The Strokes Cite Drug Problems As Reason for Hiatus

Photo by Sean Edgar

It took five years for The Strokes to release their new album Angles, and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has recently admitted that drug use played a major role in their lengthy hiatus. Although Hammond didn’t wish to reveal the specifics of his problem, he described his habit as “hardcore.”

The band ceased sessions in 2009 for Hammond to attend rehab, but resumed later in the year just a month after he returned from treatment. “People can’t believe I did that,” Hammond told Spin. “I wasn’t on any chemicals. It was hard — you have two good years of post-acute withdrawal. I was nervous and couldn’t remember things. It’s like having a stroke, no pun intended.”

“You always do the crazy-rock-star thing, of course,” he added, “but I’d rather be left with music from someone I admire than their funny stories of all the fucked-up shit they did.”

Hammond’s fellow bandmates weren’t ignorant of his problem either. “We all saw something was broken — certain people getting into drugs,” fellow guitarist Nick Valensi. “There was a lot of nodding off and passing out in the studio, like, ‘Jesus, you’re not awake to record your part, we have to wait four hours so you can nap.’”

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