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STEADY, AS THEY GO: White, Benson still sculpting
| 05-08-2006 22:57 | 0 reaction(s) | add reaction | add news |
 STEADY, AS THEY GO: White, Benson still sculpting the Raconteurs
August 4, 2006
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
"We didn't plan for this at all."
That's how Jack White's describes the birth of the Raconteurs, his first new band since becoming one of the most iconic rock stars of the '00s in the White Stripes.
The group started as a casual collaboration between White and then-fellow Detroiter Brendan Benson, who had earned his own critical raves for a string of poppy solo albums. A year later, with the addition of the rhythm section of Cincinnati band the Greenhornes -- who worked with White on Loretta Lynn's Grammy-winning album "Van Lear Rose" -- and help from the radio hit "Steady, As She Goes," the Raconteurs have a notable success on their hands with "Broken Boy Soldiers," which has sold 214,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan
Chatting by phone last month at the outset of the U.S. tour that brings them to Ann Arbor's Michigan Theatre on Saturday, the two Raconteurs talked on a four-way phone line that also included their publicist. Purportedly, the PR woman was poised to end the call if the questions turned personal or White Stripes-related. White rarely does interviews related to his other band anymore, but he was chatty and even cheery talking about this one.
QUESTION: If you guys didn't have any intentions when you started collaborating, at what point did you decide, "Hey, let's make this a band?"
Jack White: Probably when Little Jack and Patrick (Greenhornes bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler) came to Detroit a few days after we wrote "Steady, As She Goes" and the song "Broken Boy Soldiers." They started playing with us at Brendan's house, and we came up with another song right away, too, and it was like, "OK, I think we got a band now."
Originally, we thought we were doing something for a Brendan solo record. We didn't really know what we were doing. It wasn't too far from when Patrick, Jack and me worked with Loretta Lynn. We just found ourselves doing it.
Brendan Benson: Actually, Jack made us all do this.
Q: So, thumbs-down on calling it a side project?
White: Yeah. We're touring. We're making records. We're a band for as long as we last, like any other band.
Q: The album shows off different sides to each of you that we didn't hear before. Was that intentional, or did it just grow out of collaborating together?
Benson: From the beginning, I saw it as an opportunity to try new things. It was almost the perfect disguise. I could do things in this band I probably wouldn't do on a solo album. But that's a little after the fact. It all just happened so fast, we really didn't have time to think it out when we started.
White: The live show is really sculpting the band right now because we still really don't know what the band is. People are watching us learn. We don't have the luxury of playing in small bars where only 10 people showed up. ... The newer songs we're writing are so different than the ones on "Broken Boy Soldiers" because of the shows. I can't wait to see what the next record sounds like.
Q: What do you like about this band versus your previous projects?
White: Brendan and I are really interested in exploring the structure of really interesting pop harmonies and melodies -- things we couldn't do in our other bands. We couldn't do three-part harmonies before this. We couldn't have layers, like synthesizer and dual guitars. You know, in the White Stripes, I really don't have much time to do guitar solos because I have to play lead and rhythm at the same time. I love that challenge, but this is nice, too.
Q: How did you guys originally meet?
White: I think it was downstairs at the Magic Stick. I remember Brendan coming by the house when we were recording "De Stijl" (the Stripes' second album), and that was around '99.
Q: Brendan, lots of people are discovering your solo albums now because of this record. Do you see them as sort of belatedly jumping on the bandwagon?
Benson: It's a weird thing. Of course, I'm very glad about it. I'm mainly just stoked. There's no animosity for not being discovered sooner.
Q: The few negative reviews of the record fault it for being hastily made and a bit slapdash. How fast did you guys make it?
Benson: We had to do it in spurts, but we had like one week where we recorded basic tracks. And I think we got 10 good songs out of that.
White: We wanted it to really be a snapshot of what it was like when we first got together. We didn't say, "OK, since people know us from these other bands, let's try to go out and make 'Sgt. Pepper's.' "
Q: "Steady, As She Goes" is a pretty sweet love song. Is that a fitting starting point for the band?
White: Yeah, definitely. It's the first song Brendan and I wrote together after years of being friends, so it means a lot. It was perfect having it be the first song on the album, and then our first single, and now our first No. 1.
Q: The video for that song, with the downhill race scenes, was that as fun to make as it looks?
Benson: I remember reading the treatment for the video and thinking, "There's no way we could not possibly have fun doing this." And the best part was, we all got to design our own cars, too.
Q: Why have you guys all moved to Nashville from Detroit?
White: I just wanted to go down South.
Benson: Jack moved down there first, so I started going down to practice and grew to love it. Then I got robbed a couple times in Detroit and just got fed up with it.
Q: After all the Raconteurs shows, what's next for you guys?
White: I think we'll be ready to make another album right away. I've got a lot of songs for the White Stripes record, too. I don't know which will happen first
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