Speaker 1: Pushkin. Albert Hammond Junior first rose to prominence as the
Speaker 1: lead guitarist of The Strokes, a band at the forefront
Speaker 1: of New York City's indie rock renaissance and the early odds.
Speaker 1: The Strokes released their debut album Is This It in
Speaker 1: two thousand and one to huge commercial success. Two decades,
Speaker 1: five albums and a Grammy later, the Strokes have become
Speaker 1: a modern successor to the bands that influenced them, The Cars,
Speaker 1: The Stooges, the Velvet Underground. In two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: Albert Hammon Junior launched his solo career, putting his songwriting
Speaker 1: and abilities as a frontman to the test. He's now
Speaker 1: released five albums of his own, including his latest Melodies
Speaker 1: on Hiatus, which came out just a couple of months ago.
Speaker 1: It's a double album that he co wrote with Canadian
Speaker 1: singer Simon Wilcox and feature sure his collaborations with Goldlink
Speaker 1: and Matt Helders from The Arctic Monkeys. On today's episode,
Speaker 1: Albert Hammond Junior and I discussed his parents' recent divorce
Speaker 1: and how despite the fact that he's in his early forties,
Speaker 1: he was still dramatically impacted by it. Albert also reminisces
Speaker 1: about his past life as a champion rollerskater who was
Speaker 1: once scouted by Christy Yamaguchi's Olympic ice skating coach, and
Speaker 1: he also explains why he's never been a fan of
Speaker 1: everyone else's favorite bands Radiohead and led Zeppelin. This is
Speaker 1: broken record liner notes for the digital age. I'm justin Ritchman.
Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with Albert Hammond Jr. When did you
Speaker 1: record the new solo record, Melodies on Hiatus Man.
Speaker 2: I thought it was going to come out a lot sooner.
Speaker 2: I started in twenty nineteen, right at the end of
Speaker 2: touring my last record, Francis Trouble. I had no idea
Speaker 2: of making a double album. It wasn't like I want
Speaker 2: to make two records. And all I thought was, I
Speaker 2: can start now. And because I knew, I wanted to
Speaker 2: deconstruct the band and I wanted to keep it meaning
Speaker 2: like the record before that was a live band in
Speaker 2: a room in a studio like this, a studio head upstate.
Speaker 1: It was very like.
Speaker 2: Studio live takes band and this upstate New York. Yeah, sorry,
Speaker 2: you live in New York long enough, you just call
Speaker 2: it up So I wanted to just like I usually
Speaker 2: I love plugging my guitar and direct, even if it's
Speaker 2: just to like an apollo.
Speaker 1: I mean, I would plug it into a board. I
Speaker 1: love that too, or just like a neve like that
Speaker 1: over there. But I was like, let's just do it
Speaker 1: all like we do the demos.
Speaker 2: Drum machines kind of play all the different parts with instruments,
Speaker 2: and we're just trying to create a vibe for each
Speaker 2: song to then play for people to be like, this
Speaker 2: is where I wanted to go. Help me get it there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So I started in twenty nineteen. My parents were getting divorced,
Speaker 2: and my mom was in this rental right by the
Speaker 2: Beverly Center, very cool rental. Yeah, just started there with
Speaker 2: my laptop. But your parents just got divorced. But when
Speaker 2: we were recording in twenty seventeen here they just started.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: But it was still happening in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: I think it ended. I think it took like four
Speaker 1: or five years. It was kind of ridiculous. Wow. I
Speaker 1: was gonna ask you cause I guess you know, Old
Speaker 1: Man seemed like an obvious jumping off point.
Speaker 2: It's so funny because some songs come you know, they
Speaker 2: just kind of like lay themselves out. I remember I was,
Speaker 2: I was at this whole time twenty sixteen seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 2: I was staying a lot in my parents' apartment here.
Speaker 2: They weren't here, and my life was a lot here.
Speaker 2: The Strokes were doing stuff. I had my solo manager
Speaker 2: and my label here working with people, so it was
Speaker 2: just easy to come here.
Speaker 1: And I was just playing.
Speaker 2: The guitar and it kind of just like it kind
Speaker 2: of came. I said, my old.
Speaker 1: Man blah blah blah, and I kind of just had it.
Speaker 2: It wasn't intended to be a dig at him or anything.
Speaker 2: And then by the time I got to doing lyrics,
Speaker 2: and Simon actually Samon Wilcox did lyrics because well, by
Speaker 2: the time I got to twenty songs, I looked at
Speaker 2: all twenty and I was like, there's no way I'm
Speaker 2: going to finish these. This is just too much work.
Speaker 2: I'd rather start from scratch. But you knew you liked
Speaker 2: all twenty, Yeah, I knew well by then it was
Speaker 2: like the album's a double album. But like I song titles,
Speaker 2: little lines here and there, lyrics from me are last,
Speaker 2: so I'll do I sang all the songs parts I
Speaker 2: knew I had melodies for and ones that I was searching,
Speaker 2: or if I wanted to change it a little bit,
Speaker 2: you know, it'd still punched me. And I'd be like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's that's fine for them to be similar. This one
Speaker 2: should be a little different. Let me just kind of
Speaker 2: find it. But you're just making shit up, and sometimes
Speaker 2: it works, sometimes it doesn't. What was cool was that
Speaker 2: Simon kept phrasing of mine that had I written lyrics,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even have kept because these were just like
Speaker 2: little rambling things I did, Like I was making stuff
Speaker 2: up on the spot. Maybe it's a mistake or you
Speaker 2: don't fit the words you want, but she was able
Speaker 2: to keep them in And so there's something really magical
Speaker 2: in that. But yeah, Old Man is not about It's
Speaker 2: not like a dig going back to that, it's not
Speaker 2: a dig on my dad.
Speaker 1: It was quite the opposite. It's kind of like you just.
Speaker 2: Realize in life how your perspective changes over time. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, and like so you see your parents and
Speaker 2: you're like a kid, and you have all these feelings
Speaker 2: and thoughts and you know, teenager twenty, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden you end up being their age that you
Speaker 2: remember looking up at them and then you're kind of like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is so strange. How did I get here and
Speaker 2: how you're viewing stuff? But now they're older so you
Speaker 2: can't see. So it's just this cycle of, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe we just have to be more gentle with everyone,
Speaker 2: just because we're all, you know, human beings and we
Speaker 2: make mistakes, and like, I feel like the more you judge,
Speaker 2: the more you end up doing the same things later on. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And so it was that kind of idea in there.
Speaker 2: And that's the other thing I would do assimon is
Speaker 2: that when I was doing it, she would be like,
Speaker 2: you want to keep the world old man? Or maybe
Speaker 2: she even said like I really like it, let's let's
Speaker 2: keep it, and I was like, no, I wanted to
Speaker 2: keep it. It was very natural, is the first thing that
Speaker 2: I sang when I was trying to find the melody.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's kind of hard to change those words.
Speaker 1: So how much of that did she write versus I
Speaker 1: would say she wrote the lyrics just because I said
Speaker 1: old man, or like if she kept a line or
Speaker 1: two of mine that I said that worked, everything is there, Yeah,
Speaker 1: by her hand, you know, like I wouldn't. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: take that away from her.
Speaker 2: But the conversations that we had dictated sometimes where songs
Speaker 2: would go. And it was definite point where I was like,
Speaker 2: it's not about fuck you, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not like that all.
