Klein/Ally Show: The Podcast - HOUR 4- Albert Hammond Jr. from The Strokes in Studio and MORE

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

About to get into a brand new episode of Klein Alley Show, but first let's tell you about our good friends at the finest airport that ever was and ever will be. The San Bernardino International Airport. Especially when there's summer travel plans, it can get expensive at these airports. That's why you gotta go to this airport where parking is just five bucks a day. Plus you got those easy trips, San Francisco or Provo, Utah. Maybe you didn't plan anything this summer. See how easy it is. Don't be one of those people who has to pack your patience. Go to San Bernardino International Airport. Okay, enough shilling. Now it's time to get into a brand new episode of Klein Alley Show. This is the world famous K-Rock.

Good morning. Just after 10 o'clock, it is BF Thursday. Welcome to your Thursday. Welcome to your pre-Quinn. Enjoy yourself some breakfast for dinner, if you're into that sort of thing. Take a picture, tag us. I love looking at all the BF Thursday celebrators. It will be the next Taco Tuesday.

We started it right here on K-Rock. Who knew the ham dog would turn into an international sensation that it's becoming, Alley? I know. It's incredible. Maybe BF Thursday is next. There's a lot of people that have a lot of things they need from us, and that's what the goal line is there for you, 24-7-365. So I'm just curious if people from other states can win the chance to go to the summer kegger.

I tried to win tickets for the Vegas trip that y'all had like years ago, and then that's just bad. You have to have a California address to be able to do it. So I'm always wasting my time even calling in, and I can't win it. I will fly out there and I will do whatever if I get the ticket. I just need to know, like, am I even allowed, I guess. Anyway, let me know, sweet dippin'. I don't see why we wouldn't allow out-of-state listeners to come to the Endless Summer Kegger.

Summer is coming to an end for everyone. Doesn't matter where you live. There are rules around other contests or things that you can win, but this is our thing. Yeah. We can invite whoever we want, and if you can get your ass here, all are welcome. Yeah, that's how I would think. It seems like a real waste of your time and money to fly out here for this, but hey, we'll take it. If you want to come out here and drink with us at the Back Bay, we'll get more people in this hour on the show.

Also, perhaps you've heard of him before, Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes will be joining us in the K-Rock studio. Strokes have a big show this weekend. We've been giving away a lot of tickets and passes to the Just Like Heaven Festival. Strokes will be there. Of course, it was only a year ago that they were at Coachella, and it felt like we went through a long time without Strokes in our lives. We went through a stroke strout. We sure did. Which normally is good news for most people.

That's what you hope for from a medical standpoint. But from a musical standpoint, it's much better to have some strokes in your life. So join us in the studio later this hour. We'll find out all things happening with that band. A new album obviously just came out a few weeks ago. But Albert Hammond Jr. coming to hang with us here at KROQ. In a moment, we will talk about, believe it or not, more controversies. Because it seems like everything in our lives now can't just be easy, smooth sailing.

It must be controversy upon controversy upon controversy. And so it'll probably be good for you and bad for us, and we'll get into that after Blink-182. And keep listening this hour because we have more access for you to come to our endless summer kegger. So if that's all you're waiting for, it doesn't matter what state you're listening in right now, as long as you are listening live,

let's go ahead and make that happen for you at some point between now and 11 a.m. 106.7 KROQ, Klein Alley Show. Any station could just play you the strokes, but we give you the strokes in our studio right now. Albert Hammond Jr. is here today. Thank you for being here. True or false, you used to listen, not only listen to K-Rock,

but you would call in and try to win tickets on K-Rock. I just told that story outside. I did, yeah. I won tickets. You did get through. I won tickets to Acoustic Christmas. Who was playing? Weezer, when the Blue Album came out.

Wow. I was in ninth grade. That's amazing. And did you, was it a call in your 20s? And I sounded like this. I'm so excited, I'm on the radio. I won tickets. They say, congratulations, lady, and you're like, I'm a mom.

I think they sound something like that. Well, I wonder, are you even eligible to win it? No, actually, I was in the ninth grade. I was 11 years. When did that come out? The Blue Album was out in 98, I want to say. No, it's no way it's 98. Yeah, yeah, get out of here.

