Band: Albert Hammond, Jr.
From: New York, NY
Sound: Guitar-driven, melodic rock with laid-back tinges of reggae and glassy-eyed soul softening the edges
Similar Artists: Sean Lennon, Spoon, T. Rex, Ambulance LTD and uhh, The Strokes
Listen Now: “GfC”

There seemed to be more cameras than people at Mercury Lounge last Tuesday, their collective purpose made explicitly clear the moment Albert Hammond, Jr. emerged from the grotty downstairs and the entire room reflexively turned and started popping rapid-fire flashbulbs in unison. It was The Ivy on Houston Street, TMZ without malice, and Hammond welcomed the friendly firestorm from atop a side banquette where he perched; all smiles and acoustic guitar strumming, relaxed banter and forgotten lyrics, a man clearly in his element both in the camera’s crosshairs and in the familiar room where his career first took off almost eight years ago as a member of The Strokes.

That Hammond chose to start the evening’s festivities crooning alone and offstage seems a natural and fitting choice given his activities over the past few years. While the rest of The Strokes welcomed the downtime that followed their last record, 2006’s First Impressions of Earth, Hammond seized the opportunity to record a set of songs that would eventually become his first solo album, Yours To Keep. Still unwilling to take a break, he headed back into the studio after a lengthy tour and recorded ¿Cómo Te Llama? (out July 8th), this time choosing to produce the album as well. Alone and offstage, a reflection of his rekindled passions for both performing and producing, Hammond chatted with EAR FARM the morning after taking over Mercury Lounge about why it feels like he’s 18 all over again….

EF: So firstly, great show last night.

AH: Thanks man, it was our first show so we were kind of figuring everything out, but it was fun. You know, it is what it is.

EF: And Mercury must be a great place to come and get your live legs back.

AH: It’s such a cool room to do, and it’s so funny to be up there. Every time you go up there you feel a little different; it’s amusing how your perceptions of things change over time.

EF: Sure, I bet at one time that felt like the biggest room in the world.

AH: Oh yeah, but I mean that always happens. I remember walking into Roseland and thinking it was a stadium, and like the same with Bowery, I thought was immense, and I look at it now and it’s like, “it’s not THAT big.”

EF: And now you have a slew of dates lined up around the world in some pretty interesting places - Australia and Japan - but no proper tour lined up?

AH: Yeah, they’re coming up. I’m doing September through December in Europe and America and in the next month or so they’ll be announced. For now, that’s as far as I’ve thought ahead. I may end up doing something else, go back and play with the Strokes, I dunno; it seems so far away, again I’ve gotta focus on right now too.

EF: Well also that’s like the next eight months you just rattled off right there, pretty long lead time.

AH: Right, yeah exactly, you just put it all in perspective. Only so far ahead you want to plan, but it’s also good to live right now. Thinking about January, by the time you get there you’ve wasted the last six months thinking about it.

EF: You produced the new album, is this the first you’ve produced?

AH: I kind of co-produced the first one; the guy producing it helped me achieve what I wanted to, so even though I had the ideas and final cut, he helped me discover things so I felt like he produced it. But this one, I didn’t start out saying I was going to produce it, I thought maybe I’d go in with Ric Ocasek and have him produce it but then he had something to do and we were doing pre-demos at my house and it started slowly. I was finding these cool sounds and the engineer, Gus, was just like, “I think you can do it man.”

EF: And now you’re producing some other projects too?

AH: I produced one of the songs for The Postelles. It’s really fun to come from an outside point of view and suggest stuff, and I’ve been in the other position so I know not to shove any ideas down throats but just make some mild suggestions. I think the process of what’s missing some times is that people produce and make things sound like the producer instead of making the band sound like the unique band they are, so that’s always going to be my goal as a producer, to go in and take whatever they have and make sure people know they’re listening to “Band X” and there’s no doubt about it.

EF: Would you have any interest in producing the next Strokes record?

AH: I don’t think that would ever happen (laughs). We’ve spoken about getting a studio; I’m building a studio upstate so I no longer have to pay to make records, which has always been kind of a dream. It’s a place where I will definitely end up making all my records and where maybe The Strokes will make their records, and maybe where I can bring people where I want to produce them. A controlled environment, but you can actually push yourself further because of that.

