WEBVTT - The Black Keys: Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:13.640 Pushkin. The Black Keys are the last rock and roll 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.239 band to really matter. I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:17.919 if you can think of another rock band that broke 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.520 out this decade with songs you couldn't escape and big 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.280 arena shows, let me know. When they first came out 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.279 in early two thousands, their gritty blue sound was wild. 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:28.080 You could have told me some of those songs were 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.360 lost relics from the fifties, and I would have believed it. 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:32.680 Their sound really did develop a lot by the time 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:34.840 they hit big with songs like Tighten Up and Holland 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.479 for You. Now, after a five year break, they have 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.360 new music. They stopped by schanro Low to catch up 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:42.199 with Rick Rubin the day after launching their tour in 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.519 LA to talk about the new record, things in the 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.279 music industry that pissed them off, and to play some 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:55.440 unreleased songs. This is Broken Record Season three liner notes 0:00:55.560 --> 0:01:02.560 for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. Just a quick 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.800 note here. You can listen to all of the music 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.560 mentioned in this episode on our playlist, which you can 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.520 find a link to in the show notes. For licensing reasons, 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.280 each time a song it's referenced in this episode, you'll 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:20.959 hear this sound effect all right. Enjoyed the episode. Here's 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:26.600 Rick's conversation with the black Keys listening anything good? You know, 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.240 I was in France for the whole month in July. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.440 How was it too long? But I found this radio 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:38.080 station over there. It was like the most eclectic mix 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:39.759 of music. I've heard it in a long time. What 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.800 was this station called again, It's called Radio Nova. I 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.240 listened to Radio Nova. Yeah, so there's there's like playlists, 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.680 you can find stuff, but it's nationwide. It's structural, but 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:49.920 it's nation It's like across the whole all France. And 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.160 I mean you could listen to it live on tune 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:54.960 in video. You can listen to it live on tune in. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.680 But I never heard of it. I've never been in France. Bunch, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.240 you've been France, A bunch of sures. I hear the same, Like, 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.280 this is better music curation than I've heard anywhere on 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.280 any streaming platform, on any radio station. I'm in France 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.399 and I'm hearing all this American music for the first time, 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.240 and it just boggled my mind. And I you know, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.440 Dan and I both have these shows on serious radio, 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.400 and I mean I don't know why, because honestly, we 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:25.280 don't get paid, and we were curating an hour of 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.360 music a month or whatever, and I turn it on 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.840 and I'm just perpetually let down by like what's played 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:35.360 on the spectrum. Most of the spectrum is or XMU. 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.800 It's supposed to be like kind of cutting edge channels 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:39.799 where they're playing new music, and I heard I keep 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.360 hearing you two on the spectrum. It's like, man, fuck that. 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.600 And I don't get anything I want from it, and 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.000 I don't even know where to look. I haven't found 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.480 one thing at Pitchfork that that made me interested in 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.000 probably five years. But I still check it like every 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.520 couple of days. The platform doesn't exist, or if it 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.920 does exist, it hasn't got to me, you know. So 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.120 that's that's a major problem. I think that. Then I 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:07.079 talked about this all the time. How do what could 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.240 we do? What could our friends all do? That would 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:14.120 be it would help prop up stuff we're interested in 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.040 because I look at stuff that sounds like there's a void, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.960 the huge, massive void. Maybe that's an opportunity for you 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:22.919 guys to do something. It is massive? Why people like 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.240 people don't you know, It's like we sit around here 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:30.919 listen music obsessed, but we let these dipshits like dictate 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:32.800 what the fuck is being talked about, you know what 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:34.440 I mean, Like, there's no one that knows more about 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.880 music than than probably you, you know, and Dan, I mean, 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.960 and what we're not, you know, we're giving our playlist 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.440 to the Spectrum or XMU and at the end of 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.360 the day, like they're still just playing Radiohead songs fifteen 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.640 times a day, or you two songs or whatever. It's 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:53.880 not I had a record that was really proud of 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.840 that I produced and co wrote that is you know, 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.960 wasn't the Keys album Always Seeing I basically, you know, 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:06.400 asked Spectrum like consider adding this thing to their playlist, 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.880 and then the fucking they, after fifty five years of 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.960 volunteer service to their ass, they're like, well, the Instagram 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.599 the metrics don't really add up, but I think, you know, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.440 there's a little bit of numbers. The numbers aren't there yet, Like, 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.320 fuck you, motherfucker, Like, who the fuck are you to 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.040 tell me what the fuck numbers are you? You were 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.160 fucking communications neighbor major from Purdue, you know what I mean, Like, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.440 what are you doing there dictating this shit, man, I 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:35.039 wouldn't like buy a fucking shirt from you, you know 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.279 what I mean? Seriously, And this guy's dictating what we 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.000 all listened to across the whole country. This guy, Chris Muckley, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:44.480 He's like dictates the whole fucking channel. It's like, who 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.080 the fuck is this guy? Where did he come from? 