Albert Hammond, Jr. of the Strokes

Upon the release of their debut album Is This It in 2001, the Strokes met much critical praise and were credited for being a major part of the garage rock revival of that time. Room on Fire and First Impressions of Earth followed, members embarked on a variety of side projects, and guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Albert Hammond, Jr. released his well-received solo album Yours to Keep. He churned out another gem with ¿Cómo Te Llama? in 2008, before work on the Strokes’ latest effort, Angles, began in 2009. The much anticipated Angles came out in February of this year and not long afterwards, the band announced that they had already begun working on their fifth studio album, to countless fans’ delight.

While he was on tour, we caught up with Albert to talk about Angles, Korg gear, and more:

KORG: Angles is out and people are pumped. It’s been about five years since the last Strokes record, and you kept yourself busy and released ¿Cómo Te Llama? in ’08. Are there any moments in your mind that sick out from recording or the tour?
Albert Hammond, Jr.: Most recently, playing Madison Square Garden sticks out like a sore thumb. It was a very beautiful moment.

KORG: That’s obviously a monumental performance, it’s pretty awesome place to be playing. I caught the Late Show with David Letterman performance and that was cool, Dave seemed to dig it. Do you guys enjoy doing TV things like that?
AHJ: Everything has its weirdness…you do TV and it’s weird, but it’s fun. It’s quick, it’s intense, and the rush is unbelievable, actually. You’re just sitting there and in three minutes, your adrenaline kicks into overdrive and it leaves you shaking. It’s great how TV reaches people. TV can be really enjoyable…Saturday Night Live was like that.

KORG: Did you personally bring any tunes or ideas to the table for Angles from your time off, or was it all created when you guys met to do the new record?
AHJ: I don’t think anything is just done on the spot like that, you know? Things are constantly in motion when it comes to music. It’s a mixture of everything, probably a mix of things people had for who knows how long. Some new or maybe some old that became new when we came into the studio and started playing it.

KORG: Would you describe this recording process any differently than the last times you guys got together for records? I know you guys got together upstate (New York), right?
AHJ: Yeah. I think the best way to describe it is, we have ten years of experience and you go in to the core, you can still have the innocence of when you made your first record because we’re doing it in this space that’s very innocent. But you have ten years of knowledge and recording and ideas. That’s what’s exciting about doing the next one is you have this experience that can be put to use.

KORG: Are there any specific recordings from Angles that are special to you?
AHJ: The songs “Games” and “Satisfaction” and “Life Is Simple in the Moonlight” - those were pretty special.

KORG: Why is that?
AHJ: Lots of different reasons. “Games” is the most extreme difference for me. ”Satisfaction” has background vocals for the first time. “Moonlight” is just a special song to me…something about it when it was done; it just had a very unique sound to me.

KORG: Let’s talk about gear. You recently picked up a monotron, microKORGXL, and PS60. Is this the most we’ll hear from synths and keys on a Strokes record?
AHJ: Yeah, the PS60 is awesome and so is the microKORG! For solo stuff, I still use a Triton.

KORG: What are your favorite features on the microKORGXL or PS60? Do you have any?
AHJ: So many, I love everything about them. I even use the XL on stage now. It has really cool and unique sounds. We all have one now. I have one at home, one at the studio, and one on the road. Nikolai has one, and I’m pretty sure Nick and Julian have one too. The PS60 is great; it will definitely make it on to the next album. We started playing it and found it had so many great sounds right away!

KORG: Thanks, Albert!

For more info on Albert and the Strokes, visit www.alberthammondjr.com and www.thestrokes.com

Photo Credit: Jason McDonald

Albert Hammond, Jr. of the Strokes

Upon the release of their debut album Is This It in 2001, the Strokes met much critical praise and were credited for being a major part of the garage rock revival of that time. Room on Fire and First Impressions of Earth followed, members embarked on a variety of side projects, and guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Albert Hammond, Jr. released his well-received solo album Yours to Keep. He churned out another gem with ¿Cómo Te Llama? in 2008, before work on the Strokes’ latest effort, Angles, began in 2009. The much anticipated Angles came out in February of this year and not long afterwards, the band announced that they had already begun working on their fifth studio album, to countless fans’ delight.

While he was on tour, we caught up with Albert to talk about Angles, Korg gear, and more:

KORG: Angles is out and people are pumped. It’s been about five years since the last Strokes record, and you kept yourself busy and released ¿Cómo Te Llama? in ’08. Are there any moments in your mind that sick out from recording or the tour?
Albert Hammond, Jr.: Most recently, playing Madison Square Garden sticks out like a sore thumb. It was a very beautiful moment.

