Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney didn’t make Turn Blue to sell more records. If anything, they made it to mess with the idea of what a Black Keys record even is. “The first track’s seven minutes long,” Auerbach said. “And we put the catchiest song last. That’s kind of demented.” Carney added, “Idiotic, maybe. But it works.”
This was not El Camino Part II. After a run of platinum-coated hits—“Tighten Up,” “Howlin’ for You,” “Gold on the Ceiling”—the duo could’ve phoned in another slab of blues-rock for TV spots and pickup trucks. Instead, they delivered a psychedelic breakup record with grooves that stretch like taffy and lyrics that sting like hangovers. It’s indulgent in all the ways that matter.
And no, they didn’t map it out. “We never talk about records before we go in,” said Auerbach. “We just improvise and see what happens.” What happened, it turns out, was a divorce (Dan’s), a surreal co-production stint with Danger Mouse (Brian to friends), and 25 songs that were whittled down to 11 by sheer deadline pressure.
“There’s definitely a lot of truth in the lyrics,” Auerbach admitted. “It was a difficult year. But writing about it helped. It’s kind of like putting the stuff somewhere so you don’t have to carry it around anymore.” And while he’s not thrilled about people combing through his personal life like it’s liner note clickbait, he also gets it. “It felt weird to not write about it. I had to.”
Carney, for his part, has been through the emotional wringer too—just mostly off-mic. What the drummer has gained is perspective. “You can either be a storyteller or tell your own story. We’ve seen artists who are so insecure in the studio they shut ideas down before they try them. We used to be that way too.”
Their solution? Shut up and try everything. It’s a lesson learned from producing other bands, and, more memorably, from Danger Mouse pulling Auerbach aside during the Attack & Release sessions to basically tell him to stop being such a control freak. “Yeah, that happened,” Auerbach laughed. “Wasn’t the first time I’ve been told to shut my mouth, won’t be the last.”
Turn Blue wasn’t designed for hit radio, but somehow it still produced “Fever,” a track that sneaks in like a houseguest and never leaves. “Writing catchy songs is a fun challenge,” said Carney. “But we didn’t want it to be the first single. That’s why it’s buried at the end. It’s the payoff.”
They also know exactly what it means when your sound gets co-opted. “We’d turn on the TV and hear hardware store commercials ripping off our songs,” said Auerbach. “It makes you not want to do that anymore.” Still, they’re not above a little corporate mischief. “Hopefully ‘Weight of Love’ gets ripped off for a taco commercial,” Carney deadpanned.
By now, The Black Keys are painfully aware of the idea of The Black Keys Sound. Which is why they’d rather blow it up than play it safe. “We could’ve made El Camino again, but we didn’t know what we were doing then either,” Auerbach said. “Now we’ve just gotten better at not knowing what we’re doing.”
The duo is also self-aware enough to know their place in the political conversation—or not in it. “If someone’s looking to Dan or me for political advice, they’re a f***ing loser,” Carney said. (To be fair, they did play an Obama rally in Akron once, but mostly because Devo and Chrissie Hynde were on the bill.)
Ultimately, Turn Blue isn’t about reinvention—it’s about honesty. Whether that’s sonic honesty (stretching a jam just because it feels good) or emotional honesty (turning your divorce into reverb-soaked soul), it’s clear The Black Keys aren’t just churning out riffs anymore. “We just want to make good albums,” said Carney. “And we still think of it as an album. Like, with a beginning and end.”
And if that end happens to be the catchiest damn thing they’ve ever written? All the better. Just don’t be surprised if it shows up in a taco commercial someday.
Watch the interview above and then check out an older interview with Patrick during the El Camino tour.
