The Black Keys are that rare 21st-century rock band that just keeps ascending. Singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have been together for more than a decade and have slowly climbed from the dirtiest, dankest of basements and clubs to headline arenas — including a show Friday at Target Center in Minneapolis — and even stadiums.

Carney vividly remembers a turning point, when the band played to a huge audience in 2010 at Lollapalooza in Chicago's Grant Park shortly after their album "Brothers" and hit single "Tighten Up" turned them from a thriving cult band into a mainstream success.

"Before that show I didn't have stage fright, but that day I was completely overwhelmed by the size of the crowd," the drummer says. "We started the first song, and I went into a panic attack for the next 60 minutes. I had to go to a hypnotist to figure out what was wrong. It's a control issue, like fear of flying. I had to go through this process of how not to overthink the feeling of being onstage. I'm always on edge. But here I was having a panic attack about doing the thing I love the most."

Auerbach has a slightly different take: "I remember the promoters coming up to us and showing us sky photos of how many people were there. They were all pretty psyched. But Pat essentially had a nervous breakdown onstage. He hadn't eaten all day, just chain-smoked and drank Red Bulls. That was insanity. I thought he was going to die. He kept cutting songs from the set. He was blanking out. (Laughs.) I think he went to the hypnotist not shortly after to calm his nerves. I don't get too nervous in front of audiences. But it was very entertaining watching Pat turn into Woody Allen on that stage."

The quotes, from separate interviews, offer a small window into the contrasting personalities that make up the Black Keys' foundation. The duo began playing together in Carney's basement in Akron, Ohio, in 2001, when they were in their early 20s. They had met as boys and bonded on music despite their differences — Auerbach a popular jock, Carney a wisecracking outsider.

Their early records put a punk spin on blues, particularly the trancy brand of Mississippi hill-country boogie practiced by Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. They toured relentlessly, while incorporating more of their influences, from hip-hop to classic rock, into their increasingly sophisticated recordings.

They began working with producer Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton in 2007, and as the relationship and trust deepened, they became increasingly effective collaborators. Burton helped tease out a more radio-friendly sound on "Tighten Up" in 2010 and then effectively became a third member of the band on the million-selling "El Camino" in 2011.

Burton was again on board for the duo's eighth studio album, "Turn Blue," which debuted at No. 1 this year, though with its emphasis on orchestrated textures and somber soul, it's notably different from its hard-rocking predecessor.

It was recorded while Auerbach was going through a divorce, and the singer said he couldn't escape it as he was writing the lyrics.

On the penultimate song, "In Our Prime," the narrator hits rock bottom. "Pour me down the drain, I disappear/ Like every honest thing I used to hear."

"I'd been going through an awful time and was so completely wrapped up in it," the singer says. "It was going on 24/7 around me while making the record, so it was impossible to make up songs and stories about other things. Every time I wrote, I was bullied into writing what was going on in my head. When I put overdubs on the final song, it was a big relief to push the album aside and give it to the label. I haven't listened to the record since making it."

The final song, "Got 'Ta Get Away," departs from the album's downcast tone and points a way out. It's a bright, Creedence Clearwater Revival-like road song. The song's positioning was intentional, Carney says.

"It's the reprieve from the heaviness, especially considering the song that precedes it," says the drummer, who went through his own divorce several years ago. "He and I, when it comes down to it, we are basically brothers. We've spent 26 years together, the last 14 in each other's [stuff]. Dan won't sit around and really talk about what's going on with him. I try to be present and talk to him about stuff. But during the divorce, he mostly wanted to listen to music and ride his motorcycle. I'm way more of a neurotic dude and will talk your ear off if something's bothering me."

Carney says making music is a refuge for both of them, though he also says that has brought problems of its own. After his Lollapalooza meltdown, his anxiety would return each time the band turned another corner and experienced more success.

"We played on the Grammys in 2013, and I got a prescription for beta blockers [to help with anxiety], but I didn't want to take it, I didn't want to rely on it, so I went back to the hypnotist for a refresher," Carney says. "And he told me, 'You're going to enjoy this and smile the whole time. You play rock 'n' roll. If you [mess] up, it's good. [Messing] up is good; that is rock 'n' roll. It's not a recital with a cello. You're playing rock 'n' roll drums.' It was the best advice I ever got playing music."