The Black Keys have announced they have signed to new management following a public split from their former team.
The band recently took to social media to claim they were “fucked” after their North American tour was cancelled and they split from their management on June 7. The Black Keys were due to play their ‘International Players Tour’ in the US and Canada from September to November this year, but it was reported late last month that the entire run of gigs had been abruptly scrapped, with no explanation provided.
Amidst speculation the cancellation was due to low ticket sales, the band opened up about the tour, saying it was axed and re-planned in favour of smaller theatre venues as featured on their recent European dates.
Billboard went on to report that the band had split from their management team, Irving Azoff and Steve Moir of Full Stop Management, in what was described as an “amicable parting”.
Now, Rolling Stone have reported that The Black Keys have signed to Red Light Management, whose clients include The Dave Matthews Band, The Strokes and Chris Stapleton. They cited a source “close to the situation”; CEO of Red Light Management Coran Capshaw did not immediately reply to a request for comment, whilst Azoff’s representative declined to comment.
Before then, The Black Keys spoke to NME last year and recalled their time working with the “incredible” Noel Gallagher in the studio.
“He’s hilarious and super talented,” said Carney. “We were referring to him as ‘The Chord Lord’ because he’s just a perfectionist with it.”
The band’s 12th studio album ‘Ohio Players’, which includes ‘On The Game’, was released on April 5. In a three-star review, NME wrote: “It feels like it’s about impact over depth, tamping down flyaway elements into a homogenised whole that more closely resembles last year’s ‘Dropout Boogie’ than any of the seven inch singles that got an airing during the writing process.
“The Black Keys might have a killer record collection but ‘Ohio Players’ is the work of a band who are perhaps too good at being themselves.”
In other Black Keys news, Dan Auerbach appeared on the new Johnny Cash song ‘Spotlight’, released last week.
The track features vocals from the country icon that were first recorded in 1993, with Auerbach one of a number of musicians that added new parts to the recording to bring it up to date. The song will feature on ‘Songwriter’, an entire album of unreleased songs by Cash, set to be released later this year.
Just days after landing her fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Drop Dead,” Olivia Rodrigo is now getting major recognition from Niall Horan.
In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone published April 30, the former One Direction member shared insight into how he approaches songwriting, highlighting the comeback of bridges in pop and pointing to Rodrigo as a key influence behind it.
“It’s great to hear [bridges]. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers,” the Irish artist said, before singing part of the “Drivers License” bridge. “What I like about Olivia’s music is [that] you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song. It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing. Whatever [she] and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there. It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Horan also spoke at length about his upcoming project Dinner Party, set to arrive June 5 through Capitol Records. He has already released two tracks from the record, including the title cut and “Little More Time,” both produced alongside Afterhrs, John Ryan and Julian Bunetta. The album rollout will be paired with an extensive 22-date tour across Europe, Ireland and the U.K. The Irish singer’s new release follows 2023’s The Show, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. During the interview, Horan also mentioned that his next era leans more into rock elements, something he connects back to his long-standing love for bands like Blink-182.
“That drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-’90s, early-2000s punk-rock era,” he said. “Rock’s been a big influence in my life since I was a child. I write pop songs, but dressing them up in a different way sometimes is quite cool. And now, the way my career is going, I’m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There’s only so much sitting on Spotify you can do and reading comments before you actually get an idea of what people actually think. You can see it in the room. The rockier stuff really goes off at the shows.”
The “Slow Hands” hitmaker also has two U.S. stadium dates lined up for this year. Joining longtime friend and Grammy-nominated country artist Thomas Rhett, Horan is set to perform at GEODIS Park in Nashville on July 9 and Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 19, with Live Nation handling promotion for both shows. Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts will open the concerts. With such a packed touring schedule, all four remaining members of One Direction are expected to be on the road with new music this year. When asked about attending his former bandmates’ shows, Horan gave praise to Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
“I went to Harry’s show a couple of years ago, and that was just wild. Madness going on there,” he said. “It reminded me of the 1D stadium shows where it was just seas of people jumping up and down. Watching the things going on on the floor, all the fans dancing around, I love that. You feel a sense of pride watching the boys doing what they love to do, and the communities that they’re able to create. I’m going to try and get to a Louis show of some capacity in the next few weeks.”
Horan is now the fourth One Direction member to drop a new album this year. Tomlinson released How Did I Get Here? in January, Styles hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally in March, and ZAYN followed with Konnakol earlier this month on April 17.
