The Black Keys tell us: “There was more to it than the tour, but making this record helped us work through it”
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 mesmerising new single ‘Man On A Mission’ below, along with our interview with the duo.
News of their 13th album arrived 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 a tumultuous time for frontman Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, with them being forced to scrap a whole tour and part ways with their management.
As the title suggests, ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ was born out of that struggle, and sees the duo adopt a positive perspective towards their past grievances – entering an uplifting new chapter.
“ We were extremely frustrated after we had a tour cancelled,” frontman Dan Auerbach tells NME. “There was more to it than the tour, it’s a big, long story, but ultimately 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 definitely was helpful. We needed to get in there and create, in order to work through our emotions.”
As well as using the record to shake off past agitations, 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 joined forces with some of the songwriting giants who operate behind the scenes.
Rick Nowels, who worked with Auerbach on Lana Del 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 tell us about healing after the tour drama, working with their favourite songwriters, thoughts on new talent, and if we’ll be seeing them at any 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 that we had always been interested in writing songs with. One of those people was Rick Knowles. I worked with him on Lana’s record, and I thought he [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 written with a piano player. So it was interesting to be 20 years into The Black Keys, and finding something we’d never done before.
“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 was interesting for us to be adapting to it. Each person involved is someone we’ve admired for a long time, and the only thing they 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 tried to write a song live in the studio, he told us that he’d never just written like that before. I 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 that 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 enough 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 couldn’t wrap our heads around it. You can’t even pay for your crew and your flights with nine tour dates… That’s why tours are like three weeks long, because you need like 15 [shows to break even]. The whole thing was just completely mismanaged and, basically, it ended unceremoniously.
“We were playing three sold out nights at Brixton Academy when we could have 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 whole year got fucked because of the needs of our manager.
“When all that shit went tits up and we got absolutely screwed 20+ years 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 beyond grateful… and then we had to go through and basically another epidemic. So now I guess we feel extra 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 come out to see us there. It’s good to be able to get out in front of the people again and play music. It’s definitely helping us heal. We’ve gone from bars that hold 150 people through to almost every venue in most major cities. These venues that we’re playing now though are definitely some of our favourites. They always have been.”
Speaking of your journey, it was in the 2010s that you became a household name. What is it like looking back at that period now?
Carney: “I 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 that record hit a whole new level of success that we never really assumed to be possible, and we started 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, Lollapalooza and Austin City limits. We were direct support for Foo Fighters too, and we had gotten all these opportunities that we had never had before.
“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 was so intense that it fractured our relationship a little bit and it fractured all the relationships around us. There was too much emphasis on striking while the iron’s hot, and no emphasis on health. It was like ‘How about you do an arena tour around the entire world, and then also play every festival in the same year?’”
Now, 10 years on from that point, have you noticed that your sound has inspired a new generation of artists?
Auerbach: “Definitely. We’re touring with a band 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 dedicate our free time to working with young artists and trying to give them an extra head start. We started a 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 definitely 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 rides on streaming numbers and things that you can’t control.
“When we first started, there was no option for us to get played on the radio. There was no streaming. The first time we ever experienced 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 business. Like I said before, growing up, no bands I liked ever did an arena tour, so to be expected to do that as a ‘normal level’ of success is fucking psycho.”
Do you think it is still possible for new talent to reach the same levels of success as the artists who came up before them?
Carney: “We’re friends with Clairo and love watching the success that she’s been having. So it is possible, it’s definitely 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. Our main goal is to keep it fun and to not burn out.”
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 a 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 they both were speaking about each other in 2023. We love them both. They’re so funny and, while we don’t know them super well, we’ve got to spend a little bit of time with them and they’re so fucking fun. They’re really smart, really funny guys. I’m most excited for Paul Gallagher though, our real favourite Gallagher brother.”
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 come from Miles Kane and you can find any remaining tickets here.
They will 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 Roma, Ippodromo Delle Capannelle, Rome (Italy)
19 – Fib Benicàssim, Benicàssim (Spain)
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
