It’d be simple sufficient for The Black Keys — singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney — to stay in rock star mode at this level of their profession. In spite of everything, they’ve reached the highest of their craft: radio hits, area excursions, pageant headlining slots, and twelve albums. However that vibe doesn’t replicate their modest Ohio upbringing.

“The common particular person may simply be accustomed to a few our hit songs and never know the story,” Carney stated. “To have the ability to have a real doc that exhibits all of the work and issues that went into that was attention-grabbing, so you must inform the precise story.”

The duo shares their story — warts and all — within the new rock doc “This Is a Movie Concerning the Black Keys,” which debuted at SXSW on Monday. The movie traces the band’s origin, beginning with two younger males introduced collectively by circumstance within the Akron music scene, to a broke touring band that steadily grew a fanbase however couldn’t elevate to the following degree.

However the huge leagues got here calling when the band began inviting collaborators into their insular studio periods, including completely different textures to their bluesy rock. Though the ethos led to rock stardom they by no means imagined, it additionally inspired habits they now look again on as cringe, similar to not licensing their music for an commercial out of a imprecise worry of “promoting out,” and arguing with longtime collaborator Hazard Mouse throughout early periods.

Director Jeff Dupre, who had beforehand labored with the band on the 2016 sequence “Soundbreaking: Tales from the Slicing Fringe of Recorded Music,” was in a position to see that the band was prepared to go deep and replicate on failure in addition to success.

“Whenever you begin off with a movie like this, you all the time are involved,” he stated. “‘Are they gonna spill the beans?’ However on day one, I interviewed Patrick and thought ‘Oh, wow, we’re going to have a movie right here.”

The Black Keys’ magic lies in Auerbach and Carney’s virtually supernatural potential to speak with one another musically — and frequent lack of ability to talk to one another concerning the essential stuff, with out devices. One notable crack within the armor got here when Auerbach recorded a complete solo debut — the tellingly named 2009 report “Maintain It Hid” — with out letting his bandmate know.

Moments like that — coupled with exhaustion from touring and drama of their private lives — led to a three-year hiatus for the band in 2015, throughout which the duo solely texted one another a handful of occasions. They reconnected for the 2019 album “Let’s Rock” — poking enjoyable at their communication points within the therapy-themed video for his or her single “Go” — and Auerbach, the quieter member of the pair, stated that their bond stays sturdy regardless of ups and downs.

“The fact is that Pat and I’ve been collectively longer than most bands, and we’ve additionally been collectively longer than most marriages,” he stated. “There’s in all probability nobody I can discuss to in an actual far more than Pat. That’s simply how it’s.”

Carney agreed that any friction was a necessary step in preserving their partnership sturdy.

“These things simply must occur, and we figured all of it out,” he stated. “Whenever you’re in a musical partnership, you’ve completed all these items, it may very well be a troublesome conversion. ‘Hey, I need to make some music with these different musicians who’re proficient.’ However that’s the type of shit you’ve acquired to get by means of if you wish to have a profitable, artistic state of affairs that doesn’t really feel restricted. So we’re far past that.”

And the band – which named their fan-favorite 2010 album “Brothers” as an instance their bond — is ready to poke enjoyable at themselves and previous drama within the movie. In a single awkward-funny scene, Carney is upset that Auerbach is late to soundcheck earlier than a giant present, earlier than the digicam cuts to the guitarist casually searching for leather-based jackets on the identical time, not a care on the earth. He finally ends up buying a studded classic quantity earlier than ambling again to the venue.

For a much less advanced band, being requested about this second may very well be grating, however they’re previous that now. As a substitute, they’ll give attention to the essential issues.

“The jacket’s sick,” Carney stated.

“When our sons change us, they may put on them,” Auerbach quips.

Then take a look at one another and chortle — two brothers who can’t assist however be bonded for all times.