Photo: Gemnich/WireImage
The new documentary The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights reveals as much about Canadian culture as it does about Jack and Meg White’s friendship, work ethic and music. The duo eat raw caribou, meet tribal elders, walk along frozen tundra, don traditional kilts and fire a canon — all while touring unconventional places in the summer of 2007 as director Emmett Malloy captured the experience for his film, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“The idea was there was this gigantic frontier right next to where we grew up in Detroit that is just so untouched by our band, let alone bands in general,” Jack White said at a press conference, admitting the idea for the movie went against his normal inclinations. “I’m not too big of a reality TV show fan or peek-behind-the-curtains fan, especially in this day and age — there’s so much of that going on and there’s so little mystery about the world of music and creativity.”
“I think their biggest fear in life is to be normal,” Malloy, who has worked on videos for the White Stripes and the Raconteurs, tells Rolling Stone. “They don’t want to play a round of dates at all the typical spots. Places like Iqaluit lived up to the expectations. Getting out of the plane there felt like we were on the moon, and certainly meeting the elders there, that’s the closet I’ve ever come to feeling like, ‘Wow, these people did live in igloos.’ ”
Check out photos of the White Stripes’ Canadian adventure.
As the White Stripes crossed Canada touring behind their sixth album, Icky Thump, they ambitiously hit every province and territory, including the Yukon and Nunavut. They also slipped in free secret daytime shows on a boat, a bus, at a bowling alley,...
Article Source: Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily