their inner voice yeah it's um it's a rough voice your your inner voices are rough yeah so it's it can be it can be hard sometimes why why i mean i honestly i do want to find someone to like help me get over some some hurdles i'm not i'm really good at being told what to do and i'll go do it yeah and and do it but if i have to like figure out like it's like reading the instructions and like you tell me if i do a b and c i'll get to d then i'll do a b and c but if i have to guess that a b and c gets to d and two months have gone by and i haven't gone to d yeah am i doing it wrong yeah i don't it's the same thing with with food and and working out when someone told me what i had to do to achieve certain things that i wanted to and why it works it's great yeah i'll just follow what you're saying and i'll get to but if i had to like guess i'd probably give up because i wouldn't see the results i would feel like i was doing it wrong Well, how did you early when you first picked up guitar, like how did you get through that?

31:37I don't know. It's a good question. Maybe early on was different because you're, well, it's different and the same. So there was, I was still pretty private about it. I wasn't like, I had friends or people in my school who were like, I play music, I write songs. And they'd play you their songs. Like I never did that. I wouldn't sit down and like play someone a bunch of my songs. You weren't at like lunch playing free birds. there's people there's people who are like i wrote this and i'd do it at like the what's it called i don't even remember but you'd have like class squad or whatever yeah school meetings and someone would be like oh the assemblies assembly and this guy wants to play the song like that was not me yeah like uh not that i didn't want to be like that it wasn't like i was like but i just like yeah i didn't feel confident like that i was just like well and then you and then when you're not confident the part of you is like fuck that kid yeah of course i don't want to be that kid fuck him you know well you kind of gauge you're like does everyone it's like it's good too because you're just like what don't people like about it because he has confidence and able to do it so what is rubbing the wrong way and so you you learn something from that i don't know i i started playing it takes a while to get bar chords i stuck with it i really learned a lot when i joined the band i became like i feel like i've discovered myself myself amongst the other four they're all very talented and quick and intense I really like discovered what I liked and who I was in playing with them and even in whatever songs that Julian wrote or parts that people had or you know learning to how you fit in you know you can play an A a bar chord and there's like you know three or four other solid positions to play it in that are more exciting than that a bar chord a bar chord works really well for a certain thing riff is happening but then i found like different inversions and i realized like inversions change everything yeah just it opens up a whole new door at first it was just like a third over like you know like three five one and then piano inversion started coming in and that's like where i am now i feel like those different inversions allow me to they all come from being a little lazy that you don't have to move so much yeah you can say anything you're like oh look this minor here and then there's this the progressions of guitar are all are all right there so it's like i mean not always but it just it can lean itself to new new sounds and stuff like that so like i think when i started i didn't know what i was doing not that anyone else in the band knew yeah we all kind of like discovered knowing that together i remember early on though in la and first hearing guided by voices and i was 16 and maybe it was like hearing that band that was like the you said how did you keep going so i probably you know 13 14 maybe as young as 12 learning stuff but like not really committed 14 15 you're more committed you know it's like ninth grade you know first getting stoned and life just changes and you hear music and you become a different person feels like overnight and you watch movies and you're like these people are incredible movies what am i doing and i went to like a private school and was like everyone's so boring at no offense to people in my school it was just like they're all so nice i just mean like and the conversation was always just like college married make money and so it just felt like there had to be more to it than that you know it all felt like so planned out i just remember like i at 16 and then i got to my voices were like some a band where i heard and i know everyone talks about their low fidelity i didn't listen to them like oh this is low fidelity i just heard amazing melodies and songs and like words and it hit me it hit it was like visceral music that hit my gut that made me feel different as a person like i walked down the street with a different attitude yeah and i think it's when you find stuff like that you feel like they're just game changers you're like i was just like i will find a way it doesn't matter i don't need to be the kid at the assembly i don't need to i'll find my way yeah yeah yeah once you found guided by voices did similar sounds continue to excite you or did you sort of go like you know some people have an evolution where they they discover something and they're like guided by voices.

