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Vinylogue

The Black Keys

For over 20 years, The Black Keys have been searching for that one special record to spin. But their endless hunt (and DJ sets) come with rules…

Interview: Jeffrey Smith / Photography: Jen Agosta

“It’s like a friendly competition,” Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach tells Discogs, as he and bandmate Patrick Carney get comfortable in the green room of his Easy Eye Sound Studio. “We’re trying to find the thing that really is a banger. We’re trying to get on that special record — at all times.”

We’re trying to find the thing that really is a banger. We’re trying to get on that special record — at all times.

Dan Auerbach
– The Black Keys

The guitar-drum duo has been around for nearly a quarter of a century now, starting in Ohio in 2001. While releasing a slew of hit albums, they moved to Nashville, where Auerbach opened the very studio he’s standing in now. This studio is also where The Black Keys recorded their upcoming album, Ohio Players.

Hanging above Auerbach is a fringed red pendant light that looks more like an Old West showgirl’s corset than it does a lamp. There’s beat up furniture strewn about, framed concert posters on the walls, and a massive shelf lined with Grammys at the top. In the middle of the room is a nondescript table with two brown travel cases full of old 45s. The space feels effortlessly cool, and the Grammys catch your eye, but the cases are what The Black Keys want to talk about today.

While Auerbach and Carney are no strangers to collecting and spinning wax, they’ve taken things to the next level recently with their all-vinyl Record Hang DJ sets. Some nights, they serve as a concert afterparty, like when Beck and Natalie Bergman joined The Black Keys after they all played the BeachLife Festival in May 2023. Other nights, they’re the whole party, but one thing is for sure: every Record Hang features a bombastic mix of vintage 45s from these two DJ bags as the Keys chase “that special record.” 

The chase might end on the turntable, as they drop the needle in a crowded club — but it begins with the arduous process of curation. Those cases need to be stocked with only bangers — singles with staying power. 

Ohio Players
The Black Keys
2024
Rock, Blues Rock
Vinyl, LP, Album
Shop

“There are some records that I used to think were like hot hot in my box. They’ve since been replaced,” Auerbach says. As he explains his strategy, you can see Auerbach’s eyes light up — even behind the sunglasses he’s wearing. “We spend hours searching for records. Hours and hours. But it never fails. We always find something.” It makes sense that his travel case is split primarily into two sections: “new stuff” and “hot fire.”

We don’t share the exact same taste in music, but we definitely share the exact same taste of liking something that has this unique quality…if it’s slightly fucked up…slightly off kilter — we’re gonna be attracted to it.

Patrick Carney
– The Black Keys

“It’s like distilling the record bag,” Carney adds. “After a few months, you start getting more stuff and pulling out stuff that you’re too familiar with or you feel like is too obvious. I’m like 60% distilled. If I don’t play something for five or six sets, I’ll usually pull it out.”

Even though the small collection of records is continually culled and refined, there’s no guiding aesthetic when it comes to what stays and goes in either bag. Well, with maybe one exception. “We don’t share the exact same taste in music,” Carney says. “But we definitely share the exact same taste of liking something that has this unique quality. There’s a lot of stuff that — if it’s slightly fucked up, you know, slightly off kilter — we’re gonna be attracted to it.”

By now, the pair of vibe curators are methodically thumbing through the 45s, looking for examples. The first record Auerbach grabs is the trippy synth jam Cumbia de Sal by Cumbias En Moog. It was reissued in 2023 by Vampi Soul, but it looks like he has an original 1979 Ecuadorian pressing from the Disco Fuentes label.

Auerbach heard the song when his girlfriend played it for him digitally. He just had to get his hands on it. “That’s a banger,” he says with quiet conviction. “Crazy record. Blew my mind when I found it.”

As he listens, Carney is instantly transported back to the moment Auerbach bought the record. “When he found that, we were making [2014’s Turn Blue]. We were at Sunset Sound, and it had just come up on eBay. I knew he was bidding on it,” Carney says stoically. “And I just started jacking the price on his ass. Knocked it up like 50 bucks! I gave him the cash afterwards.” 

