The Black Keys might best be known for being a garage-rock duo, but over time, the twosome of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney has proven to be far more than that limiting definition. It’s a side they’ll be showing when they hit the stage at Forest Hills Stadium on Aug. 13.
Since the childhood friends founded the band in 2001, the Ohio natives have dabbled in psychedelic rock (2014’s “Turn Blue”), recorded a platter full of hill country blues songs (2021’s Delta Kream) and collaborated on a hip-hip project with Roc-a-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash featuring performances by Mos Def, Q-Tip and Ludacris (2009’s “BlakRoc”).
The band’s next album, the forthcoming “No Rain, No Flowers,” set to drop on Aug. 8, finds The Black Keys drawing inspiration from their Record Hangs—dance parties where Auerbach and Carney take turns spinning rare vinyl 45s that are the fuel for the groove-driven, danceable vibes infusing this collection of songs.
“The thing is that Dan and my tastes are such that we both have a similar work ethic and tastes,” Carney said. “With this album, it’s an intentional four-on-the-floor [approach]. We’ve never done much intentional four-on-the-floor type of stuff or an up-tempo dance kind of thing. How do we contextualize this? The reference point is listening to the Giorgio Moroder-produced Sparks album [1979’s “No. 1 in Heaven”] and watching the band evolve through the years.”
As has been the case in recent years, where The Black Keys worked with Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Beck and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, collaboration was a key component throughout “No Rain, No Flowers.”
In this case, those partnerships came via songwriters Rick Nowels (Stevie Nicks/Adele) and Scott Storch (The Roots/Snoop Dogg/The Game), with the former coming in via Auerbach crossing paths with him when both worked with Lana Del Rey on her 2014 album “Ultraviolence.” It all comes down to keeping the creative process interesting for The Black Keys.
“We wrote about half this album with Rick Nowels, who is a guy we became acquainted with through Dan’s work with Lana Del Rey,” Carney explained. “Rick had written a bunch of songs with Lana. We’d never actually gotten in the studio before with a songwriter. We’ve worked with other musicians and we were curious to see what Rick was all about.”
He added, “Scott was someone we admired through watching a lot of his posts on Instagram and YouTube. I had a hunch that he’s got to be some kind of killer musician and when we finally got him in the studio, we found out he might be the best musician we’ve ever played with. He’s operating on a whole different level musically. Being in the studio with Scott and Rick was the first time we were writing with keyboard players. One of the fun things was trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between guitar and keyboard. I think that’s something that’s all over the album and kind of ties it together.”
With 13 studio albums under their collective belts, The Black Keys are gearing up for a U.S. tour, only the band’s third since 2014. Given the depth of the band’s catalog, it’s a challenging yet welcome prospect for Carney, rather than packing up and heading overseas.
“We’re making a conscious effort to pull some deeper stuff out of the catalog that we haven’t played in a while,” he said. “I’m very conscious of what I’d want to see from a band at a concert. There are a lot of songs that we have to play pretty much every night, so we will be playing those. Plus, having 11 Gold singles—that’s over half a set right there if you’re going to play everything.”
In addition to all the recording The Black Keys have done in the nearly quarter century Auerbach and Carney have operated in concert, both music obsessives run their recording studios, Easy Eye Sound and Audio Eagle Studio, respectively. And while both musical workaholics lean into the grind, Carney is amused by how much of what and he and his creative partner do flies under the radar for most people.
“Music is our biggest passion and what we’re most interested in, so our tastes are always changing. To keep ourselves interested, you kind of have to move the needle or change the perspective. I’m sure half the people that will read this will wonder why the [hell] The Black Keys are working with Scott Storch,” Carney said with a laugh.
The Black Keys will play on Aug. 13 at Forest Hills Stadium, 1 Tennis Place, Forest Hill. Visit www.foresthillsstadium.com for more information.
