So, Jack White’s ex has been arguing over custody - seems like unfortunately-typical divorce backing and forthing. What’s interesting is that some emails came to light where Jack White complains about his kids being in the same school as the kid of The Black Key’s guitarist/songwriter/producer Dan Auerbach. Jake White basically accuses Auerbach of riding on Jack White’s and The White Stripes coattails and being exasperated by it.
Jack White can come across as a pretentious twit, and the emails really don’t help that. By the same token, The Black Keys are a fine band, and Auerbach is a solid songwriter and got a Grammy producing Dr. John, over and above the BK’s success.
But, as a Jack White fanboy (full disclosure ;)) - I can kinda see the point. Guitar and Drums band comes out of the midwest, relocates to Nashville and sets up a studio. Auerbach moved to White-style old, crappy guitars a few albums in and really seems to want to craft a WS-type sound, and then takes up producing old school players. It does seem as if Auerbach is following White a step or two behind.
And Auerbach is, IMHO, not as “interesting” a guitarist as White. Auerbach’s riffage isn’t as consistently grounded-yet-fresh as White’s, and A’s leads are great, solid leads, but not nearly as distinctive as White’s - I know, many people HATE the slop and strain in White’s leads; YMMV. I happen to love them.
I am sure many of you will just want to tee off on White for being a whiny asshole - cool; I get it. But I do see his point …
Except that Jack White has no problem when Hanni El Khatib rips him off, because Jack is making money off HEK.
Also, this comes up in a CUSTODY dispute? Of all the things NOT to make about you…
Besides, only one person can occupy a very, VERY general style window now?
Even if the other guy had unambiguously stolen, actually stolen, from Jack White, that wouldn’t have any relevance to the fact that their respective offspring happen to attend the same school.
The only tangential relevance I can see to a custody fight would be if White intended to make the children change schools if he wins custody. In the middle of a school year, that can be seen as a negative on his side.
That’s a key point, but if you respect what White does, he adds his own stuff and establishes a distinct voice - distincter than Auerbach’s. Even as he (White) comes across as a narcissistic douche for bringing it up during a custody dispute. It’s clear he thinks Auerbach’s a freakin’ doppelganger.
Music seems to have a quota for feuds between artists who do similar stuff but aren’t ripping each other off in any way. I see this as one of those, and they’re annoyingly pointless.
Yeah, I think that White’s off base here. I use the same model of amp that both of these guys often use, and did before I knew who either was. I also get a lot of influences from the same places. I sure hope Jack doesn’t think I’m trying to ride his coat tails. In fact, I wish they’d both go buy some nice, expensive Orange amps, so I can get mine for $125 a pop again. Better yet, they should go buy Moog synths, and do some prog rock albums, so I can step into the void they leave.
And I don’t think they’re that similarly styled in their guitar playing and singing. They’re both playing Punk-styled roots music, but the Black Keys are more R+B and rhythmically complex. For example, their version of “No Fun” is fuzzy, has some of the agression of the original, but it’s smooth and pretty sophisticated for a cover of that song.
It’s kinda sad White would think such a thing, and it just kind of escalates to Tom Cruise levels of dumb that he’d think it matters whether their kids attend the same school or that he might use it as some sort lever in his divorce.
The similarities, in my opinion, are only on the surface – White Stripes sound quite different, somewhat rushed and punkish and very raw considering where Jack started his musical career; drumming has a strong presence but rhythmically it’s somewhat simple. His riffs and melody in most songs are open/barre chords – nothing wrong with that. My favorite band of the late 1990’s early 00’s.
The Black Keys came from and stayed in the pure blues realm where most of the songs are single note, scale based and they sound really smooth melodically and then adding fuzz mixed with few other pedals makes for a very recognizable sound. True, his solo work is simple and straightforward but within a song works very good. Add to that complex drum arrangements and you got a great combination.
I used to go see The Black Keys live in 2006 when they played in front of 500 people (they were relative unknown then) and they simply sounded 10 times better than White Stripes on stage. Maybe because I grew tired and annoyed by raw and distorted sound of White Stripes.
