As you may know, Albert Hammond Jr.’s new album “¿Cómo Te Llama?” is out next week and is streaming in its entirety over on his MySpace page.
Plus, we have a free (and fully legitimately approved) downlod of the first single GFC right here. Click away.
What you may not know is that we did this interview with Albert last year and it literally took him 3 months to get it back to us. It is pretty classic (as were the original comments) so we are rerunning it today, for those of you who didn’t read it back then. Which, lets face it…is most of you.
Backstory: Once upon a time (as in - in April) Albert Hammond Junior was to come to DC to play 930 club, in support of his really wonderful album “Yours to Keep”. So, as any self-respecting nightlife blog, we dispatched some questions to him (he rather entusiastically agreed to the “interview”) and then…never heard back. Morgan managed to get a few words out of him for pandahead (ALL IN CAPS) but us…nada.
Now, 2+ months later, an email arrives.
To us.
From Albert.
All lower case answered.
With a note : “Sorry this took so long…”
Now, the man is on tour in Europe now, and with no imminent DC plans, but we never saw an interview we did not want to use, no matter how brief or uninformative it is, especially since Cale can then go and cross link it to Wikipedia.
And the man LOVES CROSS LINKING. Loves it.
So, here we are, this is what took Albert almost 3 months to complete.
And we love him all the more for it.
We even kept it all lower case.
BYT:How has the tour been going thus far? (you’ve played with Incubus and are set to play with Bloc Party, which seems like it would be very different experiences, show wise).
yeah…openng for bands is a great learning experience
BYT:What are your post tour plans? Going back to the band, doing more solo stuff? A long, well deserved vacation?
planning on making a second record at the end of fall…
BYT:The record has received some terrific and warm reviews especially the songwriting in it, which comes as no suprise considering your genes (father Albert Hammond Sr. has penned songs on more than 360 million sold records for everyone from Tina Turner to Leo Sayer). How was it growing up in such a musical household?
normal
(we would however like to use this opportunity to YouTube some of Albert Sr’s greatest Hits, namely Starship’s “Nothing’s gonna stop us now” from “Mannequin” and Tina Turner’s “I don’t wanna lose you”. Enjoy-ed)
BYT:Any interesting characters that have influenced you early on?
woody allen, lenny bruce
BYT:You cover Buddy Holly and Guided by Voices. Any other musical influences worth mentioning?
tons
BYT:We also heard you were once a champion roller skater. Any other skillz you’re been keeping secret (the songwriting obviously being out of the bag)?
photo and film
BYT:Is there a reason why you have not participated more heavily in your bands songwriting? Were you saving all your energy for your solo efforts?
no
BYT:You have some heavy hitting help on the album like Ben Kweller, Jody Porter and Sean Lennon? How did that come about?
friends are cheaper
BYT:I read somewhere you write songs “when you are happy”. What makes Albert Hammond Jr. happy?
i write songs in the middle..my girlfriend makes me happy
BYT:And finally we always do some sort of a fantasy “myspace survey”/tiger beat style questionnaire which will reveal your soul to us (maybe). Read for some one to 3 word anSwer questions? OK, here we go:
BYT:First kiss (place and person, as everyone loves a rock star first kiss shout out)
my bedroom in LA
BYT:Last Kiss (place and person, as everyone loves a rock star last kiss shout out)
my apartment in NYC
BYT:Childhood hero?
john lennon
BYT:Best band we have never heard of?
the beatles
BYT:Song you wish you’d written?
moonlight sonata beethoven
BYT:Dream duet collaborator?
?
BYT:Best thing about fame?
you get to do ideas you’ve always dreamed of
BYT:Worst thing about fame?
you don’t get enough money to do those ideas
BYT:What gets the party started?
friends
BYT:And what ends it?
nothing
(obviously)
so, there you have it.
and here’s is a clip of Albert live, in case you missed him back then, and cannot wait till next time.
