Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name is Jordan run Tug,
Speaker 1: but enough about me. My guest today is one of
Speaker 1: my all time favorite fans. He's an audio artisan with
Speaker 1: a relentless commitment to his craft and a purveyor of
Speaker 1: gut punching guitar leads that have made The Black Keys
Speaker 1: one of the biggest rock groups on the planet. After
Speaker 1: a five year hiatus, he re teamed with his old
Speaker 1: friend and bandmate Patrick Carney for Let's Rock. But it
Speaker 1: was their next record, a blues covers album called Delta Cream,
Speaker 1: that was their true homecoming. Recorded in just a day,
Speaker 1: the spontaneous studio jam was something of a reset, a
Speaker 1: reminder of the sounds and the spirit that first drew
Speaker 1: them to music as teenage neighbors growing up in Akron, Ohio.
Speaker 1: The down in dirty blues atmosphere is apparent on their
Speaker 1: latest album, Drop Out Boogie, or at least twenty years
Speaker 1: almost to the day after their debut, the Big Come Up.
Speaker 1: A lot's changed since those days of recording in basements
Speaker 1: and touring in bands. Now they've become heroes themselves to
Speaker 1: a whole new generation of brash blues punks, all awaiting
Speaker 1: their own big come up. I'm so happy to welcome
Speaker 1: Dan our By first and foremost congratulations on a new record.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's really it's setting the summer off right
Speaker 1: for me. It's to me, it's the perfect convertible album.
Speaker 1: I know you released Waiting on a Song on eight track,
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of wishing you did that with this
Speaker 1: one too. I feel like it's the perfect eight track record.
Speaker 1: UM started at the very beginning, what role did your
Speaker 1: album Delta Cream, their previous record, play in the creation
Speaker 1: of Dropout Boogie? You know, I don't think we could
Speaker 1: have had one without the other. You know, I think
Speaker 1: Um Delta Delta Cream kind of paved the way for
Speaker 1: for Dropout Boogie. You know, we it was so um
Speaker 1: off the cuff Delta Cream was and it was so easy,
Speaker 1: and we ended up both really loving it and loving
Speaker 1: the way it sounded. We just kind of took that
Speaker 1: positive momentum and we went right into making Drop Up Booie. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think Pat called it a great reset of the band,
Speaker 1: and was it amuse reset musically in terms of reminding
Speaker 1: you of the the artists and the songs that first
Speaker 1: brought you together or was it a reset in terms
Speaker 1: of actually playing the music in a room together. I mean, um,
Speaker 1: a little bit of both. I mean, we definitely were
Speaker 1: playing stuff that influences when we first started, but we
Speaker 1: were also playing with Kenny Brown for the very first time.
Speaker 1: We were playing with the bass player for the very
Speaker 1: first time in the studio, we were playing with the
Speaker 1: percussionists for the very first time. So it was like
Speaker 1: it was this weird combination of absolutely brand new and old.
Speaker 1: And I think that that is a balance that we
Speaker 1: always kind of strive for in our records, you know,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean Kenny Brown and stuff Eric Deaton
Speaker 1: was bringing to the table. It sounds so good. I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like a huge debt of gratitude not only
Speaker 1: for the music that you've made as the Black Keys,
Speaker 1: but just turned me onto acts like you know, Junior,
Speaker 1: kimbro Are, All Burnside Mississippi, Fred McDowell, I mean people
Speaker 1: I never would have heard of where it not through
Speaker 1: your covers on Delta Cream and just people you cited
Speaker 1: in interviews as influences. And and I gotta say that
Speaker 1: Robert Finley record, Oh my god, Sharecropper's son is just
Speaker 1: such an incredible album, and he's he's the real deal.
Speaker 1: I so I want to thank you for all those
Speaker 1: influences you've You've shared with your fans too, Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1: I mean I was honored to get to make those
Speaker 1: records with Robert. I mean, as soon as he walked
Speaker 1: in my studio, it was just like he was electric.
