The Strokes Are Recording a New Album With Rick Rubin

The Strokes  reportedly working on a new full-length, and have recruited Rick Rubin to produce it.

The news comes from Albert Hammond, the father of Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. “They’re making a new album now with a great producer called Rick Rubin,” he told the West Australian. “I speak to my son every day and he says that they’re so happy.”

Hammond is known as a solo act in his own right, having reached the Top Five in 1972 with “It Never Rains in Southern California.” He’s also wrote or co-written numerous hits for others, including Starship‘s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” the Hollies’ “The Air That I Breathe,” Whitney Houston‘s “One Moment in Time” and Leo Sayer’s “When I Need You.” The royalties allowed him to finance his son’s band’s debut, Is This It.

“Nobody understood them, so I said, ‘Here’s the money, go in the studio and make the record’,” he continued. “I never got it back, but it doesn’t matter. I just love knowing I helped them out. I’m very proud of the band and of my son. They’re like all my children because I was there from the beginning.”

Hammond use to give the band some advice in the early days. “I used to go to their rehearsals and they were very loud. I used to say, ‘Guys, guys — mountains and valleys, highs and lows.’”

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