BROTHERLY BOND
THE BLACK KEYS TAP INTO A NEW SOUND WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM BECK AND NOEL GALLAGHER
Up until recently, “fun” isn’t a word Akron, Ohio, natives Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have always been able to use when talking about their work as The Black Keys.
After first hustling their way out of the state in the early 2000s, the garage-rock duo — which features Auerbach on vocals and guitar, with Carney on drums — hit the big time with Brothers in 2010. Backed by the chart-topping Lonely Boy and Gold on the Ceiling, the pair continued their run of success with El Camino in 2011. Turn Blue followed in 2014, before the childhood friends decided to hit the brakes.
When they returned in 2019 with Let’s Rock, The Black Keys entered a new phase of creativity. That album was followed in quick succession by their bluesdrenched quarantine release Delta Kream in 2021 and the spirited riff-rocker Dropout Boogie in 2023.
After dealing with the meteoric success and scrutiny of those earlier releases, Auerbach says the last five years have reminded him of how he and Carney, who met as teenagers in high school, first started bonding over music nearly 30 years ago.
“We’ve been hanging out together probably more than we ever have. Mostly because of these record hangs that we do where we play 45s together. It’s been really fun to hang out and geek out over music and get inspired by music,” Auerbach, 44, says.
But for their recently released 12th album, Ohio Players, The Black Keys wanted to give their blues-rock sound a stylistic makeover by making their most collaborative album, working with a new roster of musicians, including Beck, Noel Gallagher and Dan (the Automator) Nakamura.
“We had this epiphany: ‘We can call our friends to help us make music,’” Auerbach says. “We just expanded that palette with people we wanted to work with.”
The Black Keys recently announced they were embarking on a 31-date North American International Players tour, which touches down in Toronto Oct. 11 — their only Canadian stop. It will mark yet another chapter for the twosome, who began making music together as teenagers.
In a recent conversation, Auerbach spoke more about how Beck and Gallagher added to Ohio Players and how after over 20 years together The Black Keys have managed to keep it all together.
Q When I spoke with Pat in 2019, it was a rebirth of sorts for The Black Keys. What was the spark that relit the flame between the two of you?
A Basically, we had toured ourselves into the ground. We had to step back and realize no one is going to help us have fun. We have to do it ourselves. No one is going to suggest that we tour less and do fewer gigs. We have to know when to say when and try and be healthy in a way and not be total maniacs.
Q Ohio Players has some notable collaborators — Beck, Dan (the Automator) Nakamura, Noel Gallagher — how did they get involved?
A On Delta Kream we brought in some collaborators. We called in Kenny Brown (electric guitar) and Eric Deaton (bass), and that was the first time we’d collaborated with other musicians in the studio. But that was so much fun. So for our next record, Dropout Boogie, we called in some friends — Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and (songwriter) Angelo Petraglia — and it was great. What may have been difficult in the early part of our career, when we were young and insecure, was now kind of easy for us to navigate. So for this album, we thought, “Where else can we go? Who else can we work with that might be fun and surprising?” Someone we’d always wanted to work with, who had given us a big break when we were starting out, was Beck. We talked about working together, so we reached out to him and he was down. We got into the studio and the very first day we wrote This is Nowhere. That’s what set the ball rolling for this album.
Q How did you link up with Noel?
A Beck went so well that we thought, “Who else could be interesting to write with?” We thought of artists that we like that make iconic songs and he’s right on the top of the list. We didn’t know him personally; we’d met him a few times. So we reached out to his people ... We heard back a few days later and they said he would be interested, so we packed our bags and we flew over to London. We didn’t know what was going to happen ... It was just me, Noel and Pat in a room together just staring at each other (laughs). But we got into it and after the first day we’d written a song — Only Love Matters — and it took all the pressure off. We felt really good. We came back the next two days and we wrote a song a day. It was amazing. We got to hang out with Noel, watch him do his process, shoot the s---, he’s funny as hell. That was a really good hang. It worked out.
Q How do you two decide when it’s time to record again? Is it a text? Are you flipping burgers at a barbecue and look at one another and go, “It’s time”?
A Well, we text a lot. We do a lot of texting at three in the morning. For this record, a lot of the action came out of doing these record hangs. We were doing those once or twice a month. It was a good opportunity for us to just get together and hang out. It inspires us to want to get in the studio. It makes us want to write songs. So it’s been nothing but good for us.
Q You’ve been together for more than 20 years. What was the ingredient that kept the two of you together?
A It was equal parts: hard work, talent and sheer stupidity. We had to be all of those things equally to withstand the early days. I think that a lot of things have changed over the years, but when we get into the studio it still feels the same, to be honest. The possibilities are endless when I’m in the studio with Pat. I don’t know what it is, being around him, the dynamic we have, it just gives me so much confidence.
Q What if music hadn’t worked out for you. Did you have a Plan B?
A Nah, man. We barely had a Plan A.