The Black Keys get back to basics

The Black Keys started with a simple system: Guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney would get together, jam, write, revise and a few weeks later the duo would have a record. For the first five years of their career, the pair needed no outside help. But as the Keys went from cult act to the biggest rock band born in this century (see the upcoming TD Garden show on Oct. 11), they got an assist from super producer Danger Mouse.

The stuff the duo made with Danger Mouse did things rock ’n’ roll artists don’t really do in the modern millennium. A pair of the LPs went double platinum, another hit No. 1, a few of the singles became radio staples, a dozen tracks tallied streams and views in the hundreds of millions. But for “Let’s Rock,” the Keys first album in over five years, they went back to basics.

“We didn’t even talk about having a producer,” Auerbach said.

They also didn’t talk about song ideas or any kind of attack plan when they went into the studio to make “Let’s Rock.”

“The very first idea we had ended up being new song ‘Breaking Down,’ ” Auerbach said. “We hadn’t been together working in four and a half years and the very first idea we had ended up making the record. It was right there. Whatever magic it is that Pat and I have, we didn’t have to go searching for it. As soon as we got together it was like electricity.”

Auerbach and Carney hadn’t left music during the Black Keys break. Both of them produced a ton of other artists — Auerbach helmed records for Lana Del Rey, Cage the Elephant, the Pretenders and more; Carney worked with Karen Elson, Michelle Branch, Tobias Jesso Jr. and others.

“Pat told me that we had produced about 60 records in the past five years,” Auerbach said with a laugh.

Getting back to their tried-and-true system came out of a plain desire to play with each other again — the pair have known each other since they were kids. A reminder their old magic came when Auerbach brought guitarist Glenn Schwartz, a former member of the James Gang and a childhood hero of Auerbach’s, into his Nashville studio to record.

“I invited Glenn and Joe Walsh in and we recorded Glenn’s old songs, the ones that I used to go and see him play when I was 16, 17, 18 years old,” he said. “And it hit me so hard, as we were recording all those songs, how much I borrowed when I was creating the Black Keys with Pat. Those first three records have so much of this guy’s DNA all over them. And it inspired me.”

“As soon as I finished recording with Glenn and Joe, I called Pat and said, ‘Let’s make a record,’ ” he continued.

“Let’s Rock” has a nice blend of old and new to it. Even if the production has a little more gloss to it than 2002’s “The Big Come Up,” the songs feel equally raw and tough. Hey, the guys have a system. And clearly it works.

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The Black Keys, with Modest Mouse, at the TD Garden, Oct. 11. Tickets: $55-$499; ticketmaster.com.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2oNWWNG