Speaker 2: If anything, it's like, oh man, like all the times
Speaker 2: I said that, and now I'm in your shoes when
Speaker 2: I would say that to you, and I'm like, I
Speaker 2: kind of get it, and you you know, you did
Speaker 2: a lot, like you know, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Well, your parents getting divorced at.
Speaker 2: That time, yeah, they were still Yeah, but it wasn't
Speaker 2: a dig at the But did.
Speaker 1: It must have spurred it, right, I mean I just
Speaker 1: don't imagine. Sure.
Speaker 2: It was definitely not. You know, divorce is it's funny,
Speaker 2: divorce is not. I was thirty six when they started.
Speaker 2: It wasn't any easier. It wasn't like I'm thirty six,
Speaker 2: Like I didn't feel it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, felt it just as hard. Very weird. It's always weird.
Speaker 2: When it's the idea like never call the cops, never
Speaker 2: get as soon as you get other people involved in
Speaker 2: your stuff, you can't just talk it out, Yeah, you can't.
Speaker 2: You can never go back Yeah, it's you know, and
Speaker 2: that's what it was. I would get a lot of
Speaker 2: the weirdest things I got is just we were like
Speaker 2: a tripod.
Speaker 1: Of a family. My mom's Argentina and my dad's from Gibraltar,
Speaker 1: which is the craziest place to be from. I like Gibraltar.
Speaker 1: Where the hell is that the rock?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Living Daylights James Bond, the opening scene is in Gibraltar.
Speaker 2: If you want to know what it. What it looks
Speaker 2: like is just a giant rock off the coast of Spain.
Speaker 2: That it's British and they're angry about that, but yes,
Speaker 2: so far away. And they met in Argentina and they
Speaker 2: moved to La and I grew up here. So I
Speaker 2: didn't grow up with like a family every couple of
Speaker 2: years when they'd come visit for three months, not like
Speaker 2: cousins or aunts who live in the same city. So
Speaker 2: we were like a tripod. So that interaction still existed
Speaker 2: even in the divorce. So that was like the hard
Speaker 2: part was like, even though I was not getting involved
Speaker 2: or I was just trying to help out where I could, it's.
Speaker 1: Going to affect me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and anger will come out from different people and
Speaker 2: it's gonna you know, I'm in the middle. Regardless of
Speaker 2: if they don'tics or not. I imagine some things came from it.
Speaker 2: But that's like it a god. Writing songs are so
Speaker 2: so funny. There's so many different spots, and you might
Speaker 2: even have one line that means something to someone, but
Speaker 2: the whole song it's a different meaning meaning like it's
Speaker 2: not just not so like I'm going to write about
Speaker 2: how much I like or dislike this person. Yea, even
Speaker 2: if you do that, you might venture off and have
Speaker 2: a whole story or line works. I mean, it's a
Speaker 2: combination of music and words. Sometimes stuff that's really simple
Speaker 2: is more powerful. The music, to me is what I
Speaker 2: want to have move you. And then though the words
Speaker 2: on top are like a cherry. But these conversations I
Speaker 2: had with Simon were like amazing. We would have hour
Speaker 2: long conversations about what I felt, where I wanted to go,
Speaker 2: or what she thought, or we would disagree or agree
Speaker 2: or like it would be amazing. But like remember an
Speaker 2: old man, the second verse just wasn't right. And then
Speaker 2: she came up with the bullet wounds and self defense.
Speaker 2: Even like it never stopped. She had this story. It
Speaker 2: didn't feel like that to me, but she had this
Speaker 2: story about this older person who just like never this
Speaker 2: character like who never stops even though you know he
Speaker 2: hasn't made it, he doesn't care.
Speaker 1: I was like, sure, I guess try writing that, and
Speaker 1: I didn't connect with me.
Speaker 2: And then she sent me the lyrics and I was
Speaker 2: just like, this is so great, but this is not
Speaker 2: what I would have thought it would have been.
Speaker 1: Did it ever connect with you at any point?
Speaker 2: I mean, the lyrics connected with me when I sang them.
Speaker 2: For sure, I wouldn't have sang them. This is the
Speaker 2: first time I wrote with someone else. I didn't do
Speaker 2: anything that didn't fully.
Speaker 1: Connect feeling authentic, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like I just mean sometimes the way the
Speaker 2: way someone tells the story about where they're gonna go,
Speaker 2: you're kind of like, yeah, okay, I don't I don't
Speaker 2: know what in your head, but it's yeah, it's funny
Speaker 2: to not get it and then get something back and
Speaker 2: being like, well, whatever.
Speaker 1: Was in your head it was.
Speaker 2: It's not what I thought it was going to be,
Speaker 2: and this is amazing. But yeah, no, it wasn't like
Speaker 2: just write lyrics. I had thought I was gonna like
Speaker 2: try to get a bunch of friends to help me
Speaker 2: write lyrics. But it's a lot harder to get people
Speaker 2: to help you out than you might think.
Speaker 1: What kind of trouble did you come across with that? No? Nothing,
Speaker 1: Just people say.
Speaker 2: Any of what kind of trouble? Oh I got in
Speaker 2: a lot of trouble. I get in a lot of trouble.
Speaker 2: But it's not from asking people to write songs. Such
Speaker 2: a trouble maker.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just this was just like an idea.
Speaker 2: I thought, like I would ask certain bands that I'm
Speaker 2: friends with, if they people who I like they write lyrics,
Speaker 2: if they wanted to give it a go.
Speaker 1: But it's hard. People I did. I did.
Speaker 2: Everyone was really nice, but I think they were all
Speaker 2: like in the middle of records or sometimes people wanted
Speaker 2: to do it, but they I think maybe they wanted
Speaker 2: to change the malady of it, which I wouldn't have minded,
Speaker 2: but have been like, Okay, well now we're working on
Speaker 2: the song very differently, you know what I mean. I
Speaker 2: think it was just the timing of it because I
Speaker 2: was just recording, right, it's recording I could have I
Speaker 2: could still be recording. I was in such a finding
Speaker 2: voicemail wasn't just like creating songs. It was I was
Speaker 2: in such a little heaven.
Speaker 1: And you were sort of doing the strokes with the
Speaker 1: new abnormal was yeah, at least stating too right. We've
Speaker 1: done a little bit.
Speaker 2: And then we started the promo tour, and then the
Speaker 2: pandemic happened, and then Gus would just fly over. Gus Ober,
Speaker 2: he's my best friend. He just front housed with the strokes.
Speaker 2: I was pretty loose during the pandemic. I'll be honest.
Speaker 1: No, no precautions for me.
Speaker 2: Well no, I was just thought, no, no, I mean
Speaker 2: there was precautions. I mean he flew on the plane
Speaker 2: and I guess you have to wear a mask, but he.
Speaker 1: Just came over. Precautions because you he just came over.
Speaker 1: And then we just started working and my wife was pregnant.
Speaker 1: I don't know. We would still exercise and stuff like.
Speaker 2: I always feel like I find it hard to believe
Speaker 2: what happened there was they tell you what's happening, but
Speaker 2: no one ever tells you how to build your own
Speaker 2: immune system.
Speaker 1: It was a weird thing to navigate. It was. It
Speaker 1: was very weird. Did work in on music though, I mean,
Speaker 1: how your wife was pregnant, so it was a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, she got pregnant.
Speaker 2: In June, and this was we started in March. Right
Speaker 2: and first kid, right, first, first and only kid, first kid,
Speaker 2: No more kid war scene, no more.
