The Black Keys with Megan Holiday

KROQ-FM / KROQ

The Black Keys stop by the KROQ studio to talk about new music with Megan Holiday.

Transcript

00:00It is the world-famous K-Rock. I'm Megan Holliday. I'm here with Dan and Pat, the Black Keys.

00:06Hello, guys.

00:07What's up?

00:07How you doing?

00:08We're good.

00:09How's the tour going so far?

00:11Amazing.

00:12It's going great.

00:13Yeah, we just had our first week and a half and all sold-out shows and beautiful places,

00:19places we've never been before. Shows in Montana. We played in old prison in Boise.

00:24What?

00:25Yeah.

00:26It's good.

00:26That's pretty wild.

00:28Yeah.

00:28What were the vibes? Was it kind of eerie?

00:33Well, we didn't play inside the prison. We played in the unhaunted prison yard.

00:38Oh, okay. In the prison yard.

00:40But the backstage is where the prison sells. It was a little uncomfortable, but...

00:43Ooh, that's pretty wild. Did you guys play Red Rocks?

00:47We did.

00:47Yeah, okay. See, that's like the dream venue.

00:51The first time we played Red Rocks, we were opening for Beck, and we were in the minivan.

00:54We were chasing a bus tour in a van. It was amazing.

00:57Oh, that's so awesome.

00:59Well, yeah, you know, the coolest thing about Red Rocks is the backstage looks like the set of Planet of the Apes.

01:04Oh, nice.

01:05And like, later, like, you know, beneath the Planet of the Apes.

01:08I need to... I've never been to Red Rocks, you guys.

01:11I gotta go.

01:12The altitude can kind of mess with you sometimes.

01:14Oh, yeah.

01:14The first time we went there, we walked to the very top of the... of Red Rocks to kind

01:19of look and see out over it, and our sound guy threw up everywhere.

01:22Oh, my God.

01:24Oh, my God.

01:24Yeah, it makes you kind of loopy.

01:25It makes you kind of loopy.

01:26Whoa.

01:26I think that's why, like, bands like Fish go over so well.

01:31That makes sense.

01:32Yeah.

01:32That all checks out.

01:33Well, I want to congratulate you guys.

01:36We've got a new album, No Rain, No Flowers, coming out on August 8th.

01:40There are a few songs that are out right now, including the title track, which we are playing

01:45on the K-Rock radio, and a song about, you know, overcoming adversity and just trying to

01:53find the silver lining of things that aren't going right.

01:57I think all of us can really use a song like this right now.

02:01So, if you want to talk a bit about the inspiration.

02:04Well, we wrote it with a guy from here named Rick Knowles, and Rick is someone who wrote

02:12a bunch of songs with Lana Del Rey, and Dan produced the Lana Del Rey record, Ultraviolence.

02:17So, when we were talking about potential people to work with, Dan's like, well, I always wondered

02:23what it would be like to work with this Rick Knowles guy, because he worked with Lana.

02:27We reached out to Rick, and it just so happened that he was going to be in Nashville.

02:31For the first time in his whole career.

02:33As a songwriter?

02:34He said, I'm going to be there next week.

02:38Oh, my God.

02:39So, it was fate.

02:40Yeah.

02:41And we got together with him, and it was incredible.

02:44And that was the first time we ever wrote with a piano player.

02:47So, that was kind of an interesting new thing for us.

02:50He likes to start with a title.

02:52So, he's asked us if we had any potential titles, and that was one that Dan had.

02:57And then he was like, so, he's like, well, how would you sing that?

03:00And then Dan.

03:01He's like, no drums, no guitars.

03:02Just, how would you sing that?

03:04I'm like, what do you mean?

03:05Just the title?

03:06Just the words out in space?

03:10That's it.

03:10Oh, my God.

03:11And then that was the melody.

03:13And then we just started piecing it together.

03:15And we worked at a pretty fast clip with him, you know?

03:19We wrote like six songs in maybe three days with Rick.

03:23Oh, my God.

03:24Yeah.

03:25I feel like it's so weird to start with a song title and then go from there.

03:29Like, have you ever done that before?

03:31That's what's cool.

03:31Like, that's what we've been doing so much of lately is collaborating, whether it's with a songwriter or another musician who also is a songwriter.

03:39But to get, you know, it's like you get a glimpse and to see other people's, like, the process that they use.

03:46Yeah.

03:46And ultimately, it sounds like us.

03:48Yes.

03:48It always does.

03:50Because it's this person being run through our filter and our perspectives.

03:53But it is cool to, like, see how other people operate in the studios and, you know.

03:59Yeah, that's like, I think we used to be pretty intimidated about, like, collaborating in certain ways.

04:05Because we were, like, we would get early on, like, when we were, you know, just started, we would go in the studio.

04:09And even just working with a different engineer, you know, the music would come out sounding, you know, kind of like a little, you know, not exactly how we would want it, you know.

