Jack White Says New White Stripes “Won’t Be Too Far Off”

When Jack White announced he was starting up another new band, the Dead Weather, earlier this year, White Stripes fans wondered when they’d see another album of Jack and Meg songs. But now White says that with drummer Meg overcoming the anxiety issues that derailed a tour in September 2007, he doesn’t think new White Stripes material will be “too far off. Maybe next year.” This is obviously amazing news for the band’s fans, who initially suspected the Stripes’ hasty withdrawal from the road meant splitsville. “Nothing of the sort,” Jack tells Music Radar.

White says the sudden return to the road took its toll on Meg, “and we had to take a break.” White tells Music Radar that he was on tour with the Raconteurs for about a year before resuming business with the Stripes, but “Meg had come from a dead-halt for a year and went right back into that madness,” he says. “Meg is a very shy girl, a very quiet and shy person. To go full-speed from a dead-halt is overwhelming.” Meg is now engaged to Jackson Smith, the son of Patti Smith and the MC5’s Fred “Sonic” Smith.

“People don’t really understand. They think you go up on stage and you’re having a blast, like you’re partying or some shit,” White continues. “That’s not the case. It’s hard work to go on tour.” As for what fans can expect from the next White Stripes studio offering, White says its too early to say, but that he and Meg “had recorded a couple of songs at the new studio, [and] I talked to her about coming by” this summer, after the Dead Weather does some summer shows.

(Check out the many guises of Jack White.)

In February, Jack and Meg took the stage together for the first time in two years to bid farewell to Conan O’Brien’s late-night show before he took off for L.A. to host The Tonight Show. O’Brien spoke to Rolling Stone about his special relationship with the duo, who appeared on his stage many times: “There has always been a childlike silliness to our show, and I’d like to think there’s been a silly sweetness to our show. There’s a sweetness to the White Stripes — there’s the hard rock but there’s this sweetness that I think resonates a little bit with our show and it’s always been a good fit.”