Too often the albums released by thesegroups don’t live up to the high expectations, and even when the formula doesresult in memorable music, as with Captain Beyond or Gorillaz, listeners oftenmiss the authenticity (another annoying pop-music term) of a band bio along thelines of, say, meeting in high school and enduring the highs and lows along theroad to stardom together.
And yet we tend to forget that, withall the touring and promotion going on, the life of a working musician offersplenty of opportunities for mutual interests to be discovered and for genuinefriendships to blossom. The formation of The Dead Weather, featuring Jack White(The White Stripes, The Raconteurs), Alison Mosshart (The Kills), “Little” JackLawrence (The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes) and Dean Fertita (Queens of theStone Age), seems as organic as that of any other group. At the tail end of atour, with The Kills playing opener for The Raconteurs, White lost his voiceand asked Mosshart to sing on a few numbers. The resultant good vibes led tocasual jam sessions with Fertita sitting in on drums, and thus The Dead Weatherwere born.
But still, the rock supergroup labelrears its ugly head when it comes to convincing potential listeners thatthey’re a proper band (especially for a group derived in part from TheRaconteurs and Queens of the Stone Age, who are both pretty “super” in theirown right). In a recent phone interview, bassist Lawrence acknowledged the tag,but seemed unperturbed by it.
“There’s definitely preconceivednotions,” Lawrencesays. “People believe what they want, because they’ve heard us in our otherbands before. In The Raconteurs we really tried to get away from that, butpeople will say what they want. We definitely don’t look at ourselves thatway.”
The Dead Weather’s first album, lastsummer’s Horehound, seemed to come together as effortlessly as the banditself, reportedly being finished over the course of a few weeks. Their freshlyreleased follow-up, Sea of Cowards,follows in its predecessor’sunforced footsteps. It’s an effective hybrid of sweaty, riff-heavy ’70s hardrock and more dance-savvy modern rock, seasoned with little proggy flourishesand an off-kilter funkiness that make repeat listens a worthy endeavor.
“It’s the same on this record as thelast one,” Lawrencesays. “We never set out to make it anything; we never discussed it, we neverhad a game plan. We just get in the studio and go with it.”
This is not to say that the album istossed off, but merely that it’s free from the weight of the expectations of asophomore slump and the desire to move X amount of units. In Lawrence’s words, “There’s always pressure.You always want to better yourself.”
As for the more modern tone, Lawrence offers a simpleexplanation: “There’s a lot of Moog on there.” Funny how something so old canstill make just about anything sound futuristic.
Whether the supergroup itself is aheadof its time remains to be seen. But regardless of the members’ pedigrees, andin light of an era of popular music where high-profile collaborations arecommonplace, we should all be able to recognize The Dead Weather for what theyare: a solid rock band. They’re probably not going to blow your mind andthey’re probably not going to usher in a new rock renaissance, but the recordsare solid and the shows are solid. And at a time when mainstream radio rock isdefined by Puddle of Mudd, a solid rock band can seem heaven-sent.
TheDead Weather headline a 7:30 p.m. show at the Rave on Thursday, July 29, withopeners Harlem.
