Mentions on blogs and twitter, songs on popular soundtracks, music used in video games, articles in influential magazines has created a momenturm of chatter about The Black Keys.  The general zeitgeist focussing on the band is probably leading to more music fans searching for information on The Black Keys.

This popular popular conversation amongst new fans and old in turn increases album sales and concert tickets sold. It also increases the intensity of the interest, not just the volume.

These graphs reflect the increase in public interest in The Black Keys by looking at some specific measures. These insights below support the contention that The Black Keys are now a mainstream band.

Google is the world’s most popular search engine. Since 2004 those interested can track the relative number of searches for a particular search term. It’s also possible to track the related terms to the topic you are interested in.

Trendrr allows a deeper dive into the actual number of search results at specific times in 2010.

Web Search Interest Over Time – 2004 to present

According to Google, “the numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don’t represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100. Each point on the graph is divided by the highest point, or 100. When we don’t have enough data, 0 is shown. The numbers next to the search terms above the graph are summaries, or totals.”

The spikes on the graph in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 reflect when earlier albums by The Black Keys were released.

Trendrr – 1 January to 27 August 2010

A closer look at search activity in 2010. What’s perhaps most interesting is not only has the trend spiked around release time of the Brothers album but general search activity has settled nearly 300% up on the start of the year.

Top Searches – last 90 days

Top searches refers to search terms with the most significant level of interest based on the search “the black keys”.

Some possible reasons for these top searches:

• Mainstream radio is playing the band’s music for the first time in The Black Keys’ career (Tighten Up)
• A popular music video for the single Tighten Up and the growth in user generated fan videos from live concerts posted to video sharing websites like YouTube
• Chop and Change released exclusively on the popular Twilight soundtrack
• Mediafire and Torrent searches reflect the attitude of the modern fan(?) and the fact that the Brothers album leaked online weeks before its release
• Tour Dates searches reflect fans are hungry to see the band in person/live
• Lyrics searches can be written off as data from fans of The Jonas Brothers looking up the lyrics to their song “The Black Keys”

Related posts:

1. Blakroc: Trend Tracking
2. How To Be A Modern Fan Of The Black Keys
3. The Black Keys Google Knol

15 March
Olympia, Paris, France

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys Tour Dates 2010
2. The Black Keys Tour Dates I’ve Been To
3. Dan Auerbach Solo Australian Tour Dates 2009

I used to think it was really important as a fan to meet The Black Keys. And it was until I met them. It was a very brief meeting after hanging around outside a venue long after a show had finished. Dan and Pat were as friendly and down to earth as those who had met them had reported. The ‘experience’, a fumbled conversation, was even better than I had expected.

Now I don’t think it as important to try and meet the band at any opportunity. It’s now the idea of the band and all they represent that is seemingly more important. Arguably, it always was and I just didn’t realise it.

Ever since I met the band I’ve also thought about what I’d say or do if I met Dan or Pat again. I really don’t want to stumble over words and grin happily and little more again. In the unlikely event I’d meet them again, I’d thought about it a lot prior to travelling to New York where I was to see the The Black Keys’ three concerts.

I had struck a bit of a conumdrum because since meeting The Black Keys the experience had also clarified a number of thoughts:

• A fan by definition can only ever exist as an observer of the subject – from a distance as an outsider
• A band owes a fan nothing more than the same respect as the fan pays it
• This is an outsider fan site interested in an outsider band
• Healthily, I know I can’t be Dan or Pat’s friend

These points are just the deal you make and need to accept as a fan.

It was therefore a confronting experience when I baulked at an opportunity to meet Dan and Pat in New York. Some spontaneous kindness allowed me to be backstage after a show. I was right there, they were right there, in the same room. I couldn’t explain it at the time, or really justify not introducing myself.

You know what the sun’s all about when you fly too close.

I think it boils down to facing the greatest fear of any fan, and more so if you are silly enough to start a fan site: what if  the band doesn’t like you or your site? I imagine there can be nothing more lonely than liking a band or having a fan site about a band that doesn’t like you.