Speaker 1: He just was like he was wearing a three quarter
Speaker 1: length leather duster and a giant cowboy belt. Buckley had
Speaker 1: snakeskin boots, song leather pants. He had a satin cowboy
Speaker 1: shirt on and a leather cowboy hat, and his hair
Speaker 1: was braided underneath it. It was like, I was like,
Speaker 1: who is this guy? I'm so glad to hear that
Speaker 1: living up to all of my dreams and expectations like
Speaker 1: a Louisiana superhero. That's so cool. I mean it sounds like,
Speaker 1: in the same way that you opened up the band
Speaker 1: on Delta Cream, you opened up the songwriting process a
Speaker 1: bit on dropout boogie, working with outside writers and I
Speaker 1: think five tracks. What led you to bring Greg Cartwright
Speaker 1: and Angelo into the sessions. Well, those are a couple
Speaker 1: of guys that I had worked with a lot in
Speaker 1: the past, and I just wrote some songs with Greg
Speaker 1: and Angelo on the new Marcus King record. You know,
Speaker 1: I I've done a bunch of things, you know, we
Speaker 1: worked on the Velvet Heres together and just all kinds
Speaker 1: of stuff. So I kind of had a feeling that
Speaker 1: Pat would get along with them and that it would
Speaker 1: be fruitful. So we rang them up and it was great.
Speaker 1: It was so easy, it was fun. And and here,
Speaker 1: you know, we are like twenty years into our album
Speaker 1: career and uh, we're you know, doing something we've never
Speaker 1: done before. So it was really nice. Yeah, I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you more about what you're writing processes is
Speaker 1: historically like with Pat, because how much of it is
Speaker 1: improvising together versus want of you bringing sort of a
Speaker 1: song frack into the studio and then working it out
Speaker 1: at a table. It sounds like it's more improvisational, right.
Speaker 1: It's always been improvisational, you know, We've always just kind
Speaker 1: of messed around in the studio and and something happens.
Speaker 1: You know. It's been something that we've been able to
Speaker 1: do since we were like sixteen seventeen. I think that's
Speaker 1: why we stuck with it when we started, because we
Speaker 1: realized right off the bat, We really didn't have to
Speaker 1: work at getting it to sound cool. You know. It's like,
Speaker 1: as soon as we started making music together, it was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's I like that whatever that is that sounds fun,
Speaker 1: you know. So I think we just it's just always
Speaker 1: been there like that for us. So that's that's generally
Speaker 1: how we started the songs, and then we kind of
Speaker 1: you know, have to shape the song that way. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit reverse, you know. And since moving to Nashville,
Speaker 1: I've definitely, like UM, gotten to appreciate more old school
Speaker 1: style of UM songwriting, you know, just the base chords
Speaker 1: and melodies and lyrics first. But you know, so I
Speaker 1: guess I understand how that works too. But the way
Speaker 1: the pattern I work is just different, you know, you
Speaker 1: just always has been. Yeah, I mean moving to Nashville,
Speaker 1: it's such a collaborative musical scene that must have been
Speaker 1: sounds very different to you know, having been sort of
Speaker 1: more self contained the two of you. That must have
Speaker 1: been a really cool, uh you know, sort of new
Speaker 1: learning process of working in a whole different way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was you know, pretty uh I opening
Speaker 1: when we first got here. But you know, I always
Speaker 1: loved Nashville and the and the music scene here, and
Speaker 1: I can't imagine living anywhere else. I mean, I've been
Speaker 1: here eleven years, almost twelve, I guess now, and it's
Speaker 1: an amazing city if you're a musician, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just like there's so many tools in the toolbox here. It's, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I find it hard to live without. At
Speaker 1: this point, you're talking about that a little bit of
Speaker 1: magic with you and Pat. I mean, this blew my mind,
Speaker 1: good love, burn the damn thing down, didn't I love you?
Speaker 1: I think these are all first takes, right, that is
Speaker 1: just incredible to me. Yeah, those are all just first take,
Speaker 1: one take songs. Wow, that is there. I'll go back
Speaker 1: and um, spruce up the lyrics. But I'm as we're
Speaker 1: playing it down, I'm like improvising lines and stuff. Sometimes
Speaker 1: the line of work. Sometimes it sparks some better line.
Speaker 1: But you know, yeah, those are those are first takes.