The pair cackle while recalling the gamesmanship — but it sounds like that might’ve been even funnier a decade ago. When asked how long it took before Auerbach discovered the shenanigans, he deadpans, “He was fucking laughing at me while he was doing it! I think it was $50 well spent for him.”

Then Auerbach lights up as he pulls a 45 from Cincinnati’s Hard Times label, 1969’s I Keep Telling You by Little Ron Johnson. “This is a record that we play all the time,” he says. “It’s just a funky ass record. It’s just a three piece band. The guitar player’s playing a Magnatone, so it’s got the pitch shifting vibrato. And the singer is incredible.”

But joy turns to sadness as he shakes his head. “I’ve never been able to find a second copy,” Auerbach laments. “I’m still looking for one.” So if you have an extra, you know who to call. (Currently, there are no copies for sale on Discogs.)“I just added a couple today,” Carney reveals, as he grabs some high-dollar items in quick succession. First is a “somewhat hard to find in America” promo copy of the 1966 freakbeat classic Making Time by The Creation.

Carney also pulls an unmarked white label pressing of Teenage Kicks by The Undertones, which has never been sold on Discogs. “It ain’t cheap,” he says with the raise of an eyebrow.

If somebody introduces you to a record, you can’t play it if you’re DJing with them.

Dan Auerbach
– The Black Keys

Auerbach quickly adds, “Most people know about that one because of John Peel,” referring to the legendary BBC DJ and famed record collector who passed away in 2004. This tidbit leads to a wild reminiscence for any Peel fan — or any vinyl aficionado. 

Peel was an early supporter of The Black Keys, inviting them to do multiple Peel Sessions on the heels of their sophomore record, Thickfreakness, back in 2003. That included one session at his home, Peel Acres. “When we went to his house, I was so jetlagged,” Carney says. “But Dan was not, and he got the full tour of his record collection.”

“He had different barns on the property,” Auerbach remembers, as he gesticulates to give an idea of exactly where each was located. “One barn was just filled with 78s. The other barn was all 45s. In his house, he had LPs.”

At the time, the Keys were looking for an original pressing of the propulsive rhythm and blues track Let’s Work Together by Wilbert Harrison. “He found me a copy and played it,” Auerbach recollects, with a beaming smile. “And I’m like, ‘No, not that version. I want the early one.’ And he’s like, ‘Alright, I know.’ He went around, found it. ‘Yeah, that’s it!’” 

That kind of feeling that we had at the party, when you play a record that no one knows — but it hits them like they’ve known it forever… We were trying to recreate that feeling every time we went into the studio.

Dan Auerbach
– The Black Keys

Very quickly, Carney pulls out another rarity. It’s a 1969 pressing of (I Keep Singing) La La La Ooh by The Lovations. “I paid $600 for it,” he says, with his mouth curling into a smile as he continues. “There’s certain people we spin records with, [and] they lay claim to a record.”

“Right,” Auerbach interjects. “If somebody introduces you to a record, you can’t play it if you’re DJing with them.” This one “belongs to” Leon Michels. An acclaimed musician, producer, and the cofounder of Truth & Soul, Michels is a frequent collaborator of The Black Keys. He’s also a founding member of Auerbach’s other band, The Arcs. So just to be clear here, any time they’re sharing a stage with Michels, that means Carney can’t spin this single — even if it cost him $600.

To further illustrate the point, Auerbach grabs an old Johnny Thunder record. “This is my copy of I’m Alive. OG copy. But Pat gave it to me,” he says with a laugh. “So I can’t play it.”

“That kind of feeling that we had at the party, when you play a record that no one knows — but it hits them like they’ve known it forever,” he says. “It feels like a hit, but they never knew it. We were trying to recreate that feeling every time we went into the studio.”

The DJ sets even inspired the title of their new album, named after the 1970s funk band Ohio Players. The duo had been toying around with different names for a bit. Then in September 2023, The Black Keys did a Record Hang after playing the Bourbon and Beyond festival in Louisville, Kentucky. “We had to name the record that week,” Carney remembers. “I put on an Ohio Players 45, and I was like, ‘That’s it.’”

Sure enough, that was it. All thanks to “that special record.”

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