Pitchfork

Photo by Valerie Jodoin-Keaton

With his band the Strokes on the back burner for the moment, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has been keeping plenty busy. His solo debut, Yours to Keep, is barely a year old (and only hit the States this March), but Albert's already played-- by his count-- 128 gigs to support the record. And in October, he hit the boards to lay down its as-yet-untitled follow-up, tentatively due in the spring. Yesterday, we checked in with Albert in the studio as he prepared to mix the tracks he'd spent the last month or so perfecting. We spoke about his swift return to the recording booth, letting others make the tough decisions, and what's going on with the Strokes.

Pitchfork: So what's the status of this new solo album?

Albert Hammond Jr.: We just finished five weeks of recording and now we've got to mix it. So about another week and a half of mixing and then mastering on January 8th and then we'll be done.

Pitchfork: You set a five-week deadline for yourself for recording the album. Was there any particular reason for that?

AHJ: Well, the first record, we didn't even know we were making a record until the end when the songs came together. It was done a day here, three months off, a day here. So it was nice that we were going to be able to go in for a chunk. And so I figured all these songs-- we recorded like 16 songs-- I thought three weeks would be too short. Four is probably right, but five just seems like a nice round-off kind of number. And it was cool. We had a lot of different challenges to do. We had strings on this one, some weird long songs to do. So I just thought five weeks seemed appropriate.

Pitchfork: Do you feel that you got everything accomplished that you needed to at this stage?

AHJ: Well, you always want to do a little more, but I couldn't be happier with what we did get. We got 16 very different songs and we were able to get everything we wanted. So I can't complain. But I feel like you're always shooting for more.

Pitchfork: Tell me a little bit about how it came together.

AHJ: I have a studio at home, so I did a lot of pre-production at home with an engineer I work with, Gus Oberg, and we did quite a lot there. [Drummer] Matt [Romano] would come and lay down drums on MIDI, so we still have a lot of problems there, but the songs range from an eight-minute instrumental to a two-minute-30-second pop song to... You know, the biggest difference, I'm thinking about it now, is just the different extremes that we didn't really have on the first record. Just from the softest thing I think I've ever written to the hardest thing I think I've ever written, to everywhere in the middle. That's kind of why we went in to record so many songs-- we didn't know which direction the album was going to go in. And now we have to sit down and pick which ones really fit the record. Maybe all of them, maybe ten.

Pitchfork: Does it seem like that variation from track to track is just a result of being in the studio, or is that the songs themselves?

AHJ: Well, the songs definitely ask for certain things. You can't push certain songs. There's one song that has strings in the second part, towards the end. And you almost don't even notice that it has strings in it, because it really feels like it's asking for them. Sometimes when you put strings on songs that aren't asking for them, it's kind of like, "Whoa, what the hell is that?"

Being on the road for those 128 shows and those nine months definitely inspired different sounds. Wanting to be on stage and wanting to play different kinds of songs, I guess. I definitely was thinking about doing different kinds of things.

Pitchfork: It hasn't been that long since Yours to Keep. You must be writing constantly.

AHJ: Well, yeah. I mean, at least for me, when you write, it's an everyday process. It's not... I don't do nothing and then sit down and write. Constantly, every day. A little title here, a little melody here. It just kind of grows.

I got home at the end of August from that year of touring. So in September and October, I definitely tightened everything up, knowing that I was going to go in the studio. But you always set yourself deadlines; without pressure, you don't really finish anything. So I got home and I was like, "OK. I'm going into the studio October 25th. And now let's finish everything up." I figure, it's the only way I really know how to do it. Just constantly do it.

Pitchfork: Is there something you felt you needed to convey with these songs that you just had to get out right away? Maybe something about the period of time since Yours to Keep?

AHJ: It's not what time went by, it's more that I just started writing songs. And I didn't know that I was going to make a second record, but I was writing songs that were so different than the first record, I couldn't not want to go into the studio and do them, just because I thought if I showed one side on the first record, then these are showing a different side. It just felt like I just had to go record it, so I would at least have two sides out there. Now, thinking of a third one, I'd only go in if I really felt like I was going to find something that would push me somewhere else. I wouldn't even know where to begin with that, because I'm still thinking how this one's not even done. I still have to mix. But it definitely was done for a reason, it wasn't just, "Oh, I have a bunch of songs, let's go and record." I have a bunch of songs that feel like something really different than what we did the first time. It felt very interesting. It keeps things fresh when it's like that. When you feel like you're doing something over again, it gets stale. And nobody has fun and bad stuff starts to happen, like fights and things like that.

Pitchfork: Are you kicking anything around regarding a title?

AHJ: We have a few working titles, nothing set. We just now are working on the artwork, so the artwork is coming together. But nothing in concrete.

Pitchfork: How about song titles?

AHJ: Yeah, we have song titles. "Victory at Monterey". "GfC". "In My Room", which is the one we played live. A song called "Lisa". A song called "You Won't Be Fooled By This". "Modern Jazz". "Spooky Couch". "Bathroom Time". "And So We Go". Some shit like that... [laughs]

Pitchfork: Does it seem like most of these are going to make the cut once you mix it?

