Born: 9th April 1980 Contribution to band: guitarist , classy dancer So what’s the deal with Albert? Unlike the the rest of his chums, Alb's not a native New Yorker. He's from sunny L.A. Albert's Dad (Albert Hammond Snr.) had a hit back in the day with “It never rains in southern california”. In 1998 Albert took his rickenbacker and relocated to New York City to go to school at NYU and study film. Here, he would bump into a familiar face from the infamous Institut Le Rosey in switzerland, where both he and Julian were sent in their teens (Alb for 6 months, Julian for a year) both due to behavioural problems. they were in different grades there however, but this stint is responsible for the stupid "swiss finishing school rock" dig, they get sometimes get. pish posh i say. good rock is good rock. And albert has good rock, and good roots (ooh *giggles*). He plays a reissue of the same guitar Buddy Holly played. And to credit his dedication He super glued his fingertips to his arm and ripped the skin off his arm as to protect his string strumming fingers from becoming raw as buggery. (According to Nick “you’re better off just getting drunk, though”). As well as being able to work his way around a fret board quite ambly, he plays his instrument with style and flair; bobbing his hair like it's mopping the cieling, dancing and squatting and shimmying in his italian leather beatle boots, keeping his cigarette in the strings and grinning and strumming like a cunt on crack...whatever that's like, not to mention being known for playing on the floor/his back during live sets. He has been judged by his pals as risky, flamboyant, happy and generous. He also has some fetish for touching his crotch, over fabric, or sometimes evening just having a hand down his pants for safe keeping. i am by no means complaining. |
The quotable Albert: Albert on the name The Strokes: “actually i was reading something about strokes and it described it like a lightening strike in the brain that changes everything.” Albert on being signed to both “majorino’s” RCA and indie Rough Trade: "It's like being a bisexual!" Being with RCA is like being a bisexual? "Yeah, you get the best of both worlds." Albert on his influences: “I got influenced by a bunch of weird people – Buddy Holly, I really like the way George Harrison plays leads, Elliot Easton from The Cars… I really hate naming names, but I’d rather name names than have people say we sound like Television.” On getting serious about guitar playing through butt whipping: “It’s cool now, but I got kicked in the ass a lot by the others. You know: “You gotta practice more, you’re not good enough yet…” and that hurt, man, but healthy criticism was what made this band tight.” On the ludicrous suggestion of Solo albums: “You know what my solo album would be like? It would sound just like The Strokes , because it would be, “Hey Julian! Do you want to sing on my album? Fab, would you play drums? Nikolai, is bass ok? Nick, how about playing some gutiar?” ‘Cos I don’t know any other musicans.” Albert on describing a “sometimes insecure and sometimes cocky” Julian: “Inse-cock!” Albert on dealing with hype: "I masterbate to the magazine covers we're on" (Julian agrees, "yeah. and he jerks off to all our interviews") Albert on why the album is doing so well: "I think it's because Nick is hot" |
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Albert "the zips broken on my fucking pants" Hammond Jnr. |
"we ate a lot of raw meat, slept in caves for a couple weeks" (on the rawness of the album) "well, that and some microphones and shit." |
"..music to other bands, but to describe it in words, I would say things like, beautiful aggression, tension with waves going up and down..." |
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