The Black Keys

It’s too facile to call the Black Keys counterparts of the White Stripes: they share several surface similarities -- their names are color-coded, they hail from the Midwest, they’re guitar-and-drum blues-rock duos -- but the Black Keys are their own distinct thing, a tougher, rougher rock band with a purist streak that never surfaces in the Stripes. But that’s not to say that the Black Keys are blues traditionalists: even on their 2002 debut, The Big Come Up, they covered the Beatles’ psychedelic classic “She Said She Said,” indicating a fascination with sound and texture that would later take hold on such latter-day albums as 2008’s Attack & Release, where guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney teamed up with sonic architect Danger Mouse. In between those two records, the duo established the Black Keys as a rock & roll band with a brutal, primal force, and songwriters of considerable depth, as evidenced on such fine albums as 2003’s Thickfreakness and 2004’s Rubber Factory.

Natives of Akron, Ohio, the Black Keys released their debut, The Big Come Up, in 2002, receiving strong reviews and sales, and leading to a contract with Fat Possum by the end of the year. That label released Thickfreakness, recorded in a 14-hour session, in the spring of 2003, and the Keys supported the album with an opening tour for Sleater-Kinney. The Black Keys' momentum escalated considerably with their 2004 album Rubber Factory, which not only received strong reviews but some high-profile play, including a video for “10 A.M. Automatic” featuring comedian David Cross. The band’s highly touted live act was documented on a 2005 DVD, released the same year as Chulahoma -- an EP of blues covers -- appeared. The Black Keys made the leap to the major labels with 2006’s Magic Potion, a moodier record that continued to build the group’s base. The band capitalized on that moodiness on 2008’s Attack & Release, whose production by Danger Mouse signaled that the Black Keys were hardly just blues-rock purists. Salvaged from sessions intended as a duet album with Ike Turner, who died before the record could be finished, the album was the Black Keys' biggest to date, debuting in the Billboard Top 15 and earning strong reviews.

Following their second live DVD, the Black Keys spent 2009 on side projects, with Auerbach releasing his solo album Keep It Hid in the beginning of the year, and Carney forming the band Drummer, in which he played bass. At the end of 2009, Blackroc, a rap-rock collaboration between the band and producer Damon Dash, appeared. Brothers, released the following year, saw the Keys returning to their tough blues roots with a new grandness, earning three Grammy Awards, landing on year-end lists from NPR to Rolling Stone, and going gold. The band offered a more straight-ahead rock & roll sound with 2011's El Camino.

from Wikipedia:

The Black Keys is an American rock band formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The group began as an independent act founded after the duo dropped out of college, and they eventually emerged among a second wave of popular garage rock revival artists from the 2000s. Through October 2011, The Black Keys had sold over 2 million albums in the United States.

Their debut album, The Big Come Up (2002), was recorded in Carney's basement and forged their raw blues rock sound. Over the next decade, The Black Keys built an underground fanbase through near-constant touring of small venues, frequent album releases, and extensive licensing of their songs. In 2006, the band signed with Nonesuch Records and began to receive bookings for large music festivals. The duo released Attack & Release in 2008, their first album produced by Danger Mouse, a frequent collaborator of the band. Their commercial breakthrough came in 2010 with Brothers, which along with its popular single "Tighten Up", won three Grammy Awards. Their 2011 follow-up El Camino has received the strongest reviews of the band's career and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 chart.

Career

Early history and The Big Come Up (2001–2002)

Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney first met when they were 8 or 9 years old while living in the same neighborhood of Akron, Ohio. While attending Firestone High School, they became friends, though they were part of different crowds—Auerbach was captain of the high school soccer team, while Carney was a social outcast. Encouraged by their younger brothers, the duo jammed together, as Auerbach was learning guitar at the time and Carney owned a four-track recorder and a drum set. After graduating, both briefly attended college before dropping out and returning to Akron. Auerbach attempted to make a living from performing at small bars in town, but realized he would not be able to book shows in other cities without a demo. To record one, he solicited the help of Carney, who agreed to provide the recording equipment and allow his basement to be used, while Auerbach would recruit the other musicians. However, none of Auerbach's back-up band showed up on the recording date, as they would "rather get stoned and play video games than come to rehearsal". Instead, Carney and Auerbach jammed, eventually leading to the duo forming a band and recording six-song demo consisting of "old blues rip-offs and words made up on the spot". After soliciting the demo to a dozen record labels, they received and accepted an offer from Alive, a small indie label in Los Angeles.

