Just saw the White Stripes, some questions

Cafe Society
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Just saw the White Stripes in concert. They rocked the house. It was a nice concert, although perhaps they could have played longer (1.5 hours with the encore). But I suppose that is industry standard nowadays.

I have White Blood Cells and Elephant – they played a lot off of both of them and a lot of old stuff. They played less Elephant than what I would expect – only about half of the songs. They also did some old blues numbers and “Mr. Cellophane” from the musical Chicago during the encore.

Some questions. I know Jack and Meg were married. Is it just showbiz that he constantly refers to her as “my sister”?

Also, what is the deal with the red, white, and black decor? It is certainly unique.

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The brother-sister thing is a gimmick. As is their color scheme. Jack developed some rotating device with the look of a breath mint (the kind you get from a pizza place, with red and white stripes). That, plus their name=red and white. Though I don’t know which came first, the rotating mint or their name.

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Not to hijack, but I had a question I’ve been meaning to ask. I haven’t heard much of this band, but I hear two interesting comments from listeners: 1) Meg is a terrible drummer [she sure seems to be], BUT 2) music critics insist she’s being deliberately bad. What’s the deal here? Any evidence that it is, or is not, intentional? I know that unskilled playing can be used to good effect (see Neil Young’s guitar soloing on many tracks). But I’m curious to hear the views of others who’ve heard the band more than I have.

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Jack and Meg used to be married, got divorced, and the brother and sister thing was just the story they’ve used ever since. They make a little game of it now, sometimes acknowledging that it’s an act, other times denying it.

Was Meg’s maiden name Red? I’d never heard that, but it would explain a lot. I always assumed it was just their thing.

I’m seeing them tomorrow night and I couldn’t be more excited. And I’m interested to hear that they played any Elephant stuff, I’d heard to expect that they would play only older stuff and blues covers. Any which way I’m excited, I just really hope that they play “One More Cup of Coffee”. I love that song.

LC

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Marley - I don’t know that I would say Meg is a bad drummer. She doesn’t play complicated stuff most of the time, but her style is such a good fit for Jack that I wouldn’t say that there’s any way to tell. If it’s a choice, it’s a good one. If not, she found the right partner.

Just think of all the head-nodding thundering that goes on all through Elephant. I think that she rocks.

LC

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I actually like Meg White’s drumming. It’s actually the first thing I liked about the White Stripes.

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her drumming (which I find both appallingly bad and perfect for their music) keeps them firmly right where they want to be. In the musical niche of the moment called garage rock.

It’s scary to think how good Jack’s music MIGHT be if he had a great rythmn section behind him. Of course, that would probably ruin the whole thing.
just my .02

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Surely you couldn’t have any other drum line for Seven Nation Army than they have? anything more complicated would sound out of place.

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I don’t think that Meg’s drumming is bad, as such. It’s just really simplistic. It works for the music. I think critics praise it because her straightforward simplicity has a childlike quality to it that echoes the nature of many of their songs (i.e We Are Going To Be Friends).

Meg’s maiden name was White, so they obviously adopted that as their name. I can’t remember what Jack’s is, but it wasn’t Red.

The White Stripe is a peppermint flavoured candy that looks like their red and white swirly logo. I guess it fits with their childhood motif.

I love Meg’s drumming. I’ll take her over Neil Peart any day. (Especially when she’s dressed up like on the cover of their first album…)

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Jack’s real last name is Gillis.

I agree with what pretty much everyone else says. Meg’s drumming is simple, but it’s absolutely perfect for the music. It has the right feel. Sort of like, “look, my kid sister and I practice in our garage after school.” It also helps that the drumming does not detract from Jack’s wild and elaborate guitar solos.

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Drummer checking in. Yep, all the above opinions above on Meg’s drumming are spot on. It works, and that’s all that matters.

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I think Meg’s drumming is a lot like her voice. It works despite her lack of skill. Anyway, they rocked, they played Seven Nation Army, Black Math, I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, In the Cold Cold Night, and The Hardest Button to Button off of Elephant. They did play a lot of old stuff, but they played the hits from White Blood Cells – Fell in Love with a Girl and We’re Going To Be Friends amongst them. I love the fact that they can rock out but still maintain a childlike sense of humor behind the whole thing.

Lucki Chaarms, are you going to the show at Stubbs BBQ in Austin? I always loved that venue. Post back with your opinions of the show.