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:48.760 And why the fuck is hey listening to my ass. 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:51.680 I've been in the back of a van for twenty years. 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.039 Listen to me, motherfucker, I care about this ship, you 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.080 know what I mean. That's like I know what Kanye 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:57.680 was meant when he said that ship, because like I 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.719 give a fuck. Yeah, I had enough Windy to fucking care. 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:04.880 You know what I mean. I put my fucking intestines 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.919 through the fucking ringer for rock and roll and roll 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.640 listen to what I care about. I've always gotten the 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:17.560 best suggestions or music to listen to from musicians, never 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.400 from anyone else. It's always from artists. It's not from 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.359 Instagram stats, it's not from anywhere, but art artists always. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.000 Just like I just said, what are you listening to? 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:32.239 Chances are you're listening to something better than anyone who's 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.040 telling me what to listen to Sure, I agree. Every 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.880 time I've heard anything that's like change my perception, something 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.839 has come from an artist, Dan, what are you angry about? 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.479 Where do we start? I'm not angry, It's just it's frustrating, 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.359 you know. Sure, Yeah, it's fucking frustrating. No, I feel you. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.160 It's hard to find music now, dude, I agree. How 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.640 long has it been since you've toured? H five years 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.320 since we tour of the US? Wow? And last night 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:08.000 was the first show and good vibe. Yeah, it was 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.680 a little We had some issues with some ticket issues, 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:14.080 but other than that, we had some scalpers screwing our 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:19.000 fans last night. Let's tell about royally fucked last night. Yeah. 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.479 We intentionally did a show that was twenty five dollars 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:24.440 ticket just for fans, and scalpers had tickets for eight 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.400 hundred dollars. Wow. And they were fake. People were coming 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.880 to the to the box office with fake tickets that 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.280 they paid eight hundred dollars more. Wow. We kept the 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.159 tickets cheap as possible, made the news like there are 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:35.960 hundreds of people out in front of the wheel turn 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.680 really upset. It was such a bummer because it our 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.320 intention was to do one for the fans, do you 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.360 know what I mean? It just sucks when it's a 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.920 it's a weird fucking time out there. Because we kept 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.520 the tickets cheap. Could you do another show for all 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.640 the people with the fake tickets? Fuck that, I mean, honestly, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.640 fuck it. I mean, like this is the problem. I mean, 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:01.880 we kept the tickets at twenty five dollars. It was 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.680 clearly stated on the tickets that they're non transferable, and 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:07.760 some people trying to sold them for eight hundred dollars, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.160 six hundred dollars. That's the whole that's the reason why 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.360 our tickets and this concert, this tour right now, like 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.240 the cheapest tickets like fifty bucks, and they go all 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.000 the way up to five hundred. And the reason is 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.280 because on the last tour we kept the tickets much cheaper, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.960 but they kept getting fucking scalped, and so we would 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.840 go play a show, an equal amount of money that 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.040 we made was made by scalpers. Scalpers are making as 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.360 much money as us by fucking the fans. You know, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.600 there's a lot of issues with the music industry. And 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.880 the thing is is the person that actually has to 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.400 actually gets fucked the most is the fan and the artist, 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.480 you know, which is ironic because it's that's the most 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:50.840 direct natural relationship into music business. It was. It was 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:55.040 amazing though last night. The energy was high. And what's 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.200 the show like? Now? Once upon a time it was 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.440 a two piece group. Yeah, what's the show like? Now 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.360 it's the two of us plus three other people. We 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.160 have two guitars in a bass and for the whole show, 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:13.280 the whole show. Yeah, and we play songs from every record, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:15.200 you know. I mean even when we were doing two 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.080 piece records, we were always overdubbing. I would I would 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:22.080 always over to bass and second guitars and stuff, double 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.480 up guitar parts. It's cool as ship now to be 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.840 able to hear those old songs with like three guitars 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.800 doing one riff, it's awesome. It almost sounds more like 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.679 the old records than we ever did, which is kind 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.280 of fun. From the first album to now, what was 