According to an interview on NPR's Fresh Air the group's name "The Black Keys" came from a schizophrenic artist named Alfred McMoore that the pair knew; he would leave incoherent messages on their answering machines referring to their fathers as "black keys" such as "D flat" when he was upset with them. The band's debut album, the lo-fi The Big Come Up, was recorded entirely in Carney's basement on an 8-track tape recorder and was released in 2002. The album was very successful for a new independent rock band. It spawned two singles released as an EP, "Leavin' Trunk" and "She Said, She Said". Both are cover songs, the originals being a traditional blues standard and a Beatles song, respectively. "I'll Be Your Man" would later be used as the theme for the HBO series Hung. The duo played their first live show at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom and Tavern to an audience of about 25 people.

Thickfreakness era (2003)

The band released Thickfreakness in April 2003, which was recorded on a Tascam 388 in Carney's basement in 14 hours. The album was favoured by critics and spawned three singles: "Set You Free", "Hard Row", and a cover of Richard Berry's "Have Love, Will Travel". The other cover from the album was Junior Kimbrough's "Everywhere I Go". The band released a split-EP with The Six Parts Seven on September 16, 2003, titled The Six Parts Seven/The Black Keys EP and featured one song by The Six Parts Seven and three songs by The Black Keys. That year, the duo received a lucrative offer of $100,000 to license one of their songs for use in an English mayonnaise advertisement. At the suggestion of their manager, they rejected the offer to avoid the risk of alienating their fan base.

Rubber Factory and first live album (2004–2005)

During Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory, the band gained recognition and popularity, boosting their career. Their EP The Moan was released on January 19, 2004, featuring "Have Love Will Travel", an alternate version of "Heavy Soul," and two covers. From January to May 2004, the band recorded their third album, Rubber Factory, in an abandoned Akron tire rubber factory. The album, released in September, featured singles "10 A.M. Automatic" and "'Till I Get My Way/Girl Is On My Mind". "When the Lights Go Out" was used in trailers for the film Black Snake Moan and was featured in the erotic opening sequence with co-stars Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake. Additionally, "10 A.M. Automatic" was used in Live Free or Die, The Go Getter, the soundtrack to MLB 06: The Show and an American Express commercial. The Go Getter also featured "Keep Me" as did Sons of Anarchy's Season 1 Episode AK-51 & Old Bones. "Grown So Ugly" was featured on Cloverfield and "Girl Is On My Mind" on Sony Ericsson, Victoria's Secret, and in November 2010, Zales commercials. Around this time, they also opened for bands such as Pearl Jam, Beck, Radiohead and Sleater-Kinney. The Kinks cover, "Act Nice and Gentle" appears in the eleventh episode of season four of Rescue Me. In 2005, the band also released their first live video album, Live, recorded at The Metro Theatre in Sydney, Australia on March 18, 2005.

Magic Potion and other releases (2006–2007)

The Black Keys released Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough, an EP with covers of songs by Junior Kimbrough, a north Mississippi bluesman, whom the band had covered on The Big Come Up and Thickfreakness. The EP was released on May 2, 2006. Four days later, The Black Keys released their second live album, Live in Austin, TX – also known as Thickfreakness in Austin – which was recorded October 24, 2003. Soon after, their fourth album was released; Magic Potion was their first release on Nonesuch Records. The album featured four singles; "You're the One", "Your Touch", "Strange Desire", and "Just Got To Be". The latter was featured on the soundtrack to the video game, NHL 08. "Your Touch" was featured on the 2009 film Zombieland as well as the HBO series Eastbound & Down. The Black Keys recorded a cover of "The Wicked Messenger" for the soundtrack of I'm Not There and have recorded "If You Ever Slip", a song written by Jesse Harris for The Hottest State soundtrack.

Attack & Release and the Blakroc project (2008–2009)

Attack & Release, the band's fifth album, was produced by Danger Mouse and released on April 1, 2008, having leaked onto the internet by March 4. Attack & Release debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200. The singles from the album were "Strange Times", "I Got Mine", and "Same Old Thing". "Strange Times" was featured in the video games Grand Theft Auto IV and NASCAR 09. "I Got Mine" was named the 23rd-best song by Rolling Stone in its list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008. "I Got Mine" is used as the theme song for Canadian police drama TV series The Bridge. According to an interview in Pitchfork Media, the band was collaborating on an album with Ike Turner, to be produced by Danger Mouse and released in 2007, but the idea was rendered impossible with Turner's death in December 2007. "Some of the stuff we ended up recording sounds like Screamin' Jay Hawkins," said Carney.

Live at the Crystal Ballroom is a live video album released on November 18, 2008. It was filmed April 4, 2008 in Portland, Oregon at the Crystal Ballroom.

On October 17, 2008, The Black Keys was an opening act for fellow Akron-area band Devo at a special benefit concert at The Akron Civic Theater for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, also an Akron native and Firestone High School graduate, followed their set. In November, they toured through Europe together with Liam Finn. On June 6, 2009, The Black Keys performed along with The Roots, TV on the Radio, Public Enemy, Antibalas, and other acts at the 2nd Annual Roots Picnic on the Festival Pier in Philadelphia. They also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.

