JULY 2019 • UNCUT • 67
say about riding a bike? It really was...”
“Hey, Clarence!” interrupts a large,
older man wearing a baseball cap, plaid
shirt and baggy jeans. “How ya doing?”
“Hey Al,” answers Auerbach.
“Doing great.”
“Do you know who that is?” asks
Auerbach. Carney looks across the table
and mouths, “Who is it?”
“That’s Al Anderson,” says Auerbach.
“You remember? He was in NRBQ.”
Auerbach delivers this factoid as if it
should be common knowledge – despite
the fact that NRBQ’s prime took place
long before Auerbach was born. But since
moving to the city in 2010, Auerbach has
become a lightning rod for musicians
of a certain age. Like his father, Chuck
Auerbach, an antiques dealer specialising in Americana artefacts,
his son curates musicians of a certain vintage – including John Prine,
Duane Eddy and Johnny Cash’s former bassist Dave Roe, as well as
sessions drummers Gene Chrisman and pianist Bobby Wood.
As Auerbach tells it, working with these players has occupied his
time exclusively for the past few years – to the exclusion of his band.
“To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about The Black Keys at all,” he
admits. “It was completely out of my mind. Playing arenas felt like
some sort of distant dream...” He trails off, looking over at Carney for
a second. Carney nods for Auerbach to go on. He knows this story.
He’s lived it. “I was ready before Dan was,” he says simply.
“I wasn’t ready to make a Black Keys record for a long time,”
continues Auerbach. “I was completely locked in to rolling down
Music Row at 8.45 every morning and getting into the studio. The
whole week is just filled with different things and it’s all music-
related. It felt like there was a lot of work that I needed to do.”
“We both needed to take a break,” Carney says, drawing circles
with his fork on the plate. You sense that Carney has a slightly
different perspective on the band’s lengthy absence. “I had PTSD
after coming off that last tour. I injured my shoulder, and if that
wasn’t some kind of sign, I don’t know what was.
“That long a break was very frustrating for me, but at the same time
it was the right thing to do. It was right to walk away from living in
each other’s pockets and just get on with our own lives. In the
“we both
needed
to take a
long break”
patrick carney
The Big
Come Up
ALive ReCoRds, 2002
the keys take their
sneering Midwestern
primitivism and
updated blues
standards out of
the basement into
the modern world,
with eight original
tracks and five covers
that crackle with dark
energy. standout:
“i’ll Be your Man”.ThiCkfReAkNess
fAT possUm
ReCoRds, 2003
recorded in a single
14-hour session in
carney’s basement,
their second album
includes terrific covers
of blues hero junior
kimbrough and the
kingsmen’s richard
Berry. “Midnight in
Her eyes” could have
been on side two
of Funhouse.RUBBeR
fACToRY
fAT possUm
ReCoRds, 2004
More streamlined
and direct than
its predecessors,
Rubber Factory
demonstrates a
more foursquare
rock sound that
unexpectedly
soars towards a
Hendrix-ian ideal
and lyrics that feel like
they’ve tumbled out of
a fevered sleep. “10 aM
automatic” is a thrill.mAgiC poTioN
NoNesUCh
ReCoRds, 2006
the duo’s major label
debut was the first
to feature all-original
songs, including the
moaning freak blues
of “strange desire”
and the Zeppelin-like
“just a little Heat”.AT TAC k &
ReLeAse
NoNesUCh
ReCoRds, 2008
enter go-to producer
danger Mouse and tom
Waits alumni Marc
ribot and ralph
carney (Patrick’s
uncle) for an
expansive set of
soulful psych blues.all you ever Wanted”
s a revelation.BRoTheRs
NoNesUCh
ReCoRds, 2010
Written after the duo
were at odds, this
coming back together
resulted in
heir highest
art, from the
irst falsetto
of “everlasting
light” to the
undulating
oul of “these
days”, which
s a modern-
day “i shall Be
released”.eL CAmiNo
NoNesUCh
ReCoRds, 2011
their third record
with danger Mouse.
from its cannon-
hot opener “lonely
Boy”, it never slows
ts breathless pace
or 11 tracks. if
Brothers was their
breakthrough, this is
their breakneck.TURN BLUe
oNesUCh
ReCoRds, 2014
Written in the
aftermath of
auerbach’s divorce,
Turn Blue is one of the
keys’ most
underrated
records. it
asks the hard
question and
answers them
n shadowy
oul and
psychedelia.
year in review”
ells all.LeT’s
RoCk”
NoNesUCh
ReCoRds, 2019
after five years off,
he keys return to
heir earlier howling
blues
rock in a
hundering
no-frills
ound that
owes as
much to
ZZ top
as their
hometown
of akron.
lo/Hi”
s key.THE BLACK KEYS