36:30And then it's like, oh, like, well, they liked, you know, I don't know, Susie and the Banshees or whatever. And they go backwards. And then some people just keep going forward. No, no, I find, I definitely found people like that. I had a close friend named Matt Rivetto, who was like my, slightly older, and he was like my style and music, like icon. You know, he was like 18 and I was 16, and I just like looked up to him. the coolest hair dressed and like these weird thrift suits and i was just like this guy is amazing and yeah he would show me stuff and like it was amazing to see like like the modern lovers that band had the guitars and keyboard and talking heads and the drummer in the cars you know and so it's like and you just start you start going to that you say elvis costello and then like nick low because he produced it and you hear his songs and you're just like oh wow he was like such an interesting songwriter and then those songs are similar to like uh squeeze but those early time with like guide of voices was probably like in that same world would be like built to spill they were very moving for me they covered someday at irving plaza in like 2001 or two wow we came to see them and they scribbled it from the set list i mean we didn't see it and we're like oh it's so weird that they were scribbling i know they get stoned and maybe they got weird but but and then they covered it and it was like the best you know normally when someone covers a song you're just like thanks for ruining it uh they did such an amazing job it was like i was like anything julie and i were like crying at the show it was so good it was so great man uh but yeah just an amazing band right with like songs yeah who else was in there i mean so many people you know the cure the cars the beatles stones but i also grew up with like phil collins and elton john when i was like 9 10 i loved i loved those songs so i bet part of me still has those like big 80s songs deep deep inside me so yeah yeah man like i don't find it cheesy i think they're just like really good songs Whitney Houston like I just I'm just like man are you are you Whitney fan yeah I love Whitney Houston man yeah amazing voice I mean my god amazing voice and also like could go really big and like do like the I have an incredible voice thing it could also just be sing a song straight and just fuck you're so good you know yeah no just incredible incredible who else was around that time i mean you slowly build i have like an encyclopedia of music what's what's funny is that i got into music at different stages right like i remember being like my early 30s and i got into the misfits and i feel like that's a band you find when you're like 15 yeah but like i feel like my 15 was like 31 like i was like late to the late to honestly it was late to the game like in my early 30s i was like oh i need something like this in my set list when i play i need some like aggression like that and i spent like a whole record trying to find my own versions of it it's so i didn't want to sound like the misfits but i just i liked the vibe that it was it was coming off right and i yeah so i mean it's it's funny to have that delay because I did feel like, I don't know, it's something when you have a teenage angst, usually.

