The Black Keys

Thu 3rd Jun, 2010 in Features

Greeted with the faint sounds of video games backing the voice of a tired southern accent, Pat Carney, drummer and one half of The Black Keys, seems to be making the most of his PR requirements. I can imagine having the phone on speaker as he blasted away pixels on a TV screen. Oddly enough, I’d do the same if I were him.

In an attempt to create some rapport, I ask him about the noise. “I’m just playing some games with my little brother,” he responds. “I bought a Nintendo [Entertainment System] and Super Nintendo, and now I have a [Nintendo] 64 and a [Sega] Genesis. So now I’m just playing some game for the Nintendo 64 I’ve never played before.”

“I have about 200 games, but they’re all awesome,” he assures me. “I imagine if I could go back 20 years and meet my 10 year old self and show him my Nintendo game collection he would piss his pants.”

While having the ability to collect rare vintage games may be one minor perk of being a renowned indie rock star, another is the lack of time during touring to absorb any sense of what is going on. “It’s hard to get into anything on touring… except for getting drunk.”

That said he is trying to cut back on anything that diverts from his primary focus of the band Carney and Dan [Auerbach] formed. “I end up getting myself in over my head and obviously The Black Keys is my number one priority. The same with Dan. I’ve had a pretty hectic schedule, just with personal life and travelling. I’m trying to only take out little projects I can see through quickly.”

Although he doesn’t call music his ‘hobby’ anymore, the band’s latest album Brothers does bring back a few key pastimes for the band. One of those being working with regular collaborator Brian Burton, other known by the moniker Danger Mouse.

“We had the record finished and we had it pretty much done. We sat on it for about two months and then in the process of mixing it we decided on the last week to come back into the studio. And that’s when Brian came in and helped tighten up and finish that last song for the record.”

When it came to the actual recording process, Carney assures me that the entire process was spontaneous, working more off vague ideas than off concrete plans. So would Carney ever approach the recording of an album with a set goal or result? “I’m impressed by the people who could do that. Dan and I don’t have the attention span for that. I know that when people go through that process and do it correctly they might not make the best records but they do sell a shitload of records because that’s usually what the goal is. I wish Dan and I could be that meticulous, but we’re not.”

One person that fits both the criteria of selling a “shitload of records” and being a Black Keys fan is Kelly Clarkson, who frequently covers their song Lies during her concerts. And while having strange high-profile fans is no surprise to Pat (Metallica’s Kirk Hamment has previously come out and said he is inspired by their music), he does see the opportunity in Clarkson’s live cover versions. “Maybe, after hearing that cover, they become a Black Keys fan. Then after that they dig a little further and become a fan of something like The Cramps. Then that would be awesome. I’d be a fucking bizarre chain of events, but it’s possible.”

Going further with the idea of popstars and accessibility, he ventures into the realm of musical elitism. “I mean, we make music anybody can listen to. I’d never be ashamed of myself because someone listened to our music. I don’t judge people based on their musical taste. It might be harder to be friends with them but it’s not impossible. I just happen to be around people who listen to the same sort of music because I go to certain types of bars and record stores and that’s where I meet most of my friends.”

Carney does, however, go as far as saying that the word of musical elitism he grew up in was more “fucked up” than the world of today where a select amount of websites and publications are gospel. “Back then, we didn’t have the internet. Well we kind of did but it was 1995. And although there were so many good bands, you ended up buying a tonne of shitty records because you could never preview the music. You bought shit just because your friends had it. I don’t know. I think that there are way more bands that are good now then there have been for a long time”

He does recognise, however, the loss of “mystique” created by the openness of the internet. “When Belle and Sebastian first came out with Tigermilk, it was so hard to find that record and you couldn’t find a single photo of them. There was this huge fucking mystique built around them and it was awesome. That just doesn’t happen anymore.”

When I try to mention bands who have tried to obscure their image in the 21st century, such as The Knife or the Gorillaz, he interrupts with his blunt opinion. “It’s fake. It’s fake. And it’s obvious. By that point you notice that it’s egotistical and pathetic.

“I think we have to embrace the way things are, instead of trying to change the way they are. My favourite era of music may be 1978 or 1965, but I’m not going to sit here and pretend it’s 1978 still. It’s today.”

The Black Key’s new album Brothers is out now.