Latest news with #BlackKeys
Los Angeles Times
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The Black Keys were nearly buried by a brutal year. A new album seeks to ‘get things back on track'
For the Black Keys, 2025 is all about getting back to doing what they love — making records and touring — on their own terms. That's their way of putting behind them the disaster that was 2024: their worst-charting album since 2006, the cancellation of an arena tour after ticket sales lagged, and the firing and public castigation of legendary manager Irving Azoff as well as their PR team. Their new album's title, 'No Rain, No Flowers,' offers a positive spin on growing from the experience, which guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney echoed in our conversation ahead of their show at the Greek Theatre on Tuesday. 'This is an opportunity for us to get out of the pressure cooker of a way of touring that we realized was unsustainable and was not ideal for the fans or enjoyable for us,' says Carney. 'We like being an underdog,' Auerbach adds. The two grew up playing wiffle ball and touch football in Akron, Ohio, but were a grade apart and didn't form a band until after their brothers (who were close friends) urged them to jam together. They found power in their raw, stripped-down blues and rock and eventually formed the Black Keys. But they had to build a friendship as they were building a career. 'We'd never gone to a party together or socialized much and then we found ourselves in a van driving to shows so our friendship had a big learning curve,' Carney recalls. They started in 2001 as the quintessential indie act — their first two albums were recorded in Carney's basement — but by decade's end they were a rock band on a roll: 'Brothers,' reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts; 'El Camino' made it to No. 2 and 'Turn Blue' took them all the way to the top. Those three albums garnered 11 Grammy nominations and the band was selling out arenas and headlining Coachella. Naturally, some early fans grumbled as they moved beyond their lo-fi sound. 'I remember right before 'El Camino' thinking this might be too rock-and-roll for our base,' Carney says, 'but to me the change was a sign we weren't phoning it in.' But despite the success, the band eventually burned out. At their commercial zenith, they went on hiatus. 'We're not contrarian,' says Carney, the more voluble of the two. 'But we had accomplished all this stuff, and we felt it was time to get off of the roller coaster.' In their time apart, both men produced other artists while Auerbach also released an album with a new band, the Arcs, and a solo album, both earning critical acclaim but lower sales than the Black Keys' music. When they reunited in 2019, they say their priorities had changed. 'You can try to make another No. 1 album, but the goal became clear to us: We have this special relationship and if we want it to stay healthy the path needs to be interesting to us,' Carney says, adding that the demands of 200 on the road and the constant media obligations they'd had earlier was 'not sustainable for us at this point. It's a lot being away from your kids.' But rock's role in popular culture has continued shrinking and although the band returned to the Billboard top 10 with 'Let's Rock'; 'Delta Kream,' an album of country blues covers; and 'Dropout Boogie,' they didn't generate the same kind of attention and some fans now complained they missed the era of 'Brothers' and 'El Camino.' 'We've made it a little bit harder for ourselves,' Carney adds. 'If we had just made 'El Camino' over and over again or alternated between 'Brothers' and 'El Camino' we'd probably be playing baseball stadiums now.' But Auerbach says they always wanted to evolve similar to the bands they loved like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. 'We're music geeks who love records so that was something we aspired to,' he says. 'We didn't want to repeat ourselves so we wanted to do something different with each album.' He says that the two love seeking out obscure old singles and when they're in the studio together the goal remains the same. 'It's like when you find a song that you've never heard before that blows your mind,' he says. 'That's what we're looking for when we're working in the studio together, to re-create that feeling you get in your gut.' Auerbach adds that after starting out just the two of them in isolation — in a basement in Akron — they found they loved collaborating, working with the producer Danger Mouse on their biggest albums and, more recently, musicians like Beck, Noel Gallagher, ZZ Tops' Billy Gibbons and rapper Juicy J. That said, Carney argues that even when they've worked with collaborators, 'at the end of the day it'll sound like us. It doesn't matter who else we work with, our aesthetic is always gonna shine through.' But with the combination of the shifting music landscape and their exploring new sounds, their popularity seemed on the wane. Last year, 'Ohio Players' peaked at just 26. Then came the touring fiasco, for which they have largely blamed Azoff — who has been investigated by the Department of Justice for colluding with Live Nation (which he used to run) — saying he put the band in the wrong rooms among other things. Carney tweeted, angrily and profanely, about how the band got screwed but deleted them to avoid being sued. When they finally spoke publicly, to Rolling Stone, they confessed to being naive about how the music industry consolidation was harming bands. They called the European tour ' the most poorly orchestrated tour we had been on' and Carney said, 'we fired their a—' of Azoff's company but were more circumspect in their quotes, not saying the words 'Live Nation.' Their new publicist had called me in advance saying not to bring up these issues but to let the band do it. When that didn't happen and my time was almost up I raised the issues. After a question or two the publicist tried to shut things down, but Carney said, 'It's the L.A. Times. Let's do the interview. Come on. We're here' and talked generally about the industry being problematic. 