Jack White doesn't love the internet

Jack says, "Don't come over MySpace"
Jack says, "Don't come over MySpace"

Jack White is a purist through-and-through. Forget Pro Tools - recorded his new band The Dead Weather's debut album, Horehound, on 2" eight-track. And don't even get him started on the internet.

Well, if you do get him started, he'll have a lot to say, as he did recently to The Ampersand.

While White is able to control the manner in which he records his myriad projects (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, an upcoming solo record) the fact that cyperspace plays a part in getting his music to the public is a serious sore spot.

White rages against the machine

"Do I really need a MySpace page for this fucking music? There's a part of me, that just out of spite, says I don't want to do it" Jack White

"Do I really need a MySpace page for this fucking music?" White asked. "Do I really need to do that? There's a part of me, that just out of spite, says I don't want to do it because it's so antithetical to what I do. I just question what it all means.

"If a million people see your webpage, how many people actually buy something, buy a record or a song?" he continued. "Feels to me, if you give them a chance to fast forward, rewind, or click off to the next web page, they will do it."

In White's view, the web also messed up the unveiling of The Dead Weather, which he would have preferred to woodshed in a low-key fashion. If not for the internet, we would have loved to have done six months of small clubs down south to really build up what we are and discover what we are," White said.

But since we're all on the internet, how about checking out the marvelous trailer to the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud? The film stars White, along with Jimmy Page and The Edge.

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.