Speaker 1: Kids.
Speaker 2: One is I'm grateful for her changed my life. I
Speaker 2: love her dearly, but I don't have the capacity for
Speaker 2: It's a lot for.
Speaker 1: It requires a lot of bandwidth. I have two, you
Speaker 1: have two. Yeah. My eldest really liked your solo record.
Speaker 1: Check me at it. The playlist is it? How old
Speaker 1: are they? Seven and four? Just turned seven and four?
Speaker 2: Mine just a little over during a different, different spot.
Speaker 2: I was terrifying at first. Oh my god. You know
Speaker 2: some people come they come out and they're like I
Speaker 2: was born to be a parent.
Speaker 1: I was like a PTSD, Like I was like, what happened?
Speaker 1: My life's completely changed? Yeah, I love you, but it's
Speaker 1: just everything's really different.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like it's balanced out? It's balancing out
Speaker 2: for sure. I mean anything, it makes sense, any creation
Speaker 2: in the universe is through destruction, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like here and how we're here, it was through things
Speaker 2: banging into each other and blowing up. So it makes
Speaker 2: sense that to create something like.
Speaker 1: New life.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's amazing to have seen it. You know,
Speaker 2: it must be something that it you know, just.
Speaker 1: Just an extreme thing. Your kid destroys your life, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's it just it just needs.
Speaker 2: It destroys it in the sense that it's meant to
Speaker 2: and you're meant to build up deeper and better and
Speaker 2: your your heart's richer for and it's like, so you
Speaker 2: can't be the same person. It would be ridiculous. And
Speaker 2: just to see life take shape. I started to think
Speaker 2: that maybe personality traits and little things you do or
Speaker 2: just are all in there. It's got nothing to do
Speaker 2: with what I was saying or doing, just from generations
Speaker 2: passed on and who knows which part she has some
Speaker 2: different people, but it's.
Speaker 1: And that's it's sometimes that's scary. Sure, when I think
Speaker 1: about it, I'm like, damn, does she have some of
Speaker 1: my uncle in there? I mean, I'm.
Speaker 2: Sure she's just like I'm sure they have different How
Speaker 2: are you even ancestors you didn't even meet, like you
Speaker 2: have like your friends or friends brothers, And you're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it doesn't even seem like the part of the family
Speaker 2: or like their personality was just so different than the
Speaker 2: rest of the family.
Speaker 1: Friends who were twins, and you just couldn't believe.
Speaker 2: Dude, I was a twin. It passed away at five months,
Speaker 2: but I was I was so curious that, not not
Speaker 2: to bring a down. Wow, you're like, oh, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I always feel like there was something. I'm always so
Speaker 2: curious about what that would have what my life would
Speaker 2: have been like had I had a twin.
Speaker 1: Were you able to glean from your parents, how similar
Speaker 1: not you were in the five months, Like we talked.
Speaker 2: About five months in like, my mom didn't know she
Speaker 2: had twins, and it was five months, but it still
Speaker 2: looked like a little human. Supposedly when it came out
Speaker 2: my dad. This might be a little graphic, but my
Speaker 2: dad took it out of the toilet and they brought
Speaker 2: it to the hospital and they said it.
Speaker 1: Looked like a little kid.
Speaker 2: I always questioned this, but the doctor was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you lost the baby. Those are just phantom feelings. And
Speaker 2: like a few weeks later she found out she was
Speaker 2: still pregnant with me. And I remember knowing that as
Speaker 2: a kid, but as a kid, you don't like really
Speaker 2: think what that must feel like for your parents. It
Speaker 2: wasn't until I was thirty six, and I was like, man,
Speaker 2: that must have been weird to have I think, is
Speaker 2: it called stillborn to like have a kid come out
Speaker 2: like that, and like that's heavy, that's not a light thing.
Speaker 2: And then I didn't realize how close she worked so
Speaker 2: much so that the nail and part of the other
Speaker 2: placenta was on mine when it came out like one
Speaker 2: of the things, and so like it made me like.
Speaker 1: And actually it made me.
Speaker 2: Cry because I was just like imagining just being that
Speaker 2: close to someone. There must be some kind of energy
Speaker 2: in there, you know, when you're like being made.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I know at the time you weren't thinking about
Speaker 1: how your parents felt, but it's probably because it was
Speaker 1: super overwhelming for you too. Or did you really not
Speaker 1: eat when I was a kid and when you were
Speaker 1: a kid. I mean it's hard to remember, or yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe it was it was too much. I was just
Speaker 1: I always thought it was just like a it was
Speaker 1: just a story. I heard it so much when I
Speaker 1: was since I was little, so it just became like
Speaker 1: it's part of my story and it wasn't.
Speaker 2: I was older, I was like, man, this story is
Speaker 2: like a superhero story and that's when I did on
Speaker 2: the record before, I was like, what a cool way
Speaker 2: to create an alter ego through that story. And then
Speaker 2: this album is like the deconstruction of accepting. I made
Speaker 2: a record where I accepted being the front person, because
Speaker 2: all the records beforehand were just like, I really just
Speaker 2: want to be in a band. I just like writing songs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they're just exercises, so I could try to write more
Speaker 2: songs in the band or just be a better songwriter
Speaker 2: in general. And on the fourth one, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I just have to accept that it's just my name, so.
Speaker 1: Before you thought about it as exercise for the Strokes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the first album was just like when I made
Speaker 2: my first album, You're to keep. I was like, if
Speaker 2: I don't finish something and it's just done, I got
Speaker 2: anything I was to tour it or anything. If I
Speaker 2: don't like finish it, I'll.
Speaker 1: Never grow because I'll always be like, well, it's just
Speaker 1: kind of a demo. I can change it. You know.
Speaker 2: Everyone always like, you know, that's just a rough mix.
Speaker 2: I'm changing everything.
Speaker 1: So it felt good to commit to I just felt
Speaker 1: like I needed it.
Speaker 2: I felt like I had stuff that i'd been nurturing
Speaker 2: since my late teenage years, mixed with stuff that I'd
Speaker 2: done after I joined a band. So I needed to
Speaker 2: get rid of it to move on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be the songwriter today unless I had done that.
Speaker 2: But I just mean, I didn't want to be like
Speaker 2: I didn't want to release a solo record and be like,
Speaker 2: I'm Albert Hamman Jr. Look at me like I just
Speaker 2: always wanted to be in a band.
Speaker 1: That's all. We're going to take a quick break and
Speaker 1: then we'll be back with more from Albert Hammond Junior.
Speaker 1: We're back with more from Albert Hammond Junr. So you
Speaker 1: feel like a guitar player like that feels like I
Speaker 1: just like writing songs.
Speaker 2: I didn't even feel like I feel like my guitar
Speaker 2: player now because that's where the role like.
Speaker 1: When I fell in love with.
Speaker 2: Music and guitar, I never it wasn't like, oh I
Speaker 2: like Jimmy Hendricks, I want to play lead. I was
Speaker 2: just like I like Buddy Holly, I like Roy Orbison.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to sing and write songs. It wasn't
Speaker 2: until I was in a band that I I don't
Speaker 2: know why I didn't click with me like guitar parts
Speaker 2: it should have maybe or I didn't understand it. I
Speaker 2: just I guess I fell in love more with the
Speaker 2: song than like the instrument. And it wasn't untill like
Speaker 2: I felt like I had to when I was in
Speaker 2: a band, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna have to.
