WHITE STRIPES KEEP IT SIMPLE FOR ICKY THUMP?

The White Stripes have announced their forthcoming album, Icky Thump, which the band is hoping to release “as soon as corporately possible.” Jack and Meg White recently signed to Warner Brothers Records, and aside from the title track, the band has listed song titles and preview of one of the tracks on their website, whitestripes.com.

In a past interview Jack White said that they consider their music folk music, and they serve a specific purpose.

“We just want to join that family of folk music. We define ourselves in that sense, and we constrict ourselves all the time. When other people get hip to it or take an interest in it or whatever, then it becomes bigger than what we thought it was.”

White also said that White Stripes will always be about the bare essentials of songs and songwriting.

“Kind of one of the points of the band was to show people that it doesn’t take much to do what people want — storytelling, melody, and rhythm — those are the three components people want. We’re stripping it back to the bare essentials, those three components. That’s the whole point of the band is just to bring things down to a very simple level of melody rhythm and storytelling. That’s what people relate to most I think.”

The band will also embark on a tour upon release of the Icky Thump, which at press time has no release date. Song titles include: “Catch Hell Blues,” “Little Cream Soda,” “Monkeys Have It Easy (discarded),” “Rag And Bone,” “Clicky Bump (retitled into something pleasant),” “Blue Orchid (relocated to previous album),” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)” White Stripes will be at Bonnaroo this year along with Tool and The Police.