The Raconteurs Stumble Into The Right Formula Friday June 09, 2006 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
The Raconteurs
Not many hit singles, let alone supergroups, are formed on a whim. But
Jack White and
Brendan Benson's new band,
The Raconteurs, are the result of pure happenstance. The story starts as simply as a song without vocals.
"We've been friends for a long time," Benson explains. "We've always talked about playing together, doing something together.
"A couple years ago, Jack came over to my house. I had a song with no lyrics and asked if he might want to write some lyrics for it, which he did. He sang it, we demoed it. It's called 'Steady As She Goes.' Then we said, 'Let's do that band we were talking about. Let's make that record we've always talked about.' We got little
Jack [
Lawrence] and
Patrick [
Keeler] to play on it, and that's how it happened."
"It" is the band on everyone's lips this summer. White's first full band project got started well before
The White Stripes recorded Get Behind Me Satan. However, The Raconteurs' finished product, Broken Boy Soldiers, didn't see the light of day until last month.
For both White and Benson, it's a near wholesale change from their regular bands, where each is the leader of his respective full-time gig. "It's such a different project," White says, comparing this band to the Stripes.
"It's nice to be a conductor at times, or also just be the guitar player or just be a piano player. I like to be a component a lot of the time because I learn a lot from the people I'm working with."
The record is steeped in a sound reminiscent of '70s hard rock, but the architects insist that wasn't the plan in the first place. "We were actually not aiming at any sound," Benson says.
"We just had no idea about a sound. I think we knew that all the components of this band would make a sound. I was just as anxious to hear what it was going to sound like when we were making it.
"Recording went really well. I think we all have a lot of respect for each other. We knew when someone had an idea to let 'em run with it or back off or whatever."
The band will make a number of high profile festival stops this summer, including Lollapalooza in Chicago and Fuji Rock in Japan, in addition to a number of regular tour dates. "We're going to work on our golf strokes for a while and then eventually do a tour of golf courses," jokes White.
Then it's likely back to normalcy for all four members, including
The Greenhornes' Lawrence and Keeler. As White is quick to point out, his other band aren't going anywhere.
"I think the White Stripes is its own little universe that
Meg [
White] and I have created for ourselves over there. Nothing can get to it. It doesn't matter if it takes a break for six months or six weeks or six minutes. It lives and breathes on its own, and we have no intentions of stopping it."
Here are The Raconteurs' Canadian tour dates:
July 26 Vancouver, BC @ Malkin Bowl
September 30 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
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