Speaker 2: Even when I was first playing some leads at early
Speaker 2: stroke stuff, I was like like I'm doing this like wow,
Speaker 2: like it was so it was so strange. When I
Speaker 2: first started writing songs. It wasn't till like make an album.
Speaker 2: It was just to like be a contribute in what
Speaker 2: we were doing. You know, It's always been a struggle.
Speaker 1: I love performing.
Speaker 2: I've been I used to roller skate when I was
Speaker 2: a kid, so I feel like I've been performing since
Speaker 2: before in nine, ten, eleven, twelve, I would, you know,
Speaker 2: skate in front of a lot.
Speaker 1: Of skating's back Are you are you diving back in?
Speaker 1: Are you getting back into Well? No, I did.
Speaker 2: Like my skating that I did was you know, like
Speaker 2: figure skating and ice skating. Yeah, I did that alone
Speaker 2: with a partner.
Speaker 1: On ice skates. Store, No, on roller skates. They wanted
Speaker 1: me to do. It's so funny.
Speaker 2: The what was their name, Kristin Yamagucci, the coach wanted
Speaker 2: to coach me for the Olympics because his thing was
Speaker 2: like he was like, I can teach how you can
Speaker 2: do everything you need to do to learn skates and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. What I can't teach is like what
Speaker 2: you have. I had like posture or like grace, and
Speaker 2: I could like move. I think my dad wanted me
Speaker 2: to ice skate too, because there's money in ice skating.
Speaker 2: There's no money in roller skating.
Speaker 1: Incredible.
Speaker 2: I was like, what, I don't love ice skating like
Speaker 2: I love real skating. I mean it was fun, it's
Speaker 2: very competitive. I liked winning. I just remember that. I
Speaker 2: remember not being nervous and I liked winning. I was
Speaker 2: like practicing every day three four hours a day, seven
Speaker 2: days a week, and then one day at twelve, I
Speaker 2: like the hairline fracture on my ankle and then I
Speaker 2: was like, yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that anymore. Was it like your parents
Speaker 1: being like you have to go to definitely know you
Speaker 1: want it to or not. You can't.
Speaker 2: I don't think you could push someone into wanting to
Speaker 2: do that if the person didn't want to do it.
Speaker 2: You might, you know, every day falling down, getting up,
Speaker 2: falling down like you just hours and hours. It's the
Speaker 2: same thing with an instrument, right, I mean people ask
Speaker 2: for advice on guitar, and it's just like you're gonna
Speaker 2: have many moments where you're gonna want to quit. And
Speaker 2: it's the people that push through those moments that get better.
Speaker 1: That's all. That's all it is. Do you still have
Speaker 1: those moments where you want to quick guitar? Oh my god? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Tell you kidding? Like I love tennis and I was
Speaker 2: watching tennis and I was I was, I was angry.
Speaker 2: I was like, the number one tennis player has a
Speaker 2: coach teaching him more stuff, even though he's number one.
Speaker 1: I would love a.
Speaker 2: Guitar teacher to get me over hurdles. I have weaknesses
Speaker 2: on guitar. I'm very slow musician. I'm not a studio musician.
Speaker 2: My ear is slow picking stuff up. I get like
Speaker 2: stage fright in playing music with the band or other people,
Speaker 2: and like stuff I won't know or just not doing
Speaker 2: stuff well.
Speaker 1: I'll rehearse shit out of.
Speaker 2: Something so that I can perform it on stage where
Speaker 2: it looks like you can't imagine the person not belonging there,
Speaker 2: and I love that. I love that part of entertaining,
Speaker 2: but the unknown like scares me so like I'd love
Speaker 2: to strengthen.
Speaker 1: That ability.
Speaker 2: I mean, to come up with stuff for me, even
Speaker 2: like guitar parts I do on this album. I mean,
Speaker 2: I have to play so much bad stuff to find
Speaker 2: the good stuff, like embarrassingly, so you know, like for
Speaker 2: like hours and then sometimes it's quicker and sometimes it's not.
Speaker 1: But it's like.
Speaker 2: It's hard for me to have that confidence to do
Speaker 2: it in other settings.
Speaker 1: Do you have days then where it's like really working,
Speaker 1: like it almost comes scarily easy, like ever, nothing ever
Speaker 1: feels easy.
Speaker 2: But I definitely have days where I get enough confidence
Speaker 2: where I feel like maybe I'm not a mediocre piece
Speaker 2: of shit, like.
Speaker 1: Maybe I actually am.
Speaker 2: I remember turning I think it is to my wife
Speaker 2: and I was like after recording this, and I was like,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe I can I know how to write a
Speaker 2: song or something like that. I kept saying, like I've
Speaker 2: done it this many times, like I got it. There's
Speaker 2: got to be something there, right, Yeah, it's hard to
Speaker 2: the creative world can be hard. You set your own
Speaker 2: boundaries and disciplines, and there's a lot of time to
Speaker 2: be just destructive. And there's a lot of times for
Speaker 2: my my that inner voice I've been working on for
Speaker 2: a long time. It's just we all everyone has their
Speaker 2: inner voice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a rough voice. Your invoice, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's it can be it can be hard sometimes sometimes.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, I do want to find someone to
Speaker 2: like help me get over some some hurdles.
Speaker 1: I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm really good at being told what to do and
Speaker 2: I'll go do it, yeah, and and do it. But
Speaker 2: if I have to like figure out I reads, like
Speaker 2: reading the instructions and like you tell me, if I
Speaker 2: do A B and C, I'll get to D.
Speaker 1: Then I'll do a B and C. But if I
Speaker 1: have to guess that AB and C gets to D
Speaker 1: and two months of gone by and I haven't one
Speaker 1: to D, Yeah, am I doing it wrong? Yeah? I don't.
Speaker 2: It's the same thing with food and working out. When
Speaker 2: someone told me what I had to do to achieve
Speaker 2: certain things that I wanted to and why it works,
Speaker 2: it's great. Yeah, I'll just follow what you're saying and
Speaker 2: I'll get to But if I had did like guess,
Speaker 2: I'd probably give up because I wouldn't see the results.
Speaker 2: I would feel like I was doing it wrong.
Speaker 1: Well, how did you early when you first picked up guitar, Like,
Speaker 1: how did you get through that? I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: a good question.
Speaker 2: Maybe early on was different because you're well, it's different
Speaker 2: in the same so there was I was still pretty
Speaker 2: private about it. I wasn't like I had friends or
Speaker 2: people in my school who were like, I play music
Speaker 2: or write songs, and they'd play you their songs like.
Speaker 1: I never did that. I wouldn't sit down and like
Speaker 1: play someone a bunch of my songs. You aren't at
Speaker 1: like lunch playing.
Speaker 2: People with those people who were like, oh I wrote this,
Speaker 2: I do it like the what's it called?
Speaker 1: We remember? You'd have like class squads or whatever, yeah.
Speaker 2: School meetings and someone would be like, oh, the assembly
Speaker 2: and this guy wants to play the song. Like that
Speaker 2: was not me, like, not that I didn't want to
Speaker 2: be like that. It wasn't like I was like but
Speaker 2: I just like, yeah, I didn't feel confident like that.
Speaker 1: I was just like, well, and then and then when
Speaker 1: you're not confident, the part of you is like fuck
Speaker 1: that kid, Yeah, of course you know, well you kind
Speaker 1: of gauge.