KORG: That’s obviously a monumental performance, it’s pretty awesome place to be playing. I caught the Late Show with David Letterman performance and that was cool, Dave seemed to dig it. Do you guys enjoy doing TV things like that?
AHJ: Everything has its weirdness…you do TV and it’s weird, but it’s fun. It’s quick, it’s intense, and the rush is unbelievable, actually. You’re just sitting there and in three minutes, your adrenaline kicks into overdrive and it leaves you shaking. It’s great how TV reaches people. TV can be really enjoyable…Saturday Night Live was like that.

KORG: Did you personally bring any tunes or ideas to the table for Angles from your time off, or was it all created when you guys met to do the new record?
AHJ: I don’t think anything is just done on the spot like that, you know? Things are constantly in motion when it comes to music. It’s a mixture of everything, probably a mix of things people had for who knows how long. Some new or maybe some old that became new when we came into the studio and started playing it.

KORG: Would you describe this recording process any differently than the last times you guys got together for records? I know you guys got together upstate (New York), right?
AHJ: Yeah. I think the best way to describe it is, we have ten years of experience and you go in to the core, you can still have the innocence of when you made your first record because we’re doing it in this space that’s very innocent. But you have ten years of knowledge and recording and ideas. That’s what’s exciting about doing the next one is you have this experience that can be put to use.

KORG: Are there any specific recordings from Angles that are special to you?
AHJ: The songs “Games” and “Satisfaction” and “Life Is Simple in the Moonlight” - those were pretty special.

KORG: Why is that?
AHJ: Lots of different reasons. “Games” is the most extreme difference for me. ”Satisfaction” has background vocals for the first time. “Moonlight” is just a special song to me…something about it when it was done; it just had a very unique sound to me.

KORG: Let’s talk about gear. You recently picked up a monotron, microKORGXL, and PS60. Is this the most we’ll hear from synths and keys on a Strokes record?
AHJ: Yeah, the PS60 is awesome and so is the microKORG! For solo stuff, I still use a Triton.

KORG: What are your favorite features on the microKORGXL or PS60? Do you have any?
AHJ: So many, I love everything about them. I even use the XL on stage now. It has really cool and unique sounds. We all have one now. I have one at home, one at the studio, and one on the road. Nikolai has one, and I’m pretty sure Nick and Julian have one too. The PS60 is great; it will definitely make it on to the next album. We started playing it and found it had so many great sounds right away!

KORG: Thanks, Albert!

For more info on Albert and the Strokes, visit www.alberthammondjr.com and www.thestrokes.com

Photo Credit: Jason McDonald

Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes


Relax, folks; Albert Hammond Jr. is not leaving the Strokes. He is, however, touring in a new trio (comprised of Albert on guitar and vocals, Josh Lattanzi on bass and Matt Romano on drums) to support his March 6th solo release, Yours To Keep. The album delivers a bit of Strokes-esque moments but definitely ventures into more melodic venues and swooning harmonies you wouldn’t necessarily expect from New York’s fab five. Yours To Keep defines Albert as a genuine songwriter and vocalist, at the same time reinforcing his unique guitar stylings.

Albert believes that because he’s been writing and singing his own songs since he was a teenager, a solo offering was bound to happen. “I’ve always been myself my entire life, so it doesn’t feel that strange. I guess from an outside perspective it may seem so.” He adds, “It just seemed inevitable.” Albert has confirmed several times publicly that the Strokes are still well intact and that he does not compare his two roles. “It’s just not something I think about,” he states. Touring with other acts such as Bloc Party, The Mooney Suzuki, The Dead Trees, and Incubus has given him a chance shine as an individual to a wide palette of audiences.

Said audiences are in for an amazing live show. Albert’s trio gets some help from Marc Philippe Eskenazi (guitar / keyboards / backing vocals) and Steve Schiltz (guitar) while touring. The keyboard they chose to add to the arsenal is a TRITON Extreme. Albert explains, “We were looking at keyboards and we wanted our choice to have all these sounds, be able to do MIDI, and hold samples. So we used the Extreme for the road and just checked out a bunch of other keyboards. We always ended up going back to the Korg. It’s by far the best one.”

He also appreciates the ease of use when it comes to his Extreme. “It’s so user-friendly. With other keyboards we couldn’t figure out if we could mix sounds... in ten minutes with the TRITON, we figured out we could put three or four sounds into one sound, and that was really important. We could easily start creating our own sounds to use. All the weird sounds sounded really, really good, too. It sounded like if someone didn’t see the keyboard, they might think it’s the real thing.” Albert also digs his microKONTROL, and his Korg tuners and metronomes. He put it simply, “When in doubt – choose Korg.”

Keep up with what Albert is doing at