And that makes guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach (35) really angry. He has the feeling that he will not be granted success, that mass compatibility will suddenly be something dirty and negative, and that as an artist he must not grow, but should always serve the same thing. Which is why he deliberately steps on the brakes to release the latest Keys epic, hardly gives interviews anymore and prefers to let the music speak. But for eclipsed he is to speak: He receives in his Easy Eye Sound Studios in downtown Nashville - and chooses the gallant middle course between verbal diplomacy and uninhibited vomiting.
eclipsed: How do you deal with the widespread opinion that the Black Keys have become too big and too successful in recent years - can you understand that?
Dan Auerbach: Yes and no. On the one hand it is the case that we as a band have grown very slowly and therefore very healthily. With each album a little bit more. In this respect, the current success is something we have been working towards for a long time. But at the same time, and this is the other side, that's not the reason why we make music or it feels like we just don't fit into the mainstream. We became aware of this at the Grammy Awards in 2012. That's why we left after fifteen minutes. It was a terribly boring event.
eclipsed: Then you will boycott such events in the future?
Auerbach: That could happen. What has been most to our detriment in recent years has been media attention. Especially for Pat, who unlike me likes to be a public person. He's on Twitter and Facebook, and for years he was able to do the most nonsense, which didn't bother anyone. We were acting below radar. But suddenly they become huge headlines in all kinds of publications. He has real problems with that, because he feels restricted in his freedom and must first learn to deal with it.