AHJ: Well, what we're going to do is mix all of them. We're going to master them as though they're all going on the record. And then we have myself and the three band members, our engineer, a friend of ours who's in the business, Ric Ocasek [of the Cars], our manager, probably our label, are all going to give their opinions on what should stay and what should go. And I'm going to try to take out myself from the equation and look at it like, "What's going to make the best record?" I may not even choose what goes on the record because I really like them all. At some point they'll all come out, but I really want someone who wasn't in the studio for five weeks to get a perspective on them. Because as of right now, the engineer and I have been listening to it constantly. It seems to me like it tells a story. But maybe to someone else, it lags. So I need to be open to that.

Pitchfork: I was going to ask you if you were nervous about that process, but I'm guessing having Ric Ocasek coming in to choose what songs are going to be on your album alleviates some of that nervousness.

AHJ: I'm nervous, but in the best of ways. Nervous the way you would be if you achieved something you wanted to achieve. But it's still nerve-wracking, like when you have to play a festival. But as a musician, you always wanted to get there and show your stuff. I always have a listening party... [chuckles] I say always, but this will be the second one. Beforehand, I invite all my friends, like forty or fifty people over there, friends of friends, to feel the vibe out. That's nerve-wracking, but it's part of the process. And I wouldn't want to not do it just because I'm nervous. I'm nervous about everything. If I went with that, I wouldn't even be recording.

Pitchfork: I know you brought in quite a few guests on the last album. Is there anybody we're going to recognize on this one?

AHJ: I guess to me they didn't seem like guests just because it was so spur of the moment. Like when I called Sean [Lennon] to come in, it was half an hour before he layed it down, we were going to go to dinner, I was just like, "Can you come earlier to record this thing?" I wasn't even thinking like, "Oh, wow. We can put guests." It was more of a conversation we always had. But this time, we kind of had a band. And so the four of us-- the fifth person in the band is Steve Schiltz, who plays in Longwave, he was doing a Longwave record so he couldn't come. But the four of us-- Matt [Romano], Marc [Philippe Eskenazi], Josh [Lattanzi], and myself-- recorded it all and we had I guess strings, but that wouldn't be so much "guests." And then Sean came and played piano on the instrumental. I just love the way he plays and we're really close friends. But again, that didn't really feel like a guest. That just felt necessary for the song.

That's another thing that felt different. This is the first time we were going in to put out a record. The first time we weren't recording knowing we were going to put something out, so this time to go in and know we were going to put out a record and have people listen is different. But I think the songs were up for the task, thank god. I've nurtured them well.

Pitchfork: So of course, I've gotta ask: What's the status of the next Strokes album?

AHJ: No idea, man.

Pitchfork: No idea? Are you keeping in touch with those guys? I mean, you must be.

AHJ: Oh yeah, they're still my friends. I just talked to them the other day.

Pitchfork: Does it ever come up in conversation?

AHJ: Yeah, we definitely talk about things. I just have learned that, unless there's something in concrete that we've all decided, then I can't really say anything. It wouldn't be my place; it would be our place as a group. So, I've gotta leave that as "everything's great." I just have no idea when we're going to do anything.

Pitchfork: Does it seem like there's something that's maybe keeping you guys from being a band like a lot of other bands, who spend most of their time either recording or touring? It's pretty clear you guys aren't following that model.

AHJ: I have no idea. If anything, we're just trying to figure things out. How to do things differently. How to not play the same game. So no, I don't think there's anything that works in general in music. Occasionally, if you have success with certain kinds of songs that you write, then you can tend to write them again quickly, because it's not guaranteed. Nothing's guaranteed. But it's closer. But we're not in that stage. And that's just from history. I wouldn't even know if that would work with us, you know?

Pitchfork: When we talked to you in the spring just before Yours to Keep hit the U.S., you mentioned something about a script that you had written. Has there been any progress on that?

AHJ: It's ready to... [whispers] "Is anyone out there?" It's got to find the right people. And if I could spend the amount of time I spend doing that the way I do music, then it would already be done. But I kind of went as far as I could while still doing music. But the beauty of film and writing is that the stuff never goes away. It can only get better and hopefully find the right people. And I think we-- the guy I wrote it with, Kevin Johnson, and I-- took the time to do something that was of quality. So I feel like when it finds the right people, it will be better for it. I really believe in that, I think it's really cool, the way we adapted something that I feel like so many people have made, but we didn't want to be made in the same way. You know what I mean? Taking what we like about the person [author Charles Bukowski] and making it into a good movie, and not just a Bukowski story that might just be about depression. Not like a dark comedy, but it's just, like, a good movie. You'd be like, "Oh, wow! Cool movie!" You wouldn't have to say, like, "Oh, is that Bukowski? Is he drunk or something?"

Pitchfork: So what's your next move? Getting the album out? When are you shooting for that, and what are your plans after that?

AHJ: Yeah. Pretty much, it takes three months. We'll be done January 8th. So, hopefully it comes out the end of March, April. Which would be spring. And then do the whole touring thing, which would be very exciting. Because between our four covers, the first album and second, we'd have 30 songs to play. Which means we can extend the set. I'm dying to go out and play these songs live, just because I'd love to mix them with the first album. To see how different they are would be really fun.