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12:05 · 2,261 words of transcript · watch on YouTube
- The two grew up in the same Akron neighbourhood in different cliques, one a soccer captain into hip hop and old blues, the other a class clown into Led Zeppelin.
▶ 00:01:41
- The band exists because of a no-show. Dan Auerbach booked Patrick Carney's basement to record a demo with his bar band, the other two did not turn up, Carney took the drums, and that was the band.
▶ 00:02:32
- They sent a six-song demo of blues reworkings to labels and were offered a deal before they had played a single show.
▶ 00:02:47
- Their first gig was in Cleveland to eight people, half of them friends and family, for ten dollars.
▶ 00:03:10
- The second album was recorded in one 14-hour session in the same basement, which was their only option after the signing bonus went on rent.
▶ 00:03:44
- They turned down a 300,000 dollar licensing offer for a mayonnaise advert out of fear of being called sellouts, then changed the policy when it became clear nobody was hearing the records anyway, and the audience did not mind.
▶ 00:04:45
- They paid 350 dollars to master one album, were unhappy with it, and sent it out as it was rather than spend more, which is why it remains their worst reviewed record.
▶ 00:05:40
- Danger Mouse entered through an aborted project: he had asked them to write for an Ike Turner comeback album, and when Turner died they reworked those songs as their own.
▶ 00:05:57
- They did not speak for months after Auerbach's first solo record, with Carney feeling abandoned while going through a difficult marriage, and they reconciled after his divorce.
▶ 00:06:37
- The final album of the run came out of another breakdown, with Auerbach walking out after one day back and returning four months later to use the sessions as therapy, which made it their most autobiographical and their first number one.
▶ 00:09:40