If you’re a fan of The Strokes or The Black Keys, you should probably brace yourself.
The iconic rock bands are set to feature on the next recording of none other than America’s trashiest pop princess, Ke$ha.
The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, along with drummer Fab Moretti, will appear on the track, ‘Only Wanna Dance With You’, while Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney has also collaborated with Ke$ha on her new album, Warrior, as NME reports.
Ke$ha described the process of enticing The Strokes duo in a predictably eloquent fashion, saying “They just were down, and I was down.”
“A friend of mine plays with Julian [Casablancas] and we kind of knew each other, and Julian really likes [producer] Dr Luke so they were talking, and it kind of happened oddly organically,” she continued. “I’m a huge fan of their music, and they’re on one of my favourite songs on the record. They’re part of a long list of some of my favourite bands that have actually collaborated with me on this record.”
Recruiting Patrick Carney was also a seemingly simple task, with Ke$ha labelling him a “really good friend” and that she attended the drummer’s wedding earlier this year.
Ke$ha also stated that “I hope people freak out. I kind of freaked out when he was like, ‘sure’. I was like, ‘really’?!”, which, coincidentally, is probably how most fans of the bands reacted upon hearing the news.
Perhaps the best news is that fans of The Strokes can take this as further proof that the band are still together and working on new material (albeit with the woman behind ‘Tik Tok’). Apart from facing off with fellow indie-darlings Arcade Fire on the basketball court, studio news has been few and far between from the New Yorkers.“I hope people freak out. I kind of freaked out when he was like, ‘sure’. I was like, ‘really’?!”
Earlier this year rumours began circulating that The Strokes had begun pre-production on a new studio album, which was later confirmed by an unlikely but reliable source; Albert Hammond Senior, father of guitarist Albert Hammond Junior – who stated that “the stuff they’re doing is incredible. They’re doing it themselves with their friend, engineer, and producer”.
The Blacks Keys are no strangers to collaborations, having recently worked with hip-hop producer, multi-instrumentalists turned directed RZA for a track to be featured in the film The Man With The Iron Fists.
The band were also recently on Australia shores for a run of massive headline shows, which our Tone Deaf review labelled “engrossing…enormous and awesome.”
Ke$ha’s “long list” of dream collaborations must also include Iggy Pop, with the influential punk rocker set to appear on her sophomore album, to be released on December 3rd.
In an interview with The Herald Sun, Ke$ha said that she was “worried he (Iggy) would disapprove”, but that these worries disappeared when Pop reportedly stated “you know you’ve got a great voice,” maybe the king of punk sees something in her that we don’t.
Somehow, Ke$ha seems to continue to entice highly influential musicians, having duetted with shock rocker Alice Cooper, appeared on the latest Flaming Lips release The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends, on the track ‘2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)’, and the pop trash starlet also covered the sacred Bob Dylan track ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ on a tribute compilation album.
Ke$ha claimed that Dylan is a “huge influence” on her. “He writes his own music and means what he says,” she continued. “I write my own music and I fucking mean every work I sing. [In the song] you can hear the snot running down my face.” Charming.
