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The Black Keys are known for their hard-hitting garage rock, a fluid interweaving of blues and fuzzy guitars that has garnered critical acclaim and a string of hit songs.
But on 12y For the “Ohio Players” studio album, Akron natives Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney simplified the guttural thunder of “Lonely Boy” and “Lo/Hi” for a bit of a stylistic change.
First single “Beautiful People (Stay High)” is unabashed pop rock, while songs written with Beck and Noel Gallagher follow similar melodic paths.
Ohio Players, which will be released on April 5, will be supported by International Players Tour for 31 dates, which crosses the United States from September 17 to November. 12. Tickets are on sale 10 a.m. local time Friday on Livenation.com.
In a recent joint conversation, Carney and Auerbach explained The influence of 'Record Pending' on their new songs, how hip-hop from Juicy J and Lil Noid blended into their sound and why Beck is considered a 'super talent'.
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Question: The album title is obviously related to you being from Ohio, but is it also a reference to the Ohio Players?
Patrick Carney: It is, perhaps in a subtle way, this album cover of their album covers.
Dan Auerbach: Naming the albums is the most difficult part (of the process).
Carney: You have to frame your work so that it is creative and logical, but it is difficult to explain how you arrived at the decision. “We had these records on hold, playing 45s at pop-up parties and inviting friends to join us, so one of the guest DJs played the Ohio Player 45 and it was like, 'Ah.'
Songs like “Don't Let Me Go” and “Beautiful People (Stay High)” are more pop-oriented than your usual sound. What prompted this subtle shift?
Auerbach: We've always been drawn to songs that are catchy but also raw. We think it's really fun to try to write catchy songs. It's a different kind of challenge, with “Beautiful People” which was a collaboration with (producer) Dan the Automater who we've been fans of since high school. He had these little episodes and ideas that he created in his mind.
I hear a little bit of rare earth “I just want to celebrate” In “Beautiful People”. Am I off base?
Carney: There's a little bit of everything going on. These record hang nights are emotional because we play songs that most people don't know, like songs that are gold but have never been heard either because of a bad label or the artist died or something like that.
Auerbach: Like this record “Crumbia de sal” from Cumbia En Moog. It's this heavy Latin thing This is very danceable and sounds heavy and fresh and new and old. It's that kind of magical record that we wanted to try to recreate.
What was it like working with Noel Gallagher (“On the Game,” “Only Love Matters”)? Have you been in each other's orbits for a long time?
Carney: We met Noel twiceAt Glastonbury in 2014 and in New York around the same time. We talked to him and he was very cool and funny as you would expect. Part of the process of making this album was to have fun with it. We made an effort to get out of Nashville and experience things together so we went to LA a lot. Dan wanted to work with Noel and we're both fans, so we kept reaching out and heard he didn't have the time. My golfing neighbor had been an Oasis booking agent for 20 years, so I asked him: “Maybe Noel would be interested?” That's when Noel came back to us and gave us a four-day window in January (2023) in London.
You had Billy Gibbons on your last album (2002's “Dropout Boogie”) and Beck, Juicy J and Lil Noid on this one. Do you feel more open to collaboration now?
Auerbach: When we were younger we were very insecure in our abilities. It has taken a long time to get to this point where we can collaborate seriously. Pat and I have been making music for over 20 years, and we've finally reached a point where the possibilities seem limitless.
How did you come to incorporate hip-hop artists like Juicy J and Lil Noid into your songs?
Auerbach: I was rapping in underground Memphis from the 90's and early 2000's and cassettes were only available on YouTube like Three Six Mafia and Juicy J. There was a “Paranoid Funk” album that Lil Noid made and even being a rap fan For the life of me, I've never heard these things before. Every time we got in the car after we made a record, we did that He wore “Riding in a Chevy.” And be like man, it would be fun to work with Lil Noid. He came to Nashville and was really great, a complete character.
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Have you known Beck since it opened its doors in 2003?
Carney: I met him in the 90s because my uncle was a musician who played with Tom Waits and knew Beck. He was the first rock star I ever met when I was 16 years old Obsessed with “Odelay.We met again in 2003 in New York. We were playing a show with Sleater-Kinney and after the show the ladies (at Sleater-Kinney) said, “Do you want to go to the Saturday Night Live afterparty?” We said how are you going to let us in? “Our friend Beck just performed (in the show),” they said. So we went to a bar and I flipped through a copy of (the second album) “Thickfreakness” and that kind of thing usually results in the CD being in the trash. But he listened to us and invited us to open for the 2003 Sea Change tour.
So when Beck came in (to record this record), we were there for it. If he had suggestions, we were game. He jumps right in and we get to see why Beck is Beck. He is an extraordinary talent, a lyrical and melodic instrument. A song like “This is Nowhere” (which he co-wrote with Beck), I don't think Dan, Beck or I could have done alone. This is the X factor.
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