But as I walked away from the venue all this was a great realisation. It was liberating and peaceful. Not meeting Dan and Pat when I could have was a release from being too attached to the idea of wanting the band to appreciate your appreciation.

If anyone can understand this emotion of being a fan it’s probably Dan Auerbach.

On the plane home from New York I was thinking about when a teenage Dan and his Dad, Chuck, drove 16 hours to see Junior Kimbrough play live. Dan, of course, was and is a massive fan of Kimbrough’s music. Junior was too ill and not playing when they arrived at the small town show though the rest of his family band was. As Chuck tells the story, Dan was even asked to play with the band, but he declined.

I’m wondering if the experience for Dan, then and ongoing, was more powerful because he didn’t meet Junior? It would have been amazing to have met him, but it was probably as influential that he didn’t. As a fan, Dan had to internalise the experience and reflect upon what Junior really meant to him. Similarly, to use Chuck’s sentiment, faced with an opportunity I was never going to admit this site was good enough for the band to find it worthy – or not.

Then on the plane home from New York something else happened. I had a dream about The Black Keys.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a dream about The Black Keys. I’m not the only one, it’s a common experience as a fan to dream about that which you admire.

The dream went like this:

I’m at this country outback gathering, looking post-apocalyptic, like a Mad Max film set. Dan Auerbach is playing guitar with a local house band. He plays for like 6 hours – 12am to 6am. It’s non-stop, just in the groove. I have the feeling I’m not meant to be at the show, just happen to be randomly out there.

When Dan finally leaves the stage, not really stage more the middle of a field, he’s looking really drained, sweaty and very pale. Dan wanders up to the bar and is waiting there to be served.

I walk over and say “Hey Dan, great show.” He turns, looks me straight in the eye and says, “Hey Brucini?”

“Yes?” I say, surprised. “Cool” says Dan. “You coming to all the shows?” I turn a bit sheepish and say I just happened to be at this one.

I then say to Dan, “You are looking very pale, dehydrated. I’ve got some electrolyte drink supplements for water if you want them.”

Dan looks at me, scans the scene and politely says “Do you think they’ll mind?” I reply, I’m thinking huh? it’s only a common drink supplement, “Mate, you can do anything you want out here.”

This dream got me thinking.

Maybe I actually did want to meet Dan and Pat much more than I would care to admit? Probably. One thing is for sure, unexpectedly meeting Dan in a field at 6am and offering a re-hydrating drink supplement would have been and would be a much easier way to meet. Maybe if I had a donut handy for Patrick too I’d be sorted.

I now look forward again to any future opportunity.

Related posts:

1. Two Year Anniversary of The Black Keys Fan Lounge
2. Backstage With The Black Keys
3. What Type Of Fan Of The Black Keys Are You?

Busted is so ecstatic when it’s played as a longer drawn out version around 4 minutes in length – it builds and falls and stalls and then releases. It’s a song where Dan Auerbach can usually play guitar hero and work the fuzz and feedback. Fans love that and no doubt would welcome more of it.

There also seems to be a relationship between when the song is played in the set (middle rather than start) and how rowdy the crowd are and Dan finding a sweet spot on stage to influence the sound pressure. One eggs the other on to fully bring the power of the song live.

Maybe it’s just the use of the slide and the distinctive sound and emotive feeling this engenders that creates a special atmosphere?

It’s been pretty epic  on The Black Keys’ recent tour seeing Stack Shot Billy segue into Busted. A real highlight of the show.

These are some of the best live versions:

A personal fave – a good example of crowd, guitar banging, feedback and the band feeling it

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc0OGjwmfl4

Very different sounding on the Harmony guitar. Dan seems to prefer playing it with this guitar in recent times

www.youtube.com/watch?v=koZc_AVHXmg

Pretty epic – sweet use of ‘hand slide’.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NbWpGtCdYQ

In the early days The Black Keys played it much faster

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQhUHf342Y4

Seen a better one? What’s your favourite and why?

