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It wasnt easy to talk at first with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen about his creative process. There was something else on our minds: we spoke on the phone the same day that RGIII, the quarterback of the Washington Redskins, had his reconstructive knee surgery. And since Leithauser and I are both Washington DC natives (I still live here while he now lives in New York), we are Redskins fans. So what you wont read here are the first ten minutes of our interview, which reads like an ESPN amateur hour. Much has been made of the growing maturity of the the members of The Walkmen, friends since childhood who now have families and who are settling into a bit of domesticity. Leithauser has a 21 month old daughter, whom he had just put down for a nap before we talked. He gets his best writing done early in the morning. Early, as in after he gets up at 6am, not early as in 1am or 2am before many songwriters go to bed. And reflected in Leithausers wisdom and maturity is knowing what works and what doesnt in his songwriting process. So what you will read here are the words of a man who can look back at his career and recognize, for example, that the best songs come through days, even weeks, of toiling at his craft. Id be willing to guess that he calls what he does - Gasp - work, a word anathema to many songwriters; after all, Leithauser refers in our interview to the "man hours" it takes to make an album.