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The Black Keys.
 The
buzz of a whipper snipper, the smell of freshly cut grass in
the morning: these are the things that The Black Keys left behind
in exchange for a life of rock'n'roll. For Dan Auerbach, guitarist/vocalist
for the blues/rock duo from Akron, Ohio, the move was not anticipated
- but life-saving all the same.
In 2002, having just been fired from their lawn mowing jobs, Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney set out on their first tour of the 'States. Just two years later, the boys are off on a world tour and their third album 'Rubber Factory' is soon to be released in Australia.
"It sounds so weird but we are actually going on a 'world tour,'" Auerbach explains. "We'll definitely be there in January I think. We love going to Australia, we have so much fun. You can get good coffee everywhere and everyone's really nice. Like, you can go to a big city and it's not really like a big city, it's still a little bit low-key."
If Auerbach wasn't rocking out to crowds around the world, rest assured he wouldn't return to the high life of edging grass. "I cringe every time I smell it. A couple of years ago when our first record came out we were still cutting grass. When our review in Rolling Stone came out we were mowing lawns, it was pretty funny," he chuckles. "If I wasn't playing music I'd be the biggest loser in school, wasting my parent's money, I know it. I'd been there for three years and I still hadn't declared any major, I hadn't passed any of my math classes, it was pretty awful. I couldn't do school, I just had my mind on playing music. I'm way too one-track-minded."
Auerbach has been partners with Carney since those days and the two have spent hours together playing, recording and traveling in a hatchback to their shows. With personal space limited on tour and only each other to turn to, one expects things could get a bit touchy.
"Sometimes it's hard just like any kind of relationship, but it's not really like any other relationship in that we're with each other 24 hours a day for months at a time so sometimes it can get pretty strange, but we're both alright, we don't piss each other off too bad. We never really thought about expanding the band, we don't feel the need to. We've actually swapped parts at a sound check before. Pat's a good guitarist."
As a kid growing up, Auerbach listened to his Dad's records including The Beatles, Otis Redding, Billie Holliday and a collection of Motown and blues. The Black Keys' sound draws on these influences and has been likened to Cream and Hendrix among other late '60s rock artists and, as such, appeals to a wide range of people.
"We get a really cool crowd with older dudes that would listen to Cream and we get a bunch of indie rock kids or really young kids like 16-17year olds."
Although styles of music have changed over time, Auerbach doesn't believe the quality of music has been lost, nor gained. "It has always sucked and it has always been good, it just depends on where you look for it. It's all just based on opinion though. At the moment I really like this girl that plays the harp, Joanna Newsom, I think she's incredible. There's always a bunch of rock'n'roll bands around that I like a lot too."
This attitude lends itself towards a fairly easy-going persona, but upon hearing Auerbach's howling vocals and sorrowful guitar riffs a different picture is painted of the 25 year old. Based on the confession that Auerbach "hates dealing with people in general" the interview was surprisingly upbeat, including a ten minute discussion as to whether ice cream should be eaten with pan cakes (for the record, Auerbach thought it was "so over-indulgent" - this coming from someone who described Vegemite as "gross, but good").
No, it seems there is only one thing that Auerbach can rely on in this cruel world: "My dog, he doesn't irk me at all. Everything else screws up on me like my guitars, my car breaks down, my house needs fixing and always needs cleaning - like, I just cleaned my bathroom and it already needs cleaning again. And I hate computers even more."
Music too, Auerbach admits, does have its charms, but isn't as reliable as his dog. "On any given night it can be really good or not so good. When it's good it just feels so..." he pauses. "You can't really explain it. It's great to be in front of a crowd that's just so appreciative, then we're appreciative of the crowd. We give and they give more and we give more and it's just fun. I think you just go out there hoping it's going to be good 'cause we're not really 'showmen,' we're not really flashy or want to get the crowd 'pumped up'; either it's going to happen or not and you can generally tell from the first note. If there's no response we just keep on playing and it becomes about us playing for ourselves. We've been making a living too and we haven't had to have day jobs - and we're doing better than we thought we would, though we really had no expectations whatsoever. We recorded our records in our basement, we weren't in this to make money."
For 'Rubber Factory' the recording went up-market from their basement to... an old tire factory in Akron. "All the rubber companies left at one point and moved out of the country so all these giant buildings were left. It was just a practice space, I wouldn't call it a studio even though we recorded there. We just went into the space and started doing what we've always done which is work on stuff, see what comes out and not think too hard about it. The tape we used to record on had already been used. We bought it from our record label and it had been used to tape radio commercials for, like, car dealerships, fried chicken places, places to buy paint, all kind of weird homemade commercials."
As you can see The Black Keys are all class, no doubt about it; but until they return to Australia, you best be mindful of your gardener playing air guitar on the rake...
Cassie Hilditch
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The Black Keys' 'Rubber Factory' is out now through Shock.
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