A Venus Zine First! Jack White is the first man ever to grace our cover

Get exclusive Q&A not in the summer issue right here

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: May 18th, 2010 | 12:00am

In early April, music editor Selena Fragassi and art director Denise Gibson traveled to Nashville to spend the day with Jack White, the first cover man in the history of Venus Zine. While behind the scenes at the headquarters of Third Man Records, we got White's take on his place in the industry, a working ethos developed from his early job in an upholstery shop, and his fondness for collaborating with female artists. Get your hands on the exclusive interview and photos in our summer issue and read even more of our Q&A below.

Venus Zine: What has changed with Third Man Records now that you’ve had a physical location for a year?

Jack White: Everything is different. There are so many records that have occurred now in the last year that wouldn’t have existed if we hadn’t built the place. It was a tough call when I found the building—I didn’t really know how I wanted it to be. I thought we’d have three employees and put out 7-inches. But once I spent so much time designing the building, I got to finally be the architect that I always wanted to be, laying out the design of every room. It just grew into something bigger. I was flying people in from London and hiring people from out of state to come in and work on it.

Now that we have this place, the mechanics of the music are inspiring more music to happen. We’re doing things that have never been done on vinyl before. There’s so much new life in it. Because we have a relationship with United Pressing [a nearby shop specializing in vinyl], we were able to produce 150 copies of the first Dead Weather single in 24 hours. Usually, it's unheard of to press vinyl that fast. And all the covers were handmade by the band members. We took them to a firing range, shot them with machine guns, and painted them while we were mixing the record so we could hand them out at the Third Man opening.

VZ: Like all of your projects, Third Man’s headquarters is a very colorful place. Do you often find yourself thinking in terms of color?

JW: I have to. Colors solidify some sort of personality—they’re so powerful and it’s amazing how much we take them for granted. Most people who own a business or have their own homes don’t really care what color the outside walls are. Maybe 95% of people don’t want to ruffle any features or cause any trouble, so they’ll paint the house tan, you know? Or taupe. Or mauve. And then you don’t have any stimulation. I mean, tan makes me want to set places on fire. I can’t take it.

VZ: Why did you decide to set up shop in Nashville, as opposed to your home of Detroit?

JW: Nashville is where I need to be now. At the time when I started, I needed to be in Detroit. That’s where I grew up. Of all the musicians in the hundreds of bands from the area, I was the only one who was actually born and raised in the city. Everyone else was from the suburbs. I just felt this connection to something that even MC5 and the Stooges didn’t have because they weren’t even really from Detroit either. When I was growing up I didn’t understand that the two could combine—that there was a culture underlying my neighborhood, and my interest in music was part of that. So by the time we were making the first White Stripes record, my goal was to make it as Detroit as hell. That record still feels very much like Detroit. Like the Stooges’ Funhouse did.

VZ: With all the projects you get involved with, how do you decide which to pursue?

JW: They just have to speak to me. Once in awhile I’ll do a project with someone out of guilt because I respect them so much. The opportunity is there, so I have to do it. People in my position are a lot more cutthroat than me—they have no problem saying no. But when I respect [someone who approaches me], I have to understand where they’re coming from and explore the idea, because it could be beautiful.

VZ: You work with a lot of collaborators whose music styles differ from yours. How do these projects start—do you approach them?

JW: People always put the feelers out. The one disease lately is people doing these albums, like the Santana record, where every song is a different collaboration. I hate those records. They don’t do anybody any good. It's just a weak attempt at trying to piece something together. I feel bad for artists whose labels sucker them into doing that. What’s happening with Third Man lately is the 7-inch—we'll do them when people happen to come through town. Like Wanda Jackson. She was just coming through town and I asked her if we could do a 7-inch together, and it turned into a whole album.

VZ: Where do you see yourself fitting in with the music industry as Third Man progresses into the future?

JW: I really don’t know. I’m just doing what I think makes sense and what I’m interested in, and that’s vinyl, and having an internet situation that makes sense. I don’t have a web page for buzzwords and links and that junk. Some people say, "I have a MySpace page" … and so what? How does the music sound? I come from a real place first and go to the internet last—and I think that others are doing it backward nowadays.

I wouldn’t even venture to guess where music is headed. I think it’s in a disastrous place right now. People are really fighting. I have to think it’s the influence of video games—they’re so massively consuming. It’s not just like playing Pacman. People are involved in a movie now. How can music compete with that? I feel bad for that kid who loves a band and wants to play the music for his friends—and they tell him to shut up, and then they play Guitar Hero for eight hours. Yeah, that’s the Band-aid!

Well at least they're listening to music, right?

Comments

Want to tell us what you think? Please click here to log in or just click here for quick comments

gresch (over 2 years)
Love the jack white article!

Blackcanary20 (over 2 years)
I'd want him to be my first, too :). Good questions.

wulfemother (over 2 years)
Jack White is a talented musician and all but I don't no whats so special about having a man on the cover even if it's the first time in the magazine's 15 year history? I started reading Venus Zine because not only did it cover great music and art but the focus was on women within the music and art world, we can see a man, Jack White or otherwise on the covers of every other music magazine out there. I feel like the new venus zine is moving further and further away from it's original purpose and becoming more and more like every other mainstream rag out there. I'm frankly disappointed.

Trigram (over 2 years)
I thought having Jack as the first male cover was a great way to honor a man who has given so many women a hands up in the music industry. He uses female bands as opening acts and records so many (check out Third Man Records if in doubt). He may not be knocking down the walls women are set behind as singer songwriters but he is throwing them a rope. Thanks Jack for allowing women to push to the front rather than wait to be called upon.

lyndseyadkins (about 1 year)
In response to Wulfemother; First of all, I completely understand your frustration, however, I am a grad student in Women's Studies and I am writing my thesis on the intersection of feminism and rock music. Jack White is important because he is an example of third wave feminism in action!!! Third wave is about coaltion. We know, because of Riot Grrrl, women CAN and DO rock out. BUT we need subverting factors, like White and his bands (which both have women at the front and center), in "mainstream" music. I am SO happy Venus put him on the cover... thats awesome.