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The Strokes Aren’t Recording With Rick Rubin After All [UPDATE]

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 25: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Image has been digitally converted to black and white.) Singer Julian Casablancas of The Strokes performs at the City of Angels benefit concert at the Wiltern on July 25, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

During a recent interview with The West AustralianAlbert Hammond Sr. dished that the Strokes are working with Rick Rubin. Hammond’s son, Albert Hammond Jr., is, of course, the lead guitarist in the Strokes, and dad has high hopes about the group’s new material, saying, “I speak to my son every day and he says that they’re so happy… I’m sure this will be a very successful record.”

There were rumors back in 2007 that Rubin was working with the band, but this may be the first actual collaboration between the two parties. Rubin has over the years worked with a number of aging rock acts, from Weezer to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Linkin Park. The Strokes, believe it or not, are now more or less in that group. Their last release was 2013’s critically-panned Comedown Machine, which, unlike its predecessor, was at least recorded by all the band members in one room.

Update (July 30, 1:45 p.m.): The Strokes have clarified that they are not recording, and that any potential Rick Rubin collaboration is a long way off, if indeed it ever happens. Albert Hammond Jr. tweeted that, while the band met with Rubin, “even a theoretical album plan would be years away.” His dad, he says, was just “prematurely excited.” Read his tweets below. [h/t Stereogum]