Hold on, hold on. I graduated high school in 98. Okay, so 94. I'm not asking you any more questions. All right, I don't know the answer, sir. We just worked here. But do you remember how you won? Was it just a caller 20 situation?

It was something like that. I mean, exactly, no. I was kind of in shock. Is it weird to you that we've been giving away tickets all week Obviously for Just Like Heaven You guys are headlining that big festival this weekend At the Brookside at the Rose Bowl And now people are doing exactly what you did

To try to see you There's something weird about that, right? I mean, life's pretty trippy, man I called to win, now they called to win Let's think about that, though, for just a moment My mind is blown right now Yeah, it's pretty good But I'm simple

You just got back from Japan. Allie and I just found out that we are on our way to Japan. No way. Well, I don't know if we really found that out. We have a hot dog on the menu at Pink's. It's called the Ham Dogger. It's half hot dog, half hamburger. We created it.

They are launching in Tokyo, and we invited ourselves to go out there for the big launch event. Wait, wait, Pat. Half hot dog, half burger? Yeah. Well, we pitched this new menu item to Pink's Hot Dogs, and it is a half-hamburger, half-hot dog situation. The hamburger? Twice the fun on one bun

if you don't have to choose between a hot dog and a hamburger. Why make a choice, right? Yeah, yeah, half and half. So they're launching it in Japan, and then we heard you just... Obviously, you guys were just playing shows there, but you said you are jet-lagged as hell. Oh, my God.

That crushed you. Yeah, it did. I was only there for... This is amazing, by the way. I got to try this. You want to come out for us? We're going to make a guy from Pink's pay for it. Back to Japan.

Want to fly back now that you're... Sure, let's do it. Just to eat something that you could eat here. What is the most fun thing you did while in Japan, though? I mean, I did some cool shopping. I got some cool clothes. You know, when you're traveling, I mean, you're on a new tour now. Do you find as you've gotten older, it's harder to sleep in a hotel room?

Or do you just get in a mindset where your body is ready for something like that? I'm in a new place all the time, and I just can sleep soundly. I mean, I think when you get older, things are generally harder, but also easier. It comes half and half. Like touring is a lot easier than when I was younger. It comes like the hamdogger. It's a half and half situation. It is.

It is. That's beautiful. It all comes back to the hamdogger. I think I made things a lot harder when I was younger than they had to be. Yeah, but I felt like when I was younger, I could fall asleep anywhere. I could fall asleep drunk in a bathtub and be like, oh, all right, now it's 8 a.m. and I'm ready. You know, now I'm like, I don't have the pillow that I normally sleep on. No, that would ruin me.

If I slept on a couch, I'd be like, oh, my God. For like a week. I have a bone to pick with you, not specifically, but with the strokes. And I'll explain in a moment. First of all, it felt like, and I wasn't sure where we were headed, because now we finally have a new album, which we'll talk about, and new songs, which we're going to play in a moment, and then a new tour that we're celebrating sold out pretty much everywhere.

But we were in a situation where I felt, in a year and in a time where we've gotten all these bands that have come back, that were away for most of our lives, Oasis gone forever, back together again, And No Doubt, Gone Forever, Back to God. I felt like we were entering this period of the strokes where we were like, where are the strokes? And we were, as fans, going, are we going to get more strokes? Are we going to get more strokes? Was this calculated at all?

Was it just waiting for the right time? Was it didn't get together and say, we've got the songs we feel strong enough about to release? God, I wish it was something like that. No, we never really stopped. we were just well i guess covet happened but we went and made a record we're just a slow we're slow we're a weird art band so you won't turn anything out they tell you we need it by november we got to get this and you go well we don't have anything by november we've never done anything on schedule and the only thing that we got pushed to do and it was like right up until the edge

funny enough we flew to japan the second we finished it was room on fire but other than that we've been late to everything. So they give you a deadline and they probably know by this point. No, they don't give us a deadline. Oh, okay. They just don't anymore. You don't give us strokes of deadline. Well, I mean, I think at the beginning it's like... Well, it's not like that. It's not like that. We've always been like that.