Speaker 2: You're like, does everyone It's like it's good too because
Speaker 2: you're just like, what don't people like about it? Because
Speaker 2: he has confidence and able to do it? So what
Speaker 2: is rubbing the wrong way? And so you learned something
Speaker 2: from that?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I started playing. It takes a while
Speaker 1: to get barchoards. I stuck with it.
Speaker 2: I really learned a lot when I joined the band.
Speaker 2: I became like, I feel like I've discovered myself amongst
Speaker 2: the other four.
Speaker 1: They're all very.
Speaker 2: Talented and quick and intense. I really like discovered what
Speaker 2: I liked and who I was in playing with them
Speaker 2: and even in whatever songs that Julian Road or parts
Speaker 2: that people had, or you know, learning to how you
Speaker 2: fit in.
Speaker 1: You know, you can play a a a barchoord and
Speaker 1: there's like, you know, three or four other solid positions
Speaker 1: to play it in that are more exciting than.
Speaker 2: That a bar choord. A barchoord works really well for
Speaker 2: a certain thing riff is happening. But then I found
Speaker 2: like different inversions and I realized, like inversions change everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just opens up a whole new door.
Speaker 2: At first, it was just like a third over, like
Speaker 2: you know, like three, five one, and then piano inversions
Speaker 2: started coming in, and then that's like where I am now.
Speaker 2: I feel like those different versions allow me to they
Speaker 2: all come from me a little lazy.
Speaker 1: You don't have to move so much. Yeah you can, you.
Speaker 2: Like, oh I look this minor here, and then there's this.
Speaker 2: The progressions of guitar are all are all right there,
Speaker 2: so it's like I mean, not always, but it just
Speaker 2: it can lean itself to new sounds and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So like I think when I started, I didn't know
Speaker 2: what I was doing, not that anyone else in.
Speaker 1: The band knew.
Speaker 2: We all kind of like discovered knowing that together. I
Speaker 2: remember early on though in La and first hearing god
Speaker 2: By Voices and I was sixteen, and maybe it was
Speaker 2: like hearing that band that was like the you said,
Speaker 2: how did you keep going? So I probably, you know,
Speaker 2: thirteen fourteen, maybe as young as twelve, learning stuff, but
Speaker 2: like not really committed. Fourteen fifteen you're more committed. You know,
Speaker 2: it's like ninth grade, you know, first getting stone and
Speaker 2: life just changes and you hear music and you become
Speaker 2: a different person.
Speaker 1: Feels like overnight, you watch movies and you're like these
Speaker 1: people are incredible movie. What am I doing?
Speaker 2: And I went to like a private school, and you
Speaker 2: just like everyone's so boring. At no offense to people
Speaker 2: in my school, it was just like they're all so nice.
Speaker 2: I just mean, like the conversation was always just like college, married,
Speaker 2: make money, and so it just felt like there had to.
Speaker 1: Be more.
Speaker 2: To it than that, and it all felt like so
Speaker 2: planned out. I just remember, like I at sixteen and
Speaker 2: then I got my voices were like some a band
Speaker 2: where I heard and I know everyone talks about their
Speaker 2: low fidelity. I didn't listen to them like, oh this
Speaker 2: is low fidelity. I just heard amazing melodies and songs
Speaker 2: and like words and it hit me. It was like
Speaker 2: visceral music that hit my gut, that made me feel
Speaker 2: different as a person, like I walked down the street
Speaker 2: with a different attitude. And I think it's when you
Speaker 2: find stuff like that you feel like they're just game changers.
Speaker 2: You're like I was just like, I will find a way.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter I need to be the kid at
Speaker 2: the assembly. I don't need to I'll find my way.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah. Once you found guided by Voices, did
Speaker 1: similar sounds continue to excite you or did you sort
Speaker 1: of go like, you know, some people have an evolution
Speaker 1: where they discover something. They're like like guided by voices,
Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, like, well they liked you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know Susie and in the banshees or whatever, they
Speaker 1: will just keep going.
Speaker 2: Forward or I don't, Oh no, I find I definitely
Speaker 2: found people like that. I had a close friend named
Speaker 2: Matt Rivetto who was like my slightly older and he
Speaker 2: was like my style and music like icon, you know,
Speaker 2: he was like eighteen, I was sixteen. I just like
Speaker 2: looked up to him at the coolest hair, dressed like
Speaker 2: these weird thrift suits, and I was just like, this
Speaker 2: guy is amazing, and yeah, he would show me stuff
Speaker 2: and it was amazing to see, like like.
Speaker 1: The modern Lovers.
Speaker 2: That band had the guitars and keyboard and talking heads
Speaker 2: and the drummer in the cars, you know, and.
Speaker 1: So it's like and you just start you start going
Speaker 1: to that. You say Elvis.
Speaker 2: Costello and then like Nick Lowe because he produced it,
Speaker 2: and you hear his songs and you're just like, oh wow,
Speaker 2: he was like such an interesting songwriter. And then those
Speaker 2: songs are similar to like Squeeze, but those early time
Speaker 2: with like guy to have voices was probably like in
Speaker 2: that same world would be like built to spill. They
Speaker 2: were very moving for me. They covered Someday at Irving
Speaker 2: Plaza in like two thousand and one or two. We
Speaker 2: came to see them and they scribbled it from the
Speaker 2: set list. I mean, we didn't see it, and we're like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's so weird that they were scribbling. I know they
Speaker 2: get stoned and maybe they got weird. But but and
Speaker 2: then they covered it and it was like the best.
Speaker 2: You know, normally when someone covers a song, you're just like,
Speaker 2: thanks for ruining it. They did such an amazing job.
Speaker 2: It was like I was like anything. Jill and I
Speaker 2: were like crying at the show. It was so good.
Speaker 1: It was great, man.
Speaker 2: But yeah, just an amazing band right with like songs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: who else was in there? I mean so many people,
Speaker 2: you know, the The Cure of the Cars, the Beatles, Stones.
Speaker 2: But I also grew up with like Phil Collins and
Speaker 2: Elton John when I was like nine ten. I love
Speaker 2: those songs, So I bet part of me still has
Speaker 2: those like big eighties songs deep inside me.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, man.
Speaker 2: Like I don't find it cheesy. I think they're just
Speaker 2: like really good songs. Whitney Houston, Like I just I'm
Speaker 2: just like.
Speaker 1: Man, are you Whitney fan? Yeah? I love Whitney Houston. Man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: amazing voice, I mean, my god, amazing voice. And also
Speaker 1: like could go really big and like do like the
Speaker 1: I have an incredible voice thing. It could also just
Speaker 1: be sing a song straight and just fucked you're so good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, just an incredible This was around that time.
Speaker 2: I mean, you slowly build. I have like an encyclopedia
Speaker 2: of music. What's funny is that I got into music
Speaker 2: at different stages, right, Like I remember being like my
Speaker 2: early thirties and I got into the Misfits, and I
Speaker 2: feel like that's a band you find when you're like fifteen. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but like I feel like my fifteen was like thirty one.
Speaker 2: Like I was like late to the late to Honestly,
Speaker 2: it was late to the game. Like in my early thirties,
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I need something like this in
Speaker 2: my set list when I play, I need some like
Speaker 2: aggression like that.
Speaker 1: And I spent like a whole.