Related posts:

1. Video: The Black Keys Live @ Lola’s Room, Portland, USA, 2003
2. Dan Auerbach – When The Night Comes – Live
3. Live Video of The Black Keys: The Glasshouse, Pomona, 2009

The purple lighting was dominant pre-show and between songs. Songs were dominated by other shades and the general stage lights and bright strobes.

Such a simple lighting technique seems to have a bonding effect, instantly there’s a unifying force other than the band. It’s mood setting and pacifying to a degree. It softens the harsh concrete angles of the venue and no doubt a few attitudes.

To see this light and the simplicity of its other-wordly effect it’s surprising it’s not utilised at more shows or by more bands.

As an aside, check the bald-headed dude going nuts in the video. The lights, the lights! They were clearly too much for him. This footage was shot after the main set and before the encore.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQtCDAieHOY

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys’ Brothers Tour Stage Props
2. The Black Keys Tour Dates I’ve Been To

**************

Dante and Dan

INTRO

This whole Dan Auerbach/Black Keys connection with me and the rest of the dudes in Hacienda down here in Texas started a long ass time ago.  Somewhere around 2006 really.  Dan got a hold of a demo with about 6 songs on it.

There’s a whole bunch of downtime when we are playing shows, so the laptop is essential.  A friend of mine recommended this site, and I really dug it right away.  I thought it was cool to be asked to tell a Black Keys tale or two.

CHAPTER  1

First time  I met Dan and Pat was at Emo’s in Austin watching another Fat Possum band during ACL festival.  The club was pretty dead and I was hitting on a girl that was so drunk she could barely stand.  Pat walked over to us leaned in and told me “Dude, trust me, that’s a bad idea”.  I heeded his warning and struck up a conversation with those dudes.  I think it went something like “Uhh, hey, uhh uuh uuh uhh my name is Dante and I play the guitar too uh uhhh uhh uhh uhmm.”  In retrospect, I don’t know what Dan was thinking continuing to hang with us.  We were about as nobody as it gets.  At least that’s what it felt like being from Nowhere, Texas.

He emailed us about a month later and said keep sending me songs when their done.  So we did, and things kept snowballing from there.  Dan invited us to open a show in Austin for The Black Keys and Dr. Dog.  After the gig, he told us he’d just finished building a studio and we were going to be his Guinea pigs.  The Hacienda dudes and I stopped going to our jobs, got fired, and worked on songs.  Next thing we new we were headed to Akron, a friendly town with all kinds of strange historical stories of its residents.

We recorded the record and have been close to Dan and the family ever since.  That’s the skinny on how it all started.

CHAPTER 2

The Dan Auerbach and The Fast Five thing was amazing!  You’d have to ask Dan what he was thinking when it came to that tour.  You see, we had no idea that would ever happen.  We had heard the record as it was being made, but I dont think Dan ever thought “Keep it Hid” would come out or be a big release.

That tour changed my life for sure.  I was playing more guitar than I ever had, and next thing I knew, I starting feeling like a pro.  I was meeting big time musicians, and I felt I could hold my own.  Not to mention the crowds were great.  I had never experienced walking on to a stage and everybody already dug you.  For so long I was used to walking on stage and the audience has their arms folded yelling “prove it to me!”

That tour took us all over the world and it was the time of my life.  I met some special people on that run, and I made some life long friends as well.  That’s very rare.

Dan likes to play loud.  So getting the opportunity to turn up the volume was very exciting to me.  Dan’s voice is better than everyone else right now, period.  I learned that you cant just sing, you have to feel something.  I can’t sing like the dude, but you better feel it, or else, whats the point?  On guitar he go’s for it every night.  Sometimes he’ll miss a riff or a chord, but its because he’s not afraid to go for it.  I used to be technically proficient and never wanted to make a mistake.  I realized that live, that’s no fun.  I’m gonna try to do all riffs as down and dirty as possible and lets see if they land.  Either way they’re gonna sound tough.

I dont know why we got picked.  It might have been our availability, our playing, maybe our clothes, hell, maybe becasue we were cheap.  Honestly I don’t care why it happened, I’m just glad it did.  Best year ever!

