Anyone watch the Black Keys on SNL?

[skullservant]

Never really listened to the Black Keys all too too much, but I couldn't help but notice the backup guitarist (of all people) had two full Sunn stacks and Dan didn't have a Sovtek Muff. Thoughts?

[Seedy]

Saw it, noticed the Sunns, didn't notice the Muff or lack thereof. But they were good. I'm glad they're getting more famous. For God's sake there has to be someone on rock radio that at least kinda rocks. They play Linkin Park and Papa Roach like they're new here.

[skullservant]

Yeah. I'm glad that they're being played more among all the other riffraff

[Ilikewater]

Their latest stuff hasn't really been muff based. Especially their latest single. He was using a whammy or something for the detune thing that song requires, but everything else just sounded like overdrive.

[Thomas2508]

yeah i think he's got a rack setup now...no pedal board. Might be a muff in his rack somewhere.

[IEatCats]

What's the appeal to rack equipment, exactly?

[skullservant]

Not sure. I guess having all your pedals hooked up to a wireless midi and in a cabinet is easier than a giant board in front of you

[IEatCats]

I don't see it being any simpler than a pedal board. Maybe it's easier to move, or techs can adjust settings or something.

[Mudfuzz]

What's the appeal to rack equipment, exactly?

It depends on how much shit you have... My guitarist uses a rack with a Marshall Jmp-1 and a big digitech thingy plus a full board Basically it allows her to change amp and effect settings every song or at whim and use pedals.

[Zounds Perspex]

racks are for big money cats who can have techs switch their stuff off and on. why not, if you have the dosh?
I tried to listen to El Camino again today - not my thing.
kinda funny it's being called a "raw" record in the media - ha, not my idea of the raw shit.

[IEatCats]

racks are for big money cats who can have techs switch their stuff off and on. why not, if you have the dosh?
I tried to listen to El Camino again today - not my thing.
kinda funny it's being called a "raw" record in the media - ha, not my idea of the raw shit.

Right? It feels so damn over produced. Magic Potion. THAT'S a raw album.

[Zounds Perspex]

I really like some of the playing and toanz on the early, strictly duo albums, but the vocals have always been a little "Blueshammer" for me anyway.

[IEatCats]

Definitely. They got worse as they kept playing, IMO.

[DuoSonicII]

Man, I am trying hard not to be all hipster with the Black Keys, but it's tough. I've been following them ever since the early going when they were still playing little clubs, Auerbach was toting his own pedalboard around in a little thrift-store suitcase, and it was easy to stand right in front of the stage and get obliterated by Dan's Super Reverb directly.

It's cool that an actual decent rock band who loves Junior Kimbrough is popular and in the charts...but at the same time, I didn't really dig "Brothers" that much compared to their old stuff, and what I'm hearing from the new album doesn't really do it for me either. And it's really weird to me that they're playing bigass arenas now. Saw them on New Year's Day 2011 at a sold-out Aragon in Chicago, and that seemed like the biggest place a band like that could/should ever headline. Then I saw them headline an amphitheatre last summer, and it was waaaaay weird. I keep going back to the White Stripes, and remembering how that even though they got really popular, and could have sold out arenas, they didn't - because a stripped-down blues-rock duo headlining an arena is just kind of silly.

Beyond that, as a Midwesterner, I'm bummed that after playing the "we're from Akron, Ohio - rust belt foreva!" card for ten years, they bail to Nashville as soon as they start making money and basically give Akron the finger (see recent Rolling Stone interview). I also want to say to everybody who didn't discover them til the radio started playing Tighten Up: where in the hell were all of you 5-6-7-8 years ago when they were really kicking ass?

Okay, I've hipster'd more than enough for one post....

[D.o.S.]

I saw the White Stripes play an arena...

Also, their [Black Keys] covers record is fucking rad.