'We're just trying to make music and tour in a f—ed up industry.' Carney says the band is now more involved in planning and is 'very methodical' about how long it'll tour and about choosing the venues, adding that the smaller venues offer a better fan experience and a less expensive one since they don't need video screens for the back of an arena. Auerbach says they're also tinkering with their setlists, though he says their catalog is now so deep they can't please everyone. 'But we definitely have our fans in mind when it comes to making selections.' As they reposition themselves and 'get things back on track,' Carney says, the duo are now in a good place despite last year. 'Our friendship is stronger than it ever has been,' he says. 'We've been through every possible thing that you can go through so we can kinda get through anything now. And there's still a lot of joy in making music together.'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Black Keys Detail New LP, ‘No Rain, No Flowers'
The Black Keys have landed on an Aug. 8 release date for their 13th album, No Rain, No Flowers, the title track from which is out now. Among the collaborators on the self-produced Easy Eye Sound/Warner project are songwriters Rick Nowels and Daniel Tashian, plus veteran hip-hop producer/keyboardist Scott Storch. Black Keys guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach previously told SPIN that he and bandmate Patrick Carney used to obsessively watch YouTube videos of Storch 'playing all his parts from his productions on piano. He showed up and he was so excited to be in the studio because it's filled with keyboards here. He said he'd never really recorded with real instruments before — like harpsichords, vibes, tack pianos and stuff. So, he was like a kid in a candy shop. We hit it off and we had a lot of fun.' More from Spin: Peter Baumann's Old and New Dreams GIRLS IN WAITING Prince Royce: 'With Music, We Can Become One' The album's first single, 'The Night Before,' emerged as Carney, Auerbach and Tashian played drums, guitar and bass in a circle at Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound studio. 'It came together so quickly that we overlooked it,' said Auerbach. 'When we were playing the songs we had for people, it was the very last one we played to the record label. As soon as we played it, everyone unanimously said that should be the first single.' No Rain, No Flowers amounts to some positive fallout surrounding the release of 2024's Ohio Players and the abrupt cancelation of its supporting tour, during which Auerbach and Carney traded barbs with former manager Irving Azoff. 'We put a lot of time into [that] album, and then it came out and some bullshit happened and we had to pivot,' said Carney. 'Som we pivoted to where we feel most comfortable, which is back in the studio — make more music and just do it again.' The Black Keys will be on the road in North America beginning May 23 in Durant, Ok., and have dates on the books through Sept. 20 at Atlanta's Shaky Knees festival. 'The fact we didn't get to tour last year, we hated it,' Carney admitted. 'It sucks for us, sucks for the fans. Also, the circumstances were bullshit. But at the end of the day, we did get to make another album. And it's something that we're proud of, and that will be a document that will exist long after we're gone.' To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Black Keys Are All Fired Up
Every great rock 'n roll story goes through extreme highs and lows. For every platinum album or Grammy night sweep, disappointment and disaster often awaits right around the corner. The Black Keys experienced a year like that in 2024, with an entire U.S. tour cancelled and an album it was meant to promote, Ohio Players, losing momentum as a result. Even so, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney tends to prefer it when things aren't going too well. More from Spin: Exclusive: Shudder To Think Eye New Music, More Shows After Surprise Reunion Lindsay Ell's Top 5 Female Guitarists Jacob Theriot is Living in a 'Gremlin World' 'When things were going really, really well for us, it was the hardest time, and I think that's typically so for bands,' says Carney. 