BROS BEFORE HOLIDAYS “It’s not like we’re some fucking Guns N’ Roses and take 13 years on eight different continents,” THE BLACK KEYS vocalist/guitarist DAN AUERBACH tells BEN PREECE of the band’s relentless output. blue – we had never met him – and asked us if we were interested. He was like, ‘I want you guys to be the band and write the songs for Ike.’ So that’s how we started working, long distance on that project. And then Ike passed away before we really got to do anything but we developed a relationship with him and we really got along so when it came time to make a new record , he kind of let us know that if we ever wanted to use him as a producer he’d be open to it so we booked the studio time and that’s how we made Attack & Release together. “So this time around, with Brothers, we only used him on one song,” he continues. “We wanted to do a record on our own and we pretty much did that and then we had two months before we needed to turn the record in – we had all finished – and we just decided to get in the studio with Brian. We had a weekend when we were all going to be in New York City, we figured why not and just booked it and went in to the studio and Tighten Up was what came out of it.”
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hen Inpress makes the call to Dan Auerbach, frontman, guitarist and songwriter for blues rock heroes The Black Keys, the man is enjoying one of the more glamorous aspects of his work. It’s right before Christmas and he’s hanging backstage with producer Danger Mouse, amongst others, for a rather special Christmas show. “Today we’re playing with Broken Bells, Phoenix, My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins,” he remarks rather casually. “It’s actually a tiny arena show. Over here we do these end-of-year radio station shows, a holiday show.” Of course, Auerbach and Danger Mouse are old friends, forming a firm bond in 2008 when the producer lent a hand The Black Keys’ Attack & Release. Danger
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Mouse only handled one song on the duo’s latest record Brothers, a record that is arguably The Black Keys’ most anticipated following the success of its predecessor as well as their collaborative Blakroc project. The band was now being watched closely, the game had changed and there was an expectation that they would release something that would raise the bar. “I’m a little disappointed by it honestly,” Auerbach states dryly. “Nah, I’m just playing – I don’t know – yeah, we’re happy with it, it’s all gravy and is responsible for all this nice stuff that’s been happening lately. It was great to work with Danger Mouse once again. He is now a great friend. He was friends with Ike Turner and he wanted to do an Ike Turner record [so] he called us up out of the
Songs come naturally to the prolific Auerbach and his lyrics are something brimming with mystery and connotations that could be fiction or real life. From Sinister Kid and Ten Cent Pistol to Everlasting Light and Next Girl, his lyrics don’t necessarily speak for themselves. “I had some fun on this one, making up some stories and kind of getting in that mode a little bit. But it’s all mixed in with real life experiences so I made it a little easier to talk about personal things and when I knew the audience would know whether it was just a story or not. But I had fun, I talked about murder and sex and guns and love and all of that good stuff. It all comes from experiences – anything can inspire a story or a song to come out. It’s all creative fun really, there are no rules and that’s why it’s fun! “But you know, it’s all the luck of the draw really,” he continues. “All these records we make are snapshots of a moment in time for us because we make the records so quickly and we don’t do any pre-production or anything like that. So this record is a picture of us, of the week and a half that we spent making the album. When I listen to it, I remember all the things we were doing, where we were, experiences we had, you know? It’s not like we’re some fucking Guns N’ Roses and take, like, 13 years on eight different continents you know? We like to hit it and quit it.”
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Upon the conclusion of obligatory promo duties for Attack & Release, it seemed The Black Keys, Auerbach specifically, might actually have some down time. Not so. He dropped a solo album called Keep It Hid and indulged in the Blakroc project with the likes of Q-Tip, Mos Def, RZA and Ludacris amongst other fine hip-hop artists. In all of this, The Black Keys didn’t seem to skip a beat, still contributing a track to the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and, of course, releasing Brothers. “Yeah,” Auerbach contemplates. “I’ve been working a lot the last couple years, that’s for sure. It’s been non-stop. The solo album was a great exercise, really cool. I got to tour with a full band – I really love those guys – and we got to go all over the world with that, all over Europe, all over Australia, all over America. It was great fun!” And the procedure repeats once a new record has dropped and the release of Brothers has seen Auerbach and Carney busier than ever, in greater demand and indulging in more promo opportunities than usual. “Yeah, we’ve been touring a tonne since the release of the record,” Auerbach explains. “We’ve been all over Europe, America, Canada – it’s been non-stop, honestly. It’s all been shows and all kinds of stuff. No matter how much you do it though, it’s still a pain in the ass, really. There is so much travelling and bullshit besides the hour you get to play your music. It can definitely be fatiguing but, you know, we love playing music so it’s all right. What was fun about it, though, was the guys who played on my solo tour are in a band called Hacienda and they are on tour right now on the West Coast. We pulled over at like a rest stop in the bus just two days ago and we ran into them at this rest stop. We were both getting lunch at the same place in America and we hadn’t spoken to each other at all, we were just there – totally random.” Next stop for The Black Keys was to be Australia for the Big Day Out tour, which the duo have surprisingly never played before, however an announcement of their tour cancellation came earlier this week. The reason the band have stated to press? “An arduous year of touring and promotion has drained the band and necessitated time off.” It seems The Black Keys have decided they’re due for a rest after all. With their two Melbourne shows sold out, there’s no doubt they’ll have plenty of local fans heralding their eventual return to our shores. WHO: The Black Keys WHAT: Brothers (Shock)