Black Keys back together with "Brothers"

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Pat Carney and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys have been working together for so long they might as well be brothers. And just like siblings, once in a while they need time apart.

After five albums together, each more commercially popular than the last, Auerbach and Carney both pursued musical endeavors outside the blues-rock sound that made the Akron, Ohio, band famous. It's only after this brief hiatus that the two were able to create a back-to-basics album, the aptly titled "Brothers," due May 18 on Nonesuch. Drummer Carney sheds light on the album's creative process.

Billboard: In between the making of "Brothers" and your last record, 2008's "Attack & Release," Dan Auerbach released his solo album and you formed Drummer. Did you learn anything by working independently that you brought to the making of "Brothers"?

Pat Carney: The most important thing we learned was how easily we communicate with each other. I think it's much easier for Dan and I to play with each other than it is for us to work with other people, but we really just started to appreciate it recently. I think it's because we learned to play together when we were kids.

Billboard: You first worked with Tchad Blake on your rap-rock experiment "Blakroc" (released in November) and brought him back to mix "Brothers." What do you like about his style?

Carney: We gave him the tracks and he immediately saw where we were going. I think that he embraced the minimalist aspect of how we recorded it and felt the rawness, but I don't think he was trying to keep the record in the past. He's able to get really gritty drum and vocal sounds, but also get really clean and rich bass sounds.

Billboard: With "Blakroc," would you say you grew as a musician by working in a new genre alongside rappers Mos Def, Q-Tip and RZA?

Carney: Definitely. Looking back on it, I'd say it was an extremely selfish move on our part. We wanted a learning experience more than anything else. We wanted to work with someone like RZA to see how he operates, so in that sense it felt like continuing education. We ended up getting something that was completely different from anything we'd ever done before, as far as the way we had to approach making music. "Blakroc" was a bit like spring training for "Brothers," because we recorded the two albums back-to-back.

Billboard: You recorded "Brothers" at Alabama's legendary Muscle Shoals studio. Did you feel any powerful energy in that space?

Carney: When we were in the building, both our manager and our engineer claimed that they felt some sort of bizarre spiritual energy. For Dan and (me), we felt like we walked into a building that at one time was doing something incredibly special and everyone forgot. It was like being in a museum that no one cared about. The studio itself isn't anything special, and it's not in the best condition, but it's actually really conducive for working start to finish because it's completely isolated from anything and it has no windows. It's really small, and it didn't feel much different than recording at our house.

Billboard: Can you talk about your label, Audio Eagle?

Carney: I essentially started it to put out an album by Gil Mantera's Party Dream. The label's been a way for me to consistently lose money for the past four or five years, and not intentionally, either. Last year we put out the Drummer record and a record from the Royal Bangs. My only knowledge as far as running a label is A&R; I know when a band sounds good, and I know how to oversee a project to make sure recording gets done. I spent some time looking for a label to put out records for me, and I'd basically just do A&R, but I never really followed through on it. Hopefully that will come together one day.

Billboard: Has running your own label made you shrewder as an artist on someone else's label?

Carney: A little, but Dan and I have both always been in tune financially, especially with the deals we've made. Dan and I have purposely done things that I think are a lot riskier than other bands, specifically because we feel like we always need to do more than we actually do. Honestly, we both have a fear of having to get a real job someday.