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Black Keys and the Dirty Ground – An Interview with the Black Keys"
Black Keys and the Dirty Ground An interview with The Black Keys by Jonathan Dekel.
" Black Keys and the Dirty Ground – An Interview with the Black Keys"
Black Keys and the Dirty Ground An interview with The Black Keys by Jonathan Dekel.
The Black Keys
Dear reader,
Please just take a second to contemplate how many times in the past year you’ve read an article that started out with a short diatribe about the blues and their accent into pop/rock music, and how they were always there, starting from back when blah, blah, blah, blah…well, dear reader, you shall be spared. This will not happen today, frankly, because, there’s overkill and then there’s OVERKILL!
So, let’s skip the bullshit and get to the meat. The Black Keys are a two-piece from Akron, Ohio who simply does what I’ve just done and cut through the bullshit. They don’t have an amazing story about being a brother and sister or the sons of a preacher or whatever; they simply started out like any normal band.
"We grew up right around the block from each other and we started playing together in high school in late ’96, and we’ve been doing it since." explains Dan Auerbuch, the band’s lead singer/guitarist who along with drummer Patrick Carney makes up the two-piece.
For a duo, The Black Keys certainly make a lot of noise. Their approach to music, as a whole, is different from ‘The Stripes’. Whereas Jack and Meg use their collective "sibling" energy to produce a show of seemingly simple but effective blues-pop songs, ‘The Keys’ use their all out love for the genre and skill to produce a set of tight, straight ahead blues. This was easily shown in the duo’s debut, the prophetically named The Big Come-Up on the tiny Alive label.
After its release, The Big Come-Up started garnering lots of attention. Soon the band was getting rave revues from the likes of Rolling Stone and Mojo. This high exposure lead to major record label bidding war, and the band being whisked away to a high-priced and swanky studio. However, being as they are, the band decided to fold all that, sign to Fat Possum records and once again return to Carney’s home-studio to produce Thickfreakness which, although grimier, comes out a much more focused album. To their credit, the band, knowing full well that a much larger percentage of the world’s ears would be attune to their newest creation, still chose against writing something perhaps a little more commercial like ‘Seven Nation Army’. Instead, they choose to stick to what they know and love, the 12 bar blues. Yet, in a world where the media is constantly salivating to group new bands to more recognizable ones, the comparisons to The White Stripes seems almost unavoidable."I never heard of them till we started being compared to them," explains Carney about their bass-less compatriots. Slender and tall he sits awkwardly in his chair and constantly runs out to use the toilet throughout the interview.
"I’d heard of them but never heard their music until afterwards. I really like their new record. But I don’t see the comparison, other then on basic terms." Follows Auerbuch. With his toilet bowl haircut and baby-face, it seems hard to believe that he is the hard-core blues man he is.
"Clearly," I plunder, "you must see the comparisons! The name, the blues, no bass!"
"It was a hip thing to do and we thought we’d join the band wagon!" laughs Auerbuch. "No, no, we grew up just around the corner from each other and we didn’t know any bassists. When we first started playing it was just out of convenience really. We both were into music and we were friends and we like the same stuff. After playing a few times we realized we sounded good and we liked what we were doing. When we got serious about it, we tried to incorporate an organ player once and it just didn’t work out. We were just so adjusted to playing with two people that (anything else) wouldn’t work."
"The third person was a friend of mine, but he was just a space cadet. He was just doing what Dan was showing him to do on the guitar." Chimes in Carney, back from his first trip to the washroom and seemingly happy we’ve changed the subject.
However, I’m having none of it, and try it at a different angle. I ask why the guys think that the blues have suddenly become popular again?
"I think it’s because some young bands are doing it, and doing it in a way that’s different then the way people are used to. It’s more rock and roll than it is blues." Auerbuch clarifies, content to space himself from the genre.
"I think it’s just luck and timing. I don’t think there’s any reason why it’s popular right now, I have no idea." Adds Carney, seeing the mood turning a bit silly.
"It’s the cosmos!" jokes Auerbuch and starts to laugh uncontrollably.
So where do they see themselves fitting in?
"I dunno where we fit in, we get in to where we fit in!" exclaims Carney and joins his band-mate in the ball of laughter which leads to another trip in to the toilet.
I take the opportunity to ask Auerbuch his feelings about the choice to sign to epitaph sub-label Fat Possum?
"We signed with them because we liked their ideas about music. They like raw, simple sounding shit and that’s what we wanted to do with our album and we were in agreement." He explains, calmed down and seemingly happy I’ve returned to the subject at hand. "We were also talking with a few major labels and we just got the feeling that it just wasn’t gonna work if we signed with them because they would tell us how to do our drum sound and where to record, and it would just suck." I wonder why the band, now with record deal, has decided to stay so close to their roots and still record at their home.
"We never played shows; we didn’t play a show till after our first album came out. So it was always just getting into the basement over at Pat’s dad’s house and recording on a four track. That’s what we did."
Seemingly upon hearing his name, Carney re-enters: "We were so fed up with talking to major labels and deciding what to do that we just decided to the record as quick as possible and not over think it, so we did the record in a day and a half or something."
And what about the next record?
"We’re gonna continue doing it ourselves, although not in the same way." Carney lights up. His smile seems wicked, like a villain giving out their master plan to the captured and tide up hero. "Not that quick. There are good things about it, and there are things that would get old if we continued to do. But at the time it was the right thing to do, make a record that was really fucked up."
It is this sheer DIY attitude that has allowed the band to stick out in a sea of mediocrity. It seems that in a time when labels were searching for as many blues-rock bands to over-saturate the market and squeeze every last cent out of it, The Black Keys are one of those bands that has, and will continue to play the blues as they were meant to be played. Like their heroes before them, they will probably be remembered as a strange side-note to a thriving genre. Perhaps fittingly, as the over-looked band who kept their integrity and never veered away from their roots.