Jack White on The White Stripes' future

During a chat with MusicRadar about drumming his brand-new outfit The Dead Weather and forthcoming cinematic guitarfest It Might Get Loud, Jack White exclusively revealed a few snippets of news about that other band of his. No, not that one - we mean The White Stripes.

As evidenced by the Stripes' dramatic return to the stage on 20 February, when they performed on the last-ever Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Jack and Meg are still together. Meg has overcome the 'acute anxiety' that upended the band's 2007 tour, which, according to Jack "was a very real problem, but one that I'm happy to say is in the past."

New Stripes songs on the way

In fact, White says the two had already begun work on a new White Stripes album before the Conan gig. "We had recorded a couple of songs at the new studio," he says. "I talked to her about coming by when I was done in the summer rehearsing with The Dead Weather - I won't be done in the summer touring with them, but after the summer jaunt."

As to when fans can expect a new White Stripes album, White says, "It won't be too far off. Maybe next year."

Addressing the issue of Meg's anxiety and the cancellation of the Stripes' last tour, White is emphatic. Their usual rehearsal time was practically non-existent, he says, and on top of this "I had a baby coming, my son was being born, so we didn't had a lot of time left. We were trying to cram everything into a short time span, and we were just plowin', man!"

"The train was out of control"

Once the duo did hit the road, it was a whirlwind. "We were playing two shows a day in Canada, then we'd fly to France and do a TV show there, then we were back in England on tour, and we were just killin' it, man. The train was out of control.

"I just came from a Raconteurs tour and went right into that, so I was already full-speed. Meg had come from a dead-halt for a year and went right back into that madness. Meg is a very shy girl, a very quiet and shy person. To go full-speed from a dead-halt is overwhelming, and we had to take a break."

White acknowledges that the Stripes' abrupt exit from the road caused many fans to fear that the band was breaking up. "Nothing of the sort," he says.

"We just needed to stop for a while. When it comes down to your health...It's hard; 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. That's not the case. It's hard work to go on tour."

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