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Patrick Carney

Patrick Carney21 posts

Patrick Carney is a musician from Akron, Ohio known as one-half of the blues-rock duo The Black Keys (with Dan Auerbach). He is also the founder of a side-project called Drummer, featuring drummers from other Ohio-based groups. Carney founded the now-defunct Audio Eagle Records and has produced albums for other artists, including The Sheepdogs and Tennis.

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15 Oct, 2014

Criticizes U2

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Carney criticizes U2’s decision to have their new album “Songs of Innocence” downloaded automatically onto all iPhone users music lists in an interview with The Seattle Times. Carney says the move “devalues their music”.

[It] sends a huge mixed message to bands … that are just struggling to get by. I think that they were thinking it’s super generous of them to do something like that.

13 Jun, 2014

Attend Indians opener

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Carney and his father attend the Indians’ home opener in a tradition going back 60 years. Carney’s celebrity makes the game eventful:

Right as I get up to go, this guy screams across the bathroom “Hey look, the guy from The Black Keys is about to pee,” he said. “I turn around and every single dude is looking at me and I get the worst stage fright I’ve ever had in my life. I had to run to the bleachers and find another rest room.

9 May, 2014

Calls Bieber “f*cking irresponsible *sshole’

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In a Rolling Stone interview, Carney comments on his earlier feud with Bieber:

Justin Bieber, like a f*cking irresponsible asshole, sicced 40 million Twitter followers on me because I paid him a compliment he didn’t understand. I’m saying that he should be grateful that he has a f*cking career in music. And he shouldn’t be f*cking telling his followers to slap me, and then also be doing anti-bullying bullsh*t. It’s so irresponsible.

Mar 2014

Renew Orioles sponsorship

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The Black Keys continue their sponsorship of the West Akron Baseball League’s Orioles. They are also donating to the entire WABL through the sale of specially designed jerseys available at the band’s website. Carney says:

Dan [Auerbach, the Keys’ lead singer and guitarist] and I played little league when we were kids before we got into music. It was a really positive hobby that kept us from sitting around watching TV. We are proud to be sponsoring WABL to hopefully offset some of the league’s expenses and get more kids outside having fun.

17 Feb, 2013

Changes Twitter name to Justin Bieber

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Carney changes his Twitter name to Justin Bieber and begins tweeting as the singer:

Carney also tweets a “new bieber track world premier”, linking to Devo’s track Recombo DNA (demo). The drummer also retweets insults from Bieber’s fans.

11 Feb, 2013

Bieber Grammy comments

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When asked whether Bieber should feel snubbed by his lack of Grammy nominations, Carney tells TMZ:

He’s rich, right?…Grammys are for like music, not for money…and he’s making a lot of money. He should be happy.

15 Sep, 2012

Carney, Ward marry

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Carney and Ward marry in a ceremony in the backyard of their Nashville home. Over 350 guests are in attendance, including Auerbach and athlete Shaun White. The ceremony is officiated by comedian Forte. The couple includes their Irish wolfhound Charlotte in the ceremony, and the bride walks down the aisle to Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells.

1 Jan, 2012

Produces ‘The Sheepdogs’

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Carney produces The Sheepdogs’ self-titled album being released on Atlantic Records/Warner Music Canada. Singer Currie says:

A lot of making rock’n’roll is about cutting the fat and being a good filter. In the studio, he helped us refine the songs and found the best representation of each one possible. Plus, we wanted to be able to incorporate all different styles and I think our album runs the gamut.

Oct 2011

Produces Tennis album

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Carney produces the sophomore album of pop group Tennis. The album is titled Young & Old and is recorded in Nashville.

They basically just e-mailed and asked me if I was interested in helping them make an album, and I was. I like working with bands that have that kind of pop aesthetic but are still coming from a different direction. I try not to do that much production work. But for them, it kind of worked out perfectly because they came to Nashville, and we made the album in, like, 10 days in my garage.

