A rock band frontman is opening up about his new album. Specifically, he discusses how a personal tragedy inspired the new project.
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The Black Keys dropped their latest LP, Peaches!, on May 1. Appearing on Rolling Stone's Nashville Now podcast, the band's frontman and lead singer, Dan Auerbach, is opening up about the project. He revealed that his dad's death, who passed in March, inspired the project.
Auerbach's dad, Chuck, battled cancer for some time before his death. Sadly, he passed away on March 29. His death hit the rock band frontman hard, but Auerbach was able to channel his grief into something productive.
As such, the rock star struggles to listen to the project himself. Specifically, the singer cites the song "It's a Dream." "I feel like he would have loved that song. It was right up his alley. This whole life has been a bit of a dream, and he helped put me here," he said.
Rock Band Frontman Opens Up
The song is "hard to listen to, but it's mostly joyous." "He gave me so much," he said. "It was like one last gift."
So much is connected to his father that his passing has hurt even more.
"Everything about what I do is related to my dad, musically and aesthetically," he said. "He was an antique dealer, a picker. I knew how to pack a van for tour because I would pack the van for my dad's antique shows. This s---ty old rusty van, with a wooden rack on the top."
The rock band frontman doubts he would have been a musician if not for his father's love for music. The elder Auerbach would often blast the Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man" while on the road.
"My dad listened to music louder than anybody," he recalled. Auerbach found his love for music through his dad's record collection.
"I could feel the connection between those two worlds even before I knew really anything about music or had even tried to play," said Auerbach.