Speaker 1: But that's why they have that feel and that sound
Speaker 1: and you can't really fake that. And um, you know
Speaker 1: Wild Child does not have that sound, but we like
Speaker 1: to have a mix of those, those different kinds of recordings.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it I think it's a nice
Speaker 1: to to have a like a little bit of a
Speaker 1: you know, different palette there. Oh absolutely, I mean that's spontaneity,
Speaker 1: the excitement of the moment of creation. It's so cool
Speaker 1: and it's so apparent in the tracks, but it got
Speaker 1: something like wild Child. It's it's such a great vibe.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's it's got a different feel to
Speaker 1: it than things I've heard from you. It almost feels
Speaker 1: the groove is thord funky comes to mind. I know
Speaker 1: that's an overused word, but it's got such a different
Speaker 1: flavor to it. It's such a cool track. How did
Speaker 1: that track come together? I mean I probably started with
Speaker 1: the drum loop, you know, is a funky ass due
Speaker 1: wipe Bo, And you know, we started with the with
Speaker 1: the rhythm track, and I think instantly we really liked
Speaker 1: it. It It was so simple. We both there's something so
Speaker 1: kind of like instantly likable, catchy about it. Um, so
Speaker 1: we just kept working at it, you know what I mean. So, uh,
Speaker 1: that was the That was one of the songs we
Speaker 1: called in Angelo, were called him Greg and we sat
Speaker 1: down at the table with some acoustic guitars and we
Speaker 1: kind of like worked out the melodies and the lyrics,
Speaker 1: but that was after we had the instrumental, you know,
Speaker 1: so it was fun. You know, I think it was
Speaker 1: worth It was definitely worth while. I know you've worked
Speaker 1: a lot with Danger Mouse in the past, and something
Speaker 1: that I've noticed is that I feel like I can
Speaker 1: always tell the albums you made with him because there's
Speaker 1: something in the rhythm that's different and I can't put
Speaker 1: my finger on it. It just it swings differently these
Speaker 1: albums that that you self produce. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's not playing with a click or something, but I
Speaker 1: feel like on a track like how Long on this
Speaker 1: new album, it's got this incredible feel to it. It's
Speaker 1: a slower and looser That's one of my favorite tracks
Speaker 1: on this how Long. It's such an incredible I really
Speaker 1: liked that song a lot, and you know, that was
Speaker 1: just that just happened out of an improblem playing guitar
Speaker 1: and drums across from each other, you know, just started
Speaker 1: playing that lick and Pat fell in and that one
Speaker 1: came together really quickly. To be honest, I do like
Speaker 1: that song a lot. I love how your vocal sits
Speaker 1: in it. It's like it's not like a lead singer
Speaker 1: it's like another instrument to me. It's it's such a
Speaker 1: cool way that it sits in the track. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. You know, when Pat and I UM are
Speaker 1: in a good place and comfortable, Um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's I've never been more comfortable playing with someone, you know,
Speaker 1: in my life. I don't even have to think about it,
Speaker 1: you know. I wanted to ask you about your I
Speaker 1: think your latest single, and it Ain't Over UM has
Speaker 1: this really unique sound on it. When I was listening
Speaker 1: to it, I couldn't figure out what it was. I
Speaker 1: assumed it was a keyboard sound. I did a little
Speaker 1: digging and I learned it was something called an optagan,
Speaker 1: which I'd never heard of in my life. Oh well,
Speaker 1: tell me about that. Almost like an early sample, like
Speaker 1: a souped up melotron, right, Like, what is that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: They had UM these little disks that you would put
Speaker 1: in it. It was basically like a Fisher Prize keyboard
Speaker 1: toy for kids. And you know, I think people got
Speaker 1: hip to them, and people like Tom Wade's and I
Speaker 1: don't know everybody's used them, but they just have an
Speaker 1: amazing sound, and you know, you can flip the discs
Speaker 1: upside down and it plays the sounds backwards, so you know,
Speaker 1: it has a keyboard sound and then like a rhythm
Speaker 1: accompaniment which is like got some like kind of generally
Speaker 1: cheesy sounding percussion or drums or bass or something like that.
Speaker 1: And Uh, it's really fun to kind of spark ideas.
Speaker 1: I've done it before. You know, I used it on
Speaker 1: the Doctor John record I made. Um. You know, we
Speaker 1: used it a bunch. You know, it's a fun tool.
Speaker 1: I like, there's definitely some different sounds on this record.
Speaker 1: I know that, UH used the wall for the first
Speaker 1: time right on on what what track was on Wild Child? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: On Wild Child? Yeah, some rhythm guitar. Yeah. I don't
Speaker 1: know what got into me feeling crazy that day. M
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you about the guitar work by Mr
Speaker 1: Billy F. Gibbins. How did he get involved and what
Speaker 1: was he like just to play with in the room? Man?
