Alan Hughes / April 24th, 2023 / The Wire
Blade History With The Black Keys

If anyone in the Mid-West is interested in renting the former home of ONE Editor, Justin Eisinger, where The Black Keys later recorded their first two albums, it is now available 😂😂😂

Jokes aside, check out this throwback interview with the keys from issue number two back in 2007.

ONE: How is it going in Akron today?
DA: It’s going alright, it’s kinda warm… kinda warm the last couple days.

Well, listen, since you are in Akron, I thought I’d start with Akron. Do you think being from Ohio and the Midwest has influenced the band? And what you guys have done? Has it played a role in the overall development?
Yeah, definitely. I think the sense of not having a particular scene that you’re part of, not having a direct route to stuff like record labels, or radio stations that actually play current music – it kind of puts you in your own world, and I think it helps you to focus on your own thing. Pat and I could go in the basement and record every day… and rent is super cheap and all that.

Don’t remind me about the super cheap rent, but do you also think the work ethic or just your attitude as people is a little different because you’re from the Midwest instead of the cradle of music or something where everyone just feels like it’s easier to get? Maybe you have to work harder when you’re removed from so many things?
I think being removed from things is good for art in general, you know, being completely removed. And I think that’s what I meant – being able to concentrate on your own ideas instead of being influenced by outside things. Not having the flavor of the week thrown in your face all the time.

You mentioned jumping in the basement with Pat and recording. What is the – or how does the – creative process work within the band? Who starts a song, or do you guys jam, or how does it happen?
Generally, I write the songs and sort of put the arrangement together, and then play it for Pat to see what he can add, or if it even works for The Black Keys. You know sometimes songs just don’t work.

How much involvement do you have with the band’s Web site? Do you ever go on there and see what fans are saying about you guys?
Um, not really, I mean not a lot. I try not to get on the Internet and look up anything about The Black Keys. It’s generally a rule of thumb.

Well, then I won’t bother you with any of the shit that fans are talking about. But I did notice that you have your taping policy for shows up there. I know a lot of bands don’t adopt a policy like yours. Have you guys had a bunch of great stuff sent in from fans who have taped?
Yeah, some people have. Most of them are audience recordings, which I prefer to have anyway. It’s really cool to have.

Nice. I know you guys have gotten some, well, besides critical acclaim, some really popular musicians have asked you guys to tour or play with them. Is there anybody that you’ve had the opportunity to play with where it really meant something special to you?
Playing with Ray Davies was probably up there with one of the best. Pretty fucking mind-blowing.

Well, to show my ignorance, and perhaps the ignorance of our readers, can you go a little further into who Ray Davies is?
Ray Davies being the songwriter and singer for The Kinks. It was pretty amazing. Pat and I covered a Kinks song on “Rubber Factory,” so just getting to play that song with him and doing it at Carnegie Hall was like being on another planet. It was great. It was really cool.

Carnegie Hall, I’m sure that’s a pretty amazing feeling. I noticed while listening to the new record, “Magic Potion,” that there are some changes sort of in the… I dunno, to me it had some more rock elements mixed in with the blues. Can you tell us about the evolution of the sound, or what you guys were trying to accomplish with the record?
Well, you know, with me and Pat, if we were to record that a week before or a week after, the album would’ve sounded totally different.

It was just about capturing that one moment?
That’s what I think our records are really about: just capturing a moment, like, hopefully a couple weeks. As far as it sounding more rock or whatever, I’ve been listening to more, like, 60s psych and loose 70s stoner shit, and that was definitely an influence when we were coming up with some of the arrangements.

Well, cool, not that my opinion matters for anything, but it’s a cool album, and I’ve been impressed with just about everything you guys have put out so far, which is pretty amazing, and I can’t say that about many bands. Just the other day I was on the way to work and “Midnight in Her Eyes” came on, and I turned it up and I’m feeling really great just rocking out. Then I turn the music off and head into work and the mood changes. And it’s like that’s not cool.
(Laughing) I’m really excited, really happy about the decisions that Pat and I have made, about recording things ourselves, and being kind of in complete control, keeping things real simple.

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