'When you're flying high, the pressure's high, egos are high – it's a dangerous time. But every band I've liked for the most part, most of their careers were a struggle, whether it's the Velvet Underground or the Stooges or whoever. Ultimately, all that stands at the end of time is the music, you know?' For the Black Keys, 2025 will be the year this multiplatinum, Grammy-winning duo works to reclaim their place as popular creators of explosive rock and blues with a new album, No Rain, No Flowers, and international tour. Another sign of their renewed purpose is today's release of the single 'Babygirl' on Easy Eye Sound/Warner Records. The track is bristling, hook-filled and romantic rock, with dramatic piano melodies from acclaimed producer Scott Storch, known for his records with a long list of hitmakers, from Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake to Dr. Dre and the Roots. And singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach purrs the breathless opening lyrics: 'Babygirl, you came along and then you opened my eyes/Babygirl, you make me stronger than I realize.' The song was co-written by the band with Storch and Daniel Tashian, known for his work with Kacey Musgraves, co-writing and co-producing her 2018 Grammy-winning album Golden Hour. On the track, Storch performs on piano and Moog bass. 'He'd always been kind of a hero of ours,' says Auerbach. 'We used to [obsessively watch] his videos on YouTube playing all his parts from his productions on piano. He showed up and he was so excited to be in the studio because it's filled with keyboards here. He said he'd never really recorded with real instruments before—like harpsichords, vibes, tack pianos and stuff. So he was like a kid in a candy shop. We hit it off, man, and we had a lot of fun.' Longtime musical partners Auerbach and Carney, who formed the Black Keys in 2001 in Akron, Ohio, are on the phone from the guitarist's Easy Eye Sound studio and label in Nashville. The duo is in the late stages of completing the album, aiming for a final 12 songs. 'We worked really hard on this album, maybe even more so than we did on Ohio Players,' says Carney. 'I think it's representative of all kinds of stuff that we're into. It's a fun listen.' The new single follows the release of 'The Night Before,' a groove-based rock tune and the first clue that the Black Keys had been working up a new album of songs. It was also co-written with Tashian, who Carney first met after moving to Nashville 15 years ago at a party with Harmony Korine and David Berman, of the Silver Jews. The album's first single emerged as Carney, Auerbach and Tashian played drums, guitar and bass in a circle at Easy Eye. 'It came together so quickly that we overlooked it,' says Auerbach. 'When we were playing the songs we had for people, it was the very last one we played to the record label. As soon as we played it, everyone unanimously said that should be the first single.' The new music amounts to some positive fallout surrounding the release of Ohio Players and the canceled tour. 'We put a lot of time into the album, and then it came out and some bullshit happened and we had to pivot,' says Carney. 'So we pivoted to where we feel most comfortable, which is back in the studio—make more music and just do it again.' Auerbach adds, 'Ultimately, the reason why we have new music is because we weren't able to tour. The tour getting canceled definitely fired our creativity up. It was our way to get through that.' The title of No Rain, No Flowers is an indication of the duo's state of mind, taking charge following a bumpy year. And it comes much quicker than most fans might have expected, but the Keys see the release schedule as a return to their DIY roots, which began by recording their raw 2002 debut The Big Come Up in Auerbach's basement. Carney insists the band has always sought to retain that same hands-on approach ever since. Only more so now. 'Music is designed to be made and released quickly. I don't think it benefits from sitting on shit for like Chinese Democracy-level. No one's ever benefited from taking three years to make a fucking album,' Carney says with a laugh. 'When we first started, we were making a record a year. That's how often a healthy band should be putting out records.' The Black Keys begin their first proper U.S. tour in three years, trading the arenas that were planned for last year's aborted tour for amphitheaters and theaters, which happen to be some of the best spaces for music in the U.S. (Red Rocks near Denver, and L.A.'s Greek Theatre). The No Rain, No Flowers Tour begins May 23rd in Oklahoma. 'The fact we didn't get to tour last year, we hated it,' says Carney. 'It sucks for us, sucks for the fans. Also, the circumstances were bullshit. But at the end of the day, we did get to make another album. And it's something that we're proud of, and that will be a document that will exist long after we're gone.' Aside from the tour, Auerbach and Carney continue to host their frequent 'Record Hangs,' where the musicians get into a small club and spin their favorite pop, soul and rock records from the Sixties, Seventies and beyond. They've taken these all-vinyl nights to different cities around the world, but are currently spinning close to home in Nashville. Their next two monthly Record Hangs are March 22 and April 19 at Flamingo Cocktail Club. The DJ sets include a spontaneous playlist that mixes classic hits from the past with the gorgeously obscure, from Al Green and Sam Cooke to the Hombres and Devo's twitchy version of the Rolling Stones' '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.' The events unfold in intimate settings, with the turntables very close to the fans dancing all around them, a much different scene than the big rooms the Black Keys typically perform in. 