The Black Keys Quotes
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You get to bring your own sound system when you play an arena, all the lights and visual stuff, which I think is really cool. There's something about those old arenas, where it feels larger than life.
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I'm certainly not your typical front-man material. Some people love being on stage and really open up, and I'm sort of the opposite of that. I don't crave the spotlight. I'm still not comfortable even talking on stage.
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I'm definitely a guitar player, but it's the last thing I listen to in a song, after the singer and the drums.
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Well, when The Black Keys make a record, I never really feel limited. To me, it seems the possibilities are always endless. The big difference has been playing live and being able to recreate every little part of the record.
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I wasn't raised super-poor, but my parents got divorced, and my mother didn't have much money. Even now if I have a cake, I'll eat it slowly, and I save most of the money I have.
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Dude, everybody wants to be Andre 3000. He's got abs for days. How does that guy get so ripped?
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You know who we hear about all the rappers from? The bus drivers.
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The modern video games kind of - they're too three dimensional.
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My mum's family would all get together, with guitars, harmonica, mandolins and upright bass and play old blues and folk songs. That was normal to me.
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I tend to name albums after one of the songs.
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You know, there's always someone in mind when I'm writing. You know, it's all comes from somewhere inside.
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I started playing bluegrass with my family, so there were the G, C and D chords. I was playing a Martin acoustic because that's what Carter Stanley of the Stanley Brothers played. Then I got into the really raw blues of Hound Dog Taylor and started on electric guitar.
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Devo and The Cramps didn't get big until they went to New York City. Chrissie Hynde didn't get big until she moved to London. When I was growing up, there wasn't even a place to play - just one little bar. If we wanted to have a gig, then we had to drive 45 minutes up to Cleveland.
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People will say, 'Just one picture please.' That is how it starts. There is just one picture and then somebody else wants another. And when I say 'No' I feel guilty.
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When I learned to play music, I was listening to blues music. And all the blues music I liked was super simple and stripped down. And then all the hip hop I liked was super simple and stripped down and we always heard that connection.
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I was real into Devo, Pavement, Captain Beefheart, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
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Bombino's a super modest guy, very nice. His whole crew is a bunch of characters and he's definitely the Grand Poobah. I don't think the other guys are that much younger than him, but he definitely feels like the wise man; you just sort of get that sense when you're around him. He doesn't say that much but he's humble and well-respected.
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I'm not afraid of the Canadian tuxedo.
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When I recorded my solo album, 'Keep It Hid,' in 2008, I'd gotten more interested in songwriting, inspired by reading Charles Bukowski and connecting with unfancy, interesting language.
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It's not about success. Whatever happens, it doesn't matter. I would like to not go bankrupt or get some incurable disease, but other than that, I'm just happy to keep going.
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Bands from Akron have a sense of humor and don't tend to take themselves too seriously.
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If you can't play guitar and sing in Nashville, you might as well just be a construction worker.
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My mom bought me a white Strat, but that wasn't what I wanted, so I went to a guitar store in Cleveland and - the guy told me it was a really good deal - made an even swap for a blue Teisco Del Ray. I loved that guitar and used it a bunch.
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I'm not too picky about guitars. I love to collect them, mostly oddballs, but I'm not married to any brand or model. Whatever guitar has the best character for the song is the one I want to use, because if you've got a style, you're going to sound like yourself no matter what guitar you play.