Joe Rogan Experience #1815 - The Black Keys

(drum music) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) And we're up and running. What's up, gentlemen?

What's up?

What's happening?

Good to see you.

Good to see you, man.

Great to see you guys. First of all, before we even get started, your fucking new album is fantastic.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thanks, man.

I listened to it at the gym this morning, in fact, right before I got here. It was fucking good, man. It's so- it's classic Black Keys.

Thank you.

It's so good.

Oh, shit, man. Thank you.

You guys consistently make just fucking banging music.

(laughs)

It's so good. It's so consistent. How the fuck are you guys so consistent?

You know, we, we learned to play together, you know, 20, a couple, 23 years ago. I got- I, like, literally started playing drums with him, 'cause before that I was playing guitar, and I guess we just learned how to play together. We have this kind of dynamic, and I think we also have the- very similar tastes. It's all kind of very, it's very... I believe in fate, after meeting, after this-

Mm-hmm.

... existence we have, because if it weren't for us growing up a few houses down from each other, we would have never met, and we've become, you know, like, literally like brothers. We have this, we're like... Our, our first record came out 20 years ago, uh, this week, and we've been doing this thing, and it's- it's kind of feels like a dream, you know, when I think back about all the shit we've been through, and... But as far as the consistency, it's like we've always been on the same page. We just wanted to... We were, like, fascinated with albums. We wanted to make records, and we were, like, you know, two dorks living around the corner from each other who had f- these things called four tracks, you know, like a little cassette, and you could record four different sounds.

I didn't have one. The first time I saw one was at Pat's.

I had, yeah, I had one. He would come over.

Blew my mind, man. It was so cool.

You could, like, record guitar, vocals, drums.

What year is this about?

'97.

Oh.

And then we would, like, fuck around on our four track, and I would take it over to his house, his parents' house, and we'd, like, set microphones up in the bathroom and- to get different sounds.

He just sat on the toilet, put the drums in front of him, use the toilet as the seat. (laughs)

(laughs) Yeah. And, uh, we would just have fun, and then, you know, like, around 2000 and, uh, it was 2001, it was like right around 9/11, I bought this, like, digital 12 track recorder, and it was a big deal 'cause it cost like $1000, and I- I went into debt. And I ran into Dan right around then, we were both like 21, and, uh, I told him about it, and he's like, "You should come record my, uh, you should record my band." He had a bar band, and so, uh, I told him to come over, and, uh, the other dudes just never showed up, and so I was there with this recorder, and he's like, "You should just play the drums," which I didn't really play. And so we set up the mics, and he showed me the songs, and we recorded them real quick. And then, like, I'm- I spent a couple days mixing it, and se- gave him the CD-R, and he's like, "Dude, we should start a band."