In one of the more interesting interviews of late, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready sat down with Jack White at the Seattle group’s Warehouse, and discussed a number of topics ranging from the White Stripes, Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, recording vinyls on his Third Man Booth contraption (which presses vinyl immediately upon recording), the potential for releasing music on cassette tapes again, the current state of rock n’ roll and many younger groups departure from rock’s roots in the blues, the different dynamics of playing with one all-female band and an all-male band, his love of punk music, and life in general. Overall, just cool to hear two incredible musicians talk shop. Listen to the full audio below.
White on being happy:
“I don’t know, I just don’t ever feel that feeling on stage, or when I’m writing….it’s almost like a sin to be having fun doing it. I think there is a pull to try and figure out how to enjoy it, or perhaps that is long gone. And if you really throw yourself into being an artist, or calling yourself an artist, you are sacrificing your right to enjoy that part of it….I try to do that [have the white picket fence] with my children, but you do realize that you can’t have it both ways. But, I keep trying.”
White discusses the blues:
“I think if you don’t know much about the blues….the way I got into it when I was younger, my older brothers was into rock n’ roll, the classic bands, Rolling Stones, The Who….using those bands like the Yardbirds or Led Zeppelin as a gateway to the electric blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. If the Yardbirds are covering “Smokestack Lightning” because Howlin’ Wolf did it, if you can get to Howlin’ Wolf, then you might be able to get into the artists he learned from like Son House and Robert Johnson. Then you can go the ultimate level of getting deeper, and get into people like Charlie Patton and Willie Brown and people who are almost, the first time I heard them I couldn’t even understand what they were saying and couldn’t hear the music….I couldn’t even get it.”
The full interview is streaming, via Consequence of Sound.