Jack White has issued a written apology to The Black Keys, his former bandmate Meg White and others over comments he made in a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview.
Last year, his personal opinions about The Black Keys were revealed when his wife included a message from him in their divorce case. He was asked again about the band during the recent interview, and he told Rolling Stone he felt The Black Keys were capitalizing on a sound he helped make popular. White explains in a letter dated Saturday on his website that he thought it would have seemed petty if he had declined to discuss the issue with the magazine. In his letter, he spoke positively of the Black Keys, who are also based in Nashville and got their start as a bluesy two piece like White’s own White Stripes.
“Thank you for reading all of this and I hope that the nonsense started by lawyers and strangers to me and perpetuated by tabloid journalism can be left behind, and all of the musicians can move forward in positivity,” White wrote in the letter over the weekend. “So, God bless the Black Keys, Danger Mouse, Adele, Meg White, and anyone else I’ve spoken about, and thank you for understanding. Good fortune to all of them, and I’m sorry for my statements hurting anyone.”
Though White’s feeling that The Black Keys have capitalized on his sound had long been rumored, his feelings were confirmed when a letter he sent to Karen Elson was entered into the public court record. In the letter, he objects to his children attending the same school as Black Keys singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach’s daughter
In the Rolling Stone article, he used Adele, Lana Del Rey and others in his explanation as examples of a point he was making about the difference between trendsetters and those who follow. He also said he rarely talks to his old bandmate and first wife Meg White, describing some of their difficulties as bandmates.
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Recent comments by White, Auerbach and Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney have come as both acts promote new releases. Carney and Auerbach say they’ve never met White and don’t understand his ill will.
“I don’t know, man, this business is hard enough,” Auerbach said in an interview this week. “I choose to focus on different things, honestly. He’s obviously focusing very intensely on something. I’m focusing on something very different, and my output is testament to that.”
White said in his note he wishes The Black Keys and their co-producer Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton much success. “Lord knows that I can tell you myself how hard it is to get people to pay attention to a two piece band with a plastic guitar, so any attention that the Black Keys can get in this world I wish it for them, and I hope their record stays in the top ten for many months and they have many more successful albums in their career,” White wrote.
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