The Black Keys' Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach stopped touring in 2015 and didn't play together for over three years and wouldn't announce their next album for nearly five years.

Their first song in five years, “Lo/Hi,” was greeted by fans with open arms last March and the band's newest album, Let's Rock, just celebrated its one-year anniversary on June 28.

While Auerbach and Carney have previously opened up about their hiatus, in a new interview with Music Connection, The Black Keys revealed more about those years where they stopped making music as a band.

“We had kind of just burned out by 2014, definitely by 2015. I’d broken my shoulder in early 2015 and we had to cancel a bunch of dates,” Carney explained. “When we came back to finish a few dates we decided to not book any more shows and give ourselves some time off. One thing just kind of followed the other.”

Carney revealed that their decision to pause was a very important one, and could be the reason they're back as a band today. “That break we took, I think it saved our relationship, really,” he said. “It proved to both of us that it’s okay to slow things down. It’s not a prison sentence; when we’re excited about doing it we can do it, and if we need a break we can take a break.”

Auerbach piggybacked off his bandmate's explanation and talked about how they ended up getting back together after an inspirational recording session in Nashville.

Elsewhere in the interview they explained what was different about The Black Keys now as opposed to before the hiatus and hint, they're taking things a lot slower now.

“This time we agreed not to do too much. Initially we agreed to 30 shows [in 2019] and I think that’s the right way to step back into touring,” Carney said. “I can’t imagine if we were still out there for, like, eight months straight again. At this point we’re really excited about doing it and doing it smartly.”

You can read the entire interview here.

Photo: Getty Images

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