Speaker 1: He Uh, he's the best. He's the coolest, coolest guy
Speaker 1: on earth. I mean I texted him and told him
Speaker 1: Pat and I would be in the studio and if
Speaker 1: he was free, he should stop by because I heard
Speaker 1: he was in town. And uh, and I didn't hear
Speaker 1: anything from a few hours went by, and then he
Speaker 1: got a text from him he said, I'm headed over, amigo.
Speaker 1: He showed up. Man, he didn't bring guitar. He just
Speaker 1: brought bottle of bottle of wine. And uh. I handed
Speaker 1: him a guitar that I had plugged it straight into
Speaker 1: an AMP, a guitar he's never played before. You know,
Speaker 1: pour him a glass of wine and we just started playing.
Speaker 1: And we played for you know, almost two hours and um,
Speaker 1: and then he took off and I think we probably
Speaker 1: had like four songs kind of written in that time.
Speaker 1: We were just flowing. It was great and good Love
Speaker 1: is one of those songs. And it's just like his
Speaker 1: sound is so instantly identifiable as it's awesome to be
Speaker 1: able to like, um, sit in the room with him
Speaker 1: and play music. It's like, it's pretty cool. Oh man, man,
Speaker 1: it wasn't even his guitar. Wow, just all in the fingers.
Speaker 1: What what is man? He had this old triny Lopez
Speaker 1: that I own that that used to be used to
Speaker 1: belong to Mississippi Fred McDowell. What. It's a beautiful guitar.
Speaker 1: You can see video footage of him of Fred McDowell
Speaker 1: playing it. On YouTube. He's Scott his wife glued like
Speaker 1: some um jewelry, some like brooches to the headstock into
Speaker 1: the upper about of the guitar. And um, it's a
Speaker 1: cool guitar, you know. But we've always heard stuff about
Speaker 1: Billy Gibbons like he plays special kind of slinky strings
Speaker 1: and only uses this kind of whatever. It's like, Man,
Speaker 1: this guitar had normal as strings, plugged it straight into
Speaker 1: an amp and it sounded instantly like Billy Gibbinson was
Speaker 1: fucking awesome. Wow have you played with them before. We've
Speaker 1: done a couple of things with them before, but not
Speaker 1: like this. Oh. Man, that that is incredible. I hope
Speaker 1: we get to hear those other songs you guys worked
Speaker 1: on too. I hope there's a you know, expanded edition
Speaker 1: or EP or you know special seven inch or something coming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you never know. Man, Oh, that is so cool.
Speaker 1: I mean you've you've worked with so many amazing artists.
Speaker 1: I mean you mentioned Dr John, Robert Finley, you know,
Speaker 1: Yola see low Green, Lana del Rey. How is your
Speaker 1: production work outside of the Black Keys impacted your work
Speaker 1: in the band as producing outside people almost given you
Speaker 1: kind of more objectivity when it comes to your own
Speaker 1: band and your own sound and change the way you worked.
Speaker 1: I think so. I think it really has. I think
Speaker 1: it especially in the last few years, being able to
Speaker 1: hone in on our strengths and being able to like
Speaker 1: maybe figure out how we how it's like max enjoyable
Speaker 1: what I mean, because that's really what's most important for
Speaker 1: Pat and I at this point, is to like be
Speaker 1: able to do this, uh and enjoy it. You know,
Speaker 1: that's kind of the goal. I think he said in
Speaker 1: a few interviews that this is the most enjoyable record
Speaker 1: you guys have ever made. You do you echo that sentiment? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was pretty awesome. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: every record we got to make is really fun, but
Speaker 1: there was something about this when where it was just
Speaker 1: like we're firing on all cylinders, you know, It's just
Speaker 1: like we were so um, we're just in that in
Speaker 1: the zone. I love the title of the record. I
Speaker 1: immediately thought of Captain Beefhart and Safe as Milk was
Speaker 1: sort of my access point to his music. I just
Speaker 1: I think that record is incredible. I mean, I'm glad
Speaker 1: those spine tingling vocals. I mean, that's crazy kind of
Speaker 1: warp do wop sound. I mean Ryan Cooter's guitar work.