Dec 2010

Move to Nashville

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Auerbach and Carney move to Nashville, TN., from Akron, OH. Nashville was one of several finalists under consideration before the bandmates bought homes there.

Honestly, if Miami had given Pat and I the amount of money they gave LeBron, we would be living in Miami right now.

4 Aug, 2009

Carney, Grollmus divorce

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Carney asks Grollmus for a divorce while she is in Poland for a book research trip. Carney tells Grollmus to take anything they received as a wedding present. The pair also divides up their record collection.

In the end, when it came to dividing our 500 records, we didn’t really fight. He told me to take what I wanted and leave the rest. I tried to be fair and remember exactly what I had brought into the relationship and what I had acquired, personally, during it. Bikini Kill’s Pussy Whipped and Nico’s Chelsea Girl were no-brainers, as were almost all of the bebop records that I had purchased during a “jazz” phase. He could keep the John Cale. And though I wanted to take Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter, it had belonged to his father originally.

27 May, 2009

9th Annual IMA judges

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Auerbach and Carney join the 9th Annual Independent Music Awards as artist judges. The international program honors independent artists who

who broaden the definition of commercial success and represent the diversity of the global Indie scene.

1 Jan, 2007

Carney, Grollmus marry

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Carney and Grollmus marry after Carney proposes in Chicago during a The Black Keys tour:

He opened a bottle of champagne, while I lit a cigarette. He tried to get into a kneeling position, but, at 6-foot-4 inches, he was too tall to do it gracefully. Finally, he gave up, pulled a vintage diamond ring in a simple platinum setting from the chest pocket of his plaid thrift store shirt and asked me to marry him.

Bloodsongs
2005

Audio Eagle Records

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BloodsongsCarney founds Audio Eagle Records, an independent record label dedicated mainly to local Ohio artists. The label’s first release is Gil Mantera’s Party Dream’s Bloodsongs.

Audio Eagle, a new label imprint from Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, is proud to announce Bloodsongs. Known for their live shows, Gil Mantera’s Party Dream demands an audience’s attention. Formed in Youngstown, OH, they show their talent for creating dance-worthy synth melodies on their debut Bloodsongs.

 

1 Jan, 2000

Carney, Grollmus begin dating

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Carney and Grollmus begin dating. The pair start a short-lived band, Churchbuilder, which opens for Mary Timony at a campus show. Grollmus says:

…we soon realized the limitations of my musical skills. For me, singing and playing keyboards proved as challenging as discrete math. Our little duo wouldn’t be able to pull it off without help. We quickly recruited a couple of friends to perform with us. We taught them the very simple structures of our four modest songs and then, together, learned how to play “Tugboat” by Galaxie 500 as the final number. Five songs, 20 or so minutes. That would have to do.

1999

Attends University of Akron

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Carney joins Auerbach at the University of Akron, initially pursuing photojournalism. He attends school for five semesters:

…I was still a freshman because I kept changing my major. I took a few philosophy classes and studied medieval philosophy but decided I hated it. Then I took a few art classes and a general music class, but I ended up dropping out of school for the spring semester of 2002, and Dan had already dropped out.

Sep 1998

Attends Art Institute of Pittsburgh

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Carney attends the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for about six months.

I was getting straight A’s, so I knew there was something wrong, because I had 2.0 in high school. So that’s why I left. It felt like a joke.

1997

High school bands

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In high school, Carney performs in a number of high school bands, including The Deprogrammers and Christopher Whispers. Friend Philip Swift says:

The Deprogrammers was me, Pat, Gabe and Steve and it was supposed to be this sort of like bizarre weird jazz idea with a whole back story of the band built into it. We were these deprogrammers who would come in and deprogram people from listening to the mainstream drivel that we were hearing on the radio. I played the clarinet although I didn’t really play the clarinet I just blew on it and I think Pat played drums, Steve played guitar and Gabe played keyboards or something.

…Christopher Whispers was more of like a classic…what I like to think of as mid-90s indie-rock like Pavement or the Frank Black solo stuff. Things like that. It had lyrics and it had more of a melody to it.