'It's all about loving music and discovering records and dancing,' Auerbach explains. 'It's kind of why we started playing music in the first place. It's really amazing to be able to share that with fans. It's been really nice. We've met some great people.' There is also a real connection between those old 45s and the music they're making now. 'We're learning a lot from spinning records, and seeing the audience reaction, feeling it,' says Auerbach. 'You can feel it when you spin the record. You know instantly, once you start playing it in the room, if it's working or not. And it's just been very interesting. And not all songs that we record have to be like Record Hang songs. We still like album tracks, too.' Carney adds, 'I do think it is interesting when you're playing a song in front of a room full of people, if there's any kind of waste of time in that song, it becomes something you might not play again. That comes to mind when we're working [on Black Keys songs].' To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
AfroFuture Detroit unveils first wave of festival acts: Davido, Kaytranada, more
An international array of artists will help create the musical tapestry this summer at the inaugural AfroFuture Detroit festival. Organizers on Thursday announced the first wave of artists tapped for the event, which will run Aug. 16-17 at the Bedrock Detroit Douglass Site, just north of downtown. Also unveiled Thursday were Nigerian gospel singer Flavour and rising Afrobeat artist Lojay, with Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley as the first hometown act named to the 2025 lineup. Producers also revealed the first batch of DJs and party hosts to lead the action elsewhere on the AfroFuture grounds, including DBN Gogo, Juls, TxC, and DJ K-DAWG & EZ Pass, whose sets will fuse culture-spanning music with classic Detroit sounds. The fest's main-stage artists will include Nigerian star Davido, Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada, Brazilian pop singer Ludmilla and Congolese singer-rapper Gims. AfroFuture was launched in Ghana in 2019 — then as Afrochella — setting out to celebrate African music's global diaspora. The festival's U.S. debut comes this August at the Douglass Site in Detroit, where a previous fest brand, Afro Nation, was presented in 2023 and 2024. This year's event will feature two music stages, a designer marketplace and other amenities. More: Metro Detroit spots celebrate first day of spring with free ice cream, Italian ice More: Detroit concerts on sale this week: Black Keys, Babymetal, Jamey Johnson, more 'This summer in Detroit, we're creating something truly transformative — a celebration where every sense is engaged and every aspect of culture is elevated, AfroNation cofounder Abdul Karim Abdullah said in a statement. A ticket presale launched Thursday, with general-admission passes starting at $99 and VIP packages at $199. In anticipation of a visiting audience, organizers also announced lodging partnerships with the Roost Detroit at Block Tower and the Courtyard by Marriott Detroit Downtown, and an airline partnership with Delta that offers discounted flights. AfroFuture Detroit is sponsored by Bedrock and produced by Paxahau, whose other events include the annual Movement electronic music festival at Hart Plaza. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: AfroFuture Detroit unveils wave of fest acts: Davido, Kaytranada, more
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Detroit concerts on sale this week: Black Keys, Babymetal, Jamey Johnson, more
The latest batch of metro Detroit concert announcements includes several shows going on sale Friday. Many tours offer early presale opportunities; check individual ticket links for details. Rock duo the Black Keys are headed to Pine Knob Music Theatre on Aug. 21, part of the band's summer-long tour in support of the forthcoming album 'No Rain, No Flowers.' Guitar phenom Gary Clark Jr. will open. On sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. The colorful Japanese band Babymetal will make its latest visit with a July 3 stop at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre as the group treks across North America. Black Veil Brides and Bloodywood are in support. On sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Jamey Johnson will play his first-ever show along Detroit's riverfront when the 'In Color' country star hits the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre on June 13. On sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Collective Soul and Live will serve up '90s rock nostalgia as their co-headlining Summer Unity Tour heads to Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre on July 22. Joining the bill are Our Lady Peace and Greylin James Rue. On sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Irish quartet Celtic Thunder is making its Detroit return with a Sept. 30 concert at the Masonic Temple's Cathedral Theatre. On sale at 10 a.m. Friday through AXS. The sibling pop trio AJR will alight at Pine Knob on July 29 as part of its 14-market Somewhere in the Sky Tour, joined by openers Goth Babe, Cavetown, Valley and Madelyn Mei. On sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit concerts on sale Friday: Black Keys, Babymetal, Jamey Johnson