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.960 the progression of the band from from your perspective, Well, 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.200 you've got to understand that this is not like a 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.480 normal band. This is like not a normal band, you know, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.600 because like we started playing when we were sixteen seventeen, 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.079 before we were a band, you know, and we were, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.720 we learned how to play together. So so you've been 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:03.040 playing together forever whatever this was. This is the first 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.960 band I've ever been in. It's incredible. I found the 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.080 other day about six months ago. Probably the first jam 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.800 we ever recorded. Wow, it's on my phone. I can 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:13.800 play it for you. Let's yeah. And we always recorded 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.160 ourselves because that's what was so much fun was the 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.439 recording part. That's what we were into. Pat. The first 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:21.200 time I ever saw a four track was a Pat's house. 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.240 So the beginnings of the Black Keys were recording. And 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.440 we got a record deal before we ever played a show, 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.760 just because we were making recordings and we sent it 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:33.520 to some labels and they gave us a deal. Yeah. 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:36.200 Like the foundation of the band is really that we 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.520 grew up. We grew up really four or five houses 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.200 from each other. Dan's a year older than me, and 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:45.600 our brothers were like best friends, older brother younger brothers. 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:48.600 But at one point our brothers like, you guys should 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.480 get together and jam, You guy should get together and jam. 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.240 And one day Dan brought us guitar down to my 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:58.480 house and I had this drum set because I bought 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.120 like all the instruments. So you need to have a band, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.080 hoping that people come from my house so I could 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.560 be in a band playing guitar. But Dan came down 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.760 and just like started playing, like oh shit, Like I 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.680 guess I'm playing drums because he's so good at guitar. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.880 So what year was this? That would like ninety six 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.160 ninety seven, and we recorded I think this is one 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:24.440 of those I'm gonna play this song. It's six minutes long. 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.959 Play a snippet. I'm just gonna go six minutes. Yeah, 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:30.760 I'm just gonna go. I'm gonna start it. I'm gonna 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:35.360 start it a minute in. You sound exactly the same. 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.600 When I heard it, I was like, holy shit, it's unbelievable. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:44.560 Nothing changed. It's exactly the same. Isn't that insane? That's 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:47.640 from day one? Does it without communicating about what we 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:54.160 were gonna do. What happened? It's like, that's literally sounded 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.439 like you could have said that was us last night, 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:58.880 and I would have believed it would be like, what 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:04.560 is that audience? They're great, Yeah, they killed it last night. 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:07.360 I wonder what your dad was thinking when you're like, 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.800 I mean, my dad's very encouraged fucking getting out there. 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.760 What the fuck were we doing? Dude, that's six minutes 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.520 of us banging on prop tanks and the definitely listen 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:22.800 to all six minutes tranced out, What the hell I 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.320 rick just because I just want you to hear this 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.559 one thing that we've never played this for anybody. I 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.000 won't play you a second of it. Okay, this is 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:41.640 if anything, you're getting worse. They were getting worse. There's 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.600 some really weird ship on this thing. But this is 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:46.160 our demo, right, this is the so the day that 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.960 Dan I think you only ever get worse. This is 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.960 the day that Dan was gonna I was gonna record 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:55.680 his band and they never showed up, and we made 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.000 this recording. This is the the first song on our 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:00.680 demo that we sent out. The got us a record 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:05.720 too incredible. You know what's incredible about that is this 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:10.320 is no bullshit. We did six songs that day in 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.480 an hour and a half. Yeah, and I had we 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.160 had never played them together. I had never played drums 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.599 in a previous year and a half. And we instantly 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.320 had arrangements, instantly figured out all this shit We're gonna 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.720 do drum beats. I mean, it's fucking crazy. And one 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.200 I took these recordings we made, and I sat and like, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:33.400 make these mixes. And I remember taking the CDR over 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.520 to Dan's house like a week or two weeks later, 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.319 and He's called me. I left a message on my 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.599 machine or something like later that day. Basically it was like, 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.240 we just got to start a fucking band, Like this 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:47.679 is fucking crazy. And I was like, yeah, we fucking do. 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.800 And I called my brother as they make a cover, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.080 a record cover so we could mail this thing out, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.160 and yeah, we were ready to make a record. We 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.280 named the band right then. It was incredible and we 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.520 made incredible. Dan think, what should we call the band? 