Speaker 2: Record trying to find my own versions of it. It's
Speaker 2: so I didn't want to sound like the misfits, But
Speaker 2: I just I liked the vibe that it was. It
Speaker 2: was coming off right, and I so, I mean, it's
Speaker 2: it's funny to have that delay, because I did feel
Speaker 2: like that's something when you have like a teenage anks
Speaker 2: usually and I had that like.
Speaker 1: An angst in my early thirties. Sometimes I rediscover my
Speaker 1: teenage angst. I don't know why I was. I mean,
Speaker 1: I was listening to a lot of your solo records
Speaker 1: and a lot of Stroke stuff in the last few days,
Speaker 1: and then for some reason on the way here, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it was because of listening to you
Speaker 1: got your music or what, but I just was compelled
Speaker 1: to put on Black Sabbath, which is so cool. You know.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes it just comes on and it's like cool, but
Speaker 1: actually put it on this time, and uh, I was
Speaker 1: like fuck. I feel like yeah, I feel like fuck, fuck.
Speaker 2: The world, you know, like there's such a there's such
Speaker 2: a cool, interesting band. I feel like sometimes they're they're
Speaker 2: like logo or what people think they are because time
Speaker 2: has passed and people have been inspired by them. But
Speaker 2: they're very melodic band. Yeah, and like this stuff is
Speaker 2: like not that distorted or dirty. It's like a very
Speaker 2: it's very straightforward. It's not theatrical. Maybe that's why it
Speaker 2: lasted the test of time a little more, because it's
Speaker 2: like and he has a very he discovered early on
Speaker 2: his voice right away, so as soon as you hear it,
Speaker 2: you're just like, yeah, it's a hook in itself. Yes,
Speaker 2: you know, even on a solo, stuff was crazy train crazy, yeah, solo, Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was that. Randy Rhodes play guitars. Yeah, such a
Speaker 1: guitar player. Such a guitar player.
Speaker 2: I don't forget the leads so because sometimes when it's
Speaker 2: like so much fire, it's like cool, I know, you
Speaker 2: play very fast.
Speaker 1: But just like the.
Speaker 2: Verse licks that he's doing in there are like I mean,
Speaker 2: like I could just listen to that and that'd be enough.
Speaker 2: You'd like, yeah, you have an amazing song. You don't
Speaker 2: need to play anything else. But yeah, no, he really
Speaker 2: got it. He knows his vocal sound.
Speaker 1: It's funny. No one tried a lot of people copy
Speaker 1: Black Sabbath, but doesn't seem like anyone really tried to copy.
Speaker 1: They did not. But no, like that heavy guitar stuff
Speaker 1: with like Azzi's sometimes sounds like you could be I know, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it doesn't.
Speaker 2: Like that's where I feel like people got influenced by it,
Speaker 2: but then they they took a part of it that
Speaker 2: I don't hear when I listen when I when I
Speaker 2: listen to and.
Speaker 1: Even the drums, like the drums are really loose, like
Speaker 1: they're cool that there's a lot of parts, but like
Speaker 1: it feels also loose and I don't know jazz like jazzy,
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, very cool.
Speaker 2: They're a very cool fan I also got into later
Speaker 2: in life. Yeah, just that happens. Like I also like
Speaker 2: this never a fan of led Zeppelin to this day
Speaker 2: just doesn't move me. Wow, just like.
Speaker 1: No part of it. I mean, they're all amazing musicians.
Speaker 1: I'm not crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm It's just not something that I put on
Speaker 2: and I'm just like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't give meaning to me.
Speaker 2: I know people are they're like wow, really, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I know, I've tried.
Speaker 1: I almost feel they're a part of it that you
Speaker 1: don't like when you hear it is you're like, oh
Speaker 1: fuck that annoys me or this.
Speaker 2: I'm not a huge fan of the of the vocals.
Speaker 2: I mean I think that all bands, even ones I
Speaker 2: don't they got some great songs and I listen to
Speaker 2: parts and like they have it, but as a whole,
Speaker 2: like I don't like put it. There's a few bands
Speaker 2: that are like that. People are like blown away. I
Speaker 2: never really got into Pink Floyd. I love some of
Speaker 2: the guitar playing those with the solos. I would totally
Speaker 2: the Benz the literal bends that sounded like the radio
Speaker 2: Head out but like the way they would bend or
Speaker 2: do something like I would like, Ooh, I like that,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Like because I'm definitely one
Speaker 2: that just because I don't like something wouldn't mean I
Speaker 2: wouldn't reference a drum pattern from led Zeppelin and be like,
Speaker 2: oh that's cool, let's do something like that. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: just they're just what I mean is don't like is
Speaker 2: like I never They never moved me like I was
Speaker 2: describing God to my voices, where I like it gave
Speaker 2: me attitude to walk around.
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: I never felt that I'm waiting. I'm still waiting for
Speaker 2: the day. The Smiths never got into them. Everyone's like, wow, really,
Speaker 2: who's another one that everyone's kind of radiohead?
Speaker 1: Fuck? Great radio as amazing song.
Speaker 2: That I would listen to for sure, but I've never
Speaker 2: like put on one of their records and.
Speaker 1: Like luxuriated in the Yeah. Yeah, there's definitely songs where
Speaker 1: I'm like, is it the feeling? I honestly have no.
Speaker 1: I have no clue you think I want to be
Speaker 1: outside of it. I want to be on the inside.
Speaker 1: It's to be super clear.
Speaker 2: I don't dislike all these bands are incredible.
Speaker 1: It's just your takes.
Speaker 2: I would be honored to be in any of these
Speaker 2: bands or even come close as a musician.
Speaker 1: Nothing to do with that. You don't think you're better.
Speaker 1: I like parts and songs of theirs, all of it.
Speaker 1: It's just these are just it's funny that they are
Speaker 1: bands that have created something for other people that I
Speaker 1: didn't get that didn't happen to me yet. That's all.
Speaker 1: That's the only thing I'm saying. Like, did you hate
Speaker 1: the Misfits until you heard them? I didn't.
Speaker 2: Wait, I didn't say I hated anyone. I hadn't heard
Speaker 2: of the Misfits. No, when I was a teenager, I
Speaker 2: didn't know the mis I literally discovered them, Like, who
Speaker 2: is this band?
Speaker 1: This is amazing? You remember what song was? Uh? Last Caress?
Speaker 1: And I was just like how did I not know this?
Speaker 1: And then I proceeded to write like three or four
Speaker 1: demos that it was like trying to be I even
Speaker 1: covered that song live for a little bit.
Speaker 2: But you know, I don't hate any of those bands
Speaker 2: that I said. I think they're amazing. It's just like
Speaker 2: it doesn't resonate. Yeah, And that doesn't like mean there's
Speaker 2: probably even other bands. There's bands I like, uh song
Speaker 2: from songs from them are amazing that I I might
Speaker 2: have had moments with them. You can't have a moment
Speaker 2: with everything. And sometimes it's just like how That's why
Speaker 2: reviewing a record's kind of funny, because you know, like
Speaker 2: how many times have you listened to your favorite songs?
Speaker 2: And some days you're kind of like hu, and other
Speaker 2: days you're like you could be crying or like it's connected.
