Strokes learn to take success in stride

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. was just looking forward to some top-down O'ahu cruising.

The Strokes — from left, guitarist Nick Valensi, vocalist Julian Casablancas, drummer Fabrizio Moretti, bassist Nikolai Fraiture and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. — return for a concert Wednesday at the Pipeline Caf´, and for one band member, a drive around O'ahu. Colin Lane

Phoning from a club in Amsterdam on a particularly frosty December night, a half-hour before a sold-out gig, Hammond laughed at the memory but was dead set on getting the circle-island drive right when The Strokes return to town next week.

"I'd like to do it again, but a little slower," said Hammond. "The northeast side of the island had some really pretty parts, but all we could do is drive right by them. We stopped too much on the way up. So by the time we were on the way down, there wasn't enough time. And it was getting too dark."

Hammond chuckled again. The rest of The Strokes — vocalist Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture and drummer Fabrizio Moretti — can do whatever they darn well please with their days off.

Coming from a band that can appear coolly indifferent on stage and on CD, Hammond in conversation is a surprisingly soft-spoken, genial soul, with an ego-free, often humorous, view of the rock 'n' roll circus that alternately builds up and tears down The Strokes, depending on what time of the day it is. Hammond musings that at first appear stream-of-consciousness rat-a-tat-tat later sound more like the slightly nervous thoughts of a member of a hard-working band still trying to sort out its music and fame for itself, much less for music journalists.

Formed only two years earlier, the ragtag collection of prep-school buds went from unsigned New York buzz band to the music media's "New Saviors of Rock" and "Best Band on the Planet" virtually overnight. Hammond said the band was neither in agreement with, nor particularly repulsed by, the manufactured hype.

"People aren't going to look at a magazine and buy it if (the headline) says 'Pretty Good Band.' And that's fine," said Hammond. "It's definitely not something we ask for or were looking for, but we got it. And now we just have to deal with it. I don't want to complain about it, you know? In certain ways, it's helped us; in certain ways, it didn't. But everyone has their own path. Half of it you can choose. The other half of it you can't."

Still, by the time the band entered the studio with Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich in April to record its second CD, the pressure was definitely on, internally and externally, to create another masterpiece. The Strokes recorded three unremarkable tracks with Godrich before scrapping them and calling in Gordon Raphael, who produced "Is This It." Much was made in the music press of Godrich's dismissal, but Hammond downplays the drama.

"It was always, 'Let's try two songs and if it works out, we'll do a record with Nigel. If it doesn't, we'll go back to Gordon.' Gordon knew. It wasn't a secret or anything."

On the surface, The Strokes' "Room On Fire" sounds as if it came out of the same studio sessions that produced "Is This It." Not at all a bad thing, considering the junk that generally passes for mainstream rock these days. But for some critics, a great taste that this time around seemed a bit less filling.

"I know people have said that," said Hammond, of both positive and negative critical discourse on the aural similarities between The Strokes' two CDs. "And maybe because I was there in the process, I understand why they would say something like that out of sheer point of view. But I just really don't see the songs that way.

"There are certain tones that are reminiscent of ('Is This It') but ... I mean you know it's different because the songs are different."

The criticism is indeed moot when one considers that nobody pressured The Ramones in their '70s heyday to start sounding like Blondie, or Television to start aping Talking Heads.

And The Strokes on "Room On Fire" actually do mix things up a bit with some off-kilter reggae ("Automatic Stop"), stabs at balladry ("Under Control") and appealing Cars-reminiscent synth-guitar ("12:51"). The impression left after absorbing the CD's brisk 33-minute entirety is that of a slightly more meticulous-sounding band growing more comfortable with its sound and style. A band a bit eager, yet perhaps a bit leery, of tweaking something that's hardly broken.

"Room On Fire" doesn't pack the freshly squeezed punch of "Is This It," but it's hardly frozen concentrate, either. Released in October, the CD secured about as many spots on year-end music critic Top 10 lists as "Is This It" did in 2001.

Not that Hammond will allow himself a sigh of relief or anything.

"I don't think you ever get relief," he said, laughing. "I feel good going around and playing this record to people more than when it first came out. It was definitely nice to see that when it came out it didn't totally flop. But as soon as you feel something good, you need to remember that you have to keep on working.

"It's nice for those few hours that you can enjoy it. But then you wake up in the morning and it's like, 'Oh, no! I gotta go back to work.'"

The Strokes are itching to move past "Room On Fire" toward work on a third CD before the end of the year. Hammond said the The Strokes' success and critical praise only fuel its own internal pressure to be truly great band.

Precisely the kind of pressure The Strokes have thrived on "since we were a young band, before anyone ever knew us," said Hammond.

"You just have to focus on what got you (this far) ... try to get better, and focus on the music and the records, which is what lasts through all of this. Ten years later, if the music is still there, then you've accomplished something.

"A huge success for us isn't selling in the millions or (selling) 200,000 records. When you look back and see four really great records, that's when you're a success."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.