Even like playing our first shows we've always, we were just like things have changed around us but we've always been the same. We have a picture in the back in our office here of you guys at the Troubadour, I think from 2002. And I wonder if you popped it and saw

that picture yet and that brings back the concept of the fact that I still consider The Strokes like a lot of people do a young cool band

you guys have been almost together 30 years which is insane to think about yeah I mean yeah I've known them for 28 years and it's been 25 years

since our first album came out I don't feel like that I'll be honest it doesn't feel like that to me now that it's been 25 years

since Is This It is there a way that you as a band celebrate together I know a lot of bands will do like new deluxe album releases and things like that

But how does it hit you guys as a band? It really doesn't. Just business as usual. Well, not even that. We're just excited about the future. So we have yet to sit down and be like, wow, like this was 25 years ago. You know, it just doesn't come up. Once again, we're very slow.

I feel like the Strokes will probably celebrate it at 50. At 50 years, we'll celebrate our 25th anniversary. You'll be like, oh, my God, how long have we been doing this for? It's kind of like a wedding anniversary, right? like looking back and being like wow all right 10 years cool but then you just kind of move on have dinner reality awaits a new album just came out at the end of july first in six years we're going to listen to going shopping off at which we world premiered on k-rock uh you know a few weeks before the album actually dropped and then we'll talk all about it anything you want to tell

specifically about going shopping which i know is what you just recently did in japan this was almost the future telling us to what you would do how weird is that uh no if you haven't seen the video check it out it's very cool goggins it's very cool this is uh going shopping we continue with the great Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes. They will be at the Rose Bowl, Brookside of the Rose Bowl this weekend, just like heaven. This is called Going Shopping,

off the new album, which we'll get into after this, on KROQ, The Strokes. Going Shopping, KROQ. First reviews of that song. Since you're in The Strokes, you will have an unbiased opinion. What do you say, Albert?

What's my review of the song? I love it. Great. Yeah. It was acceptable. Surprising. No, no. No, I would tell you the truth.

I love this album. This is my favorite album by far. You say best performing song. I mean, even, you know, On radio. Last night has surpassed. Last night. It's crazy.

Think about that for a second. What's crazy is the songs we play that feel big at festivals that either were on radio or didn't do well on radio, which is kind of amazing. Well, our opinion is all that matters. It is true.

We tend to have weird taste. Yeah. We have no say over it. And funny, if I'm off the air a moment ago, Albert goes, I'd love to give away tickets to Just Like Heaven.

We said we did that already today. let's get an extra pair and he was just told no we cannot give any more tickets even i don't get tickets yeah isn't that crazy he wants to give more he wants someone to call her 20 give him i literally don't have this power there's no extra someone in the building has the power where's this coming from yeah yeah is everyone hearing this yeah everyone's outside upset about this well vanessa's trying to confirm that we can get an extra pair of tickets someone's giving me a thumbs up okay it's happening that's it's not just someone that's my manager He definitely has more power

The manager just gave the thumbs up Caller 20, bonus pair I didn't want to do this You can thank your guitarist I said no more, we've done enough Klein likes to gatekeep all the tickets for himself He said I want to give I do, I want to give away tickets

You won tickets on KROQ before This is so poetic that you now get to give away tickets For them to see you and I think it's beautiful It kind of has to happen What would you like to say right now The number is 805-201067 What would I like to say? Yeah, who do you want?

Do you want to call her 20? Oh, right. You mean like what number? Yeah, sure. Call her 20. That sounds great. Call her 20. You're going to see The Strokes on Saturday.

There you go. And that is all courtesy of, very generous. A lot of bands wouldn't have done this. They would have said, let's make an extra, let's make an extra hundred bucks and sell the tickets. But not you. Not me, man. You want to pass it on.

Pay it forward. Before we talk, this, by the way, the new album, which is out now, came out end of July. It's Reality Awaits. The song we just played is off of that album. You believe it is the greatest album you guys have done Took you six years to get it together To a way that you liked it, felt good about it What do you think is the sleeper hit on there?