04:22And then I think as we got better at communicating and more confident in what we're doing, like, we could go in there and work with someone like Danger Mouse and it would still come out sounding like us.

04:32And now, like, it's to the point where it's like, yeah, we can go in there with, like, a heavy hitter songwriter.

04:38And it's still, like, you know, sounds like the Black Keys.

04:43And that's what's fun.

04:44You know, we did a lot of stuff on Ohio Players with Beck, which is great because, you know, Beck's been, like, a huge inspiration to us and also hugely helpful to us throughout our career.

04:55He gave us our first big tour and, but it was cool to finally, after, like, 20 years of really knowing him, to get in there and make music with him.

05:04I love Beck so much.

05:06Yeah.

05:06He's one of the greatest artists of all time, you know.

05:09We've had a doubt.

05:10Yeah.

05:10And I just think it's so important that you guys are so open because you don't just want to keep on making the same records over and over again.

05:19And really, I think, as an artist, you can't cater to what people expect of you or even, like, what they want.

05:28It's like you say, this is where we're at right now.

05:31This is what we're feeling.

05:32Now, you realize you're giving very bad advice right now.

05:34But it's true.

05:36We realize that we've made our job a lot harder for ourselves.

05:39Because, like, when we finally, after six albums, had a hit record with Brothers, we instantly went and made a record that sounded nothing like it after that.

05:50And then when that was, like, a hit, we made a record that sounded nothing like either one.

05:54And, yeah, it's more interesting for us, but I think it's harder to, like, you know, ACDC kind of taking a similar path for their whole career.

06:07You know, I think they're playing stadiums.

06:10And our last tour got canceled.

06:13But wouldn't you feel like you were selling yourself short?

06:18I mean, we just have very diverse tastes in music.

06:22You know what I mean?

06:22So that's the reason why we do it.

06:24Like, Dan, right now, is, like, into a lot of, like, Cumbia Latin stuff.

06:30And we'll listen to a lot of rap and we'll listen to, you know, psychedelic rock, blues rock, punk rock, indie rock.

06:38I mean, it's kind of all over the map.

06:40And so at any point we get in the studio, like, you're hearing, like, a combination of what both of us seem to be into at one time.

06:49And it changes.

06:50It's like, that's what we've noticed.

06:51If we go in the studio, like, if we went in the studio this year in the spring and then we went in the fall, we would make two completely different albums.

06:58So we should have just stayed in the studio while we made El Camino forever.

07:05And we might have been able to, like, just...

07:08We'd be playing stadiums, too.

07:09You would be.

07:10That album is perfect in its entirety.

07:13I cannot lie.

07:14For me, it's El Camino and I love Rubber Factory as well.

07:18That is, like, that's one of my favorites.

07:20But I just really think it's important as an artist, whether this is bad advice or not, that you're just staying true to yourself.

07:27It's, like, you have to throw darts at the wall.

07:30And people love you.

07:31It's just a really tough time in music.

07:34Like, everybody's just so all over the place.

07:36I think it's just hard to even...

07:38For people to even know that your music is out in the world.

07:41Oh, yeah.

07:41I mean, it's like, you know, Rolling Stone used to be, like, a thing you could open up.

07:47And there'd be, like, you know, 15 reviews in the back.

07:49And it came out every week.

07:50And you could kind of get a, you know, a decent assessment of what was there.

07:54Now it's three reviews once a month or something.

07:56And it used to be, like, even to a certain degree, Pitchfork, you could, like, kind of rely on that.

08:01And now, like, all they're reviewing is, like, you know, stuff that no one's ever heard of.

08:05And it means nothing.

08:08So no one's even looking there.

08:11So all you really had when we were kids was...

08:14In Akron, you didn't...

08:15You had Rolling Stone, but you really had the record store clerk.

08:18And you had your friend's older brothers or sisters.

08:20And, like, our friend's older sister, she was the one that was hipping us to all kinds of stuff.

08:25She worked at the record store.

08:27She was, like, just the quintessential, like, cool, you know, high school chick when we were in middle school.

08:35And she, like, she introduced us to, like, dub music.

08:38And it was, you know, like, we had this kind of secret knowledge where we, you know, when we were going into the record store, we knew how to talk to, like, the older clerks and get hip to what was cool.

08:50You know what I mean?

08:50And so...

08:51But, yeah, now, I don't even think you don't have that, you know?

08:54Yeah.

08:54And also, if I walk in a record store like this, I mean, the clerk would try to clown me.

08:58And I'm like, wait a second, bro.

09:00Let me sun you for a second.

09:01Uh-huh.

09:02Yeah.

09:03Trust me.

09:03Well, and that also brings me to something really awesome that you guys do.

09:07And that's your record hangs where you guys are DJing and spinning 45s.

09:12And I read that, you know, it's sort of been a big influence on this album, you guys doing those record hangs.

09:21Huge.

09:21Yeah?

09:21Yeah, absolutely.

