Over two decades together hasn’t kept The Strokes from slowing down: Founding guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. recently sat down with 89.9FM WKCR’s The Shady Experience to talk about the future of the band, including a new album, his upcoming solo LP, and a long future together ahead, adding that he could see The Strokes never breaking up.
“I definitely could [see The Strokes staying together another 20 years],” Hammond told host James Lane. “I wouldn’t have thought about it a long time ago — and these are the kind of things you never know — but I could totally see us actually just not stopping.”
The guitarist continued: “Even if we didn’t want to tour much, or we just wanted to make weird records, or did soundtracks together. It’s just something that feels like, ‘that’s what we’re here to do.’ And we’re not really going to do anything else, you know what I mean?”
Earlier on in the interview, Hammond talked about working with Rick Rubin on The Strokes’ last album, 2020’s The New Abnormal, and confirmed that the go-to producer is working on the band’s next album too. “It was really cool to go back to the studio with him after The New Abnormal won a Grammy,” he said, although he couldn’t offer many more details than that. “There’s no secret agenda. We were recording in Costa Rica. I have no idea of any timelines… But the exciting thing is, there is stuff that we’re working on.”
Hammond also talked about The Strokes’ experience returning to tour, and discussed the strange feeling of performing to younger, new fans. “There were kids who only knew some of the songs that were on The New Abnormal and had no idea who we were before that. As much as it’s a bummer when we play an old one and we want them to know it, it’s also so cool. Just the excitement of the new ones made it feel like we had just started.”
Listen to Hammond’s full interview below; the quotes about The Strokes theoretically staying around forever begin around the 42 minute mark.
On February 24th, The Strokes will share a new vinyl box set called The Singles – Volume 01, which compiles ten singles from the band’s first three albums and their companion B-sides. The band is also scheduled to headline the 2023 Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City, which goes down the weekend of March 12th-14th.