Music |
The Black Keys
By
Published: Jan 01, 2007
Category:
Rock
You already know about The White Stripes. Not a “real” band — just two kids, guitarist/singer Jack White and his ex-wife/drummer, Meg White. They’re from Detroit. They produce themselves. They play, among other things, howling blues in the noble tradition of Led Zeppelin.
And, coming along just months after the debut of The White Stripes, we note another color-coded group, The Black Keys. Again, not a “real” band — just two kids: guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. They’re from Akron, Ohio. They’ve been known to record in Carney’s basement studio. They produce themselves. And they play blues in the Led Zep tradition.
Are The Black Keys…copycats? Of the great blues musicians, you bet. But not of The White Stripes.
The differences? Jack White is all over the map — there’s nothing he can’t write or play. Auerbach and Carney are, by design, more limited. That is, they play the blues. Over and over and over.
"Magic Potion," their newest release, for example.
Raunchy, rugged, ragged.
Hot, dirty, sexy.
Music for driving fast, drinking deep and doing the nasty.
But wait: The blues are ultimately supposed to be sad, yes? That’s what Buddy Guy sings about: a lonely, poor black man, trapped in a country shack, wishing for a good woman “even if she’s dumb, deaf, crippled or blind.”
Not these guys.
In an interview, Dan Auerbach was asked what gives him the blues. “Nothing,” he said. And he went on to comment that, for him, the blues are “uplifting.”
The interviewer sputtered: “But the blues have a reputation for being sad.”
Auerbach: “I guess, but most people are idiots. How many people would you take advice from? Very few, for me, anyway, that I would actually hear someone’s opinion and say, ‘Hmm, I’ll follow that.’"
Refreshing attitude, say I. But then, everything about this duo is refreshing. Two college dropouts meet in 2001, bang out a batch of songs, start recording. To support themselves, they cut lawns. Their CD is released. Bookings flood in. Their plan is to tour a bit, then return to the steady income of lawn care. Their boss fails to play his part; he fires them. With more time on their hands, they rehearse like crazy, record their second CD in one blistering, 12-hour session. Soon they are a cult, releasing a CD every year and winning the admiration of their heroes.
Spoiled? Well, they now record in a former tire factory in a don’t-go-there section of East Akron.
Innovative? Not in the least. “Magic Potion” is like everything that came before it — just, paradoxically, nastier. “We didn’t feel dissatisfied with what we’d done in the past,” Auerbach has explained. “We still really like it. So we didn’t feel any pressure to change.”
Again, nice attitude. Like the video for “Your Touch.” It begins with the guys getting shot and killed, then goes New Age magical before veering back to grim reality: Carney and Auerbach at a diner.
Auerbach: “How did it feel being dead?”
Carney: “My neck hurts….you know, you didn’t look so cool out there.”
Auerbach: “At least I was killed doing something I love — lip-synching.”
Not surprisingly, on the screen of their web site where you can e-mail the band, they post a warning: “But make it good. We actually read these.”
Ok, beyond attitude, what do you get? First, back up that train: Attitude is huge. In music, it’s inseparable from point-of-view. And point-of-view is what is lacking in most of what’s released by the big labels.
Next, you get the past. As a guitarist, Auerbach channels early-days Clapton, fuzz-tone Hendrix and deep-fried Stevie Ray Vaughn. As a writer, he leans on Creedence Clearwater Revival and Led Zeppelin. If you know this music, it’s a funky drive down Memory Lane. If you don’t, here’s a convenient way to get schooled on the greats.
You say: this is so retro. Guilty. And The Black Keys show no signs of evolving into something more original. So what? Any band that can play loud, dirty blues for the length of an entire CD is always going to get the nod from me when an electric wickedness is in the air.
To go to The Black Keys web site, click here.
To buy “Magic Potion” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Chulahoma” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy “Rubber Factory” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy ”Big Come Up” from Amazon.com, click here.
To buy ”Thinkfreakness” from Amazon.com, click here.