It's not Sorry, I got all tangled in my cables You're like a classic guitar player over here That's how we rope you into stay forever You get eaten by the microphone cords It's not like It's so funny when time Time passes, yes, I guess it was six years

But it wasn't like six years In the studio A band is a chaotic mind meld. Did you record it in Costa Rica? We recorded it in Costa Rica. And then little bits all over the place. But the main chunk

where we channeled, where we plugged in our hair into our avatar pony, whatever that thing is, a horse flying machine was in Costa Rica. And it was unreal. Well, you had to drag your own equipment up a giant

hill in Costa Rica, did you not? and people were trying to talk you out of it? I mean, I didn't drag anything, but it was definitely... I don't think you can do something like that without someone like Rick Rubin because I think people would be like, yeah, you can't do that.

And he's just like, send the gear. And was this just pick a location, throw a dart at a globe, or was this a calculated decision? No, he's in certain parts and you kind of... He was just like, let's do it here. And it was, yeah.

I picture like Sherpas, like when people say they climb Mount Everest, but really the Sherpas did it. The next album has spoken to me, and it is here. Sherpa's carrying the equipment up the mountain and everything like that. You have to carry it all on your back. I would like to say. If they made like a spoof comedy, if they made a Dewey Cox, that's what it would be.

More guitars getting lit carried up. We blew a lot of speakers. Selena? That sounded gross. You are the 20th caller, and someone by the name of Albert in the Strokes would like to tell you something. Hello. Congratulations. You have won tickets

Oh my gosh This is so cool Thank you Of course Did you think you were Going to make it When you were calling Oh no

I wasn't My heart was racing Until the phone kept ringing If this is really Going to be a poetic moment You now need to go on And sell millions And millions of albums

And be one of the biggest bands Because that's exactly What he did Once he won on K-Rock But good luck We'll see you on Saturday At Brookside at the Rose Bowl Just like Heaven Festival

A bonus pair of tickets Hold on one second All right, Selena? Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for starting your day on KROQ. That's great. I'd be so nervous.

I'd accidentally lose signal because no one has a landline anymore, right? Oh, my God. It's our biggest problem. It's tough. And then things automatically go on speakerphone and Bluetooth when you're in the car and you can't hear anybody anymore. I think I won. Wait, wait.

Phones have this new thing where if people scream, the phone will cancel out the screams. Cancel out the screams. So their excited screams don't always transfer to the radio. It's heartbreaking. Tell them they've won amazing tickets followed by seven seconds of silence. And we're like, that's what we're looking for. Selena, whatever you do, don't hang up. Oh, damn it.

There it is. She was so excited a moment ago. I want to correct AI for a moment. As you know, AI is the enemy. And AI will take us all down. And there's a lot that is said about you on the AI platforms. And you have an opportunity now to correct AI. So you just have to say true or false to the following five things that all come up about you on AI.

Yeah, this is if you type in and say, hey, give me information about Albert Hammond Jr. and the Strokes. I want some fun facts about you. You are the single most important part of the band, the Strokes. No. You're saying false? False. AI claims that to be true. You had a twin that died in the womb next to you.

Yes. That is true. That is true. You were terrified of being bitten by a toilet spider in Australia. Oh, my God. Who's not terrified of the redback? Yeah. So that's true.

Well, when they told me the story, yes. And then when I found out that's really only in the countryside and not in your hotel on the 20th floor. But, yeah. We just met your real manager who gave us extra tickets. But before you had actual money or clout to have a real manager, you had a fake manager by the name of Paul Spencer. Well, yeah, that was me, yeah. You played the manager of the band. Well, I would just call.

I didn't play the manager. It was just that sometimes. You didn't dress up with a little monocle? No, no, no. It was just that sometimes. You've got to see these boys. No, we would. No, just that we'd call

and it would just be like they wouldn't really pay attention and so then I just started fake doing it or trying to call labels. I mean, it was just fun. But you didn't have to put on a voice or anything. You would just call with your own voice. No, they didn't know.

They were like, hold on. This isn't Paul Spencer. You sound just like Albert. um uh yeah i mean i probably sounded like an 18 year old kid so they're probably like you know it's before email so you couldn't really fake it i would call matador i called matador records once a week spoke to those guys denied me every time every single look at and look at you now uh you were um true or false you were a champion award-winning roller skater

True, yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah. You won awards roller skating? Four wheels or rollerblading? No, like figure skating and ice skating, but on roller skates. I had like a partner. Wow.