40:07And I had that, like, an angst in my early 30s. Sometimes I rediscover my teenage angst. I don't know why. I was listening to a lot of your solo records and a lot of Stroke stuff in the last few days. And then for some reason on the way here, I don't know if it was because of listening to your music or what, but I just was compelled to put on Black Sabbath, which, you know, oftentimes it just comes on. and it's like cool but actually put it on this time and uh i was like fuck i feel like yeah i feel like fuck fuck the world you know like there's such a there's such a cool interesting band i feel like sometimes they're they're like logo or what people think they are because time has passed and people have been inspired by them but they're very melodic band yeah and like the stuff is like not that distorted or dirty it's like a very it's very straightforward it's not theatrical maybe that's why it lasted the test of time a little more because it's like and he has a very he discovered early on his voice right away so as soon as you hear it you're just like yeah it's a hook in itself yes you know even on a solo stuff was crazy train crazy yeah solo yeah was that randy rhodes yeah such a guitar player such a guitar player i don't forget the lead stuff because sometimes when it's like so much fire it's like cool i know you play very fast but just like the verse licks that he's doing in there are like i mean like i could just listen to that and that'd be enough yeah like yeah you have an amazing song you don't need to play anything else but yeah no he really got it he knows his vocal sound it's funny no one tried a lot of people copied black sabbath but it doesn't seem like anyone really tried to copy they did not ozzy's thing but no like that heavy guitar stuff with like ozzy's ozzy sometimes sounds like you could be i know but if you took away the hell yeah exactly yeah it doesn't like that's where i feel like people got influenced by it but then they they took a part of it that i don't hear when i listen yeah when i when i listen to it yeah and even the drums like the drums are really loose like they're cool there's a lot of parts but like it's feels also loose and yeah i don't know like jazzy i guess you know very cool they're a very cool band i also got into later in life yeah just that happens like i also like this never a fan of led zeppelin to this day just doesn't move me wow just like no part of it i mean they're all amazing musicians right i'm not crazy yeah it's just not something that i put on and i'm just like yeah it doesn't give meaning to me i know people they're like wow really i'm like i know i i've tried i almost feel is there a part of it that you don't like is like when you hear is it like oh fuck that annoys me or this and not a huge fan of the of the vocals okay i mean i think that all bands even ones i don't they got some great songs and i listen to parts and like they have but as a whole like i don't like put it there's a few bands are like that people are like blown away um i never really got into pink floyd i love some of the guitar playing though some of the solos i would totally the bends the literal bends that sounded like the radiohead album but like the way they would bend or do something like i would like oh i like that you know what i mean like because i'm definitely one that just because i don't like something wouldn't mean i wouldn't reference a drum pattern from led zeppelin and be like oh that's cool let's do something like that yeah i just they're just what i mean is don't like is like i never they never moved me like i was describing god of my voices where i like it gave me attitude to walk around i didn't i never felt that i'm waiting i'm still waiting for the day the smiths never got into them everyone's like wow really who's another one that everyone's kind of shocked by radiohead i know great radio as amazing songs that i love these takes this is awesome that i would listen to for sure but i've never like put on one of their records and like luxuriated in the sound yeah yeah there's definitely songs where i'm like is it the feeling i i honestly have no i have no clue i you think i want to be outside i want to be on the inside it's to be super clear i don't dislike all these bands are incredible it's just your taste i would be honored to be in any of these bands or even come close as a musician yeah nothing to do with that you don't think you're better i like parts and songs of theirs all of it it's just these are just it's funny that they're bands that have created something for other people that i didn't get that didn't happen to me yet that's all that's the only thing i'm i'm saying like did you hate the misfits until you heard them or i didn't wait i didn't say i hated anyone excuse me excuse me let me not put words i hadn't heard of the misfits no okay when i was a teenager i didn't know the mis i literally discovered them like who is this band this is amazing what's do you remember what song it was uh last caress and i was just like how did i not know this and then i proceeded to write like three or four demos that was like trying to be i even covered that song live for a little bit but you know i don't hate any of those bands that i said i think they're all amazing i don't yeah yeah yeah it's just like it doesn't resonate yeah and that doesn't like mean there's probably even other bands there's bands i like uh song from songs from that are amazing that i i might have had moments with them you can't have a moment with with everything and sometimes it's just like how that's why reviewing a record is kind of funny because yeah you know like how many times have you listened to your favorite songs and some days you're kind of like huh and other days you're like you could be crying or feeling like it's connected you're in the matrix and you're like stopping the bullets yeah yeah so and then there's there's there's there's groups that i dislike and songs that i songs at least that i intensely hate but then every once in a while i hear that song coming through the window or something random and i'm like fuck that sounds really good that It happened recently and I can't remember.

46:23Wish I could remember what song it was. And I was like, fuck, do I, maybe I kind of like this. Do I like this now? Yeah. That's what I'm waiting for. That's what I'm, it's come, it's definitely come close on some of, on some of those. They've all turned around a little bit except for Led Zeppelin. Are people tempted to try to turn you? They're always so blown away. that's the last thing they would think that I would I would say and then some people are like you know what I get it but still I want to make it super clear that I think they're amazing musicians I feel like I'm going to get I'm just waiting for the hate I'm going to get on this they're amazing musicians Zeppelin and Radiohead I just mean like the three hour show some of the long jams, some of like the vibe they went for.

47:21It's not like what I'd want to play. You know what I mean? Like I'd rather, like, I mean, look at my top songs over here. Yeah, what do you got? Top songs. Like I'd rather put on Philip Glass string quartet number three. Like I'd rather hear that. We have to pause for another quick break and then we'll come back with the rest of my conversation with Albert Hammond Jr. This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Everybody loves to travel, right? We can get away as a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, all of it. And no matter where you're going, Chase Sapphire Reserve is your gateway to the world's most captivating destinations.

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49:21For me, that feeling pairs perfectly with a cup of Starbucks caramel brulee latte. That's their signature espresso with steamed milk and a rich caramel brulee flavor topped with whipped cream and a crunchy caramel brulee topping. It's like the sound of the season, but in drink form. And that's really what this season's about. Little moments of pairing, little moments of connection. Sharing a song, sharing a story, sharing a caramel brulee latte. Because this season and every season, together is the best place to be. Come together over your holiday favorites at Starbucks. If you've ever hired for your small business, you know how important it is to find the right person.

