Albert Hammond, Jr. likes a challenge. It’s the way he was raised. “[My dad] never bullshitted me,” he said of his namesake, Albert Hammond, Sr., who composed hits for Julio Iglesias and Tina Turner. “I wrote my first song, my third 
song, and he was never like, ‘wow, amazing.’ He was always like: you work more, you’ll get better.”
Hammond senior wisely armed the future Stroke with a vision that took Albert from the garage rock revival of 2001 to last year’s acclaimed solo debut Yours to Keep, to the present Como te Llama? To him, it’s one more rung on the ladder.
“The process of recording Yours to Keep was a step to get to Como te Llama?, to get to another record,” he said. The theme of Yours to Keep was realizing it’s not too late to change while Hammond, Jr. says Como te Llama? has a bouncier feel that mirrors the excitement he felt writing new songs. Although only a year passed between the two albums, Hammond, Jr. admits he had been going through a writing dry spell.
On this bold, eclectic Chapter II, Hammond, Jr. and the crack team from Yours to Keep lean harder on the influence button incorporating reggae and soul into the mix. “I like melodies and I like rhythms,” Hammond, Jr. admits. This is clear on songs like “Bargain of the Century” and the first single “GfC” with their sunny pop melodies that will definitely get some heads bopping. The latter was the first song Hammond, Jr. wrote for the album and helped shape his new (or at least newer) sound.
“I felt if I hadn’t challenged myself to try and record them [the songs on Yours to Keep, particularly “Everyone Gets a Star” and “In Transit”] I could never get past them,” he said. Thanks to his enviable education, the groundwork had been laid for a more experimental second venture which includes an instrumental piece that is over 7 minutes long called “Spooky Couch.” Hammond, Jr. admits it was a tough sell at first. “No one has the attention span to take it,” he recalls people saying. After playing it for people he found the majority didn’t mind that there were no lyrics and were actually interested in listening for the subtle changes and progressions.
This was just one of the decisions Hammond, Jr. had to make as co-producer and he liked it so much he decided to give it another try, this time for someone else. Hammond produced the debut album for the The Postelles who sound like a mix between The Strokes and The Kinks. Where some producers tend to work a little too much studio magic, Hammond, Jr. wants to change as little as possible. “The goal is to keep the sound unique and not “produce” them,” he explains. After receiving rave reviews for his production work with the young band Hammond, Jr. is looking forward to working with other bands in his brand new studio in Upstate New York and dabbling in the world of movie soundtracks.
Hammond admits he likes working alone, but misses bouncing ideas off of other people. “I love bringing band members into your head and trying to get them to understand what you hear,” says Hammond. “When they get it, it works wonders.” Although Hammond didn’t give exact details of when, but Stroke fans can rest assured that the band is going to record another album. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture even hinted that it could be as early as February.
After 8 months of touring and an opening slot on Coldplay's European tour where he got a chance to hear his favorite song “Fix You” 23 nights in a row, Hammond has no plans for the next few months. You can assume though that a man who admits he is in his element on stage will probably be playing somewhere whether it’s in New York City or a small town in Germany. “Our goal is to tour this album every where we can, get into those cracks and fill them up with music.
Words by: Claire L. Shefchik and Shannon Carlin
Photo by: Lane Coder
