The Black Keys Have Told Nme About How Their New Album 'No Rain, No Flowers' Marks An Optimistic New Chapter for Them After a Chaotic 2024. Check out Mesmen Single Single 'Man on a Mission' Below, Along with our Interview With the Duo.
News of Their 13th Album Arriving Last Month, Hot on the Heels of Last Year's 'Ohio Players'. TODAY (June 20), The Black Keys Have Shared The Latest Preview of the Album After The Title Track, 'The Night Before' and 'Babygirl', in The Form of Captivating 'Man on a Mission'.
Set for Release on August 8 Via Easy Eye Sound/Parlophone (Pre-order here), The Record Also Follows Tumultuous Time for Frontman Dan Auerbach and Drummer Patrick Carany, with them Being Forced to scrap at Whole Tour and Part Ways With Their Management.
AS The Title suggests, 'No Rain, No Flowers' was Born Out of That Setting, and Sees the Duo Adopt A positive Perspective Towards Their Past Grievances – Entering An uplifting New Chapter.
“We were extremely frustrated after we have a tour canceled,” Frontman Dan Auerbach Tells Nme. “There was more to it than the tour, it's a big, long story, but lastly making this record Helped US Work Through it.
“We're Still Feeling the Negative Effects of the Relationship That We Had To Break Up With. It Still is under Our Skin And Pisses Us Off, But Making This Record Defintely was Helpful. We Needed to get in There and Create, in Order to Work Through Our Emotions.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecyv4wl4sf8
AS Well AS Using the Record to Shake Off Past Agititions, it Also Introduces New Collaborations. While Their 2024 Album Saw Them Team Up With Huge Names Like Noel Gallagher and Beck, This Time Around, they have Jointed Forces With Some of the Songwriting Giants Who Behind the Scenes.
Rick Nowels, who world with auerbach on wool of the Rey's 'Ultraviolence' Took to the piano for the writing sessions, While Others Who Helped Craft the 11-Song Tracklist Included Scott Storch [Dr. Dre, Nas] and Daniel Tashian [Kacey Musgraves].
Check Out Our Interview With The Band Below, Where they US About Healing After The Tour Drama, Working With Their Favorite Songwriters, Thoughts On New Talent, and If We'll Be Seeing Them aty Oasis Shows With Their Pal Noel This Summer.
Nme: Hi dan and patrick. You're Back with New Music Just One Year on From 'Ohio Players'. Why was this the right time for a New Album?
Dan Auerbach: “Well, We Had a Tour That Got Cancelled After We Released 'Ohio Players' and We Had All this Unexpected time on Our Hands. We Didn'T Plan on Making a Record, but that's What Ended Up Happening! We Got Into the Studio and Decided to Reach Out To A Couple People THAD HAD HAD HAD HAD Always Been Interested in Writing Songs With. [had] A Perfect Mix of Melancholy and Pop. “
What sparked That interest to collaborate with songwriters This time Around?
Auerbach: “Each has a different approach and a different style. Knowles for instance, is a piano player and we'd not writer with a piano player. So it was interesting to be 20 years into the black keys, and falseing somathing we'ver done bephore.
“His Whole Writing Style Was Very Strange. For 'No Rain, No Flowers' He Had me Sing the Words in Space with no piano, no guitar, no drums. Nothing. We'd Never Started a song that way, so it waste interest for us to be adapting to it. A Long Time, and the Only Thing Thing All Have in Common Is That They're Incredible Songwriters That We Really Respect. “
Patrick Carney: “It was the Same with Noel Gallagher on the last album. We've Been Such Big Fans of Him and His Brother for A Long Time, And After We Tries to Write A Song Live in the Studio, He Told Us That He'd Never Just Written Like That Before. Think That's A Cool Thing ABOUT COLLABORATION – It's Always Different and It Kind of Puts You On The Spot to Deliver. “
You Mentioned the 2024 Tour Cancellation Being Something This Fuelled This Record …
Carney: “We Had Just Put A-Year-and-A-Half Into Making An Album That We Were Incredibly Proud of, And We Had Given The People Around Us Worn Time To Set It Up Properly. We allotted Three and A Half Weeks For the European Tour, But What Was Given to us Was Nine Tour Dates. We. Coundn'T Wrap Our Heads Around it. [shows to break even]. The Whole Thing was Just Completely Gusanaged and, Basically, It Ended Undreremononously.
“We Were Playing Three Sold Out Nights at Brixton Academy When We Couuld Done Done Four, and Two Sold Out Nights at Zenith in Paris, and in Amsterdam We Played to 14.000 People. But the Whole Tour Got Really Mixed Around [when] Our Manager Wanted Us To Play a Venue that they Operated CALLED THE CO-OP LIVE in Manchester. The Whole Tour Kept Getting Moved Around Because This Venue Had No Running Water – So Basically Our Who Bole Year Got Fucked Because of the Needs of Our Manager.
“When all that Shit Went Tits Up and We Got Absolutely Screwed 20+ Yeaest Into the Business, The Only Thing We Had Left to do was to go make More Music and Try to make the best Out of it. You have to go and face some hard shit and try to make adjustments to make it work.”
Are you feeling a Newfound Gratitude to be on the road again in 2025 in a way that feels right?
