Natives of Akron, OH, the Black Keys released their debut, The Big Come Up, in 2002, receiving strong reviews and sales, and leading to a contract with Fat Possum by the end of the year. That label released Thickfreakness, recorded in a 14-hour session, in the spring of 2003, the Keys supported the album with an opening tour for Sleater-Kinney. The Black Keys' momentum escalated considerably with their 2004 album Rubber Factory, which not only received strong reviews but some high-profile play, including a video for “10 A.M. Automatic” featuring comedian David Cross. The band’s highly touted live act was documented on a 2005 DVD, released the same year as Chulahoma -- an EP of blues covers -- appeared. The Black Keys made the leap to the major labels with 2006’s Magic Potion, a moodier record that continued to build the group’s base. The band capitalized on that moodiness on 2008’s Attack & Release, whose production by Danger Mouse signaled that the band were hardly just blues-rock purists. Salvaged from sessions intended as a duet album with Ike Turner, who died before the record could be finished, the album was the Black Keys’ biggest to date, debuting in the -Billboard Top 15 and earning strong reviews. Following their second live DVD, the Black Keys spent 2009 on side projects, with Auerbach releasing his solo album, Keep It Hid, in the beginning of the year, and Carney forming the band Drummer, in which he played bass. At the end of 2009, Blackroc, a rap-rock collaboration between the band and producer Damon Dash, appeared, with a new album promised for the spring of 2010. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi