Black Keys roll with changes
A: I mean, yeah, we’re happy to be successful. But it’s just our aesthetic. Our records are done like everyone else, in the studio with digital equipment. The last two were done completely digitally.
When the Black Keys busted out of Akron, Ohio, as a scruffy two-piece blues act more than a decade ago, it was impossible to predict that their music would someday be all over the radio while the band packed major venues and racked up Grammy Awards. On Friday, guitaristvocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney will headline the Oracle Arena on the back of their seventh and latest album, “El Camino.” We caught up with Auerbach at the Coachella festival, where he told us how they’re adjusting to unexpected fame. Q: Do you find it odd that such a primitive band can be so popular in an age when most people make music on iphones? Q: Really? I imagined you guys hitting rocks and sticks
together like cavemen. A: It goes to show a caveman can exist in the modern day. Q: How big do you think the two of you are comfortable letting the Black Keys become before you have to retreat and go hide in a hole? A: Because we’re not based on a look — most bands have a look attached to them, like Slash and his top hat or whatever — we just sort of blend in whenever we’re out and about. We’re lucky that way. We don’t have Kiss face paint. Q: Do you worry that the band loses some of its impact in a big space? A: I like playing arenas. There’s something classically rock ’n’ roll about them. There’s also a heightened sense of expectation when you’re walking in there. It feels the same as going to a ballgame. Q: You moved to Nashville last year. Aren’t you morally obligated to represent Ohio for life? A: I was already living in New York. There was no reason for me to be tied to one place. Ohio didn’t really influence who we are. I was a young person who grew up on blues and bluegrass. I was doing what I wanted to do in my own world.
Q: Did you put the Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan on the cover of “El Camino” because you were nostalgic for the early touring days or to remind yourself how horrible they actually were? A: A bit of it is nostalgia, but more than that we wanted to make a stupid album cover. We liked the idea of calling the album “El Camino” and using a picture of a broke-down minivan.
AAidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic. Twitter: @Musicsf. avaziri@ sfchronicle.com