ALBERT HAMMOND, JR.

'Albert Hammond, Jr.' (born April 9 1980, Los Angeles, California) is a musician and member of the garage rock band, The Strokes for which he mostly plays Rhythm Guitar, but occasionally plays lead as well (eg. in "Last Nite"). He is also a solo musician in his own right, and released his debut album ''Yours To Keep'' in 2006.

Contents

Career

Songwriting and solo work

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Career

The son of Gibraltarian musician Albert Hammond and Argentinian Mother Claudia, Albert Jr. was sent to the elite boarding school Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland at the age of 13. While there, he met Julian Casablancas, who would go on to be a fellow band member.
In 1998, Hammond met up with Julian Casablancas in New York City and together they formed The Strokes with Casablancas' former schoolmates Nikolai Fraiture, Nick Valensi, and Fabrizio Moretti.
Hammond was once engaged to Catherine Pierce, one-half of the folk singing group The Pierces. His new girlfriend is Lissa Seiffert. His trademark is wearing formal three-piece suits, and has been said to be the most influential on the band's style. Albert is usually seen playing a 1970's Olympic White Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul Jr. that is sometimes used by bandmate Nick Valensi. On the majority of The Strokes' songs he plays rhythm guitar, and solos are played by Valensi. The songs in which Hammond does play solos are "Last Nite," "Trying Your Luck," "Take It or Leave It," "Under Control," "The End Has No End," "Ize of the World," and "Vision of Division." His solos tend to focus largely on more emotional, "bluesy"-type melodical work, and the guitar tends to have a cleaner, softer tone in comparison to Valensi's (with a notable exception found in "Vision of Division"). He often holds his guitar in a high horizontal position, similar to Buddy Holly, which he says is so that he can dance better.

Songwriting and solo work

Although vocalist Julian Casablancas is the major contributor to the songwriting process for The Strokes' music, Hammond has been known to write a few pieces of his own. He co-wrote the track "Automatic Stop" with Casablancas for the group's second album, ''Room on Fire''. He has also been credited with writing three mostly instrumental songs ("Swiss Beats", "Holland", and "By The Way") for the band's 2001 tour video entitled "In Transit". These songs were then slightly reworked to appear on his later solo album, under different titles ("Everyone Gets A Star", "Bright Young Thing", and "In Transit", respectively). He had also written a song called "Elephant Song," which Hammond used when he was required to record a song for his Sound 101 class in freshman year, using the school's recording equipment. The song was played at a few shows before the release of their first album. The Strokes later re-recorded the song as a special giveaway for fanclub members.
Hammond released a solo album entitled ''Yours To Keep'' in the U.K. through Rough Trade Records on October 9 2006 and in North America through New Line Records/Scratchie Records on March 6 2007. Produced by Thin Lizard Dawn vocalist Lattimer and recorded at the Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City, the album features several musical guests, such as Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller, The Strokes' manager Ryan Gentles, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, Chris Feinstein, Mikki James, Sammy James Jr. (The Moony Suzuki) and The Strokes' lead singer, Casablancas. Bassist Josh Lattanzi and drummer Matt Romano serve as the backing band, with Hammond on guitar and vocals. The first single taken from the album, "Everyone Gets A Star", was released exclusively through iTunes on 4 September 2006.
He has said to have been "waiting to make a record like this for years". ^[1] Early support from his fellow bandmates in the Strokes was only evident after Casablancas' role playing bass and back-up vocals on the track "Scared", though all of the members (with the exclusion of Nick Valensi who was busy taking care of his new-born children) attended his shows in and around New York.
"101" was the follow up single to "Everyone Gets A Star". The music video debuted online in March 2007^[2]. This will be available in general music stores, unlike "Everyone Gets A Star" which was only available through UK iTunes Music Store. This was released on 27 November 2006.
In November 2006, Hammond announced to be joining Incubus on tour during their North American tour for their new album ''Light Grenades''.
On 16 March 2007 at the South by Southwest festival, Hammond performed a twelve song set including covers of Frank Black's "Old Black Dawning" and Guided By Voices' "Postal Blowfish".^[3]. Hammond also regularly covered The Cars' "Don't Cha Stop" in live performances.
The ''Yours To Keep'' album was released in North America on 6 March 2007; he also supported Bloc Party on their world tour before making stops at Montreal's Metropolis and Toronto's Kool Haus. After this, Hammond headlined two North American tours along with a Europe tour. The North American tour featured his friends, The Mooney Suzuki. Hammond has one last tour to finish up in Europe and then he is officially done touring for ''Yours to Keep''.
Hammond announced that "In Transit" will be his next solo single, featuring a cover of Frank Black's "Old Black Dawning" as the b-side. It was recorded live from the Bowery Ballroom.
On 29 August 2007, Hammond announced on his myspace that he is going back into the studio to record his second album in October. He said they are only going to record for five weeks, so it is likely to be out late this year or early next year.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions			Album
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	UK Singles Chart
2006	"Everyone Gets A Star"	-	78	114	''Yours to Keep''
2006	"101"	-	-	152	''Yours to Keep''

References

1. The Evening Standard (London) - "Albert is so neat"
2. Albert Hammond Jr.: 101, ''Blender'' Online, March 2007, retrieved on March 16, 2007.
3. [1], "NME" Online, March 2007, retrieved on April 11, 2007


★ Spin Magazine feature October 2003, retrieved 25 March 2007[2]

★ Star Magazine web feature 28 March 2007: [3]

External links

★ The Strokes official website

★ Albert Hammond, Jr. official myspace

★ Yours To Keep - A Fansite For Albert Hammond, Jr.