CHAPTER 3

The Black Keys are consistent.  That is rare.  You can put they’re records up against each other and they all make sense.  The sounds vary but its all the same band.  That’s important.  If I could give you one anecdote about how they get their sound from a somewhat insider’s perspective it would be this one.

A year ago today, August something.  Hacienda is recording in Akron.  Dan says, “Hey dudes, I’ve got some Black Keys stuff going on today so we’re gonna have to cut it short”  No problem we thought.  “What are you up to, man”  I asked.  “Well Pat is gonna come over and we’re gonna work on some new songs for the next record.  You know we start recording the new Keys record in a couple weeks”  he answered.

So sure enough in about an hour Pat comes over.  When he arrives he finds the Hacienda guys watching Eastbound and down on TV.  We we’re talking about going to play basketball or something.  I was probably talking some shit about how I can smoke everybody in the paint and I’m deadly from 3 or some shit.  Dan walks in as Pat’s talking about some old baseball exploits and jumps right into the pissing contest that is any conversation regarding sports.

Next thing I know Pat says “Fuck it!  What’d you say we hit the batting cage?”  Dan takes about a millisecond to respond “Its on homie”  or something like that.  Sure enough Hacienda and the Black Keys are on their way to the batting cage.  We spend about 2 hours swinging at pitches, talking about other bands, and generally shooting the shit.  Dan then suggested we hit Dairy Queen for some blizzards and then we headed back to his place where his family was working on preparing dinner.  Pat says his hellos to the family, shakes Dan’s hand and says, “This record’s sounding great, lets work on it again tomorrow.”  I remember thinking “Genius!  Batting cages and ice cream, thats how I’m gonna write all my tunes from now on.”

FINAL THOUGHT

The point I guess I’m trying to make is: they dont need to worry about pressure.  They know what they’re capable of.  They take it seriously, but at the end of the day, its music.  And they know how to make it.  Why do anything differently because more people are listening.  They are the same dudes they’ve always been.  You can do pre-production for a year, if you want.  The minute the red light comes on the studio, those two guys are gonna sound like the Black Keys.  So why not enjoy yourself?  Be who you are all the time.  When its time to make music, if you’ve go the talent, and you know what you’re doing, it will be there.

APPENDIX

Favorite Album – “Rubber Factory” and “Keep it Hid” (Of course)

Favorite Song – Grown So Ugly

Favorite Cover – Act Nice and Gentle

Favorite guitar – That Goldtop Les Paul Dan let me borrow.

Favorite Fast Five show – Bimbo’s 365 in San Francisco/ Bill’s Place out in the woods in Austin, TX during SXSW

Dan, Dante, Kelley Darlin (from Those Darlins) and Rene (from Hacienda) backstage at Bimbos, San Francisco

The Black Keys and Hacienda when they first started dating

Related posts:

1. Dan Auerbach and Hacienda On The Road Video
2. Blakroc: The Story Behind The Hidden Album Track

When they played Summerstage over 2 nights in July in New York, however, they did play a slightly different set on both nights. Only the order of the tracks is essentially different. There are a sprinkling of songs from all the band’s albums with a specific focus, understandably, on the new album ‘Brothers’ where Dan and Pat are joined by Leon and Nick on keyboards and bass guitar to fill out the sound.

Now days with computer printed set lists it’s not too hard to get hold of a copy at the end of the show. Gone are the days of the hand written set list it seems.

What was interesting is that even though the set list remains the same, different shows are very different depending on how the songs are played. Whether it be song tempo, crowd interaction or band attitude, subtle changes make for bigger effects.

The Black Keys played the same Tuesday 27 July setlist at the Terminal 5 show late on the Wednesday night. On the Tuesday, The Black Keys played the set with a loquacious swagger slowing up and breaking down many of the songs. On Wednesday, the set was played with a fury that matched the restless crowd’s responses to all the sped up power chords.

27 July

28 July

Hat tip to Resophonic for the 28 July set list

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys Do New York: 2 Nights, 3 Concerts
2. The Black Keys’ New Live Show 2010
3. The Black Keys’ New York Pop-Up Store

Complete this simple questionnaire below to find out if you are a serious fan.

