It’s been a long time since The Strokes’ first album hit the scene in 2001 – and blew up big. With such an amazing start right out of the gate and hits on many of their later albums, what took them so long to follow up with Angles, the album they just released? The biggest roadblock was the drug addiction of their 31-year-old guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr. Hammond recently spoke to SPIN magazine about his experience with drug addiction and drug addiction treatment.

Hammond told SPIN:  “I guess you could say I wasn’t really there when we started.”

Hammond was referring to his mental and emotional state when his band first started recording their follow-up album. The band had to halt work on the album in late 2009 so that Hammond could go to drug rehab and do the work he needed to do to get his drug addiction under control. Hammond finished treatment in December of 2009 and about a month later, The Strokes were back in the studio, hard at work on their album again.

Says Hammond: “People can’t believe I did that. 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.”

He’s right. More than one recovering patient has described the first year or so of early recovery as discombobulating to say the least. You have to rebuild everything from your morning routine to how you spend your day, who you talk to, and when you go to bed. Hardly anything remains constant when transitioning from an active addiction state to post- addiction treatment recovery.

Is it mandatory for rock stars to get loaded and go through what Hammond did? Says Hammond: “You always do the crazy-rock-star thing, of course, but I’d rather be left with music from someone I admire than their funny stories of all the f***ed up sh*t they did.”

The album was released in  March and Hammond wasted no time getting back out on the road. The Strokes’ first show was in Las Vegas and they have a full schedule planned to promote Angles.

Holding On to What You Have Through Drug Rehab

Occasionally, there are aspects of your life that you can hold onto as you go through the process of drug addiction treatment and recovery. Certain friendships, family relationships, relationships with children – even a job or your home. Anything positive that you maintained during addiction can provide a familiar comfort zone for you in recovery – just make sure that it truly is positive.

What did you hold onto in your recovery that served you positively even during addiction?

Tags: albert hammond, Drug Addiction Treatment, drug-rehab, hammond drug addiction, strokes drug addiction, the strokes

   

About Valeria W.

       

Valeria W. likes to consider herself "an encyclopedia" of addiction and rehab knowledge. Valeria lives to hear from people who have been positively influenced by her work - and sought out drug or alcohol rehab help as a result of the information she has provided.

Also written by: Valeria W.