{"id":971509,"date":"2026-07-31T15:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/971509\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:08:18","slug":"albert-hammond-jr-says-the-strokes-angles-was-originally-more-stones-y-but-ended-up-flat-and-all-over-the-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/971509\/","title":{"rendered":"Albert Hammond Jr says The Strokes’ ‘Angles’ was originally “more Stones-y” but ended up “flat” and “all over the place”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albert Hammond Jr<\/a> has revealed that The Strokes<\/a>\u2018 \u2018Angles\u2019 originally sounded \u201cmore Stones<\/a>-y\u201d, but said it ultimately ended up \u201cflat\u201d and \u201call over the place\u201d.<\/p>\n

The guitarist looked back on the New York band\u2019s 2011 fourth album<\/a> \u2013 the follow-up to 2006\u2019s \u2018First Impressions Of Earth\u2019<\/a> \u2013 during a new interview on Rick Rubin<\/a>\u2018s podcast, Tetragrammaton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rubin produced The Strokes\u2019 latest two records, 2020\u2019s \u2018The New Abnormal\u2019<\/a> and this year\u2019s \u2018Reality Awaits\u2019<\/a> \u2013 the latter of which was released last week.<\/p>\n

Looking back on the fractured process of making \u2018Angles\u2019, Hammond Jr remembered: \u201cWell, it was like two parts; we did a whole version of the album with [producer] Gus [Oberg], who does our front of house [sound].<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt more Stones-y; it was really cool. All in a room, in a rehearsal space, like this, really live, dirty, but I think we were afraid to put it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this version wasn\u2019t what fans ended up hearing on the final album. \u201cAfterwards, it was like, \u2018I wish it was like that\u2019,\u201d Hammond Jr continued. \u201cI think we were trying to polish something too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the musician, The Strokes made \u2018Angles \u201cthree times\u201d \u2013 including a version they created at NYC\u2019s Avatar Studios with \u201ca producer we ended up not getting along with\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a lot of money. We were there from 11 until nine; it really felt like work,\u201d Hammond Jr went on.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The only song that made it onto the final album from the Avatar Studios sessions was \u2018Angles\u2019 closer \u2018Life Is Simple In The Moonlight\u2019, produced by Joe Chiccarelli.<\/p>\n

The guitarist also recalled frontman Julian Casablancas<\/a> being absent from the sessions, as he was out on a solo tour in support of his debut solo album, 2009\u2019s \u2018Phrazes For The Young\u2019<\/a>. Casablancas later recorded his parts separately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were doing it the four of us. We already had the songs, but doing it as a band without him,\u201d he told Rubin. \u201cIt was the first time that his voice wasn\u2019t in there when someone was challenging us in a room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Angles\u2019 marked the first Strokes album on which each member was given songwriting credits, rather than Casablancas being the primary writer \u2013 as was the case with their first three LPs.<\/p>\n

The group used backing vocals for the first time, too, notably on the lead single \u2018Under Cover Of Darkness\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also said Casablancas did show up to do \u201c10 minutes of vocals and the guy said one thing\u201d, resulting in him leaving and eventually recording his vocals at Hammond Jr\u2019s studio.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the mixed reaction to \u2018Angles\u2019, the guitarist said this was down to the album being anticipated as their \u201cbig comeback\u201d after a five-year hiatus. He reasoned that this put \u201ctoo much weight\u201d on the record.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Strokes, 2020. Credit: Press<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, as your big comeback, as a band that had that excitement at 21 years old, it\u2019s just going to feel flat because it\u2019s all over the place,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

Hammond Jr shouted out the synth-heavy, \u201980s-sounding cut \u2018Games\u2019 as \u201cproduction-wise very cool\u201d, but admitted: \u201cAs a whole, it\u2019s just all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2011, guitarist Nick Valensi shared his negative feelings around the making of \u2018Angles\u2019<\/a>. \u201cIt was awful \u2013 just awful,\u201d he said. \u201cWorking in a fractured way, not having a singer there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201c75 per cent of this album felt like it was done together and the rest of it was left hanging, like some of us were picking up the scraps and trying to finish a puzzle together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammond Jr has\u00a0called \u2018Reality Awaits\u2019 his \u201cfavourite album\u201d that the band have ever made<\/a>. \u201cI can\u2019t express how beautiful it is,\u201d he said. \u201cI listen to the whole thing and wanna start from the beginning again. It grows and grows and becomes intoxicatingly good.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a previous interview, he recalled the sessions with Rubin in Costa Rica for what would become The Strokes\u2019 \u201clooser\u201d new album<\/a>. Fans recently got a behind-the-scenes look at the making of \u2018Reality Waits\u2019 in the min-doc In Transit: Part II<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Albert Hammond Jr has revealed that The Strokes\u2018 \u2018Angles\u2019 originally sounded \u201cmore Stones-y\u201d, but said it ultimately ended…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":971510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,22469,975,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-971509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117015224751930205","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=971509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/971510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}