Photo by Danny Clinch

—

Their fall tour in support of Turn Blue has yet to begin (Sept. 5), but The Black Keys would like to be back in the studio by early next year.

"If it were up to Dan [Auerbach] and I, and we didn't have to consider the fact that we need to complete the full tour circuit, we'd probably be back in the studio in January," drummer Patrick Carney told Billboard. "I think by the time this record came out we were ready to make another one. We started the band because we wanted to make albums. We wanted to make one record, and then we found out we had to tour.

Of course, the duo's upcoming tour ends on Dec. 21 with a break until mid-February. "It's not like we have an idea of what direction we want to go in or anything," Carney cautions. "I'd like our next record to be... I don't want to go somewhere too pre-planned. We always want to go somewhere different."

It's worth noting the Keys had previously suggested their latest album might be out by spring 2013. Ultimately, it wasn't released until May of this year.