Speaker 2: You're in the matrix and you're like stopping the bullets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then there's there's there's there's groups that I
Speaker 1: dislike and songs that I songs at least that I
Speaker 1: intensely hate. But then once while I hear that song
Speaker 1: coming through the window or something random, and I'm like, fuck,
Speaker 1: this sounds really good. It happened recently and I can't
Speaker 1: remember wish I could remember what song it was, And
Speaker 1: I was like, fuck, do I like maybe I kind
Speaker 1: of like.
Speaker 2: I like this, That's what I'm waiting for. That's what
Speaker 2: I'm I'm it's it's come. It's definitely come close on
Speaker 2: some of on some of those, they've all turned around
Speaker 2: a little bit, except for led Zepp.
Speaker 1: Are people tempted to try to turn you like.
Speaker 2: They're always blown away. They that's the last thing they
Speaker 2: would think that I would, I would say, And then
Speaker 2: some people are like, you know what, I get it.
Speaker 1: I get it. But still I want to make it
Speaker 1: super clear that I think they're amazing musicians.
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm going to get I'm just waiting
Speaker 2: for the hate I'm going to get on this.
Speaker 1: They're amazing musicians. Some amazing I just mean.
Speaker 2: Like the three hour show, some of the long jams,
Speaker 2: some of like the vibe they went for.
Speaker 1: Just it's not like what I'd want to play, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like I'd rather like, I mean, look at my top
Speaker 2: songs over here, what do you got to song? Like
Speaker 2: I'd rather put on Philip Glass String Quartet number three,
Speaker 2: Like I'd rather hear.
Speaker 1: That we have to pause for another quick break, and
Speaker 1: then we'll come back with the rest of my conversation
Speaker 1: with Albert Hammond Jr. We're back with Albert Hammon Jr.
Speaker 1: Do you think your critical voice makes you better, like
Speaker 1: if you were being honest with yourself. I don't. It's
Speaker 1: the same way. I don't think so people think.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's fun to do drugs, but people do
Speaker 2: drugs and creating because it's like I need to be
Speaker 2: like dark, right. I think you do need your shadow
Speaker 2: and your dark side to create, but you don't need
Speaker 2: to do drugs or be angry or have that stuff
Speaker 2: to enter the shadow. I mean, the shadow is there
Speaker 2: all the time, you know what I mean. I think
Speaker 2: it's just embracing the shadow and like nurturing it and
Speaker 2: like sucking that creative.
Speaker 1: That's where like creation really is in there. You know.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I actually feel I can I feel like two
Speaker 2: different people, like how I live my life and then
Speaker 2: how I am when I create. It takes a second
Speaker 2: to get in. Like the guy who pays the bills
Speaker 2: or drives or you know, I like put stuff in
Speaker 2: my calendar. I'm organized. That guy is not the guy creating.
Speaker 2: You know, the guy creating is like more of a
Speaker 2: more of a mess.
Speaker 1: Does one feel more like you?
Speaker 2: They both feel like me, but in fact that you
Speaker 2: used always tell my therapist like I want to be
Speaker 2: like Indiana Jones, but part of me feels like Indiana
Speaker 2: Jones who's in the plastic box and the toy store,
Speaker 2: Like I'm doing it, but I'm not actually living it.
Speaker 2: That makes sense, Like I used to be worse and
Speaker 2: now I'm a little looser. But like I was like,
Speaker 2: like I need to somehow enjoy the process more than
Speaker 2: the end result. I noticed it in like getting something
Speaker 2: ready in my in my house from moving. It's like
Speaker 2: you just want to get it done, but then when
Speaker 2: it's done, something else you have to do.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: If you don't enjoy getting there, that's all you have
Speaker 2: is the getting there.
Speaker 1: That's all. That's all we're all doing always. And so
Speaker 1: when you think about the creative, like there's these two people.
Speaker 1: The person who pays bills and drives and puts stuff
Speaker 1: on your calendar, and then there's the creative person. The
Speaker 1: creative person or the person who's creating. Is that the
Speaker 1: same person that goes like on tour, when you tour.
Speaker 2: No, no, the person on Maybe sometimes on stage you
Speaker 2: can get lost in it, but being on stage isn't
Speaker 2: like you know people like, oh just got flow and
Speaker 2: I just got caught into it. At least for me,
Speaker 2: stage is like the way someone describes playing a tennis match,
Speaker 2: fucking nailing it, gonna beat this guy. To just breathe
Speaker 2: just because you didn't do something right. You don't fall
Speaker 2: apart while looking like you belong there, never ever showing that.
Speaker 2: But so it's like this inner thing that's just like
Speaker 2: the amount of times I've had an amazing show has
Speaker 2: gone from like starts strong, I feel like I'm falling apart,
Speaker 2: and I come back, and then something happens and you
Speaker 2: get lost, and then where you want to push the
Speaker 2: crowd away, they go, and then you're able to bring
Speaker 2: them back, and at the end you have more of
Speaker 2: that than when you started, So you feel like you
Speaker 2: did something right in there. That's usually like it's a
Speaker 2: show is like a whole experience. That's why you're so
Speaker 2: trained afterwards.
Speaker 1: It's like it's never just like I went out there
Speaker 1: and did my thing.
Speaker 2: I wish that sounds amazing if doing your thing is
Speaker 2: a ninety minute movie then yes, that's what happens with
Speaker 2: ups and downs and curveballs, and like your show is
Speaker 2: like your whole mix and so like, and sometimes you're not.
Speaker 2: This is more of when I'm doing solo stuff. But
Speaker 2: you're not at one hundred percent because you can't be.
Speaker 2: You're on tour.
Speaker 1: You're never going to be.
Speaker 2: It's about learning how to be at like seventy percent,
Speaker 2: but doing the show like you were at one hundred.
Speaker 2: It really is like and that's kind of like the
Speaker 2: secret to playing live music because it's never like you're
Speaker 2: at home. I meditated for three weeks, took the perfect shower,
Speaker 2: my hair is sitting just right. Let's just go do
Speaker 2: a show. It's like that, except the next day you
Speaker 2: have to do another.
Speaker 1: One, and you have to somehow get to the next.
Speaker 2: You're just like yeah, especially on the soul stuff, You're
Speaker 2: just you're tired. Nothing that you wanted to do is
Speaker 2: come out totally right.
Speaker 1: Has a relationship between changed over timely? Does it evolve?
Speaker 1: Is it like at first it was really fun and
Speaker 1: then it became a drag and then it's.
Speaker 2: Never I'm not jaded enough to not enjoy my life.
Speaker 2: I felt like I was built to be a part
Speaker 2: of a traveling circus cool, Like I do love it.
Speaker 2: In many ways, you are going to not like things
Speaker 2: that you love at some point inevitable. Still has been
Speaker 2: moments where like, I love music and I would write
Speaker 2: songs and record them even if I didn't play music anymore,
Speaker 2: because I just can't. It's just I just do it.
Speaker 2: I don't like I'm gonna sit and write. They just
Speaker 2: like come out right. I don't think I could stop that.
Speaker 2: But it's been moments where I've been like, man, imagine
Speaker 2: if I like didn't play music or something else. So,
Speaker 2: but I don't like dislike tour, and I've learned that
Speaker 2: the longer you do it, it's different solo. In the
Speaker 2: strokes of the luxury is that we have a big
Speaker 2: fan base, and so like it's more comfortable to tour.
Speaker 1: It's cool to reach new.
