Patrick Carney vs Animal from the Muppets

Here’s a few photos of Pat in action from the gig in Sydney on 21 June.  I like the progression of the blur showing an increasing frenzy of movement.  To see the intensity of his drumming not wavering after an 1.5 hours of playing is really inspiring, so committed, with great unintentional drummer gurning (face pulling) throughout.

I can only hope that one day Pat might have a drum battle with Animal from the Muppets (if Animal comes out of retirement) like Buddy Rich did in the video I’ve posted here below.  Now that would be something I’d pay to see!

Animal v Buddy Rich. If only we could have Animal v Pat Carney…

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Latest funny Triple J Radio Black Keys interview

This interview was done on 20 June, a day before the Sydney “double header” concert. It’s a good listen with the boys off on a tangent as usual. They talk amusingly about their training for the 2 shows in one day in Sydney (see my other posts and footage about this gig below). They name check hot local band (and one of my current faves) Eddy Current Suppression Ring and also talk about the creation of the Psychotic Girl track. As ever never a dull moment interviewing these guys.

Listen to the Interview from the Dools and Linda Triple J radio show here

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The Black Keys “I’m Glad” Live in Sydney

Apologies for the thrushy sound near the end, the boys were just rockin’ out too loud for my poor recording equipment (read: camera). For me this track was a highlight of the show.

This is of course a Captain Beefheart cover which they also released as a free mp3 via their Myspace page a while ago.

More videos to come…

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Review: Black Keys gig, Sydney, 21 June 2008

Sometimes when you have been looking forward to something for so long the event sneaks up on you and then even though you’ve had so much time to ready yourself you are rushing at the last moment. So it was before this gig. I gave up trying to get an interview with the band in the days before (not that I tried that hard) and maybe posting my questions beforehand might have freaked the boys out – or at least their Management.

Many months ago I had accidentally bought online 6 tickets to the show rather than 4. This meant I was organising others who might want a ticket. All was well until my friend Sorcha had the unfortunate problem of her car breaking down the day before the show, more so cause she lives 1.5 hours from Sydney. So after posting on the Black Keys forum for someone who might want the ticket 8 hours before the show (no one called), I was left holding an extra ticket I couldn’t sell. Surprisingly, no one was standing out front of the venue looking for one. Nevertheless, I wasn’t too bothered – I had paid for the tickets so long ago and I was where I wanted to be and I knew Sorcha would have loved to have been there too if she could.

Si, Junior, Ra, AG and myself got along to the gig at the Manning Bar, Sydney University at about 9.30pm. We were soon to find out the Black Keys weren’t coming on stage until 11.30pm. It was surely one of the latest start times I’ve ever experienced in this age of noise restrictions and early closing times since I saw The Tea Party at the Monash University Caulfield Campus back in the mid-1990s when they did 3 encores and the show finished sometime after 1.30am.

I thought one of the support acts the Dolly Rocker Movement had some interesting sounds going on but clearly the crowd was waiting for one band only. We took a position to the left hand side of the stage which gave good viewing and saved us from the Uni-crowd elbows and beer-spill of the main floor. After only one encore (the boys had after all played an afternoon gig the same day and it was now 1am) the show closed.

I’ll be posting videos (including a live version of “I’m Glad”), photos, merchandise, and thoughts about the gig in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

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The weird Black Keys interviews continue…

This video interview recently appeared on Pitchfork.tv . I tells ya the boys just seem to have the strange interview where no one talks about their music down to a fine art. Well, I guess they do some where they talk about chord progressions but for some reason when it’s just them talking about goofy topics it’s so much more interesting. The story about Pat nodding to some random girl in the audience at a show even though he couldn’t see a thing because he doesn’t wear his glasses when he plays is a cracker.

I’ve requested an interview with the boys when they come to Sydney for their 21 June show. I’ve previously posted the questions I intend to ask them here.  Hopefully Dan and Pat can find time. But hey we can chat about anything.

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