Yeah, yeah. You think you could have won? It wasn't awards. It was just competition. You know what I mean? It was just like... But you placed. You were at the top of your game.

Yeah. Man, you ever want to go back and go back to it? I placed. Oh, I placed. I placed big. I'm going to say that AI is pretty well-versed in all things. I know. No, I feel like AI usually makes so many mistakes, but it seems only a couple on this one.

The new tour, if you can get tickets and see the Strokes, you should. You say this has been a lot of fun, more fun than you've ever had. Yeah, this is, yeah, it's been an amazing tour so far. It's just started because the album just came out like less than a month ago. I know that things, new things die fast now. See the Strokes while you can because they could, who knows, it could be another one of those things where six years goes by And you go, where the hell have the strokes been? And then all of a sudden you find out they're going to be at Coachella.

And you're like, hell yeah, some strokes. And now we're thrilled that you'll be at Just Like Heaven this weekend before we have to say goodbye. And thank you for coming back to KROQ. We have not one, but two epic questions you've never been asked before. Two epic questions now with Albert Hammond Jr. Two. Two. Two.

Epic. Epic. Questions. Okay, Albert Hammond Jr. How fun is it to make? Who makes this stuff? It's got to be like. That's Omar.

Say hi, Omar. Radio nerd number four. Say hi, Omar. I just feel like, do you get stoned and just like... Well, that's not what we asked for at all. Yes, I'm stoned right now. He's very high. He's making stuff as we speak.

And he's taking everything we say on the show and he's going to play back stuff out of context to make us sound like we're racist, terrible people. Can you give me like delay when I answer this? So it's like... You want us to echo you? Yeah. We could probably do that.

Omar, play something out of context so that he thinks we're terrible people. No, no, I don't want... That's not what I asked for. That's the opposite of what I asked for. I said none of that. Just... Okay, I'm white.

I'm going to call ice on you. Okay, that's not... Oh, my God. That was an example of something I was saying in a news report. That is so out of context. That's why... Why did you pick that one, Omar? Terrible.

God, all right. That's one, that's why. That's... All right, let's go with epic question number one. Albert, you've developed a reputation over the years of being very cool. What is the uncoolest thing about you? You know, Trump isn't so bad. That's not...

Stop it. Yeah, let's stop saying all your things. Jesus. Why did we activate him? uh i had so many things what are you talking about so many uncool things about you yeah i don't know i don't know i feel like being it seems like being cool just being being yourself i mean roller skating for one i probably got picked i'll still get picked on for that placing in roller skating competitions you know what i mean you should see my outfits crazy oh man the

sequence no no there was no sequence there's no sequence but they are you know the roller getting outfits. They are what they are. The word is you could have been the next Christy Yamaguchi. Is that true? I mean, if only. Question two. You spent a lot of your life in LA, a lot of your life in New York. What is one food

that people think is better in New York, but is actually better in LA? Now or when I was younger? Now. Bagel. I agree. Courage bagel is the best bagel. Wow. You got the hot honey one? Which one do you go with there? No, I'm still stuck on

And the plane is so good, so I can't help but just get the row, the plane, cream cheese, and salmon. Do you have to wait in that long-ass line, or do you have a hookup? I don't, no. You have to wait in the line, or you don't? I don't. You don't have to wait in the line? No. That's the best part of being in a band, man.

It's a long-ass line. Why don't you just go in and say, I'm Albert Hammond Jr., because I please skipped this line. No, no. I'm going to say I'm his manager, Paul Spencer. I'm Paul Spencer. I'm Paul Spencer. That guy's it, and I want to play. Do you know who my manager is?

I like bagels. I don't like the Strokes. You know who he is. Guys, first of all, thank you for being here. Thank you for all of the music. Thank you for the tickets. Just like having this weekend, Strokes and many other bands will be there as well. You are always welcome.

For being so nice. 25 years. You saw this in the halls here at K-Rock. I knew exactly what that was. You have a history with the Mr. T-Dolls. Yeah, well, in that Troubadour show where we were saying Joe Strummer was there and I didn't get to see him, Fab bit the head off that. Really?

