The Velveteers are opening the campaign for their sophomore album, A Million Knives, on a bit of a historic note.
The just-released first single, “Go Fly Away,” is a collaboration with the Black Keys — and, in fact, marks the first time Dan Auerbach, who signed the Denver trio to his Easy Eye Sound label and produces the group, and Patrick Carney have produced something together for another act. “Pat’s played drums on some records I (produced) and stuff,” Auerbach tells Billboard. “With the Velveteers he was very hands-on, and it was all of us working in the studio.”
Velveteers frontwoman Demi Demitro says Carney was a periodic visitor to the A Million Knives sessions, which took place last December at Auerbach’s Easy Eye studio in Nashville. “We didn’t know it was that first time, but it was really cool to work with both Dan and Patrick,” Demitro says. Carney, in fact, started the songwriting process off with the opening keyboard line, which Auerbach says came from a music sample library. “We just kind of worked off it from there,” Demitro recalls. “Patrick’s drumming on the song, both of the drummers in my band (Baby Pottersmith and Jonny Fig) are playing, then I added this heavy guitar for the after-chorus. After we sat with the song for a little bit we added some overdubs, just to kind of put the little sparkling touches to it.”
Auerbach says the idea of a Velveteers-Black Keys combination was organic — and perhaps inevitable. “We’d done some touring together and all of us are friends,” he says, “and I think Pat was excited to get in the studio, too, and work on a song with them. That was a really cool experience.”
“Go Fly Away,” however, is the only song constructed like that for A Million Knives. The rest of the 13-song set — due out Feb. 14 — comes from a prolific spate for the trio, while and after touring to support its 2021 debut Nightmare Daydream, which included stadium dates opening for Guns N’ Roses and Smashing Pumpkins.
“We were on tour for what seemed like two years straight,” Demitro says, “so every chance we would get when we were at home we were writing. We probably had 30 songs that were written. We had about a month before we were going into the studio, so we just narrowed them down to the ones that felt like they were coming in best.” Auerbach adds that “you just have to go with your gut” in the selection process. “I tried to help them, but they have very strong opinions about what they do and how they want it represented. I’m only there to make recommendations. They had all these tremendous songs with big, giant hooks and they were feeling very ambitious and confident. That really just made it fun.”
Much of A Million Knives is, as Auerbach describes, aggressive and heavy, while “Go Fly Away” marks a transition into four more measured and melodic songs — a kind of calm after the storm.
“You could say that,” acknowledges Demitro, adding that the songs mostly deal with “the different forms of heartbreak, in a lot of different ways…It was definitely a purposeful decision for the sequence; it felt like all those (later) songs — like ‘Heaven,’ ‘Go Fly Away,’ ‘Up Here’ — it felt like those songs were meant to be next to each other. Once you get to that part of the album it felt like this big, emotional release.”
In addition to Auerbach and Carney, A Million Knives includes other guests, particularly on guitar, including regular Easy Eye cohort Tom Bukovac, Cage the Elephant’s Nick Bockrath, and the Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright. “It was just my experience and my gut and what I thought might help the song or a situation,” Auerbach explains. “We don’t always use the stuff we try, but you’ve got to throw things at the wall and see what sticks.”
Demitro says she “felt less confident” in making a second album, explaining that “once people start listening to your music and you have an audience, you have the tendency to second-guess yourself a little more.” Nevertheless, she considers A Million Knives to be “a lot more honest than its predecessor,” which is something she was wanting to accomplish, “just being a little more vulnerable with how I actually felt. I think on our last album there are a lot of metaphors, and on this album I wanted to say things more as they are, which I think I did.”
The Velveteers are currently on the road with headlining dates through Oct. 25, with plans for “a lot more touring” during 2025, according to Demitro. In the meantime, the trio will be working on setting up A Million Knives for release, including more singles and, Demitro promises, “a lot of visual art pieces coming. I think we’re really excited to share everything we’ve been working on.”