Speaker 1: Such an amazing record. I know that sounds like that
Speaker 1: was a real point of connection for YouTube growing up
Speaker 1: when you first were um discovering music together. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a huge influence on on us. And when we
Speaker 1: were first touring in the van, just the two of us,
Speaker 1: you know, zigzagging back and forth across the States. It
Speaker 1: was one of the records we listened to the most.
Speaker 1: I still amazing to me. But when you were growing up,
Speaker 1: I can't imagine there are many other kids in town
Speaker 1: who were listening to Captain Beefar and yet you guys
Speaker 1: were just down the street from one another. It's just
Speaker 1: such a crazy thing to consider. I mean, it really
Speaker 1: does make you, you know, I wonder about fate. What
Speaker 1: were some other musical points of connection between the two
Speaker 1: of you when you were first getting to know each other.
Speaker 1: I mean, we loved Which Hang Records. We loved Liquid Sours,
Speaker 1: the Jizz album, just the aesthetic of the record, the
Speaker 1: way it sounded. We loved Um Credence clear Water. We
Speaker 1: used to sit and listen to Buy You Country over
Speaker 1: and over again. Um. Yeah, we love to be hard
Speaker 1: and we would listen to the Sonics all the time. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. We we liked We liked music that
Speaker 1: was real, raw, kind of grimy and and fun. That
Speaker 1: was kind of what we were into. Had read that
Speaker 1: The Big Come Up. Initially, an early version of it
Speaker 1: had like skits in between the songs, like a hip
Speaker 1: hop record. Yeah, and the dude who owned the record
Speaker 1: labels this French guy who's like in the rock and
Speaker 1: roll hated rap. He was like, he's like, what is
Speaker 1: this ship? You got got to get rid of this stuff,
Speaker 1: And uh, it was probably the smart idea. We did
Speaker 1: leave a couple of little things and so it was nice,
Speaker 1: but it was probably It's crazy that Dropout Bookie came
Speaker 1: out the day before the twenty anniversary of your debut,
Speaker 1: The Big Come Up. Uh what do you see when
Speaker 1: you contrast those two, Because in a funny way, I
Speaker 1: almost feel like Dropout Boogie is more like your first
Speaker 1: record than any you've made in a while, all aside
Speaker 1: from maybe Delta Cream, especially something like the closer Didn't
Speaker 1: I Love You? I Mean to me, that feels like
Speaker 1: something that that could have come out of the basement
Speaker 1: in a way. Yeah, I think that we are. The
Speaker 1: more I work with other people, the more I appreciate,
Speaker 1: you know what, the thing that the specialty gift that
Speaker 1: Pat and I were given, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: And to be to be able to have our own
Speaker 1: sound and our own thing. It's just like we're just
Speaker 1: really starting to be able to really enjoy it. I think,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And uh, I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think that I think that the The Deltas Cream
Speaker 1: album was definitely like a reset and and and this
Speaker 1: album does feel like it's it's coming from the same
Speaker 1: place as the big come up was. I know you're
Speaker 1: you're just wrapped an album and you're hitting the road,
Speaker 1: but I understand you're working on more material in the studio.
Speaker 1: Where are you at with that? We we're pretty far
Speaker 1: along on a on another record, and we had some
Speaker 1: fun people come in and write with us. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we're excited about that. It's actually pretty legit so far.
Speaker 1: Are you able to say who or is it a
Speaker 1: little too early for that? Yeah? Too early for me.
Speaker 1: I talked to me about the tour of this summer
Speaker 1: because it sounds like you've got a few friends going
Speaker 1: out with you. Kenny and Eric and you're gonna do
Speaker 1: a Delta Cream Spotlight and the Gabber Brothers and they
Speaker 1: go way back with you, right, Yeah. The Gabber Brothers
Speaker 1: played in a band called the Shams who played with
Speaker 1: the Black Keys on at the Black He's very first
Speaker 1: show in Cleveland, Ohio at the Beachland Town. Oh Man,
Speaker 1: what do you remember by that gig? Not a whole lot.
Speaker 1: We feel like we had like thirty minutes of music
Speaker 1: and we played it in like fifteen minutes because we
Speaker 1: were so nervous. We played everything like four times speed.
Speaker 1: It was like when you're on your TV and it
Speaker 1: says two times speed and then you go to four
Speaker 1: times speed. That's where were we were at the whole
Speaker 1: set and I remember going. I just remember we came
Speaker 1: to backstage and it was like we looked at each
Speaker 1: other like what just happened? Was the fun though out?
