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RE: Jack Lawrence Interview - Articles |
Jack White's latest project comes to the Pageant
By Daniel Durchholz
04/23/2010
The Dead Weather is the latest musical project for Jack White (the White Stripes, the Raconteurs), but this time he's playing drums, not guitar, and he's teamed with singer Alison Mosshart (the Kills), bassist Jack Lawrence (the Greenhornes, the Raconteurs) and guitarist Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age). We spoke with Lawrence by phone from his and White's home base of Nashville.
Was the Dead Weather formed with the intention of it being a real band, or did you think of it as a side project?
We weren't in it to start a new band. We were on tour with the Raconteurs, and the Kills were on tour with us. Jack had just finished his studio and wanted to do something, so he grabbed Alison and brought her back here. We were just going to make a 45, but we kept going and all of a sudden had an album. So we said, "Well, we should name this band and do we want to tour?" Everyone was really excited about it, so we just kind of went with it. It was kind of a happy accident.
Jack moves pretty nimbly from one thing to the next. It seems like he operates on the theory that, if it happens, if it happens. In this case, if it didn't at least you got a record out of it.
Yeah. You just let the music take you where it feels right. I think that's the way we've been doing it. We just inspired each other to keep going. It's a great band to be in. We're all loving it.
Being in other bands at the same time, how do you manage to clear your schedules long enough to actually record and tour as the Dead Weather?
Luckily, we all have the same booking agent. That's a plus. But Alison is recording now with the Kills. So we have to play around with the schedules.
Your next album, "Sea of Cowards" is due next month. What can you tell me about it?
It's a little more aggressive than the last album. We started when we were on tour. If we had a couple days open, we came to Nashville to record. So it had the energy of the live show coming through.
Was there anything that changed in the writing of the new album? Or did it follow the same methodology of "Horehound?"
It kind of followed that same path. We're all writing. A few of the songs are kind of like puzzles. Dean might have been playing something and then I'll play a piece that fits in there, and then Alison comes up with the lyrics or Jack comes up with the melody. That's kind of how we record. The studio is small. There's two rooms, a tracking room and the control room. So we're all in one room together when we record. There's bleedover in all of that, but also the energy is there. We're always bouncing ideas off of each other as we record.
Tell me about working with Alison. What is she like?
She's great. I get inspired by her all the time. She has a great spirit and it's nice to be in a band with a woman. It's a really nice perspective to see things from a girl's way of writing and just having her in the studio. I love her. She's very inspiring and we all work off of each other so well. You can get her laughing, too, which is great.
You worked with Jack in the Raconteurs and Dean played with the Raconteurs, too, right?
Yeah, he played keyboard and guitar with us on the first record.
Is there a difference working with those guys in this band as opposed to that one?
Yeah, especially for Jack, having him play drums. I've only really played with one drummer, with Patrick [Keeler] in the Greenhornes and the Raconteurs. It's nice to have someone else to play off of. It keeps me on my toes. When you play with someone for a while, it's good, but you want it to be fresh and new all the time. It's nice to play with Jack. We're still getting used to each other as a rhythm section. It makes you come up with new things that maybe you wouldn't normally play.
How would you rate Jack as a drummer?
He's great. And he's also played for a long time. I think drums were his first instrument.
Will we hear some of the new stuff in the show?
Yeah, we've been doing around five songs in the show. That's what we just did when we were in Australia and Japan. So maybe we'll play some more of the album closer to the release.
I like something Dean said, that the Dead Weather does not make "breakfast music."
Yeah. It's a little bit smokier. Nicotine-stained music."
Source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/music/story/FB47E20C5C07D85B8625770C006D63D2?OpenDocument | | |
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