ABC/Nicole WilderThis Friday, The Raconteurs will return with Help Us Stranger, their first album in a decade. Since their last record, 2008’s Consolers of the Lonely, it’s safe to say that the music industry has changed quite a bit. But that didn’t change the Jack White-led band’s approach to their sound.
“We do recognize that rock ‘n roll is out of favor at the moment,” co-vocalist/guitarist Brendan Benson tells Billboard. “But it was more of a reason to make a rock ‘n roll record — it had to be done. It’s not like we would change everything up and make some sort of Twenty One Pilots record.”
“It falls back to the idea of, ‘What’s the thing I don’t see on the record shelf that I want to? The thing I want to buy, the thing I want to listen to?'” White adds. “That’s the record we made — the thing we’re not hearing.”
In addition to the new record, The Raconteurs, whose lineup also include bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler, made their live return this year as well.
“It was a little rough,” Benson says of their first show back together. “But it felt good. It was just one of those moments where afterward, we were all very exhilarated and stoked about the future.”
The future includes the Help Us Stranger release on June 21, and a North American tour that kicks off in July and stretches into October.
“If I had my pick of everybody I knew, these are the three guys I wanted to start a band with,” says White. “We all came from nothing — everyone was just passionate.”
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