Stripped Down Rock w/ the Black Keys

When Nic gets up from behind the microphone and moves in front of the console to stare straight into the glass at a band performing live on the other side, it is always a good sign.

The Black Keys – just guitar player/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Pat Carney – are the perfect demonstration of how simple it can be to make great music. It was bluesy, gritty, stripped down rock, just what I wanted on a Monday morning.

Pat was pounding on the drums so passionately his headphones kept slipping off. Apparently his manager had concocted a tape strap to hold them on but I was kinda glad he didn’t use it because watching them slide down at he hit harder and harder just to be pushed up again between beats added an interesting intensity to the proceedings. But for two guys, they keep your attention without much effort.

They played a cover of Captain Beefheart’s “Here I am, I Always Am” as the first song of the second set but I think “I Got Mine” – right before the interview – was the standout song.

The band also talks to Nic about making their new album in a haunted house, working with Danger Mouse and Ike Turner, and lots more. Check it all out here.

RR