KEYS TO THE HIGHWAY
PATRICK Carney, drummer for The Black Keys, is telling the story of how he nearly chopped off his finger. Sitting in the kitchen area of Easy Eye Sound Studio, he grows more and more animated as he recalls working at a health food store called the Mustard Seed back in Akron, Ohio, chopping vegetables with a crew of older guys. “I was 16, but I was able to use the knife because I lied about my age. They thought I was older than I really was. This guy walks up and shows me this little catalogue of people going at it. What the hell? I kept chopping with the knife and cut my fucking pinky off! I didn’t even realise I’d done it.”
He pauses for dramatic effect as his bandmate Dan Auerbach laughs heartily. “So the guy grabs some duct tape and tapes my finger back. Of course he does. He’s a punk rock dude. They fix everything with duct tape.” Doctors were able to reattach the finger, but Carney lost some feeling in it and had to stop playing guitar. That’s when he took up the drums.
Carney holds up his finger to show off the scar. Dressed in a grey and gold shirt, he might have a bit of white in his beard, but he’s still the class clown – the guy who developed an outgoing sense of humour to fend off bullies. By contrast, Auerbach is the quiet kid who sits in the back of the classroom, doesn’t say much, maybe doodles band logos in his notebook. He’s most expressive when he’s laughing at Carney’s jokes, and Carney is always cracking jokes. It’s a comfortable dynamic that has persisted ever since they were students back at Firestone High, but they’ve honed it through years of taking on the world as The Black Keys.
Technically, they’re here at Easy Eye Sound to discuss their 11th studio album, the eclectic , but