And then we made out. Wow. Wait, how do we get the head back on then? Historical surgery, I think. I don't know. Let's search corrective surgery. So it's been a great reunion. I mean, you fixed the dressing room.

We just tried. Wow, that's incredible. That's where our budget went. Takeaways after this on KROQ. Thanks, I appreciate it. More show after this on KROQ. All right, that'll do it for us. We're going to get the hell out of here.

Takeaways from today's show. Then Sluggo will be in here in just a few moments with more of those tickets to Just Like Heaven so you can see the strokes. Thank you to our guests for just joining us a moment ago And for everyone who participated in today's show Hopefully you won yourself access to keggers And tickets and everything else

Passes That was very cool And I think we're in a lot of trouble We weren't supposed to give away those extra tickets But what do you want? The guys in the band If a guy in the band says Give away more tickets

I want to give my tickets away to my listeners My fans Who are we? We're just the middlemen here I don't know We just do it We'll figure it out later We'll kill the messenger

Johnny, weren't you supposed to go to that show? Johnny is walking them out Tell Johnny his tickets have now been given away to a listener We figured it out. Okay. But I want Johnny's tickets to go to her as well. Okay. Okay.

Just make sure. Just make sure he can't go. The listeners get priority here around even I want it to go. But you know what? Those tickets have gone now. That's how crazy the ticket situation is. I understand. But if Johnny's got a pair, then it's not.

Do you really want to go? No. Jake, I want. I have to reorganize my garage. What are you talking about? I do want to go, but I would rather the listeners get to go. Because you would leave at like noon? No, I wouldn't leave.

Don't even start till noon. Can I leave at noon? Can I leave at noon? Now you're theoretically going and leaving earlier. If I can leave by noon, I'm going. I'm just kidding. I'm fun, guys. Last night, I'm out.

See ya. Can you start with that one, please? Last noon. Yeah. Takeaways from today's show. What do we got? 562, my takeaway is thank you for your stutter, Omar. You're doing the Lord's work.

562, my takeaway is answer the foot juice question. 661 Klein and Alley are twice the fun on one bun and similarly 9109 said my takeaway is why have a ham dogger in LA when you can spend $6,000 to have one in Japan that probably tastes different over there because I would imagine they would use the Japanese Kobe

beef for the beef part of it the burger part oh yummy that's what I'm thinking I should have asked it to Richard Pink but it's very nice of him to offer to fly us out there and we accept your offer he didn't offer he said I'll consider it which means no he's considering it he's going to consider it and we're going to consider We're packing our bags and waiting at the airport.

323, my takeaway is DTR stands for down to read. 909, robots can be gay too. 626, Klein is the Karen of ice cream cakes. I'm not the Karen because I'm doing a service for humanity. 818, my takeaway is this bit's a sheet cake. All right, thank you for your takeaways. If you don't know what we're talking about, there's a complete show that goes with this. And you can download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Search Klein Alley Show if you want to see what it looks like. We double dog dare you. You can find us on KROQ's YouTube. What's your takeaway from today's show, Vanessa? See you in Japan. See you in Japan. Well said. Jake, takeaway?

Bad bathroom. Gotta leave. All right. Allie, you have a takeaway? My takeaway is if we do go to Japan, Jake's going to create a new tsunami. Yeah. He's so turned on with everything going on there. He loves that anime.

Okay. Omar, do you have a takeaway? My takeaway is that you're fun. You're fun. Thank you. That is a good takeaway. I'm fun. Fun guy.

All right. We'll do it again tomorrow. I'll try to do it better. The finals of the Dumb Off are finally here, so let's figure out who's going to wear that sash of stupidity for another year. Who's competing? It's Ali and Vanessa and Johnny in the finals of the Dumb Off. We got nowhere with the tiebreaker question today.

As expected. Proves that we suck at this. We are doing it again tomorrow. Plus, we have your $500 Friday. We've got cash to give you and more tickets, and that's all tomorrow. All right, bye. Clam and Allie, it's just okay, do-do-do. Clam and Allie, it's just okay, wow. Clam and Allie, it's just okay, do-do-do-do, just okay, do-do-do.