Speaker 2: Areas you haven't even though you've been doing it for
Speaker 2: twenty years. And it also when you've been doing it
Speaker 2: that much. The high isn't so much from playing a
Speaker 2: new song and having no one know it. The high
Speaker 2: is like watching how people are absorbing stuff that you
Speaker 2: know well and that they know, and then feeding off
Speaker 2: of that energy. Playing a song that is clearly making
Speaker 2: a crowd all feel nostalgic.
Speaker 1: How could that? If that's jading you, then I don't know.
Speaker 2: You gotta go do something because that's like, that's a
Speaker 2: magical thing.
Speaker 1: I feel lucky.
Speaker 2: I wanted to be part of that fabric when I
Speaker 2: was a teenager and I fell in love with music,
Speaker 2: and now to even have glimpses of being part of
Speaker 2: that fat is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's unreal. It's really cool that you can have
Speaker 1: that perspective on it while doing It's like you still
Speaker 1: maintain the fan perspective in a way.
Speaker 2: I feel like you have to, though I was saying
Speaker 2: that it's like your innocence from it is going to
Speaker 2: get beaten out pretty fast, just by the game you
Speaker 2: have to play. All business is a game, right, and
Speaker 2: when you fall in love with music, you have no
Speaker 2: idea what that game is. But it's not what you
Speaker 2: think it is, and it's not for the love of it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's you know, this.
Speaker 2: Stuff that you have to this stuff you have to do,
Speaker 2: but that's that's okay if you get to like create
Speaker 2: and do other things. Basically everything has a price, Yeah,
Speaker 2: some at some point, small, big, very rarely is that
Speaker 2: I create something so magical that there isn't there's still
Speaker 2: even when you do that, there's still some price somewhere. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, maybe you get tired of doing it,
Speaker 2: so you have to rediscover how to not feel tired
Speaker 2: from it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. How much input do you have on planning a tour?
Speaker 1: Like do you get to like say like I don't
Speaker 1: really want to go there, or do like a festival
Speaker 1: like in my in my Soul stuff or the Stroke stuff.
Speaker 1: I guess both both. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2: Touring wise, I would say Julian has the most say.
Speaker 2: I would say most singers have the most say about it.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately that's kind of like or fortunately whatever that's like
Speaker 2: make sense, That's that's part of it. I mean I
Speaker 2: like festivals as like a cherry, you know. To me,
Speaker 2: they're like they're fun when you're doing your own thing,
Speaker 2: and then then then you get to do them because
Speaker 2: they're like this crazy thing. When you just do them,
Speaker 2: it can get dark because it's how you.
Speaker 1: Have to look at it.
Speaker 2: Like a festival crowd, you're gonna play a certain kind
Speaker 2: of set list, you get seventy five minutes, you're gonna
Speaker 2: play a set list that appeals more to a mass.
Speaker 2: You're not really gonna take them too far. It's it's
Speaker 2: too big. That's not the point of it. That's not
Speaker 2: the vibe of the party. It's not like a Andy
Speaker 2: Warhol party and there's a bunch of weird people invited.
Speaker 2: It's like a very you know, it just it is
Speaker 2: what it is. And then at your own show you
Speaker 2: could have a little run of two or three songs
Speaker 2: that you're almost purposely pushing people away to then bring
Speaker 2: them back, or like this is where it's going to
Speaker 2: dip down, and then we can wrap it back up
Speaker 2: at the end and you can do something that you
Speaker 2: can play some weirder songs for you, or do something
Speaker 2: and can go, you can do a jam. You can
Speaker 2: just have more fun with it. So I think when
Speaker 2: you're doing that, eventually, like I said, with anything becomes boring.
Speaker 2: And so the playing the straight ahead thing for the
Speaker 2: giant audience, you're like, wow, I just played for the
Speaker 2: sixty thousand people.
Speaker 1: It's what a rush. So that variety it's helpful.
Speaker 2: So I always just trying to say everything touring, I
Speaker 2: always try to like want to have that balanced. But
Speaker 2: between management and you know they figure it out. Well,
Speaker 2: my stuff is different. It's like I'd like to tour places,
Speaker 2: but it's unfortunately. This is what I tried to do
Speaker 2: on this record was to have less of a band
Speaker 2: and have more stuff on tracks and create Since I'm
Speaker 2: not a band, I can create a weird world of
Speaker 2: like a three piece band with tracks and just have
Speaker 2: it be like weird or weirder than less straightforward than
Speaker 2: just having like I've always had just players play everything.
Speaker 1: I was just trying to be able to afford to
Speaker 1: go on tour. It's very hard as.
Speaker 2: Less people are like why don't you come here or
Speaker 2: come there? It's like I always debate how to talk
Speaker 2: about this because it's not like it's not a complaint,
Speaker 2: it's more just like realities of reality, like the band
Speaker 2: never feels stable enough.
Speaker 1: To just sit there and enjoy.
Speaker 2: Okay, Like I never feel like I never saw it's
Speaker 2: always like older brother. That's not negative positive, it's just
Speaker 2: like my personalities reaction to this thing I exist in
Speaker 2: the business, right you can't like you realize that touring
Speaker 2: in some ways is a luxury, which is great. You're
Speaker 2: a band that has an audience, like be grateful because
Speaker 2: that's like, and you can if you can then make
Speaker 2: money from that, that's an amazing gift. This other bands
Speaker 2: that would want to do that and just just like can't.
Speaker 1: I mean, i'd imagine people cold understand because even if
Speaker 1: you work a regular job and you have to take
Speaker 1: a business trip, you know, if the money's.
Speaker 2: Not right, it's like it's always someone else paying musicians
Speaker 2: like actors have businesses like we are the business even
Speaker 2: at the highest level, Like who's the biggest They gross
Speaker 2: crazy amounts of stones right right, they're still paying themselves company.
Speaker 1: They might get an advance from a big company and stuff.
Speaker 2: I got to advance it, but they're still at a
Speaker 2: loss YouTube for like six eight months of that touring,
Speaker 2: even though they're like the biggest band. There's no like
Speaker 2: but when you make a movie, the actor is a
Speaker 2: director is they're not at a loss. It's just the
Speaker 2: big company paying for it. So it feels a little
Speaker 2: a little different in that in that way, I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe that's what makes.
Speaker 1: Musicians a little cooler than actors.
Speaker 2: Sorry, guys, it's gonna get outside here and just have
Speaker 2: a line of actors. I heard what you said, and
Speaker 2: I'm mildly offended. I can take my mildly offended. The
Speaker 2: Albert or story. A lot of people mad at you,
Speaker 2: thanks for nothing. The Albert Hammond Junior story.
Speaker 1: Oh that was fun, man. I appreciate it, and I
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Thank you for the years of music in
Speaker 1: the in the new solo record. Can't wait to hear
Speaker 1: the second half.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I can't wait to just have it out.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Alberham and Jr. For chatting about his new
Speaker 1: double album, Melodies on Hiatus. You can hear it along
Speaker 1: with all of our favorite songs from him and the
Speaker 1: Strokes on a playlist at Broken Record podcast dot com.
Speaker 1: You can subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot
Speaker 1: com slash Broken Record Podcast, where you can find all
Speaker 1: of our new episodes. Broken Record is produced with help
Speaker 1: from Leah Rose, Jason Gambrel, Ben Holliday, Nisha Venkatt, Jordan McMillan,
Speaker 1: and Eric Sanda. Our editor is Sophie Crane. Broken Record
Speaker 1: is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you love this
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Speaker 1: expect canny beats. I'm Justin Richard H.