Black Keys' Biggest Grammy Hope? An Irate Kanye Interruption

LOS ANGELES — The Black Keys are a band divided these days ... and they're putting the blame squarely on Grammy voters.

It seems that ever since nominations for the awards were announced back in December, Keys' frontman Dan Auerbach can't stop bringing up the fact that he's up for six golden gramophones — he picked up a nod for Producer of the Year, Non Classical for his work on the band's El Camino album and Dr. John's Locked Down — while his musical mate, Patrick Carney, is only up for five (the Black Keys scored nods for Album and Record of the Year, plus Best Rock Performance, Song and Album).

And yes, this is driving a rather sizeable wedge between the two.

"I'm just throwing it in his face all the time," Auerbach laughed. "It's like being in a dorm room. You know, 'I've got one more beer than you've got.'

"I'm, like, raging. I've been on anti-rage medicine," Carney responded. "But, you know, it's okay. No one really knows this, but I was also nominated for a technical Oscar this year. I mean, that's what my parent's told me."

And while they're clearly joking about any Grammy-induced wedge, the Keys were dead serious about their performance on Sunday's show, which features friends old and new and should veer heavily into the swampy sounds of the South.

"We've got Dr. John and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band playing with us," Auerbach said. "We've only rehearsed a couple times, so we'll see how it goes."

"It's cool that there's so many rock bands nominated [for Album of the Year], so it will be interesting to see what happens," Carney added. "We're basically just looking forward to performing."

And after a triumphant year that saw them cement their status as one of the biggest names in rock with the success of El Camino, there are some who consider the Keys to be frontrunners heading into the show. Of course, the band aren't in that camp ... though, if they do win anything, they already know how they want their acceptance speech to go.

"I read some of the things about who they thought would win these awards, or whatever," Carney said. "I just hope that, if we do win one of the awards that's on TV, that Kanye comes on stage. I really do. I invite him up."