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White Stripes sticking to the basics
(CNN) -- Clad in their signature peppermint-candy colors, Jack and Meg White are bringing minimalist rock'n'roll to stages around the world as the White Stripes. The duo's fourth studio album, "Elephant," was released this spring to glowing reviews, cementing the band's status as frontrunners of garage rock. Jack White says the music behind that moniker is "just rawness, rawness with no attention to detail. It's just the real rock 'n' roll or the energy of rock 'n' roll." The two, who are from Detroit, Michigan, have long claimed to be brother and sister, but it is now widely known that they were married in 1996 and divorced several years later. Jack White sustained a thumb injury earlier this year in a car crash, forcing the duo to cancel many of their U.S. shows this summer. The White Stripes are heading back out for a tour of the United States and Canada in September, followed by tours of Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Then in November they'll be making up dates canceled this summer in North America. TMR caught up with the band to hear more about "Elephant," which was recorded in London in just 10 days. TMR: Tell me about recording "Elephant." JACK: We went over to England to a studio -- Toerag -- we had heard about. We thought the sounds coming out of it were really interesting. We did it in 10 days. We had about 18 songs. We mixed them all down in one day. And the studio's really nice. It's sort of an old warehouse. It's a small room set up like an old English beat studio, really. Black and white checkerboard -- and Liam Watson, who owns the place, he wears a white lab coat. He's kind of a mad scientist. We had great microphone techniques and the old recording equipment I think has never been surpassed. I think it's really the pinnacle of technology for recording equipment. TMR: So in the age where most bands are so produced and computers are involved, what made you guys decide to do this? JACK: I think that that's all a bad idea. I think digital technology and pro tools and recording on computers is a really un-soulful way of capturing sound. It's really over-thought. It's just a toy that's abused, I think. I think it's sort of evil, in a way, because it's taking a lot of truth and soul out of the music and trying to get toward some sort of perfection in recording where it's very unnecessary. I mean all the great songs of Little Richard's and Ray Charles and Howlin' Wolf, all weren't using this material. And neither were the Beatles. So I don't think that's really necessary. TMR: Who comes up with most of the ideas? MEG: That would be him. JACK: I suppose so. The structure of the song isn't really hot until Meg joins in and then that becomes the most important part. That childishness that she brings to it really brings -- gives it sort of its soul, that really White Stripes feeling to it. I think a song -- when I write it on piano -- it could go in a million different directions, I guess, if I had eight people in the band or whatever. What she brings to it gives it simplicity, I think. TMR: There's a lot of music coming out of Detroit. There's Kid Rock, Eminem, Madonna, you guys. What is it about Detroit that inspires music?
JACK: I don't know. It's a popular question we get asked all the time. I don't really know what it's about it. It's something about -- I think every artist is a victim of their environment, you know? I think it should be that way. But I don't know what about Detroit it is. It's just, I think it's just a pathetic city. It's just so pathetic when you live there. It's so behind the times and such a not-modern city. MEG: But there's always been a very strong rock 'n' roll scene there. I mean that never stopped. It's been going underground for all this time, so it just happened that it maybe got more attention now. It's always been there though. TMR: You guys grew up in Detroit. Who were some of your inspirations? Not necessarily from Detroit ... JACK: Actually it was a lot of Detroit music. It was the Stooges, MC5. The Gories were a big influence, a garage rock band from the early 90s. We were big Gories fans. They were very simplified too and very getting to the core of what rock 'n' roll was about, I think. Bands like that. TMR: How do you see the music industry today? JACK: It's been caught in a funk for a while, you know? Technology and mass communication, the Internet -- everything that's involved in the pinnacle of existence nowadays -- breeds that kind of thing. You could have -- in the 60s -- your band could have a 45 and you could have a local hit in your hometown, you know? Your radio station would play it. Now all the radio stations are nationwide-owned you know? There's a chain. And if somebody doesn't decide in L.A. or New York that they like your music, then you can't have a local hit in Nebraska or something, like you used to. TMR: So what can we expect from you in the future? What do you guys have planned for the next year? JACK: Well, we're sort of touring wherever we can now. There's a lot of things we could be doing. It's been very busy, but we're trying to go play Australia and Japan and America and just sort of get that out of the way and out of our system. And hopefully, recording a new record by the end of the year, if we can. If we get a week off. TMR: Does it really take you a week to record? JACK: Yeah. "Elephant" was 10 days and "White Blood Cells" was three days. That was about the longest we've been in the studio, ten days. TMR: Who are some of the other garage rock bands that are out right now? JACK: I like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a lot. I think their new album's brilliant. I think she's a brilliant vocalist -- very good, good emotions, amazing tone that she kicks out. MEG: The Kills. The Kills' new album is amazing, you need to check that out. CNN.com's Marnie Hunter contributed to this report.
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