Also, I found an old article in Slate that says that the red/white/black thing is based on a 1920s Dutch art movement called De Stijl (as in the name of their album). Don’t know anything else about it, though.

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OMG, my art class is coming in handy. I actually know what De Stijl (The Style) is. I think De Stijl used primarily red, blue, yellow, black and white.

I could be a little off, though. That’s been a few chapters ago, and I don’t have my book with me.

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IIRC, Meg’s maiden name was White, and Jack took her name when they married.

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Ha. I love this board. Houston, at the Verizon Wireless Theatre, right? I was there.

I was not particularly familiar with this band prior to the show. A few random thoughts:

Jack must have listened to a lot of Led Zeppelin when he was growing up.

I can imagine that Jack may also be a bit of an egomaniac, but he’s a damn fine guitarist, particularly on slide.

Meg’s drumming is very simplistic, but I wouldn’t call it ‘bad’ by any means. As others have said, it fits in well with the garage ethos that they seem to want to put across.

Proud to say I got the connection between the Mondrian-style graphics and the naming of an album de Stijl immediately.

Must be a great feeling to have women throwing bras at you on stage.

I’m curious how close their live sound is to the albums. If it is, I think it may be a bit raw for me to really want to add their records to my collection

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Yeah, that’s it El Kabong. I was standing on the right, about two risers up, with my wife. IMHO their album sound is a lot less raw than the concert sound. I would definitely give Elephant a listen if you haven’t heard it. It is damn good. I agree about the Led Zep influence. He plays like Page, he sings like Plant. It is amazing how sometimes his singing emulates Plant so closely, right down to the British fake Jamaican type enunciation.

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I like how Meg’s playing not only fits with the music, but she manages to get a good sound out of her drums most of the time; she seems to aspire to hit the sweet spot.

I also like how Jack uses his voice, however inspired it may be.

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OK, I just got back. Oh. My. God.

Holy CRAP can they put on a show!! Every “hard” rock band I have ever seen - Mudvayne, Slipknot, Slayer, Mastodon, Cephalic Carnage, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, etc. just got their ass handed to them by the blues-rockin’ siblings.

That was the most scorchingly raw, mind-blowingly powerful sound I have ever heard. They rocked me upside down and inside out. And it was fun. Those of us toward the front of the massive crowd were doing something between dancing and moshing… not slam dancing even, just basically rocking out so hard we couldn’t be expected not to run in to each other with all of our pogoing and grooving. Whoo. Great, great, show. Unbelievable band. I know they may not be all that original, but they are worthy of the tradition that they pay homage to with their sound, and frankly, those bands aren’t around any more. This generation deserves someone to play like Led Zeppelin and The Stones and The Stooges and Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf all rolled in to one.

I would say Jack sounds like a hybrid of Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, and Paul McCartney. That’s pretty damn cool. His guitar playing, and even just the SOUNDS that he gets out of his rig, is amazing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wild solo or just a simple but powerful rythm riff… the pounding, man, the POUNDING. That’s where the garage rock thing comes in. The POWER of his guitar with her thudding drumline shreds my brain! And I swear to God I wasn’t shmokin’ nothin’ either.

As for Meg’s drumming- think how long she’s been doing it! I don’t care who you are, when you play drums proffessionally for years and years, you are able to play stuff a lot more complex than what she does with Jack. It’s her STYLE, and it’s perfect. I got the distinct impression that she didn’t even know what he was going to play most of the time (sometimes he walked over and told her), but it didn’t matter, because she just followed along and got in to the groove early. Now that is RAW, and the amazing thing is that it works so well. I feel like I know why we still have rock and roll today - because so many years ago, something sounded like this, and the energy of that has been sufficient to push us this far. Wow.

I imagine I’m gonna be playing a LOT of guitar tomorrow. That was inspiring and amazing. I bought Elephant on vinyl, even though I already have the CD, because I want to be able to drop Seven Nation Army in a DJ set. How cool is that?

LC

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Oh, and El_Kabong -

I would say that their live sound is a good deal more raw, and a good deal better than their studio sound. Don’t get me wrong, I think their studio work is awesome, and I listen the albums constantly, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like what I heard tonight, and I can’t help but wonder why they don’t just take the whole stripped-down ethos all the way and make albums that sound like that. Just plug it in and lay it down if you sound that good, says I.

LC

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Ooh, ooh, one more thing and then I’ll go to bed, I swear:

On the brother and sister thing, there was a pretty good laugh in the crowd when one audience member shouted, “Meg!! Be my sister!!”

LC