American rock duo The Black Keys is known for songs like Tighten Up which won three Grammy Awards. The duo recently performed at O2 Academy Brixton on May 7, 2024, and were joined by singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher during their concert.
Noel Gallagher performed two songs- On The Game and Only Love Matters from The Black Keys' new album Ohio Players which was released on April 5, 2024. Gallagher, the former lead guitarist of the now-disbanded band Oasis, co-wrote both songs alongside Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach (members of the rock duo).
The rock duo made an appearance on Radio X's The Evening Show with Daniel O'Connell on May 9, 2024, in which they talked about their collaboration with Noel Gallagher. Talking about their experience of performing with Gallagher live, Patrick Carney said that it was fun, and Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys mentioned:
“It was incredible, really. I mean, amazing venue; crowd was crazy. And we had Noel [Gallagher] come out and play some songs with us in the encore, and everybody lost their minds. It’s going be hard to beat!”
The Black Keys talk about their collaboration with Noel Gallagher for new album
Apart from their new album Ohio Players, the Black Keys announced their Fall 2024 Tour wherein one of the locations was O2 Academy Brixton. In their radio interview with Daniel O'Connell, the rock duo talked about their experience, their favorite thing about working with Gallagher, and the making of the song On The Game.
On being asked about the rock duo’s favorite thing about working with Noel Gallagher, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney shared that there is no better feeling than getting a chance to work with someone as esteemed as Gallagher and curate something that everyone involved is proud of. Patrick mentioned that it doesn’t matter what others think, stating:
"The fact that you can tell Noel is proud of the songs and likes these songs, yeah. It's just like, 'We made something Noel likes WITH Noel!"
The rock duo also talked about how Noel Gallagher was the first person to come to mind when discussing songwriters for their new album. In an interview with The Irish Independent dated March 29, 2024, Dan Auerbach mentioned that he thought Gallagher was similar to Tom Petty in the sense that even if one doesn’t own their records, they know all the songs as they exist in people’s everyday life.
The Black Keys duo also shared how everyone told them that Gallagher doesn’t co-write with anyone, but ended up giving a positive response to the rock duo and asked them to come to London.
Sharing that they were nervous when recording On The Game co-written by Noel Gallagher, the rock duo talked about how it was the two of them, Gallagher, and their friend Leon on the keyboards in the Toe Rag studio, in London. They were able to record the song without any references and they let the process happen naturally.
Apart from Gallagher, the new album of the Black Keys features collaborations with rapper Juicy J, singer-songwriter Beck, and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin.
According to Billboard, Ohio Players peaked on the Billboard 200 at No. 26 on April 20, 2024, placing the rock duo on the ranking for the 13th time.