ARTIST'S STATEMENT OF INTENT:
Here
is the first installment of what I hope will be an eight part
performance art piece. Perhaps I should have tried to contact
Jack and Meg before boldly launching this new section
to our web site. I hope that anybody involved with the White
Stripes will see this as the tribute I have intended it to
be. I am in no way trying to suggest that their music is not complete
or unfinished, in fact I'm sure that some could use my interpretations
as the perfect argument against the use of bass guitar in their
music. If that is it's true validity, then so be it.
Then of course there is the issue of my decision to post actual
MP3 files of another artist on reddkross.com. For that
very reason this section will probably be pulled off of the internet
in a very short time. Frankly, mp3's were our only option from
a technical stand point. The choices we had available to us for
streaming audio, did not sound as I or ... "the rest of my
band" had intended when recording the record which I am now
calling "Redd Blood Cells." I suppose if I am
pressured by record company lawyers, and/or god forbid the
rest of the White Stripes, I will have to discontinue the
8 part series. I'm sure that the remainder of Redd Blood Cells
will be readily available on other less discriminating sites.
For me, I see this project as an opportunity to conform to an
other's identity while at the same time expressing my individuality
as a musician and an artist. Having lived under the banner of
Redd Kross for so long, in many ways that band name has
become more synonymous with my personal identity than my own last
name. Steven from Redd Kross, is a name I find myself
answering to nearly as much as my given surname McDonald.
This is true I would say for most musicians who have been associated
with a known band for an extended period of time. This phenomenon
tends to exasperate a young person's already fragile grip on their
ego ... especially a rock musician's. That is what this performance
is for me, an opportunity to be a part of someone else's group
identity ... in this case family even ... It's beyond fan ...
I'm joining the band! This is still very much the White Stripes
... same band just a new take on their latest record ... rather
my take on their latest record. I feel I am at the place in my
life where I can expand the limits of my own identity without
losing touch with myself.
Besides it's the coolest thing in the world ... I'm playing bass
in the
White Stripes ... I am Steven White ... that is
unless they kick me out.
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