Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen

Songwriters on Process

Ed Note: Here’s my 2013 interview with Leithauser and my 2022 interview with his bandmate Walter Martin from The Walkmen.

Hamilton Leithauser keeps regular hours. And those hours can be early: on the day we talked, he had started writing at 5am. It’s a problem if he doesn’t write every day, he says. "If I don’t write every day, I feel anxious or like I’ve done something wrong."

I don't think Leithauser ever rests. "I can't ever stop doing stuff," he says, saying that it may border on "maniacal." So when he's not writing, his other hobbies include, but are probably not limited to, woodworking, photography, racquetball, kitesurfing, and chess. (Even when he's playing chess, he admits to writing music.) Oh, and he has two young kids.

Leithauser’s new solo album This Side of the Island is out March 7 on Glassnote Records.