As The Black Keys make their way across the country on tour, they stopped in to Los Angeles' KROQ to talk with Megan Holiday about the unique venues they've been in lately, the journey to discovering new music, and their approach for their upcoming album, No Rain, No Flowers.
LISTEN NOW: The Black Keys with Megan Holiday
The title track on the duo's upcoming LP is just one of the songs they created with legendary songwriter, Rick Nowels, who Dan Auerbach first crossed paths with when producing an album for Lana Del Rey. "We got together with him and it was incredible, and that was the first time we ever wrote with a piano player, so that was kind of interesting new thing for us," remembers Dan.
"He likes to start with the title, so he asked us if we had any potential titles and that was one that Dan had, and then he was like, 'Well, how would you sing that?'" reveals Patrick Carney. "He's like, 'no drums, no guitars, just how would you sing that?' I'm like, 'what do you mean?'" adds Auerbach. "Just the words out in space. And that's it."
"That was the melody, and then we just started piecing it together and we worked at a pretty fast clip with him. We wrote like 6 songs in maybe 3 days with Rick."
It's all a part of the newfound collaborative spirit of The Black Keys, who have stepped out of their own creative process to invite others in, all while filtering it through their own sound. "That's what we've been doing so much of lately is collaborating," shares Patrick. "Whether it's with a songwriter, or like another musician who also is a songwriter, but to get a glimpse and to see other people's process that they use."
The filter of The Black Keys remains through it all, as the pair joke that they made their job a lot harder reinventing throughout their career. "We finally after 6 albums had a hit record with 'Brothers,' we instantly went and made a record that sounded nothing like it after that," muses Carney. "And then when that was like a hit, we made a record that sounded nothing like either one. And yeah, it's more interesting for us, but I think it, it's harder. You know, like AC/DC, kind of taking a similar path for their whole career. I think they're playing stadiums and our last tour got canceled, so."
It's their "diverse taste in music" that continues to change and evolve the sound of The Black Keys. "It's kind of all over the map," says Patrick. "So at any point we get in the studio, you're hearing a combination of what both of us seem to be into at one time, and it changes."
"If we went in the studio this year in the spring and then we went in in the fall, we would make two completely different albums. So we should have just stayed in the studio while we made 'El Camino' forever, and we'd be playing stadiums too."
Check out the full conversation with The Black Keys above.