The Black KeysThe blues duo from Akron, Ohio

The Black Keys

• Comprised of Patrick Carney (drums) and Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals)

• Dan records the bass tracks and most of the piano parts on the albums as well

• Blues Rock/Garage Rock band formed in 2001 in Akron, Ohio

• Released 7 albums

• Their 2010 album Brothers won 3 Grammys, and their 2011 album El Camino won 4, including Best Rock Album, and Best Rock Performance

The Early Days

Patrick and Dan first started jamming when Dan’s band didn’t show up to Pat’s house, who was going to record a demo for them. They then decided to just jam together, because Pat had a drum set and recording equipment, and Dan was a guitar player. They had a few rehearsals together, and ended up coming up with 6 songs for a demo. This got mailed to a dozen indie labels, and they ended up signing with Alive Records.

Their first record, The Big Come Up was released in 2002. It was recorded entirely in Patrick’s basement in lo-fi with an 8 track tape recorder.

Brothers

Brothers was their 6th album, released in 2010. It was their first major commercial success.

It featured two of the band’s most successful singles Tighten Up and Howlin’ for You.

This album had tons of licensing contracts for commercials and movies, and The Black Keys were named the most licensed band of the year.

Brothers won 3 Grammy Awards, and really helped the band gain international recognition, and sold out arena venues.

Style

The Black Keys have an interesting overall style. Dan and Pat have a love of vintage music, and blues. This carries over into their music. They exclusively use analog equipment in their recordings to preserve their warm vintage sound. Dan loves to use vintage guitars on stage and in the studio, and his pedal effects board is minimal.

They regularly make recordings in odd shaped rooms, old buildings, and other unconventional spaces. Their first two albums were recorded on an 8 track lo-fi tape recorder, giving it a really cool 60’s sound.

Their third album, Rubber Factory, was recorded in an abandoned tire factory in Akron. This was because the house they recorded their first two albums in, was sold by the landlord.

Online Presence

The Black Keys have an extensive online presence. They keep fans updated and engaged by regularly providing new content and news updates. Some of the ways that fans can interact with them, and listen to their music are

• YouTube

• Facebook• Twitter

• Tumblr

• Reddit

• Deezer

• Last.fm

Official YouTube Channel

The Black keys has an official YouTube channel where they post content regularly for fans to follow. This includes

• Official Music Videos

• Webisodes

• Behind the Scenes

• Live Video from concerts

• Full versions of some of their songs

Fans can follow their YouTube channel to keep updated with new content added on the channel.

Facebook Page

The Black Keys’ official facebook page allows fans to interact with each other and keep in touch with updates from the band.

The band posts photos, and posts tour dates and album news.

There are likes to listen to their songs for free on Deezer as well.

Free Listening

Deezer is a music service offering over 30 million tracks for free.

It allows registered users access to them, and revenue is generated for the recording industry through ads or paid subscriptions.

The Black Keys offer fans the option of listening to their music for free using this service.

There is a link to their songs on Deezer from their Facebook page.

Twitter

The Black Keys have a large Twitter following. Their feed is regularly updated with news and updates on each show.

They offer contests and deals on merchandise to their Twitter followers.

You can access their feed on https://twitter.com/theblackkeys

Tumblr

The official tumblr account for the band is theblackkeys.tumblr.com

There are links to their other social media accounts at the top, and their tumblr page consists of all of their promotional posters. They post a poster for each show on their page.

This is a cool way to keep track of each of their shows, and each of the posters are very different.

Official Website

The Black Keys’ official website hosts all of their current tour dates, band news, photos, videos, and their current discography.

On the main page of the site, there are a bunch of pictures of old, worn out vans. Each of these vans has a link to an upcoming or recently played concert venue.

The van goes with the theme of their newest album El Camino. Dan and Pat initially toured in an old worn out van for their first two albums, travelling all over the United States. It is meant to be both a throwback to that time they spent on the road together.

The van was also featured on the cover of El Camino as a jeer to represent their hometown of Akron. Pat said it was representative of Akron: a broken down van in a broken down parking lot.

Reddit

The Black Keys have an extensive Reddit following as well.

They have their own unofficial subreddit located at http://www.reddit.com/r/TheBlackKeys/

There is quite a bit of daily activity on this subreddit on the topic of the band. Much of the discussion pertains to tours, shows, and fan discussions of the music and band in general.

This is not maintained by the band, and I doubt that either Dan or Pat contribute to it. It seems to be just a Reddit following of the Black Keys, similar to most of the other subreddits.

Unofficial Fan Pages

There are several unofficial fan pages for The Black Keys. One of the more prominent ones is http://theblackkeysfanlounge.com/

This site has no connection to the actual band, but they still keep fans up to date with tour dates, merchandise, photos, lyrics, and tablature.

Also, unlike the official Black Keys page, there is a discussion forum pertaining to the band.

Last.fm

The Black Keys have a last.fm page filled with virtually all of their songs. Users can listen to songs on the last.fm webpage.

There are links to buy the music and share links to it with other users.

A list of albums and similar artists are provided on their last.fm page.

MySpace

Additionally, I found a MySpace page for the band as well. I don’t think that this is an official page however. There is no music available and no videos.

It also does not seem to be updated frequently at all. This page has quite a lot of followers, but because of the lack of content, I think it is probably maintained by a fan.