Would you:

• Buy a ticket to the first show announced that is close to your hometown even if it is 4 hours drive away?
• After you’ve bought the aforementioned ticket, a tour date is announced in your hometown. You buy the additional ticket to your hometown. But you still go to the show 4 hours away.
• Wake up excited at 2am on the day of the show?
• Wake up excited a few hours later at 5am on the day of the show?
• Get on a bus for 4 hours from Boston to New York?
• Meet up with other fans for beers before the show?
• Spend most of your money on food and beers before the show?
• Wear your Black Keys t-shirt to the show?
• Bring the Australian Magic Potion tour t-shirt from 2007 that you bought off the internet and have never worn but now feel compelled to wear it at the Summerstage show?
• You put the Magic Potion t shirt over your other Black Keys t shirt even though it’s 90+ degrees Fahrenheit in the shade.
• Even though you are standing up the front of the show, you go to buy 4 beers for your friends and come back with 12?
• Play air guitar and air drums all the way through the show?
• Realise you are not going to make it to your bus that leaves 30 minutes after the end of the show and you have a non-changeable ticket? You can’t explain how you ever thought you would make it to this to departure time.
• Spend the night in Brooklyn bars until you can catch the first bus back to Boston in the morning, even though your ticket is no longer valid?
• Get stopped by the bus  ticket inspector but explain you’ve been at a Black Keys concert and they let you off any fine.

If this sounds like you, The Black Keys Fan Lounge salutes you. I’d suggest you are a serious fan.

If you answered yes to all of the above questions, then this is you in this video below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryKI-ylqx-0

Related posts:

1. Signed Black Keys Concert Ticket
2. The Black Keys Merchandise Of Mine
3. The Black Keys’ NYC Free Kin Show Fan Merchandise

The Black Keys’ played Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 July at Summer Stage in Central Park, NYC. On Wednesday night after the Summer Stage show they completed a double header playing after midnight at Terminal 5. To see all the shows was a privilege.

These then are some rambling notes on those shows. It’s not a review. More fumbled reflections in the days after the nights before.

Summer Stage is a festival site, without being at a festival. The stage area is crowned by over-hanging trees. Dragon flies and butterflies flit in the dimming light.

Dan Johnson, Dan Auerbach’s guitar tech, calmly walks the stage preparing the instruments.

Gawd bless the American sense of personal space. It’s easy to squeeze in relatively close to the front of the stage. Each fan likes to be at least another body width away from the next. Odd, but welcomed.

You can buy like 10 beers at once and they even give you a tray to carry them with. Should be enough to last the show, it is broiling hot after all. Too bad each beer costs $7 each.

The sample of GZA’s “Liquid Swords” used to herald The Black Keys’ arrival on stage is inspired. A good heads up before the cheers of the crowd start a surge of excitement that ripples through all.

A different set list is played for each show. The three shows build upon themselves in tempo and reaction to the crowds and venue.

Pat plays the first song of each set with his glasses on. From then on, glasses removed, he never again cares to look at the drums.

Dan switched between his Rickenbacker, Harmony and Supro guitars.

The Wednesday show at Summer Stage for some reason is more intense than the Tuesday. The crowd is much more demonstrative.

Tuesday the band break down the tempo and jam, groovin’ through the mid-tempo numbers, where as the Wednesday shows increase intensity and offer a harder/faster dynamic.

At times it looks like Pat is playing jazz licks on his symbols on the slower grooves, just pacing time waiting for the next moment to smash another stick.

The Black Keys are like a New York Hot Dog – they keep their schtick at street level; they don’t pretend to be what they aint; every now and then they change up with a little sauerkraut or extra sauce to keep things fresh.

The Black Keys’ have no groupies. All the fans are rounded up and shooed away at Summer Stage. No one tries to hang back. A Security guy says there were heaps of Groupies for The Flaming Lips the night before.

The Security guy also says the guy who sweeps up all the beer cans at the end of the shows a while back used to be real quick – so many cans, means good money for a dude with a crack habit.