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.480 I was like, there's a mutual friend that we had 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:08.200 a mutual acquaintance, this outsider artist guy who used to 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:09.920 call people black keys, Like, we gotta call it the 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.120 black Keys. He's like, it's the black It was instant 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.959 to boom, boom boom. Within like two weeks of doing that, 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.240 we had made a demo where we made a cover 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.480 we dand mailed him out to like eighteen labels, and 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.400 within two weeks of that we had a record deal, 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.360 the small little label in Burbank. And since that, right then, 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.360 I told my dad drop out of school make this record, 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.800 and my dad actually came into I was working in 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.240 a restaurant. My dad came in to the restaurant with 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.280 my grandfather, and my grandfather had a PhD. You mean, 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:42.000 very educated. And I told him, as I wou'na drop 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.520 out of school, My dad's you gotta oh, you shouldn't. 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.280 My grandfathers like, yeah, you should do that. Give it 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.319 a year or two. I was like, there you go, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.680 there we are. But yeah. So then that's the history 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.680 of the band is. We made this record, the big 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.959 come up in my basement. We would get together every 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.640 day from like ten to three, and then I had 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:05.360 to go to work and Dan had to go play bars. 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.000 And we made this record. And then we put the 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:09.800 record out and we learned we had to go on 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:11.680 tour for people to hear it. And we just got 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.400 in a van with my brother Mike tagged along and 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:18.480 we we went around the country. We went out every weekend. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.920 We got all offered a Sleader Kidney tour, we offered 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.560 a Beck tour, we got signed a Fat Possum. We 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.360 so then around that around that first record, before we 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:31.480 signed a Fat Possum, we kind of had we had 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.520 seymour Stein coming out to our shows, and we had 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:35.440 people kind of like really interested in this at the 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.080 time of like when the White Stripes first were hit, 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:42.200 you know, and Hives and Strokes, and we were kind 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.960 of in that wave, you know, and everybody was looking 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:47.760 for them, everyone was looking for it, and so we 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.720 had we were like sitting there talking talking to Seemore stuck. 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.600 Had you guys heard all that music or were you 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:55.920 sort of just doing your own thing? Man? We had 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.520 heard like do Rag all the Fat Possi some stuff. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.760 The Strokes record came out right after we made this. 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.640 It came out like September after we made the demo. 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.920 But no, man, we I didn't hear like the Hives 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:15.720 or the White Stripes until fell in Love with the 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.680 Girl or whatever that Hive single had in two thousand 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:21.680 summer two thousand and two. That stuff was really going 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.440 on MTV and I heard. That's what I was like, man, 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.080 like this, there's a there's a wave shit happening. There's 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:31.480 that band that kind of disappeared the Vines. Yeah, but 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.080 around that time, so we were getting we were we 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:35.240 were getting calls from seymour Stein on you know, on 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.200 our waiting around the answering machine. Like this is like 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.320 I remember reading the story of Divo. I think we're 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.400 like living the same reality that Devo did twenty years 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.360 ago in like the same city. And here here we 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.160 are getting calls from seymour Stein who wanted to sign us, 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.600 and he's like, we're I'm gonna send a contract your way. 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:56.000 What's the best address we're in. He's like it's gonna 0:15:56.040 --> 0:16:00.160 be there by November one. November first came and it didn't, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:02.240 you know nothing, And by November I think it was 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.440 like November twentieth, no contract. And I called him. He's like, 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.080 I can't get anything moving, Like they're not sending it. 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.760 What the fuck? And as Dan I got together, it's like, 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:12.440 if we signed to this label, they can't even get 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.080 us a contract. We're never going to make another record. 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.280 We might get a couple hundred grand that we can 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.160 spend on our one hundred grand or something. But it 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.440 was the right move. Nothing happened with Seymark. We made 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.920 the hardest decision, but it was like a no brainer 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:27.840 for us, which is like instead of waiting around for 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.640 this big check, this signed to Fat Possum for twelve 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.720 thousand dollars and make a record, And so we went 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.640 into my basement and we recorded a record in one day. Yeah, 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:40.920 but I mean, honestly, Fat Possum those were our biggest 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:42.800 Those were heros. We were trying to get on Fat 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.760 Possum on the demo. Yeah, we hadn't heard of any 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.560 of the Detroit bands. We didn't know of any of 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.000 the I've never heard the Goriries, but we were listening 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:55.040 to Team Model, Ford Hard, Robert Bell for r L Junior, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.280 kimbro I have to ask Latkins, you know we were 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:01.760 going we were going to see those shows. It was 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:03.680 it wasn't just old records and it was like real. