page_title: The Black Keys
section_title: El Camino (2011–2013)
hierarchical_section_title: The Black Keys / History / El Camino (2011–2013)
caption_attribution_description: The Black Keys performing at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 22nd, 2012.
context_page_description: The Black Keys are an American rock band formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their records, before they eventually emerged as one of the most popular garage rock artists during a second wave of the genre's revival in the 2010s. The band's raw blues rock sound draws heavily from Auerbach's blues influences, including Junior Kimbrough, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson.
  Friends since childhood, Auerbach and Carney founded the group after dropping out of college. After signing with indie label Alive, they released their debut album, The Big Come Up, which earned them a new deal with Fat Possum Records. Over the next decade, the Black Keys built an underground fanbase through extensive touring of small clubs, frequent album releases and music festival appearances, and broad licensing of their songs. Their third album, Rubber Factory, received critical acclaim and boosted the band's profile, eventually leading to a record deal with major label Nonesuch Records in 2006.
context_section_description: The group recorded their seventh studio album, El Camino, from March to May 2011. Splitting time between touring and recording, the band spent 41 days at Easy Eye Sound Studio, which was opened in 2010 by Auerbach in the duo's new hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. For the album, Danger Mouse reprised his role as producer and also contributed as a co-writer on all 11 songs. After struggling to translate the slower songs from Brothers to a live setting, the band decided to write more uptempo tracks for El Camino. The record draws from popular genres from the 1950s–1970s, including rock and roll, glam rock, rockabilly, surf rock, and soul. The band cited several retro acts as musical influences on the album, including The Clash, The Cramps, T. Rex, Ramones, The Beatles, Sweet, The Cars, and Johnny Burnette.
  "Lonely Boy" was released in October as the album's lead single, accompanied by a popular one-shot music video of a man dancing and lip-syncing. The song became the group's best-charting single in several countries, reaching number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 2 on the Australian Singles Chart, and number 33 on the Canadian Hot 100. The song was certified nine-times platinum in Canada, triple platinum in Australia, platinum in New Zealand, and gold in Denmark. The band returned to Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on December 3, 2011. El Camino was released three days later and received wide critical acclaim. In the US, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold 206,000 copies in its first week, the highest single-week sales and (to that point) charting position the group had achieved in the country. Many publications, such as Rolling Stone and Time ranked El Camino among the best albums of the year, despite its late release. The album was certified double-platinum in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand; platinum in the US, UK, and Ireland; and gold in Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.
  In 2012, the group commenced the first headlining arena tour of its career, the El Camino Tour, playing dates in Europe and North America. After tickets went on sale, their show at Madison Square Garden sold out in 15 minutes. Just as it did on its previous tour, the group added bassist Gus Seyffert and keyboardist/guitarist John Wood as touring musicians in order to perform songs as close to their studio arrangements as possible. The album's second single, "Gold on the Ceiling", like its predecessor, went to number one on the Alternative Songs chart and was certified platinum in Australia and Canada. The group headlined several music festivals throughout the year, including Catalpa Music Festival, Coachella, Memphis in May (in 2013), Lollapalooza, and Osheaga. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, El Camino and "Lonely Boy" were nominated in five categories and were winners in three; the album won Best Rock Album, while "Lonely Boy" won Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song.
caption: The Black Keys performing at Madison Square Garden in March 2012
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