Dan Auerbach

Daniel Quine "Dan" Auerbach (born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist for the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio.^[1] As a member of the band, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced eight studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney. In 2009, Auerbach released a solo album entitled Keep It Hid. He released another solo album in 2017, entitled Waiting on a Song. In addition to winning several Grammy Awards as a member of the Black Keys, Auerbach received the 2013 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical for co-producing his band's 2011 album, El Camino, and for producing records by Dr. John (Locked Down) and Hacienda.

In early 2015, Auerbach announced a new side-project, the Arcs. The group released their debut album, Yours, Dreamily, on September 4, 2015, via Nonesuch Records.^[2] Alongside with Action Bronson and Mark Ronson, Auerbach created the track "Standing In The Rain", featured in the 2016 movie Suicide Squad.^[3] In March 2017, Auerbach released the single "Shine on Me" for his second solo album Waiting on a Song, released in June 2017 on his new label Easy Eye Sound.^[4]

Childhood and early life

Auerbach was born in Ohio, and is the son of Mary Little (née Quine; b. about 1948), a teacher of French, and Charles Auerbach (b. about 1950), an antique dealer.^[5] His father is of Polish Jewish descent^[5] and his mother is of part Manx descent.^[6] His maternal cousin, twice removed, was philosopher and logician Willard Van Orman Quine, and his second cousin once removed was the late guitarist Robert Quine. Auerbach grew up in a family with musical roots. Auerbach became infatuated with blues after listening to his father's old vinyl records during his childhood, his first concert was Whitney Houston with his mother at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. His second concert was a Grateful Dead show with his father at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland.^[7][8][9] He was influenced early-on by his mother's side of the family, notably his uncles who played bluegrass music.

Auerbach described himself as a normal teenager in high school who smoked marijuana and captained the soccer team at Firestone High School.^[10] For a year, he attended McGill University in Montreal. He was heavily influenced by Junior Kimbrough in college, eventually resulting in his dropping out to pursue the guitar more seriously. "I've listened to him so much, it's just how I hear it... I studied him so much... Getting F's in college, when I should've been studying, I was listening to Junior Kimbrough's music instead".^[11] Other major influences include: Robert Johnson, R.L. Burnside, Clarence White, Robert Nighthawk, T-Model Ford, Hound Dog Taylor, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Kokomo Arnold, Son House and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan.

The Black Keys

Auerbach is best known for his work with The Black Keys. Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney first met when they were eight or nine years old while living in the same neighborhood of Akron, Ohio.^[12] Carney is the nephew of saxophonist Ralph Carney, who performed on several Tom Waits albums.^[13] While attending Firestone High School, Carney and Auerbach became friends,^[12] though they were part of different crowds.^[14] Auerbach was captain of the high school soccer team, while Carney was a social outcast.^[15] Encouraged by their brothers, the duo began jamming together in 1996, as Auerbach was learning guitar at the time and Carney owned a four-track recorder and a drum set.^[16][17]

After signing with indie label Alive, they released their debut album, The Big Come Up in 2002, which earned them a new deal with jazz/rock label Fat Possum Records. Their third album, Rubber Factory was released in 2004 and received critical acclaim, it boosted the band's profile, eventually leading to a record deal with major label Nonesuch Records in 2006. After self-producing and recording their first four records in makeshift studios, in 2008 the duo completed Attack & Release in a professional studio and hired producer Danger Mouse, a frequent collaborator with the band.

The group's commercial breakthrough came in 2010 with Brothers, which along with its popular single "Tighten Up", won three Grammy Awards including Best Alternative Album of the Year. Their 2011 follow-up El Camino received strong reviews and reached number two on the Billboard 200 chart, leading to the first arena concert tour of the band's career, the El Camino Tour. The album and its hit single "Lonely Boy" won three Grammy Awards. In 2014, they released their eighth album, Turn Blue, their first number-one record in the US, Canada, and Australia.

Other performances and bands

The Barnburners

Auerbach was a member of a band called The Barnburners before forming The Black Keys in 2001.^[18] The Barnburners included Auerbach, Jason Edwards and Kip Amore.^[18] The Barnburners were a blues-based band that performed in Northeast Ohio clubs and released a 6-track album called The Rawboogie EP.^[18] The album includes the Junior Kimbrough song "Meet Me in the City", which Auerbach later covered with The Black Keys on their Chulahoma tribute studio album.^[18]

Dan Auerbach and the Fast Five playing the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio on March 5, 2009.

