The Akron, Ohio-based rock duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, otherwise known as The Black Keys, want to bring their own unique style to a joint gaming session of Grand Theft Auto IV(TM) with Xbox LIVE® members on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Xbox LIVE Gold members can get the chance to play with the group that released such seminal albums as Thickfreakness, Rubber Factory, and Magic Potion, send a friend request to the band’s Gamertag (GWF BlackKeys) and be online half an hour before (6:30 P.M. ET) the Game with Fame session starts at 7:00 P.M. ET on Wednesday, May 14.
The Black Keys’ latest album, Attack & Release, comes out on Nonesuch Records. “We’d never let it all go before like we did for this one, where anything was game,” explains Auerbach. Working with Brian Burton, of Gnarls Barkley, The Gorillaz, and Danger Mouse fame, was a blast. “He came in as our collaborator,” says Auerbach, “Brian has a real ear for melody and arrangement, and that was a big part of this record, his making suggestions about the arrangement.” But it’s Patrick Carney who sums it all up neatly, “I’m more pleased with the sound of this record than any we’ve ever made.”
Xbox Live Game With Fame with The Black Keys
Date: May 14, 2008 Time: 7:00- 8:30 (Eastern Time) Game: Grand Theft Auto IV Gamertag: GWF BlackKeys (**please note space between GWF and BlackKeys)
If you get a chance to play with The Black Keys, we want to hear about it! Send us an e-mail with the subject: “GWF - The Black Keys.” Be sure to include your Gamertag and home town.
For more on the Black Keys, check out their website at: http://www.theblackkeys.com
Mike Ness took the stage last night dawning a black cowboy hat and ready to play his roots approach to rock and roll. Sure this is a Mike Ness solo tour, but when fellow Social Distortion members Jonny Wickersham and Brent Harding are joining him, it is more of a Social Distortion “unplugged” show. I highly doubt you will ever see Social D break out the stand up bass like Harding did last night.
Ness & Co. played through most of his two solo albums, which admittedly contain many covers. However, seeing his passion playing the songs by Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Carl Perkins, and Sonny Curtis is fine by this guy. In addition, the crowd was treated to Ness originals, “Cheating at Solitaire“, “Rest of Our Lives“, which was written for his wife, “Ballad for a Lonely Man“, which Ness had asked Johnny Cash to play with him on the album, but the Man in Black’s health was not good at the time, many others, and a newly written song.
The Social D fans were treated at the end of the first set with “Ball and Chain (Honky Tonk)“, which the crowd eagerly joined in singing. Ness & Co. finished the night off with a three song encore, which ended with Sonny Curtis’s “I Fought the Law“. Maybe it is the punk rocker in me, but I love that song, and these guys played it right to end the evening, with typical Ness intensity once again dawning the black cowboy hat.
Mike Ness is in New York again Thursday May 15th. If you did not make last night’s show, you might want to check this out.