Speaker 1: Not really? Is it fun? Oh No? It was never racking,
Speaker 1: but it was cool when they asked us to come back.
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of full circle moments. I got
Speaker 1: the gab of Brothers with you and sounds like you're
Speaker 1: gonna be hitting the Blossom Music Center in Ohio for
Speaker 1: this tour. You know that spot's got a special meeting
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah. I used to work there when I was,
Speaker 1: uh teenager. I used to be one of those kids
Speaker 1: in the parking and with the flag waving the cars.
Speaker 1: So but I mean it was always like a real
Speaker 1: magical place. I used to kind of like be able
Speaker 1: to go backstage and stuff, and I saw the inner
Speaker 1: workings of the place, and it's like right in the
Speaker 1: in the middle of the woods. It's really beautiful there.
Speaker 1: It's like everybody goes there is really happy to be
Speaker 1: there that you know. So it was like a kind
Speaker 1: of an amazing place. Oh man, were you able to
Speaker 1: see many of the acts there. I went and saw
Speaker 1: Whitney Houston with my mom that rule. That's so cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was awesome. She was all I remember is we
Speaker 1: were in the grass and they didn't have really good
Speaker 1: video screens, so looking at her on stage, she was
Speaker 1: just like a little minuscule neon dot running back and forth.
Speaker 1: I just remember everybody on stage head on kneeon like
Speaker 1: jogging outfits. It was crazy. So it feels like that
Speaker 1: was her aesthetic for a while, Like you know, the
Speaker 1: Jamee found the workout tape aesthetic late eighties stuff. Oh man,
Speaker 1: I've I've had the pleasure of seeing you several times
Speaker 1: in concert. I'm looking forward to it again this summer.
Speaker 1: I uh, I save this question for last because I'm
Speaker 1: always afraid that people are gonna hang up. I mean
Speaker 1: think I'm crazy for asking it, But I'm curious what
Speaker 1: you have to say about this, especially with sort of
Speaker 1: the Blues being steeped in in in so much um
Speaker 1: mythology in a sense, do you believe in a in
Speaker 1: a supernatural element in music? Um? Yeah, I think that
Speaker 1: there's some some something ancient, something um in our d
Speaker 1: n A that you know, allows us all to understand
Speaker 1: music no matter what language it's in, and to be
Speaker 1: able to feel things from music. I think there's something
Speaker 1: special there. But you know, it's I think that's why
Speaker 1: it's usually part of every religion on earth. It's like
Speaker 1: music think is very important to humans and it's hard
Speaker 1: to really say why, which makes it so magical. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the mystery of music is just so. It's one of
Speaker 1: the things that keeps me coming back and you look
Speaker 1: at all these you know, remains of ancient cultures and
Speaker 1: back at a time when human beings were just struggling
Speaker 1: to to to eat and live. You see remains of
Speaker 1: primitive instruments and you think, wow, this was really a
Speaker 1: priority for us, even you know, at a base level need.
Speaker 1: It's something that was always there and something we always needed.
Speaker 1: But it's really hard to articulate exactly why, but it
Speaker 1: definitely it hits us, absolutely absolutely, And you know, we're
Speaker 1: so lucky that we grew up in North America and
Speaker 1: you know, in America and like the melting pot that
Speaker 1: this country is has just been like it was just
Speaker 1: like exploded with music, and every corner of this country
Speaker 1: has got a little special niche and and a special
Speaker 1: you know, notch in history. And um, I just got
Speaker 1: so into all the regional music in America. Record labels
Speaker 1: like our Hooly you know that would that would like
Speaker 1: just like really dive deep into where this music came from,
Speaker 1: and it's just so special. I love that. I love
Speaker 1: like the dust to digital account and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I'm always love discovering all these pockets of music. And
Speaker 1: you I mean, I'm so excited for the the Sunhouse
Speaker 1: set you have coming out soon. I'm uh just I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for a lot of the music that you've
Speaker 1: again I said, this is the beginning of talking to you,
Speaker 1: just that you've shared through your label and just through
Speaker 1: interviews citing your influences. I mean, you've really uh turned
Speaker 1: me and I'm sure millions of others on the so
Speaker 1: much great music that would have otherwise never crossed my path. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that sun House tape is crazy, just out of the blue.