On February 10, 2009, vocalist and guitarist Dan Auerbach released his debut solo album, Keep It Hid. During this time, drummer Patrick Carney formed an indie band called Drummer, who are currently signed to Carney's Audio Eagle Records label. Drummer released their debut album Feel Good Together on September 29, 2009.

Blakroc, a collaborative album featuring The Black Keys and several hip hop artists, was released in 2009 on Black Friday. The project was supported and brought together by Damon Dash, who is a big fan of the band. The album features rappers Mos Def, Ludacris, RZA, Raekwon, Pharoahe Monch, Q-Tip, NOE, Jim Jones, Nicole Wray, M.O.P., and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. The album was recorded in Brooklyn, New York. Auerbach said on the official Blakroc site, "Pat and I have been preparing for this record since we were 16."

Brothers (2010–2011)

The Black Keys performing at SXSW in 2010

The group's sixth studio album, Brothers, was released on May 18, 2010. The album was produced by The Black Keys and Mark Neill, and was mixed by Tchad Blake. The song "Tighten Up", the only track from the album produced by Danger Mouse, preceded the album as the lead single, with "Howlin' for You" as a follow-up single. Brothers sold over 73,000 copies in the US in its first week and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, their best performance on the chart to that point. Furthermore, "Tighten Up" became their most successful single to that point, spending 10 weeks at number one on the Alternative Songs chart and becoming the group's first single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 87. The music video for "Tighten Up", directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, won the 2010 MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video. The Black Keys also helped judge the 9th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. On October 19, The Black Keys released iTunes Sessions which is part of a series of live albums by iTunes and released exclusively on iTunes.

The band continued to gain exposure through continued song licensing, so much so that they were Warner Bros. Records' most-licensed band of the year. Rolling Stone placed Brothers at number two on its list of the best albums of 2010 and "Everlasting Light" at number 11 on the list of the year's best songs. Spin named The Black Keys the "Artist of the Year" for 2010. On January 8, 2011, the band appeared as the musical guest on American television sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. At the 53rd Grammy Awards, Brothers and its songs won awards in three of the five categories they were nominated in; the band received honors for Best Alternative Music Album (for Brothers) and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (for "Tighten Up"), while Michael Carney, the band's creative director and Patrick's brother, won Best Recording Package for designing the artwork for Brothers.

The band's sudden success proved overwhelming, as they found themselves booking additional promotional commitments and facing demand for additional touring dates. In January 2011, the group canceled concerts in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, citing exhaustion, thus clearing out most of their touring schedule into April. Patrick Carney said, "We've been touring long enough to know when we're about to hit our breaking point." The desire to record another album soon after Brothers also led to the decision. Carney said, "We could have waited another year or so, and milked the Brothers album and kept touring, but we like bands, and our favourite bands growing up and even today, are bands that put out a lot of music and every album is different from the last."

On February 10, 2011, the band released a video for "Howlin' for You" that parodied action movie trailers. It starred Tricia Helfer, Diora Baird, Sean Patrick Flanery, Christian Serratos, Corbin Bernsen, Todd Bridges, and Shaun White, as well as the band itself in the role of "Las Teclas de Negro". This video was also directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, and was subsequently nominated for the 2011 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video. The Black Keys were nominated for three Billboard Music Awards: Top Alternative Artist, and Top Rock Album and Top Alternative Album for Brothers. The group continued to make appearances at American music festivals during the middle of the year, playing at Bonnaroo and Kanrocksas.

El Camino (2011–present)

The recording sessions for the group's seventh studio album, El Camino, began on March 3, 2011. Splitting time between touring and recording, the band spent 41 days at Easy Eye Sound Studio, which was opened in 2010 by Auerbach in the duo's new hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. For the album, Danger Mouse reprised his role as producer and also contributed as a co-writer on all of its songs. Based on the difficulty the band had performing some of the slower songs from Brothers live, they conceived more uptempo tracks for El Camino. The record draws strong influence from early American music and popular genres from the 1950s–1970s, such as rock and roll, soul, rockabilly, and glam rock. Several retro acts such as The Clash, The Cramps, and T. Rex were cited as musical influences.

El Camino was preceded by lead single "Lonely Boy", which was released in October accompanied by a popular one-shot music video of a man dancing and lip-synching. The band returned to Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on December 3, 2011, marking the first occasion that a non-hosting musical act performed on the show twice in the same calendar year. The album was released three days later and received wide critical acclaim. In the US, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold 206,000 copies in its first week, the highest charting position and single-week sales the group has achieved in the country. Many publications, such as Rolling Stone and Time ranked El Camino among the best albums of the year, despite its late release. After a North American tour was announced, their show at Madison Square Garden sold out in 15 minutes.