The Black Keys, a duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, have attracted the hoards with their signature raw, bluesy rock for years. The Akron, OH, twosome has perfected the art of the basement recording, which is showcased on last year’s Attack & Release. The band also has a new live DVD, The Black Keys Live At The Crystal Ballroom, which came out in November and showcases a recent Portland concert. Drummer and producer Patrick Carney discusses the band’s plans for 2009, why time off is essential to being a good band, and how Australia can make you an adult.
Where are you today?
I’m at home. We just got back from Australia the other night.
Are you jet lagged?
Yeah. What happened was I usually wake up around noon, which sucks, but since we got back now I have an adult schedule for the past few days. I’ve been waking up at around 6:45 in the morning.
That’s really early.
I know! I feel pretty good. I feel like a skinny version of Dan from Roseanne right now.
Are you really productive when you wake up that early?
Yeah I am. I’ve been like exercising and shit.
So if you go to Australia you will become an adult?
Yeah that’s all that has to happen.
Do they like you in Australia?
Yeah we do pretty good down there. We’ve been touring so much this last year and the fact that we had to leave for that trip the day after Christmas, it kinda sucked to have to fly around the world and miss out on seeing our families while they were in town. It was good, but I think it was probably bad timing.
Are you burned out on touring?
All the shows we have left until April are three shows before New York and then the ones in New York. So I’m cool, I’m excited to do all those, but I’m also excited that we’re taking a break from like mid-February to like, well I guess we’re only playing a few shows the rest of the year. So it will be a good break.
Are you going to start working on a new album?
Dan’s putting out a solo record in February so he’s got six weeks of touring. I’m going to Mexico for two weeks with my wife. So he’s going to be doing that tour and then we’re going to do a couple shows in July. We’re going to write the record in June and record it August. But it’s not going to come out until next year. We’ll have the whole fall off, too. Well maybe we’ll play a couple shows here and there.
