The Rebirth Of Cool
They were the biggest, hippest thing in rock and roll but, after a glum third album, The Strokes drifted apart. Now they’re back from a five-year break with a new democratic approach to songwriting and a record, angles, that ranks among their best. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr talks about the band’s dizzying rise, their new lease of life and the dark side of success
Peter Murphy, 04 Apr 2011
After a five-year hiatus during which all members but one released solo efforts, New York quintet The Strokes finally release that difficult fourth album Angles. Initial sessions conducted with Grammy-winning producer Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, Counting Crows) were scrapped when the band elected to re-record the songs at guitarist Albert Hammond Jr's house, producing themselves.
“You go in with the instincts of survival,” Hammond explains. “It runs through the filter of the five of us and you just keep on pushing until everyone’s excited about it and that’s what you end up with. It’s like a photograph, not just the taking of it but the printing of it. It’s kind of our handprint, it’s how we create, a step at a time, a song at a time: ‘Why does that sound cool?’ ‘How come that doesn’t?’ ‘Why does that sound even cooler?’ ‘How do we make this better?’ Variety. Different extremes, from a dry band to complete cold synthetics, from ‘Undercover’ to ‘Games’.”
The major difference this time out, Hammond says, was that the band functioned as a democracy. Each member gets a songwriting credit – a marked contrast to the first three albums, which were dominated by singer Julian Casablancas.
“Even in being democratic you still have people who take leads in parts, or people whose abilities are stronger in certain areas,” the guitarist admits. “I don’t think that’s fully changed. You just try to get better at your instrument and your craft. One thing I learned on this record is how talented everyone is, as a band. You’re so lucky to be surrounded by really talented, strong people. It just kind of organically came back together.”
Was there ever a formal meeting at which they decided to take an extended break, or was it a gradual drift?
“It probably would have been good if there was a sit-down thing or a meeting or something like that, but there wasn’t. It was kind of obvious: we started and took off on this thing and by the time we got to the third album, communication had broken down a little bit. It was going fast and it just needed to slow down for a second to assess itself as an entity.
Page 1/4 <Previous 1 2 3 4 Next>
©Hot Press 2011. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy