Q&A: Patrick Carney on the Black Keys' Summer Tour, Van Halen and Dance Music

Q&A: Patrick Carney on the Black Keys’ Summer Tour, Van Halen and Dance Music
“If they replace someone who’s been in the band for 30 years with a 17-year-old, they’re obviously assholes, right?”
By Patrick Doyle
June 22, 2012 10:00 AM ET

“We’re playing better than we have since 2010,” Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney tells Rolling Stone in the middle of the band’s summer tour. “When you play a song 60 times a year, you fuck around with it.” Carney, exhausted from months on the road and ready to return home to Nashville for a vacation, opens up about what it’s like when women flash the band, why he hated seeing Van Halen live and why he won’t be checking out the dance acts at Lollapalooza.

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What bands will you be checking out at Lollapalooza?
I love Black Sabbath, but I don’t know if I’d want to watch Black Sabbath without Bill Ward. The band is Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Ozzy. I have no interest in seeing bands with partial lineups. I just saw Van Halen without Michael Anthony. I’m not a very big Van Halen fan but it was such a fucking bummer. Like what the fuck is the point?

Yeah, definitely.
I mean, sure, Eddie Van Halen’s son is a pretty good bass player and he’s a 20-year-old kid and that’s cool, but like, what the fuck is that? That’s fucking retarded. If someone is able to be in a band for 30 years and then people are okay with replacing him with a 17-year-old, they’re obviously motherfucking assholes, right?

Did you enjoy the show at all?
No. Not at all.

Why?
It felt flat. It didn’t sound good. I don’t think Dave’s voice is really there. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar sounded pretty good but I’m not a big fan of that music to begin with. I do like some of the classic Van Halen stuff, but not in the same way that I actually like Black Sabbath stuff. I just think some Van Halen is exceptionally awful.

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