I’ll admit that Jack guitar chops are top level but at this point I’m listening to some of his stuff and wonder where he is going with all of that – melodically speaking, he is going to extremes that are hard to follow. At the same time, I went to see Black Keys twice last year and there’s a portion of a live concert where Dan says “It’ll be only Patrick and me for a while” you are on a live performance ride rarely seen nowadays.
/* btw – on YouTube, you can find full hour or so of The Black Keys live concerts from as early as 2005 and 2006 – it is simply amazing stuff to see
We can argue the similarities and talent, etc. - but it is unfortunate that Jack White is lamenting this within the context of kids’ custody. From the emails, it sounds like he is trying to be a decent dad - but whether or not he is suffering because his self-perceived-doppelganger has kids at his school seems pretty darn douchey.
As for the similarities vs. differences - I guess my point is that I can see where White might choose to look at the similarities and think Auerbach is basically following the WS rulebook step by step. I can also see where most other folks would just say “jeez, it’s not that bad and you should just let it go…” - but either way, it’s not part of a custody discussion.
I didn’t know that Auerbach was going through a bad time. I think his drummer partner Carney had a nasty breakup a few years ago, around the time of the CD Brothers. Comes with the territory I guess…
The White Stripes were only riding on the coattails of Flat Duo Jets. Jack’s been making a living for more than a decade now by ripping off their sound. I guess it’s lucky for him that Dex hasn’t been going through a custody dispute, eh.
If this quote is true, he has no idea of the shoulders he stands on:
[QUOTE=Jack White ( according to the linked article ) ]
“That’s a possible 12 fucking years I’m going to have to be sitting in kids chairs next to that asshole with other people trying to lump us in together. He gets yet another free reign to follow me around and copy me and push himself into my world.”
[/QUOTE]
Oh, so it’s your world, and we just live in it? Jeebus, I’ve never heard a bigger douchebag. Yeah, you’re not just playing off of what Jack-o-Fire and John Spencer did before you, with more pop. I’ve never seen any evidence they thought they weren’t the only people standing on the shoulders of Howlin’ Wolf, Captain Beefheart, Blind Willie Johnson, Son House, and Muddy Waters. (ok, John Spencer mixes in a LOT of funk., but he knows where he got it from). Jack White acts like he invented the Blues scale.
And again, what does his precious ego have to do with the custody of his kids? Man up, you little shit. You might get a good song out of it, which you haven’t had in years, IMHO.
Yep, the Flat Duo Jets were another predecessor of the White Stripes, I saw them open for the Cramps in 1990, and (IIRC) a SXSW show sometime around the same time. Even as a Cramps fan, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of their very basic, (even more stripped down than the Cramps), Rockabilly. Even without stripping it down to the 1 guitar/1 drum set format, I’d say the Cramps and Pussy Galore had the corner on that market before the Flat Duo Jets came on the scene.
Really, Jack doesn’t have much of an exclusive claim on his musical style. To pretend that he does boggles the mind.
I loved **House of Freaks ** as a guitar n’ drums band. They had a song called Black Cat Bone that was rocking and raw…
I don’t think White thinks he invented stripped down blues; he’s too much of a student of the genre. He just thinks Auerbach is following too close. It shouldn’t be coming up in this context, regardless…
He’s acting douchey, regardless. But when I first heard about a two-man band playing stripped down bluesy stuff called the Black Keys, I couldn’t help think that it echoed the White Stripes shtick given the timing. But Auerbach and Carney have done their own work. And White shouldn’t be bringing it up here…
The relevance is presumably what the article you linked to said it was. His ex is arguing he’s an unhinged nut, and saying you’re going to pull your kids out of a school because you think a parent of one of the kids is cribbing off you is something an unhinged nut would do.
Of course, White might’ve just been having a bad day, as custody battles often feature one spouse or the other dragging up every nutty or stupid thing the other person recorded or put down on paper. I’m sure if you took the five craziest things I’ve said in private emails in the last ten years and put them all in one place I’d look like a weirdo too. So I’m not sure I’d make that much out of it one way or another.
than Auerbach’s. Even as he (White) comes across as a narcissistic douche for bringing it up during a custody dispute. It’s clear he thinks Auerbach’s a freakin’ doppelganger.