The Fast Five

The band "Fast Five" toured with Auerbach in 2009. The Fast Five's other members drew from the band Hacienda and percussionist Patrick Hallahan from My Morning Jacket.^{[19][20][21][22]} The original percussionist, Bob Cesare, was unable to perform with the Fast Five because of a death in his family.^[23]

Dan and fellow Black Keys member Patrick Carney met the members of Hacienda at a club, Emo's, in Austin, Texas while watching a band during the Austin City Limits Music Festival.^[24] Upon seeing one of the Hacienda band members hit on an intoxicated woman, Carney walked over and leaned in saying, "Dude, trust me, that's a bad idea."^[24] After becoming acquainted with each other, Dan e-mailed Hacienda a month later asking for more demos, which eventually led them to being asked to open for The Black Keys and Dr. Dog at a show in Austin, Texas.^[24] Afterward, Auerbach asked Hacienda to travel to Akron, Ohio where they would be his "guinea pigs" while recording Keep It Hid.^[24]

Blakroc

Blakroc was a studio album and collaboration by Auerbach and Carney of The Black Keys and Damon Dash, co-founder and former co-owner of Roc-A-Fella Records, who oversaw the project. The album featured a plethora of guest appearances from several indie and popular hip hop and R&B acts, namely Mos Def, Nicole Wray, Pharoahe Monch, Ludacris, Billy Danze of M.O.P., Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Jim Jones and NOE of ByrdGang, as well as Raekwon, RZA and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu-Tang Clan.^[25]

The Arcs

During the Bataclan Theatre massacre, Auerbach and his band The Arcs were performing at the similarly-sized nearby venue, Le Trianon. Auerbach subsequently stated, "I know people that were there last night. I know people who are like, ‘What am I gonna do -- see the Arcs or the Eagles of Death Metal?" And I've woken up feeling very out of sorts. What do you call it, survivor's remorse? Why the hell did it happen there and not where we were playing? I'm just so brokenhearted about all those people." ^[26]

Awards and honors

The Black Keys' 2010 album, Brothers, won three Grammy awards. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Auerbach won the award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.^[27]

In 2010, he joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.

Personal life

Auerbach married Jen Goodall in 2015.^[28]

Auerbach, Patrick Carney, and Jack White have been involved in several public feuds. The roots of the conflict date back to 2010, when White banned Auerbach from his Nashville studio.^[29][30][31]

Discography

Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys playing at Music Midtown in 2011

Solo

• Keep It Hid (2009)
• Waiting on a Song (2017)

With The Black Keys

• The Big Come Up (2002)
• Thickfreakness (2003)
• The Moan (2004)
• Rubber Factory (2004)
• Chulahoma (2006)
• Magic Potion (2006)
• Attack & Release (2008)
• Brothers (2010)
• El Camino (2011)
• Turn Blue (2014)

Blakroc

• Blakroc (2009)

The Arcs

• Yours, Dreamily, (2015)

Musical collaborations

Musical equipment

Guitars

Auerbach at Madison Square Garden in 2012

• Fender Jerry Donahue Telecaster^[32]
• Harmony Stratotone H47^[32]
• Harmony H78 Hollowbody^[32]
• Harmony Heath TG-46^[33]
• Harmony Rocket^[33]
• Gibson Firebird VII^[32]
• 70's Gibson Les Paul Deluxe^[32]
• 60's Gibson SG Junior^[32]
• Guild Thunderbird
• Supro Martinique^[33]
• Silvertone U1^[33]
• Silvertone 1454^[34]
• Rickenbacker 360^[33]
• Ibanez SG copy^[33]
• Ibanez Rocket Roll[flying v copy]^[33]
• National Map^[33]
• Teisco Del Rey SS-4L^[33]

Amplification

• Fender Quad Reverb^[33]
• Marshall JTM45 and vintage Marshall 8x10 cab^[33]
• Fender '65 Twin Reverb Reissue^[32]
• Fender Musicmaster Bass^[33]
• Fender Super Reverb^[35]
• Victoria Double Deluxe^[36][37]

Effects

• Ibanez Standard Fuzz^[38]
• Sovtek Big Muff^[33]
• Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz^[39]
• Gibson Maestro Fuzz Tone^[32]
• Tubeplex tape delay^[33]
• Fulltone Tape Echo^[33]
• Boss TR-2 Tremolo^[33]
• Analogman Sunface^[33]
• Boss Super Shifter
• Boss Super Octave
• Nu Wah Fuzz Wah

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dan Auerbach.

• Cold Steel in the Midnight Hour: An Interview with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys
• The Black Keys – Interview
• Pentatonic for the soul: Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys
• Keep It Hid Review
• Dan Auerbach live review on Citizen Dick
• Dan Auerbach on Obscure Sound
• Real Detroit Weekly – Dan Auerbach