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51:13Do you think your critical voice makes you better? Like if you were being honest with yourself? I don't. It's the same way I don't think. So people, I think, I mean, it's fun to do drugs, but people do drugs in creating because it's like, I need to be like dark, right? I think you do need your shadow and your dark side to create, but you don't need to do drugs or be angry or have that stuff to enter the shadow. I mean, the shadow is there all the time. Yeah. You know what I mean? I think it's just embracing the shadow and like nurturing it and like sucking that creative. That's where like creation really is in there, you know?

51:58Yeah. Sometimes I actually feel like two different people, like how I live my life and then how I am when I create. It takes a second to get in. Like the guy who pays the bills or drives. I put stuff in my calendar. I'm organized. That guy is not the guy creating. The guy creating is more of a mess. Does one feel more like you? They both feel like me. but in fact i used to always tell my therapist like i i want to be like indiana jones but part of me feels like indiana jones who's in the plastic box in the toy store like i'm doing it but i'm not actually living it that makes sense like i used to be worse and now i'm a little looser but like i was like like i need to somehow enjoy the process more than the end result i noticed it in like getting uh something ready in my in my house from moving it's like you just wanted to get it done but then when it's done something else you have to do you know what i mean if you don't enjoy getting there that's all you have is the getting there that's all that's all we're all doing always and so when you think about the creative like there's these two people the person who pays bills and drives and puts stuff in your calendar and then there's the creative person the creative person or the person who's creating is that the same person that goes like on tour when you tour no no the person on maybe sometimes on stage you can get lost in it but being on stage isn't like you know people like oh just got flow and i just got caught in into it at least for me stage is like the way someone describes playing a tennis match fucking nailing it i'm gonna beat this guy to just breathe just because you didn't do something right you don't fall apart while looking like you belong there never ever showing that but so it's like this inner thing that's just like the amount of times i've had an amazing show has gone from like start strong i feel like i'm falling apart and i come back and then something happens and you get lost and then where you want to push the crowd away they go and then you're able to bring them back and at the end you have more of them than when you started so you feel like you did something right in there that's usually like it's a a show is like a whole experience yeah that's why you're so trained afterwards it's like it's never just like i went out there and did my thing i wish that sounds amazing if doing your thing is a 90 minute movie then yes that's what happens with ups and downs and curveballs and like your show is like your whole mix and so like and sometimes you're not this is more of when i'm doing solo stuff but you're not at 100 percent because you can't be you're on tour you're never going to be it's about learning how to be at like 70 but doing the show like you were at 100 it really is like and that's kind of like the secret to playing live music because it's never like you're at home i meditated for three weeks took the perfect shower my hair is sitting just right let's just go do a show it's like that except the next day you have to do another one and you have to somehow get to the next you know you're just like yeah especially on the solo stuff you're just you're tired nothing that you it to do is come out totally right has your relationship with touring changed over time like does it evolve is it like at first it was really fun and then it became a drag and then it's always fun it's never i'm not jaded enough to not enjoy my life i felt like i was built to be a part of a traveling circus cool like i do love it in many ways you are going to not like things that you love at some point inevitable still there's been moments where like i love music and i would write songs and record them even if i didn't play music anymore because i just can't it's just i just do it i don't like i'm gonna sit and write they just like come out right i don't think i could stop that but it's been moments where i've been like man imagine if i like well didn't play music or something like that so but i don't like dislike tour and i've learned that the longer you do it it's different solo and the strokes of a of a luxury is that we have a big fan base and so like it's more comfortable to tour it's cool to reach new areas that you haven't even though you've been doing it for 20 years and also when you've been doing it that much the high isn't so much from playing a new song and having no one know it the high is like watching how people are absorbing stuff that you know well and that they know and then feeding off of that energy yeah playing a song that is clearly making a crowd all feel nostalgic how could that if that's jading you then i don't know you gotta go do something because that's like that's a magical thing i feel lucky i i want it to be part of that fabric when i was a teenager and i fell in love with music and now to even have glimpses of being part of that fabric is um yeah it's unreal it's really cool that you can have that perspective on it while doing it's like you still maintain the fan perspective in a way i feel like you have to though i was saying that it's like your innocence from it is going to get beaten out pretty fast just by the game you have to play all business is a game right and when you fall in love with music you have no idea what that game is but it's not what you think it is and it's not for the love of it you know there's you know there's stuff that you have to this stuff you have to do but that's that's okay if you get to like create and do other things basically everything has a price yeah some at some point small big very rarely is that i create something so magical that there isn't there's still even when you do that there's still some price somewhere yeah you know yeah maybe you get tired of doing it so you have to rediscover how to not feel tired from it yeah how much input do you have on planning a tour like do you get to like say like i don't really want to go there or do like a festival like in my in my solo stuff or the stroke stuff?

