Slowly, Stroke Them  Rock phenoms graduate from it-band status
On the very morning of this interview with Albert Hammond Jr.,
one of the two guitarists in The Strokes, there appeared in the
New York Times a review of that band's March 1 performance at
the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The Times' music
critic Kelefa Sanneh opened the piece by suggesting that in the
wake of the other recent alt-rock reunions -- The Pixies,
Mission of Burma, Dinosaur Jr., Gang of Four -- it was
"inevitable" that The Strokes, too, would get back together,
especially for a triumphant series of sold-out shows in the
band's hometown. "Actually, close perusal of the band's Web site
indicates that The Strokes never broke up at all, so perhaps
this isn't a reunion tour per se," Sanneh wrote, with a
deafening henh-henh-henh. "Still, the concert brought a roomful
of fans back to 2001, the year The Strokes released their debut
album, Is This It." Hammond, who claims to only read the
newspaper in dressing rooms on the road, laugh