Latest news with #NoFlowers
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
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
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After scrapping 2024 tour, The Black Keys are coming to Minneapolis in 2025
Rock duo The Black Keys are coming back to Minneapolis, but this time at a slightly smaller venue than the one booked for last year's tour, which was ultimately canceled. The band has added a "No Rain, No Flowers" tour stop at The Armory on Saturday, Sept. 6, along with The Heavy Heavy as the opening act. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., and pre-sale tickets are available as of Tuesday via Ticketmaster. You can sign up with the Lonely Boys and Girls Club on the band's website to receive a presale code. The duo consisting of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney were originally scheduled to bring their "International Players Tour" to Target Center on Nov. 10. Fans cited ticket availability data to suggest that low sales caused the abrupt cancellations. Others also suggested that high ticket prices contributed to the allegedly low sales. The band said in a statement the plan was to launch a new tour focusing on "more intimate settings."The Armory stop will be the first for the band in the state since they brought their "Dropout Boogie Tour" to the Minnesota State Fair in 2023. They previously played a Target Center show on Sept. 28, 2019. The Black Keys are coming off their 12th studio album release, Ohio Players, and are set to debut a new single on Friday, "Babygirl" after dropping another new track last month, titled "The Night Before."