09:22I mean, you know, first of all, there's, like, a healthy competition that starts to happen when we start to spin records together and DJ together.

09:31We're just trying to find the fresh record that neither one of us has heard.

09:36You know what I mean?

09:37And then it's, like, you know, constantly searching for these records.

09:41It's just, like, we're finding inspiration every week.

09:44You know what I mean?

09:45We can...

09:46If we look, we can find something incredible that we've never heard.

09:49Mm-hmm.

09:49Almost every day.

09:50Mm-hmm.

09:51It's crazy how much music is still out there.

09:54It really is insane.

09:56Do you guys just pop into, like...

09:57Taking advantage of being on tour and going to record shops.

10:00Yeah, that's what I was wondering.

10:01Yeah, go to Mexico City, go to little record shops, and go to get psych records in London and stuff like that.

10:08It's just, like, we really get to kind of take advantage of being on the road.

10:12Well, Southern California is a great place to be a record collector.

10:15Mm-hmm.

10:15But, I mean, there's nothing more informative than playing a record in front of a crowd of people.

10:21Yeah.

10:21To figure out what works and what doesn't.

10:23Mm-hmm.

10:23Do you know what I mean?

10:24Oh, for sure.

10:24And so we've just been doing that almost every other week, you know, something like that.

10:28And it's like, it really has informed us.

10:32Well, I think hearing a record, you know, as it is in the studio versus going out and seeing a band play it are two completely different experiences.

10:41And for me, I think when you go out and you see a band live, it just totally locks you in.

10:47And you get it, you know?

10:49And you guys are so fantastic live.

10:52I'm so excited for this new chapter.

10:55And honestly, one of the best shows I ever went to was seeing you guys when you played the Troubadour.

11:00I don't know how many years ago that was, but that was one of the best shows I have ever seen, period.

11:06Well, we played the Troubadour a lot, but you're talking about the one three years ago.

11:09Yes.

11:09Yeah.

11:10Because that's right.

11:11Because we had another record came out recently, Dropout Boogie.

11:15We've put out, I think we've put out five records in six years.

11:18Okay.

11:18Yeah.

11:18Oh, my God.

11:19That's crazy.

11:20Which is like the same clip that we were at when we first started.

11:24Yeah.

11:26And people might know about that if there was like a music magazine that would write about music.

11:30Yeah, right.

11:30But that doesn't exist.

11:32But, you know, back to the record came thing.

11:33The interesting thing is, it's like, you know, everybody we know has a record collection.

11:37It's like, everybody we know listens to music.

11:39But yet, you know, if you wanted to go hear someone, like, if you want to go dance or hear music,

11:44like, how difficult is it to go somewhere where it's not just EDM, where it's like just curated anything?

11:51But aside from that, and that's, I mean.

11:53Maybe in LA it's easy, but.

11:55Yeah.

11:55It's not that, it's still not that easy.

11:57Yeah.

11:57It's not, I mean, we've all been to LA.

11:59You'll see it once or twice a week, a couple of clubs will do it.

12:02But it's, in Nashville, around the world, it just seems like something that should be happening a lot more than it does.

12:08But it's crazy.

12:09It's like just how homogenized our culture is, where it's just like someone sees it, like, you know, 22-year-old, like, frat boys want to go to the, listen to, like, drink Twisted Tea and listen to EDM.

12:22And now there's a million places that offer that.

12:25But, you know, as a cranky middle-aged man, my options are, there's not much stuff, you know, being marketed to grouchy 45-year-old men.

12:35It definitely is getting more and more strange for me as I get older, and I just, I'm like, what's going on?

12:45I don't even know, like, I'll look at a lineup, I'm like, I don't know anyone on this lineup.

12:49It's just really a weird time, so.

12:52Yeah, I find myself just watching old episodes of Unsolved Mysteries on YouTube.

12:57Yes!

12:58That's less weird than trying to figure out what's happening.

13:01Maybe that's what I should be doing.

13:02Yeah, to try to get it together.

13:05I'm just going to ask you a dumb question.

13:09If you could choose to leave only one Black Keys record for humanity, which one would you choose?

13:18I mean, you only have, what, 13 now?

13:21One for all?

13:22Oh, one whole album.

13:23One album for all of humanity.

13:26You can only pick one to leave behind.

13:29I think we'd be leaving brothers in there.

13:34Yeah, absolutely.

13:35Well, you guys, I'm so happy that you could come and talk to me today.

13:39It means a lot.

13:40And No Rain, No Flowers coming out August 8th.

13:43You're on tour right now.

13:45So, thank you guys so much.

13:46Thanks for having us.

13:47Good to see you.

13:48Good to see you.

13:49Good to see you.

13:50Good to see you.

13:51Good to see you.

13:52Good to see you.

13:53Good to see you.

13:54Good to see you.

13:55Good to see you.

13:56Good to see you.

13:57Good to see you.

13:58Good to see you.

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