The Black Keys refer to Noel Gallagher as "the chord lord", even though the Oasis man has said they're meaningless in his songwriting

Sometimes it's tempting to take some of what Noel Gallagher has said in the past with a pinch (or bucket) of salt. Take late last year for example, when the Oasis mastermind said guitar chords were "completely meaningless" to his songwriting. But what he was trying to express was it's really about the melodies over those chords. Nevertheless, Noel is still a master of them according to The Black Keys' Patrick Carney anyway.

“We were referring to him [Noel] as ‘The Chord Lord’ because he’s just a perfectionist with it,” Carney told the NME following his and fellow Keys' member Dan Auerbach's new collaboration for their forthcoming album. 

 The Keys were clearly taken with Noel, calling him "incredible", "hilarious" and "super talented". Ditto Liam.  “Dan and I are big fans of him and Liam,” he added. “Actually, the Liam song Everything’s Electric is why we decided to work with [producer Greg] Kurstin."

Kurstin and Gallagher are two of the collaborators for the Black Keys' "epic" new album – release date TBC – that also includes early champion Beck and Dan The Automator. It's an approach that Carney believes has hugely benefitted the band. 

“Danger Mouse showed us the trick to collaborating and that’s someone we need to work with again soon,” he added. “We used to be pretty insular. We were two friends from Akron who didn’t really take part in any music scene, and we weren’t able to hang out backstage early on in our career, because we had to drive to the next show.

“Now, we’re thriving because we’re including our friends and being more inclusive. That’s what the vibe is with this record.”

In the meantime, the Black Keys will be heading out on their first UK tour in ten years in support of their most recent album Dropout Boogie. But they will definitely not include a stop at the Glastonbury Festival. 

“We got an offer from Glastonbury that was so insulting, we’re never going to play the festival again,” Carney told the NME. “We know it’s a big deal for people in the UK but the weight of what the festival is doesn’t translate to most Americans. We have no interest in playing it.”