The Summer Stage shows are probably the first/last Black Keys’ shows you’ll ever receive free Zinc pure coconut water with pomegranate berry as you leave the venue.

Jumping a cab to Terminal 5 and being dropped off on a freeway, because the cabbie has no idea where the venue is and doesn’t care, is a perfect NY kiss off. He must like us in a NYC kinda way.

Terminal 5 is a bunker, proper heavy concrete in contrast to the light green leaves of Central Park. Walk inside and it’s a cauldron. Fans hanging from the three levels. The floor-bound fans pressing forward – gone all principles of personal space.

The crowd is so ravenous at Terminal 5. The only way forward for The Black Keys is to seemingly meet the energy, draw from it and re-present it to the fans. They do so.

Dan Johnson still seems calm. Different drum kit set up. Any problem with any gear is dealt to with a fast-paced walk, never a run.

I’m not sure how Dan and Pat are feeling after coming off stage at Terminal 5, their bodies no doubt sapped but hearts’ aglow. 13,000 fans in 2 nights sated.

The band are in such a groove that every show has seemed so dialled in to the moment; it’s clinical but not by rote.

You know you are getting somewhere when the NY Times does a review and photo of your show for the Arts section the day after. Equally, Time Out had a double page spread the previous week.

It’s not all downhill from here, but it’s certainly not going to be as uphill for The Black Keys.

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys’ Set Lists: Summerstage, New York, 2010
2. The Black Keys Tour Dates I’ve Been To
3. Review: The Black Keys @ 94.9 Independence Jam 2009 including Set List

The Freddie Gibbs track features Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids, Chip Tha Ripper, Bun B and Dan. Freddie has been compared to Tupac Shakur, and listening to his other tracks, you can hear where the comparison draws from.

Gibbs, Chuck Inglish and Chip Tha Ripper are fairly young artists all having emerged in the last 6 years at most, and Bun B has been active since 1989. Chip hails from Cleveland, and though that may not have anything to do with how Dan became a part of this project, it’s quite interesting — they are all from the midwest (Bun B hails from Texas). All of these artists have a following and have collaborated with artists such as The Bloody Beetroots, Ludacris, Kid Cudi, and M.I.A. Also, it was reported in February that Raekwon is developing a biopic where he wants Chuck Inglish to portray him.

It’s always great to hear about the side projects that Dan Auerbach contributes to. He admits that he is a workaholic, and in the last 9+ years of making music, it would not be surprising to hear a confirmation of Dan alone working with over 20 artists.

In an interview Dan is asked which artists inspire the ‘boxiness’ and ‘crunchiness’ of the Black Keys’ produced sounds, Dan explains:

It’s Wu-Tang. It’s The RZA. Those are those hip-hop records we loved. That’s the reason Pat and I started playing, because we wanted to make recordings on the four-track that sounded like RZA productions. It was literally what we wanted to do. It was our goal. Later on, we realized that a lot of the sounds we heard were late ‘60s recordings that were sampled, like drum recordings. And it was all like this circle, and it all made sense when you picked it apart. For us, it was about the groove. The groove was king and things are still like that for us.

It’s a pleasant surprise to see Dan’s name attached to this track, and hearing it with its lyrics and little things like the keys suggests Dan may have had some creative input. Most rappers and musicians would probably credit the luminaries of Wu-Tang as major influences, so it’s awesome to see 5 artists collaborating and mixing their sounds.

It’s great to see Dan and The Black Keys more involved and exposed within the hip-hop community, and fans seem to be embracing them.

From an interview in November 2009 about Blakroc, Dan states:

Hip-hop is the new rock ‘n’ roll, and anyone who doesn’t think that is living in the past. It’s all just American music when you get right down to it. It all comes from the same place.

Freddie Gibbs’ new album entitled “Str8 Killa” drops on August 3rd.

Related posts:

1. MP3: Free Download Of The Black Keys’ Track ‘Ohio’
2. Liner Notes: Mark Neill’s Track By Track Description Of The Black Keys’ New Album Brothers
3. Blakroc: The Story Behind The Hidden Album Track