As you all know, Jack White unexpectedly let the cat out of the bag regarding his collaboration with Tom in a yet-to-be-published article in Mojo Magazine. This was unintentional, as the interview would have been published after the announcement of the project, so talking about it would have made sense. But someone at MOJO decided, without any consideration to the parties involved, that this was an interesting tidbit of info to get out to the press. This caught us all unawares, and consequently the announcement was a bit slap-dash.
Here's the story: Jack and Tom had been chasing each other for a session for a few years. They admired each others work and knew instinctively that a collaboration would be great fun and had the possibility of turning into something special. Many dates to get together were put forward, but between the two busy diaries, none ever seemed to work. Then last year Tom was in Nashville, booked to play at the Ryman, and Jack just happened to be home at the time. A session was hastily put together with Jack and his band, Tom hopped over to Jack's place (he has an amazing studio in the grounds of his house) and in about 3 hours, they had the two tracks. Tom loved the experience, loved Jack and the way he worked, and we've heard the feeling was mutual.
The two tracks, Jezebel and Evil are sensational - Jack's bonkers-epic approach is in full flight, the band plays out of it's skin, and Tom shows how he does it, nails it, and why no-one else can do it like he can. The release is on Jack's label Third Man Records, which is a dead-cool little business that specialises in vinyl—if you don't know the label you need to check it out:
You will be able to purchase the 7" and the itunes version on March 5. Plse note: this is a tasty side-project for Tom, watch for an announcement regarding his own second album for Island Records, due out early this summer.