Speaker 1: Dick Waterman said, I have a box full of tapes
Speaker 1: in my gras and they've been there since the sixties.
Speaker 1: Do you want do you want them to want to
Speaker 1: buy them? Just a treasure chas, Oh my God, and
Speaker 1: this and that the Sunhouse album that we just put
Speaker 1: out forever on my mind. It predates his Columbia recordings,
Speaker 1: and so it's like some of the earliest recordings after
Speaker 1: he was rediscovered in the sixties, and and in my opinion,
Speaker 1: some of the greatest versions of those songs. They feel
Speaker 1: so comfortable. I don't know what it was about the
Speaker 1: surroundings where he was, but man, he was like sober
Speaker 1: and singing with so much conviction and amazing performances are
Speaker 1: kind of like blew my mind. After we got that
Speaker 1: tape transferred, and that's what was on it. It was
Speaker 1: absolutely insane. God, I mean, that's amazing. That's do you
Speaker 1: have any other uh? I hesitate They called archival, but
Speaker 1: I guess that's the word I'll use. Uh projects in
Speaker 1: the works that you're excited about. Yeah. Here you know Waterman,
Speaker 1: he sold me a whole box full of tapes. What
Speaker 1: we're all different artists, So yeah, we've got some plans.
Speaker 1: Oh man. Yeah, we can't spill the beans yet. We
Speaker 1: got some really good stuff mined up to release. It's
Speaker 1: kind of you know, being a blues nerd since I
Speaker 1: was a kid, it's pretty mind blowing to be able
Speaker 1: to like acquire this stuff and be able to put
Speaker 1: it out. It's kind of insane. How did how did
Speaker 1: this music first reach you? I mean, I know that
Speaker 1: I'm probably of the last age group that didn't have
Speaker 1: the entire history of record of music at their fingertips
Speaker 1: growing up, And so it was hard where I was
Speaker 1: living just to get you know, a copy of Odyssey
Speaker 1: and Oracle by the Zombies or something. It took up
Speaker 1: six weeks to get imported from god knows where. How
Speaker 1: did you first discover this this kind of music when
Speaker 1: you were growing up? Like, how did you got its
Speaker 1: safe as milk reach you. I mean I heard about
Speaker 1: Save His Milk from Pat. But my dad had keptain
Speaker 1: Beefheart albums um at the house. Uh, although we didn't
Speaker 1: listen to him much, but you know, my dad had
Speaker 1: a great record collection. My mom's family played blue grass,
Speaker 1: and my mom's uncle's a harmonica player and played a
Speaker 1: telecaster a Telly custom um or yeah, tele custom into
Speaker 1: a super reaver, which is what I ended up playing
Speaker 1: when I when we started the Black Keys, because I
Speaker 1: you know, as he always had a bad bass guitar sound.
Speaker 1: But he introduced me to all kinds of people like
Speaker 1: Lightning Hopkins and um, you know just that pretty much
Speaker 1: everybody really, I mean he he hit me to all
Speaker 1: the good blue stuff, and between that the blue grass,
Speaker 1: my mom playing classical music, my dad's record collections, and
Speaker 1: then when Pat and I got into the van with
Speaker 1: each other and we would spend like ten twelve hours
Speaker 1: every single fucking day together, we were playing each other's stuff.
Speaker 1: And so, I mean Pat played me led Zeppelin for
Speaker 1: the first time I had ever. My dad never played
Speaker 1: led Zeppeline, never really heard it. I need, I knew
Speaker 1: a couple of songs from the radio, but I'd never
Speaker 1: heard any of their albums. Um, but you know, he
Speaker 1: introduced me to the Captain beefheard stuff, and um I
Speaker 1: introduced him to Junior, kimbro and Harrold burn Side and
Speaker 1: like you know, between all that, I had some really
Speaker 1: good influences. Oh Man, well we are. As a fan,
Speaker 1: I'm grateful that that you've shared them. I am. I
Speaker 1: don't want to take up too much more of your time,
Speaker 1: but I am so grateful for your time today, and
Speaker 1: most importantly, I'm so grateful for your music. Dan. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. You're the best. Hey Man, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. We hope you enjoyed this episode of
Speaker 1: Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows,
Speaker 1: check out the I Heart Radio app Apple podcast for
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite podcast