EF: Sure, and its probably great to get out of the city as well when you’re doing that.

AH: Well you know I’m kind of tired of studios in the basement, and this barn is going to have a whole glass wall where it feels like you’re recording outside. I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like I can set my own boundaries enough to be in my own studio and still feel like I can get stuff done and not spend three years mixing the record (laughs) and keep saying “but it’s almost there!”

EF: Exactly. So you grew up in L.A….

AH: Yeah I was born in Van Nuys.

EF: But you “came of age” - so to speak - in New York, so do you consider yourself a West Coast or an East Coast person?

AH: Sorry to the West Coast but I totally consider myself an East Coast person, I feel like I was born here, like I should have always been here. I’ve lived here already for ten years and have made my life here. It resonates with me. I like everything about New York, the way it feels, the seasons, the whole city/country thing you don’t necessarily have in LA. I like the extremes. It’s like doing a steam and jumping into a cold pool. It’s good for my mind. It’s funny because everything is new and exciting again to me now, it’s very strange. I feel like I’m 18 again and I’ve just arrived to the city.

EF: Well that’s a pretty fantastic feeling to have then. It’s so easy to become a jaded New Yorker, you know?

AH: No it’s the exact opposite! Ten years here and it feels new, all these new things to discover and I’m just searching for them.

EF: Kind of on that topic, what other musicians and bands, either new or old, have been doing it for you lately?

AH: Yeah, I mean I love new stuff and there’s tons of great new stuff but I’m always a year behind because I’m working on my stuff. I love the new Adam Green record, I’m excited to hear the new Kings (of Leon) and the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs record, I liked the Arctic Monkeys when they came out, I just got the TV On The Radio CD – if you can imagine, I JUST got it now – I’m not that hip when it comes to what’s happening but eventually all good music lasts the test of time and seeps down and you’ll find it eventually.

EF: Of course.

AH: And strangers hand you CDs and teach you new music…

EF: Do you get a lot of that? Smaller bands stuffing demos down your pockets?

AH: Oh yeah, that’s how I found the Shout Out Louds, I wish I were an A&R guy! I came back from Europe with 25 demos and decided to play them all. Put one in - garbage, I would just know immediately…garbage garbage garbage, and then I put one in and played it twice in a row and it was the Shout Out Louds and I thought it was really cool, so I even called them, left a message on their answering machine, they called back and we ended up becoming friends. Then they signed to Columbia, and they ended up touring with the Strokes and they’re a really cool band. It was really cool to have 25 CDs and have #19 be that.

EF: ¿Cómo Te Llama? has a nice bouncy feel to it, almost a warmth around the edges. Does that reflect your current state of mind? Was that intentional?

AH: Yeah, you know what I’ve found is that making music is more about where I want to go and want to be rather than where I am. Like looking back on the first album (Yours To Keep) I see now – which is kind of strange – the theme is realizing it’s not too late to change. And for this one…I don’t really know yet, I feel like it has something really interesting to me that excites me and I just want to share it with people…which is so exciting because I went through two months of a dry spell and it was not fun.

EF: Well that’s part and parcel of the creative process…

AH: For sure, for sure, but the hard part is you have to work every day a little bit for a whole new world to open up.

Listen: “GfC”

See Albert Hammond, Jr. Live:
08 Jul – New York, NY @ Virgin Megastore Union Square
11 Jul – Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
30 Jul – Melbourne, VIC @ Prince Bandroom
01 Aug – Sydney, NSW @ The Gaelic Theatre
02 Aug – Brisbane, Queensland @ The Zoo
09 Aug – Tokyo, Japan @ Summer Sonic Festival
10 Aug – Osaka, Japan @ Summer Sonic Festival
11 Aug – Osaka, Japan @ Club Quattro
12 Aug – Tokyo, Japan @ Club Quattro
15 Aug – Brooklyn, NY @ McCarren Park Pool

Visit Albert Hammond, Jr. on MySpace.

*Above photos by Pete Beer

*Slideshow created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
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See the list of bands recently featured as EAR FARM’s Band of the Week HERE.