Dan Auerbach on the challenges of working with Lana Del Rey
On the one hand, working with Lana Del Rey on her 2014 album, Ultraviolence, was an incredibly fulfilling experience for the Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach. However, it wasn’t an effortless endeavour by any stretch of the imagination, and there were various times that both creative minds would butt heads.
While Auerbach had produced for various artists before working with Del Rey, none were in her league of success. As a result, the making of the album was a tense episode for everybody involved, and at times, it was a struggle. However, the magnificent final result was worth the pain they endured during the recording process, and Auerbach looks back upon Ultraviolence with nothing but fondness and pride.
Following the album’s release, Auerbach opened up about the test and admitted that they “bumped heads” regularly. Del Rey stood up for her beliefs at every juncture, which only made Auerbach respect her further. “She impressed me every day. There were moments when she was fighting me,” he told MOJO. “I could sense that maybe she didn’t want to have anybody think she wasn’t in control because I’m sure it’s really hard to be a woman in the music business. So we bumped heads a little bit, but at the end of the day we were dancing to the songs.”
Meanwhile, Auerbach later told Stereogum: “I feel like on any given week I could get into the studio with someone like Lana and make something really cool. She’s so creative. I’m always down to get into the studio with people who are like that. You could feel the tension going on.”
Interestingly, Del Rey was only supposed to work with Auerbach in the studio for three days. Despite that, the pair made eight tracks together, which made up the bulk of Ultraviolence after hitting it off. If Lana was unhappy with his contribution to the record, he’d have been removed from the project — just like her drummer.
Auerbach was tasked with dismissing the sticksman after Del Rey decided he wasn’t suitable for the project and was bringing unwanted energy to the recording sessions. The Black Keys singer added: “She was being pulled in a lot of different directions, plus she was around all these musicians she didn’t know. And she fired the drummer on the second day. [Laughs] Or, I had to fire the drummer.”
Despite the road bumps they faced on the way while making Ultraviolence, Auerbach is insistent these problems helped rather than hindered the record. He concluded: “But I think it was that tension that got something special. I don’t try to fight any of that stuff. Tension or not, we’re recording. [Nashville engineer] David Ferguson always says, ‘ABC, always be fucking recording’.”
Watch the video for the album’s title track below.
