The Black Keys Fan Lounge

Fans go to go great lengths to appreciate bands. One way in which to admire and appreciate a band is to collect their records. A fan of The Black Keys’ who has shown the most appreciation via his comprehensive Black keys’ record collection is Peter Blomkvist from Sweden. Many years of collecting every possible CD and vinyl pressing published by The Black Keys’ has resulted in arguably the most complete collection of any fan.

The Black Keys Fan Lounge recently asked Peter to explain a little bit more about his collection and some of the interesting aspects to it. What follows is in his own words.

My name is Peter Blomkvist, some of you may know me from the forum. I have collected The Black Keys’ records since they released Thickfreakness.

Before The Black Keys, there was something really missing in my head. They created what I so much wanted to hear. I sincerely think they made the best songs since possibly Led Zeppelin II.

I buy all the records I can find released by The Black Keys from any country – promos, vinyl, CDs, etc. Japan, Europe, America and Australia are the countries that I have concentrated most on. I live in a small town in the middle of Sweden, and I don’t really know about the rest of the world, but the distribution of vinyl records really died out here in the 1990s. The Black Keys are one of the bands that got me interested in the vinyl again. I experienced that great feeling of a real album again. It felt wonderful.

I have, to this date, about 120 records by the boys. I hold the test pressing of The Big Come Up closest to my heart. I got that from a newly made friend on the internet. A big thank you to her!

Other highly prized records are white label vinyl promos of both Attack & Release and Dan’s solo record Keep it Hid. One of them was a Christmas present from a friend of mine.

It’s not that easy to know the value of many of these rare items but I guess that the three records mentioned above are the ones of most value. I don’t really care much about that since I have no intention to ever sell my collection.

I don’t think that I’ve payed more than about $100 for a single record, and I believe that was for the 7″ Devo/The Black Keys vinyl. It was worth every penny.

Since this is my own collection and I don’t ever plan to get rid of it, all records are played and listened to, as they should be.

There is a small amount of The Big Come Up demos out there. The first thing, I believe, recorded by the guys. I think I’ve read somewhere that Dan and Pat don’t want this material to be publicly heard but I would love to get that one for my collection. That’s the missing piece.

You can follow my collection on my site: www.theblackkeys.se. You can also help me find the records I have not yet managed to find by sending me an email. This page also has a very close to correct lyrics collection of our heroes.

The Black Keys even got me to suddenly decide to start playing the drums. Wich I have done now for approximately seven years. And after having started in a Black Keys cover band, I am now the drummer in a duo called “Eivor”.

We are getting closer and closer to our first record release and I will appreciate very much if you took a look at our Facebook page and listened to us. Visit: www.facebook.com/eivorband.

Thank you Black Keys, thanks to The Fan Lounge, and everyone else.

Sincerely / Peter Blomkvist

 

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys’ The Big Come Up Demo
2. Interview: Patrick Boissel – Alive Records – Talks About The Black Keys’ First Album ‘The Big Come Up’
3. The Black Keys iTunes Essentials

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