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:08.120 It was Also John Spencer Explosion was a major thing. Absolutely. 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.520 I got a cassette tape of Orange by the John 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:14.560 Spencer Blues Explosion, and that really helped me understand the 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.480 Black Keys better when we were starting. In fact, when 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.199 I listened to that, I still think Russell Simmons one 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.600 of my favorite drummers. Russell Simmons is probably one of 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:27.320 the maybe the best living drummer. Hell yeah, yeah, I 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.520 mean him and Jeremiah Green from Myst Mouse are the 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.320 two best drummers rock and roll drumms a statement we'll 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:39.840 be back with more from the Black Keys. We're back 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.959 with the Black Keys. So you did the first album, 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.560 did the first album, and then once we decided to 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.520 sign the Fat Possi and we made a second record 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.919 in a day. Instantly, I was, this is pre internet, 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.280 so I was. Dan came over. We recorded this thing. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.720 The next day, I would make a mix. I would 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.080 burn a CD. I would ve it over to Dan's house. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:04.199 I would drive home and he would come, turn the 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.440 guitar down and I could do it. I go back 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.800 and turn the guitar back up. I have all stack 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.200 of these things all on the day. I like as 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.679 boo boom and I FedEx it that night. It's like 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.560 boom fed and oh my brother Mike and I went 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:21.480 to kmart and bought some Royal Crown hair palm made 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.439 took a picture of my hand dipping in it. It 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.800 was like all done in a day. It's like boom 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.600 rucking records done. And that's how we I was our Emma. 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.639 We just fucking moved like that, you know. And we 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.960 made our third record in a rubber factory in Akron, 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.040 just when we learned how to make records, together. We 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:42.880 were learning how it all worked. The first In fact, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.480 the first three records, I don't think we never even 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.080 had a compressor. We just didn't even know that that 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.840 was a thing. And did the first three records have 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.760 many overdubs? Are not? Really? They had a few overdubs? Yeah, yeah, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.320 like the first even the first record had some head 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.560 overdubs bass and tambourine. Did you record vocals live or 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.280 was that done after? Mostly they'd be live, right, vocals 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.160 were mostly live. How did you do it with vocals 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.520 and drums live or were you in a separate room. 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:13.919 We were in the same room, same room. They just 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:19.800 bled that that was part of the sound, I think, yeah, yeah, 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.679 the vocal mic was part of a big part of 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:23.919 the drums out. Yeah, it was like a little bit 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.480 we know. Actually when we first started, there was a 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.920 third guy. When we very first started, like that that demo, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:32.160 you can hear there's an organ just holding like one 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.240 ecord or whatever. Our friend Gabe, who we grew up with, 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.320 was hanging around a lot with I was hanging out 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.760 with him a lot, and he was in the band. 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.679 He was on the cover of the demo even And 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:49.959 then it came time to make the big come up. 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.720 We're making that record, and he just kept missing practices 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:54.080 and he didn't have a car, so we had to 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.000 go pick him up and find him. And one day 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.600 he missed. He missed like the third day in a row. 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:03.359 He's actually on the first record on a couple of 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:05.399 songs he best slay the third or fourth day in 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:06.679 a row. And I called him when they dude, what 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:09.440 the fuck you're gonna blow it? This is like a thing, 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.960 this is a good opportunity. He's like, I don't want 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:14.639 I don't give a fuck about it. And I was like, 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.800 you're done, You're out fun, and I kicked him out. 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:21.159 It was kind of up to me because he was 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.159 like closer to me, but he was our friend. But 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.439 I think that that if we hadn't have done that, 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.520 we wouldn't be sitting here today. Yeah, absolutely would not 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:35.240 have worked. Dan would have packed up and walked away 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:40.960 after that first tour. And yeah, but you know, I'm 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:43.960 still in touch with Gabe and yeah, he hit a 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.240 man called Gap Dream that was on Burger. During the 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.960 time that you were you were working and you were 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:51.600 playing in bars at night. What were you playing in 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:56.399 a cover band or I was basically doing. I was 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:04.399 playing three hour sets in coffee houses and bars, restaurants, solo, solo, 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:06.920 as a duo, whatever they needed. I would just sort 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:10.760 of musician, yeah, basically. Yeah, And that's what I was 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.480 recording some band demos so that I could get band 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:17.320 gigs at places like bars and can't stuff like that. 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.160 So that's why I contacted Pat in the first place. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:25.680