Feeling Under The Weather

For a band who have been formed for less than a year, a sell out show at Brixton isn't bad going. Yet when you are called The Dead Weather and your band consists of musical heavyweights such as Jack White, Alison Mosshart, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence, it is perhaps somewhat less surprising than originally anticipated.

For whatever reason, female fronted bands seem to have a tougher time making a good impression on audiences than their male counterparts. For every twenty successful male-led bands, there is only one successful female-led group, and this fact was definitely at the forefront of my mind before Mosshart took to the mic. But from the moment she skulked on stage, any doubts that a female lead would not be able to whip the audience up into as much of a frenzy as a male would were quickly banished. Snarling her way through the eighty minute set, Mosshart prowled around the stage with such impressive self-assurance that the audience were left in no doubt that she alone was just as worthy of their attentions as the Stripe sat on drums behind her. Despite spitting out new single 'I Cut Like A Buffalo' with an admirable tenacity and showcasing new material written just that afternoon, it was still their best known song and show-closer 'Treat Me Like Your Mother' that received the biggest response of the evening.

Photo by Walid Lodin

The Dead Weather's sound is the most raw of anything White has previously released with any of his other bands, and this certainly comes across in their live performance. With his wild, unruly hair and determined ferocity in his playing, White definitely knows how to put on a performance even from the back of the stage; it was like watching a real life Animal from the Muppets take his place in one of London's most famous music venues. Lawrence and Fertita on bass and guitar respectively were not ones to be sidelined however, and both assaulted their instruments with such voracity it was as if their lives (and musical dignity) depended on it.

However, despite the electricity and enthusiasm the quartet exuded, it is an undeniable fact that a percentage of people, however large or small, were at the gig out of curiosity to see Jack White. Don't get me wrong, 'Horehound' is one of the most impressive debuts of the year, but you do have to ask yourself if it would have attained the success and acclaim it has if it had been released by four unknowns. Unfortunately, the answer is probably not, and the extended cheers that rose from the crowd as White stepped to the front of the stage to take lead vocals on a couple of songs did nothing to dispell this possibility.

White and Co. have worked hard to demonstrate that The Dead Weather are not simply a short term side project that they've involved themselves in for a pleasant distraction. Mosshart has already declared their second album to be half completed already, though despite White's comments to the media, she is determined their next release will not be amusingly entitled 'Morehound'. Whatever title it is released under, it should cement their status as a credible rock outfit and finally earn them the respect they deserve as a consolidated group, rather than four independent musicians haphazardly strewn together.

http://www.thedeadweather.com/

Can Jack White do no wrong?

Slamming onto the music scene in 1999 with the White Stripes’ self-titled debut album, Jack White hasn’t slowed down since – and we’re all the better for it. Causing a stir in the music media over his ambiguous relationship with his band mate, there was a point when their notoriety seemed to outshine their talent. Luckily, this did not last for long.

Gradually developing a name for themselves, The White Stripes moved on from their raw debut, to a somewhat more produced sound; though this proved to not necessarily be a bad thing. Most of their better known tracks are from their later offerings, with Fell In Love With A Girl and Blue Orchid featuring on their third and fifth albums respectively. The Fell In Love With A Girl endearingly lego – based video earned them widespread recognition from the MTV crowd and subsequently their record sales rocketed. As with many American rock and indie bands nowadays, their success in the UK was far greater than the initial reception they received in the States, but the American audiences soon caught up. Apparently discontent with only releasing six albums, being named one of Rolling Stones Top 20 Guitarists of All Time and selling over $7 million worth of records, White turned his hand (quite literally) to other musical endeavours.

The Raconteurs developed one balmy summer in the hiatus between the Stripes’ fifth and sixth albums, as White and solo musician Brendan Benson recruited two friends to join them in their side project. Although possessing a perhaps slightly watered down and more pop-based sound in comparison to his previous releases, White consequently toured Europe and the US periodically over the next two years in order to supply the demand for live performances from the band. It seems a pity such demand would have appeared unlikely had White’s name not been attached, though we will never know if this would have been the case.

Bored with one side project alone, White unconsciously moved onto his next ‘supergroup’ – The Dead Weather. Formed after an impromptu jamming session of White, Allison Mosshart from The Kills, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age and Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs, the line up is undoubtedly the best accidental music collaboration of recent years. In seemingly unusual fashion, White appears on drums whilst Mosshart appears on vocals, yet many are unaware that Jack was a skilled drummer before he mastered the guitar. The Dead Weather drags White and his fans back to his early musical roots, with a far more raw and edgier sound than we have heard from White since his early Stripes material. Peaking at number 6 in the US chart, a feat that only one of the Stripes albums has beaten, it appears that Jack White’s disciples aren’t fickle when it comes to the variety of sounds he churns out.

White doesn’t just make waves behind the microphone, however. His own record label, Third Man Records, not only acts as home to his three musical projects, but is also preparing to unleash three newly – signed bands upon unsuspecting audiences by the end of the year. Taking a hands-on approach to the Third Man shop in his hometown of Nashville, White often visits and will openly chat to fans who have descended to try and grab a piece of a musical phenomenon. There is absolutely no doubt that White’s influence in the industry is a force to be reckoned with.