The Black Keys

The Black Keys

The Black Keys are a blues-rock duo consisting of Daniel Auerbach (vocals and guitar) and Patrick Carney (drums) from Akron, Ohio.

Biography

The band's name was inspired by an artist friend of the band in Akron with schizophrenia , who used the term "black keys" to describe things he disliked or people he did not trust. A double meaning lies in the fact that the black keys of a piano comprise a pentatonic minor scale when starting on A#, which is often associated with blues and rock music.

The band is frequently compared to The White Stripes - another blues based low fidelity musical duo (drums; vocals and guitar) who experienced their first significant success in 2001, several months before The Black Keys.

The band released their first album, The Big Come Up, in 2002, followed by Thickfreakness in 2003, and Rubber Factory in 2004. October 2005 saw the release of the DVD Live, recorded live at The Metro Theatre in Sydney, Australia March 18, 2005. In 2006 they released Magic Potion and the lesser known, Chulahoma, as well as a single version of Your Touch.

One of their trademarks is their preference for "lo-fi", simple recording techniques such as using tape recorders and analog effects. The band does most of the recording, producing, and mixing themselves. The majority of the album Thickfreakness was recorded over 14 hours in Carney's basement on an early 1980's Tascam 388 8-track recorder. The bands often experiments with odd recording techniques and production techniques, leaving in background noises.

The Black Keys were included in the soundtrack of the 2003 movie School of Rock with their song, "Set You Free." The Black Keys have achieved increasing critical acclaim and recognition since their debut album, which was praised by Rolling Stone magazine[1]. Time magazine named them one of the "10 Best Acts of 2003" [2] (behind OutKast and The White Stripes). They have supported a number of bands, and toured with Sleater-Kinney in 2003, as well as a short stint opening for Beck, and performed at Lollapalooza 2005. They have recently opened for Radiohead on the American leg of their brief 2006 tour. In addition to this, they were supported by the influential British radio DJ John Peel and appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Late Show with David Letterman. Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant [3], Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead are interested in the band. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammet has also stated in an interview that he enjoys listening to the band. The Arctic Monkeys' Drummer Matt Helders can be seen in a Black Keys T-Shirt in an interview on MTV's RAW. Their song "When the Lights Go Out" has been featured on the trailer for the upcoming film starring Samuel Jackson, Black Snake Moan.

One of their songs, "Girl is on My Mind", was used in a 2006 Sony Ericsson advertisement, starring the tennis players Ana Ivanović and Daniela Hantuchova, gaining the band more commercial recognition. Their song "The Desperate Man" was used in a 2006 Victoria's Secret commercial featuring Heidi Klum. Their new record, Magic Potion, was released on September 4, 2006 in the UK and September 12, 2006 in the United States. It is their first recording for Nonesuch Records.

Discography

• The Big Come Up (2002)
  The Big Come Up
  (2002)
• Thickfreakness (2003)
  Thickfreakness
  (2003)
• The Moan (2004)
  The Moan
  (2004)
• Rubber Factory (2004)
  Rubber Factory
  (2004)
• Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough (2006)
  Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough
  (2006)
• Live In Austin, TX (2006)
  Live In Austin, TX
  (2006)
• Magic Potion (2006)
  Magic Potion
  (2006)

EPs

• The Moan - CD (January 19, 2004) Alive Records
• Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough - CD (May 2, 2006) Fat Possum Records

Official bootlegs

• Live In Austin, TX - 256MP3 (May 5, 2006) Jumper Productions

Videography

DVDs

• Thickfreakness In Austin - DVD5 (September 7, 2004) Jumper Productions (limited to 10,000 copies)
• Live - DVD5 (October 4, 2005) Fat Possum Records/Ryko
• Austin City Limits Music Festival 2005 - 2DVD5 (June 20, 2006) Image Entertainment

1. Set You Free

Music Videos

• Set You Free (Thickfreakness, 2003)
• 10am Automatic (Rubber Factory, 2004) - Directed by David Cross
• Your Touch (Magic Potion, 2006)

External links

• The Black Keys Official Web Site
• The Black Keys official Myspace page
• An Unofficial Fansite for the band
• Review of "Magic Potion" On Subculture Magazine
• The Black Keys at The Dwarf

• Black Key's 'Girl is on my mind' sounds in the new Sony Ericsson k800i Commercial - Spanish.
• Full-length Live In Austin video
• Interview with Dan Auerbach in That Other Paper