When Albert Hammond Jr. is sitting on his couch, he's writing music. When he's on the road, he's writing. Even when he's in the bathroom, he's making notes.

The Strokes guitarist has been stockpiling his own material for years -- and there was never any doubt in his mind that he'd one day release a solo album. Still, there were moments when Hammond's self-confidence withered a tad, challenging him during the recording of Yours to Keep, which hits stores Tuesday (March 6).

"I had things around me and people around me I admire that helped me get through it," he explained. One of those people, he said, was Ric Ocasek, the lead singer for seminal 1980s rockers the Cars.

"I played him some songs, and he said, 'I never knew you were such a great songwriter.' He also said that I'd be doing this forever, and I was like, 'I love you,' " Hammond added. "He's one of my biggest idols, and it was nice to hear it from someone who had nothing to gain, telling me he liked my songs."

Yours to Keep, which has been available in the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe and Japan since early October, was produced by Thin Lizard Dawn singer Greg Lattimer and recorded at New York's Electric Lady Studios. Hammond called on several other pals to contribute to the LP, including Sean Lennon, Ben Kweller, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, the Mooney Suzuki's Sammy James Jr. and Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas. But despite all the help -- and despite being sure he'd eventually release a solo LP someday -- Hammond never expected to complete the project so quickly.

"I'd written these songs and, through other people, met [Lattimer], and I was like, 'Let's go in, record this one song I have, and we can use weird instruments, like a melodica and the toy piano,' and we just got along really well," he said. "The songs sounded great and all of my friends thought they sounded great, so we just sort of recorded another one, and another one, and the songwriting was just getting better and better, and all of a sudden, I had a record and a band [rounded out by drummer Matt Romano and bassist Josh Lattanzi]. And I was like, 'Wow, what the hell are we going to do with this?' Sure, I was excited, but now, it was like, 'How am I not going to do something with these songs?' "

Hammond said there were a number of inspirations behind the lyrics on Yours to Keep, a 12-song album that boasts "Cartoon Music for Superheroes," "101," "Call an Ambulance" and two bonus-track cover tunes: Buddy Holly's "Well ... All Right" and Guided by Voices' "Postal Blowfish."

"I just find certain cool things and phrases I like, that mean something to me, and I'd put things around it," he said. "Each song is like a different test for me. '101' is a song I wanted to write with a chorus that would repeat. I wrote it much differently than the other songs on the album. 'In Transit,' I just created a world around that one phrase. Some of the lyrics just came out of my ass, though."

With the Strokes on hiatus -- following the conclusion of their U.S. fall tour, the guys announced there "are no plans at the moment" to work on their fourth album -- Hammond figured the time was right to release Yours to Keep. He said the Strokes hiatus is well-deserved, as it followed more than a year of "hard touring."

Hammond is currently headlining his own tour and will continue doing so through March 21 in Columbus, Ohio. Then he'll hook up with Bloc Party and support them from March 23 in Chicago through March 31 in New York. Hammond is also booked as the musical guest for "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" on April 6.

Hammond added that none of the other members of the Strokes have plans to release their own solo outings, as far as he knows -- but he'll continue to issue solo material in the future, as well as eventually work with the Strokes on the follow-up to 2006's First Impressions of Earth.

"The Strokes are a great, important band -- all of us understand that," he explained. "When it comes time to make another record, we'll do that. But I will continue to release solo records, even if it isn't released and is just for me. I have to, and I already have a bunch of new material for a second record. When I finished this record, I wondered where the new stuff would take me, and it's taken me somewhere so surprising and amazing, that I have to make a second one. I can't not do it."