Auerbach: “Yeah, but I Think We Felt that way While We Were Making 'Ohio Players' Too. We Were Coming Out of Covid-19 and Finally Getting to Book Tours Again. We felt beylond grateful … and then we have to go through and basic after epidemic. Grateful! We're on tour in the US, We've Done Two Weeks of Sold Out Shows Down The West Coast and they've Been Absolutely Amazing. “
Carney: “We're Going To Places We've Never Been To Like Wilmington, North Carolina. It's a Little Town That We've Never Played and 5,000 People Want to like Out To See There. It's Good To Get To Get Out in Front of the People Again and Play Music. It's Defintely Helping us Heal. We've Gone from Bars That Hold 150 People Through to Almost Every Venue in Most Major Cities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfaxa7lpzma
Speaking of Your Journey, it was in the 2010s that you became in Household Name. What is it like Looking Back at that period now?
Carney: “The Remember We Had Gone from Coming to London and Playing to 30 People at the Camden Metro, Through Every Venue Until We Were Able to Sell Around 5,000 Tickets. This is before 'Brothers' Came Out in 2010, And We Thought We Were at the Top. Then record Hit a Whole New Level of Subsequently Never Really assume to be possible, and we startd playing arenas.
“No band that we knew of was able to do an arena tour. Nirvana Never Did a Real Arena Tour. The White Stripes Never Did An Arena Tour, So it was a Whole New Pressure Cooker for Us. It Was Very Exciting, But at the Same Time, We Were on 10 Constantly. In 2012 We Headlined Coachella, Lollapaloza and Austin and Austin and Austin City Limits.
“We Just Said 'Yes' to Everything and It Ended Up Burning Us Out. It Was Very Draining, Creatively. We Were Basically on Tour From April 2010 to December 2014, and it would so intense that it fractured our Relationship a Little bit and it fractured all the relations. There Was Too Much Emphasis On Striking While The Iron's Hot, And No Emphasis on Health.
Now, 10 Years on From that point, have you noticed that your sound has inspired a new generation of artists?
Auerbach: “Definittery. We're Touring with Right Now Called The Heavy Heavy, and they told us that we were big inspirations when they were starting out. We're [also seeing it because] We Both dedicated our free time to Working with Young Arts and Trying to Give Them an extra Head Start. We startted in Label [Easy Eye Sound]Moved to Nashville and Opened a Studio Where We Try to Help Artists Get Going. “
What are your thoughts on TODAY's Emerging Artists?
Carney: “We listen to music from across the board all day long and there's Defintely a tonne Coming Out Right Now That I Love. It is a Really Weird Time For Music Though, and it's probably Really Frustrating to be a Young Artist Because Everything Rings On Streaming Numbers and Things That you can,
“When we first startd, There was no option for use to get played on the radio. There was no streaming. The first time we ever experience Exposure was from the John Peel Radio Show. That Kind of Shit Is Gone Now, It's Been Replaced with Playlists. It's a very Hard Fucking Fucking Business. Like I Said Before, Growing up, no bands i likes did an arena tour, so to be Expected to do that as a 'normal level' of subsequent is fucking psycho. “
Do you think it is still possible for new talent to reacch the same leather of subsequent as the artists Who cam came up before them?
Carney: “We're friends with clairiro and love watching the subsequent That She's Been Having. So it is possible, it's Defintely possible.”
What Does the Future Look Like for the Black Keys?
Carney: “We are still just as excited to go into a studio and make a new song Today As We Were 20 Years ago. Maybe Even More Now Because We have More Confidence and a Broader Range of Ideas. We're Having Fun, But Just Trying to Pace Ourselves Though, Because This Summer Tour is probably the Absolute Max of what we can bite off.
Speaking of Shows Taking Place This Summer, Will You Be Heading to See Noel Gallagher Again on the Oasis Reunion Tour?
Carney: “We're Missing Them by Day Everywhere! We're in Mexico City The Day Before They Are, And We Have An Event in Nashville The Next Day, So We Can't Stick Around. Then We're Playing Manchester Two Days Before Their First Show There, So We're Just Missing It Again!
“We're excited for them to be doing that, though. We Had a Hunch that they would be getting back together just based on the way that booth were speaking about each other in 2023 Well, We've Got to Spend a Little Bit of Time With Them and they're so Fucking Fun.
The Black Keys are Scheduled to Play Three Outdoor Uk Shows This Summer, Taking Place at Leeds' Millennium Square, Manchester's Castlefield Bowl, and London's Alexandra Palace Park. Support Will as from Miles Kane and you can find any remining tickets here.
They will alo also be embarking on a number of European shows Later This Month and Into the Start of July. Visit here for International Tickets, and Find A List of Upcoming Shows Below.
June
26 – Tinderbox, Odense (Denmark)
29-Rockhal, ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE (Luxembourg)
July
1 – Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin (Germany)
2 – The Hall, Zurich (Switzerland)
4 – Garorock, Marmande (France)
5 – Beauregard Festival, Herouville Saint Clair (France)
6 – La Nuit de l'Erdre (France)
8 – Millennium Square, Leeds (UK)
9 – Castlefield Bowl, Manchester (UK)
11 – Alexandra Palace Park, London (UK)
12 – Cactus Festival, Bruges (Belgium)
13 – Bospop Festival, Weert (Netherlands)
15 – Ama Music Festival, Vicenza (Italy)
16 – Rock in Rome, Hippodrome of the Capannelle, Rome (Italy)
19 – FIB Benicàssim, Benicàssim (Spain)
