Albert Hammond Jr has opened up about what he thinks of the controversial tales in last year’s ‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’.
‘Meet Me In The Bathroom: Rebirth And Rock’n’Roll in New York City, 2001-2011‘ is a 600-page oral history of NYC’s golden indie rock scene, by one-time NME music journalist, Lizzy Goodman.
The book details a drug-fueled friendship between The Strokes’ guitarist and Ryan Adams, who bonded over their shared use of heroin.
In the book, Hammond Jr says that Adams was “definitely a bad influence” on him, saying: “I hadn’t really been doing it in baggie form until Ryan showed up”. The band also suggest that drugs were part of their downfall.
This started a feud with Adams, who claims he never did drugs with them, and never offered Hammond Jr heroin, getting into a Twitter feud with Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas.
Albert Hammond Jr has now spoken out about the book’s revelations, saying: “The media has fun creating their own stories.”
“There’s no way any of that stuff can capture your life, you know,” he said, in an interview with Kyle Meredith.
“As much as you can talk with the person, they have a story and you’re going to end up having three or four days of your life that’s going to seem like a period of 10 years.”
Listen below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Og4-WqLWUsI
“I enjoyed talking to Lizzy,” he continues. “When I spoke to her about all the things I spoke to her about, they were just fun stories and I had read ‘Please Kill Me’ [an oral history of the punk movement] so I thought it’s so cool to tell fun stories back and forth.
“The media has fun creating their own stories – if you look at it humourously it’s great. If you take it seriously, it’s bad.
“People can get pretty serious, I feel like life is a little less serious. I think there are more serious things than whatever the book is, you know.
“I don’t think you’d know anyone deeper because of it.”
When asked about The Strokes’ future, he said: “I always find that the media tears us apart, so I wait to be as a band when we speak, and when we’re not a band, I’m doing my stuff and I just speak about me.
“It comes from a good place, trying to keep something without being damaged by other people, you know what I mean?”
Albert Hammond Jr recently released his fourth solo album, ‘Francis Trouble‘, which deals with the death of his stillborn twin brother, Francis.
So far he’s released ‘Muted Beatings‘, ‘Far Away Truths‘ and ‘Set To Attack‘ from the LP.
Meanwhile, Ryan Adams has given fans an update on his next record, tweeting a video clip of a mixing desk, saying: ’11 songs tracked and vocals done’.