Albert Hammond Jr

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Albert Hammond, Jr. (born 9 April 1980, in Los Angeles) is a musician and member of the rock band The Strokes. He plays lead and rhythm guitar.

The son of songwriter Albert Hammond, Albert Jr. was sent to the elite boarding school Institut Le Rosey 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 Casablancas in New York City and together they formed The Strokes with Casablancas's former schoolmates Nick Valensi, Nikolai Fraiture, and Fabrizio Moretti.

Hammond is currently engaged to Catherine Pierce, one-half of the folk singing group The Pierces. His trademark is wearing formal suits, usually a different one for each show. Albert is usually seen playing an olympian white Fender Stratocaster, or bandmate Nick Valensi's Les Paul Jr. He is usually associated with the rhythm guitar portion of the majority of Strokes songs, and most 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.

Contents

[edit] 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 Albert 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. Produced by Thin Lizard Dawn vocalist Greg 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. and The Strokes' lead singer Julian 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 September 4, 2006.

He has said to have been "waiting to make a record like this for years". [citation needed] Early support from his fellow bandmates in the Strokes was only evident after Julian Casablancas' role playing bass and back-up vocals on the track "Scared".

"Back To The 101" will be the follow up single to "Everyone Gets a Star". This will be available in general music stores, unlike "Everyone Gets a Star" which was only available through UK iTunes Music Store. This is scheduled for release on 27 November 2006

In November 2006, Albert Hammond Jr was announced to be joining Incubus on tour during their first tour for their new album "Light Grenades".

[edit] Discography

Yours to Keep
Release Date:

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock UK Singles Chart
2006 "Everyone Gets a Star" - - - Yours to Keep
2006 "Back To The 101" - - - Yours to Keep


[edit] External links

The Strokes
Julian Casablancas | Nikolai Fraiture | Albert Hammond Jr | Fabrizio Moretti | Nick Valensi
Discography
Albums and extended plays: The Modern Age | Is This It | Room on Fire | First Impressions of Earth
Singles: "Hard to Explain" | "Last Nite" | "Someday" | "12:51" | "Reptilia" | "The End Has No End" | "Juicebox" | "Heart in a Cage" | "You Only Live Once"
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