58:36I guess both. Both. Yeah. I mean, touring-wise, I would say Julian has the most say. I would say most singers have the most say about it. Unfortunately, that's kind of like, or fortunately, whatever, that's like... Makes sense. That's part of it. I mean, I like festivals as like a cherry. You know, to me, they're like, they're fun when you're doing your own thing and then you get to do them because they're like this crazy thing when you just do them it can get dark because it's how you have to look at it like a festival crowd you're going to play a certain kind of set list you're 75 minutes you're going to play a set list that appeals more to a mass you're not really going to take them too far it's too big that's not the point of it yeah that's not the vibe of the party yeah but it's not like a Andy Warhol party and there's a bunch of weird people invited it's like a very you know it's it just it is what it is yeah and then at your own show you could have a little run of two or three songs that you're almost purposely pushing people away to then bring them back or like this is where it's going to dip down and then we can wrap it back up at the end and you can do something that you can play some weirder songs for you or do something you can go you can do a jam you can just have more fun with it so i think when you're doing that eventually like i said with anything becomes boring and so the playing the straight ahead thing for the giant audience you're like wow i just played for 60 000 people it's what a rush yeah so that variety it's helpful so i always just try to say everything touring i always try to like want to have that balanced but between management and you know they figure it out well my stuff's different it's like i'd like to tour places but it's unfortunately this is what i tried to do on this record was to have less of a band and have more stuff on tracks and create since i'm not a band i can create a weird world of like a three-piece band with tracks and just have it be like weird or weirder than less straightforward than just having like i've always had just players play everything i was just trying to be able to afford to go on tour it's very hard sometimes people are like why don't you come here come there it's like i always debate how to talk about this because it's not it's not like it's not a complaint it's more just like realities of it's reality like the band never feel stable enough enough to just sit there and enjoy okay like i never feel like i never sigh it's always like older brother that's not negative positive it's just like my personality's reaction to this thing i exist in the business right you can't like you realize that touring in some ways is a luxury yeah which is great your band has an audience like be grateful yeah because that's like and you can if you can then make money from that that's an amazing gift there's other bands that would want to do that and just like can't i mean i'd imagine people could understand because even if you work a regular job you have to take a business trip you know if the money's not right it's like it's always someone else paying musicians like actors have businesses is like we are the business yeah even at the highest level like who's the biggest maybe gross crazy amounts the stones right yeah right they're still paying themselves right company they might get an advance from a big company and stuff like that to advance it right but they're still at a loss you two until for like six eight months of that touring even though like they're like the biggest band there's no like but when they make a movie the actors or directors they're not at a loss you're right right right it's just the big company paying for it right so it feels a little a little different in that in that way i mean maybe that's what makes musicians a little cooler than actors sorry guys just gonna get outside here and just have a line of actors i heard what you said and i'm mildly offended i can take my mildly offended the albert hammond jr story a lot of people mad at you thanks for nothing the albert hammond jr story

1:03:10oh that was fun man i appreciate it and i appreciate you thank you for the years of music and this and the in the new solo record can't wait to hear the second half oh man i can't wait to to just have it out Thanks to Albert Hannon Jr. for chatting about his new double album, Melodies on Hiatus. You can hear it along with all of our favorite songs from him and The Strokes on a playlist at brokenrecordpodcast.com. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash brokenrecordpodcast, where you can find all of our new episodes. Broken Record is produced with help from Leah Rose, Jason Gambrell Ben Tallade, Nisha Vencut Jordan McMillan and Eric Sandler Our editor is Sophie Crane Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription service that offers bonus content and uninterrupted ad-free listening for only$4.99 a month Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcast subscriptions.

1:04:20And if you like this show, remember to share, rate, and review us on your podcast app. Our theme music is by Kenny Beats. I'm Justin Richmond.

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