New dad Patrick Carney of The Black Keys joined Audacy's Megan Holiday on the release day of his band's new single to get into the weeds about all that's to come in music, and life, now that he's got his own little "Wild Child" and a new album on the way.
LISTEN NOW: Patrick Carney talks with Megan Holiday
"We worked on this record last summer in Nashville at Dan's studio," Patrick explains of the upcoming release, Dropout Boogie. "Every song we approach a little differently... this one was something where I just kept thinking of all the music that excited me before I understood music. Before Nirvana, when I was, like, five... what was it? I created this playlist of stuff that I was kind of referencing, and there was some criteria. Songs like 'Electric Avenue' were on this list; stuff that's really kind of just fun... There's maybe a little darkness to it," Carney adds. "Electric Avenue," he says, "is a pretty dark song, but it's fun."
"A lot of that kind of played into this," he says. "We ended up pulling a song up during the sessions that we worked on here and there, and couldn't get our grasp on how to approach it lyrically, so we had our friend Greg Cartwright who's in a band called The Oblivions come over... He kind of formulated this whole story, and we sat there and wrote the lyrics together. It was so much fun. It's like, 20 years of being in a band and this is the first time we're doing this."
"Our lives would have been a lot easier if we were doing this the whole time," Carney admits. "The cool thing about being in a two-piece band is that we basically can call other people to help us. We can have our own 'DH,' you know... 'Designated Hitmaker.'"
"During the making of the record, we kept talking a lot about high school," Carney continues. "I didn't learn much in high school, but I had a lot of fun because it was so insane. Because there were fights everyday and just complete insanity. We both felt like we didn't really learn much in school but we really learned the ropes of just being a human being."
Related
The Black Keys returned this week with “Wild Child,” from their upcoming 11th studio album Dropout Boogie -- slated for a May 13 release -- just a day before the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut record The Big Come Up. They're also set to embark on a lengthy 2022 tour in support of their new album. Find a full list of tour dates and grab tickets here.
Listen to the full interview with Patrick Carney above and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.
Listen to more of your favorite music on Audacy's '80s Underground, New Wave Mix Tape, '90s and Chill, IndustriALT, and ALT Roots exclusive stations -- plus check out our talent-hosted Kevan Kenney's Music Discovery, Megan Holiday's My So Called '90s Playlist, and Scott Lowe on the Go's Post Modern Music Box!
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