The Dead Weather: A Palaver with Alison Mosshart
Living in a Polaroid.
Words by Chris Bilton and Alison Mosshart Photo by Lucia Graca
A collaboration between members of the White Stripes (Jack White), The Kills (Alison Mosshart), Queens of the Stone Age (Dean Fertita), and the Raconteurs (Jack Lawrence) is definitely the stuff of indie rock hypegasm. But when the band — The Dead Weather in case you hadn’t already guessed it — delivers on its potential, there is case to probe a little deeper into just what greases the gears of its creativity. UKULA spoke with singer Alison Mosshart before the band headed out on its North American tour.
UKULA: So the story goes that you got a call in Sheffield to go play in Nashville. Did you really go the next day?
ALISON: Yeah I did. That’s true. That first day that we did that recording right after the tour we kind of started writing a bunch of things so I was just going back to finish those. So I was going to come for a week and work on that. And then we just started writing again and it just sort of kept going. And we had a record, accidentally.
UKULA: It seems to be a pretty solid collaboration. What was the writing and recording process like?
ALISON: It was just jamming really. Everybody seems to just write everything. It was hard even to go back and try and write the credits out and remember; everyone was just playing all the time. Somebody would come up with something and we’d play and in an hour we’d have a song. And if I was just writing lyrics quick enough we’d just record it and that would be that. It was just really super fast. I was kind of the only one just doing what I do, which is just to write words really fucking fast and then sing. That’s kind of the way it’s always been.
UKULA: Who wrote “Treat Me Like Your Mother?”
ALISON: That was kind of a collaboration between Jack and I. He had that line and I helped fill in the verses. That was the hardest one for me because the music was so heavy and different from anything I’ve ever done. It was the only song on the record that I literally walked out of the studio and thought: I can’t do this. What the hell is going on? I couldn’t write anything for it, and Jack helped me out with some ideas.
UKULA: What’s the story behind the title? Did he reveal any of that?
ALISON: I don’t know what inspired it. It’s about manipulation. It’s kind of an argument, but it’s hard to tell if we’re arguing against each other or if we’re presenting ourselves as the people. It changes every time we perform it. Explaining lyrics is not my best thing…
UKULA: Since you were working at Third Man Inc., in this relatively self-contained process for creating every aspect, did that mean that there was little industry involvement?
ALISON: Yeah, I mean this thing that Jack’s created and this way of doing things here is such genius for creativity because you feel basically indestructible. There’s not any pressure, there’s not anybody checking it out. You’re not relying on anybody to do anything for you. You can just kind of do exactly what you want. It’s a really freeing creative experience to work here in Jack’s studio and do everything so quickly — like we can go to the record plant and watch how it’s being made and talk to the people making it. We get to see everything and be part of every little process, even down to making our own record sleeve — 150 of them — with spray paint and glue and taking all the photos ourselves and doing everything. It’s just like a crazy camp — my idea of heaven. It’s fast. It’s so fast. The boredom — there’s no waiting around at all.
UKULA: Is there an instant gratification aspect to that?
ALISON: It’s like living like a Polaroid. It’s pretty amazing. It’s constant instant gratification, so it doesn’t get old and you just want to keep going. It’s kind of addictive.
You’d have to talk to him but I think he’s trying to find ways around the way the music industry has stuck into doing things. And the methods that they use that nobody can say are the best because things aren’t going too well. So trying new things out with every project that you do is great because you’re never sticking with one thing. It could work, it might be a disaster but at least everybody is up for trying.
UKULA: I know you’re a big Warhol fan. This sounds a lot like the Factory.
ALISON: I think that it really is, and I think that’s why I’m so into it. This is the kind of thing that James [Hince] and I have always talked about wanting to do. And it’s a really difficult thing to do. But being completely in control of the outcome of something and having a place where you can do everything, I think Jack’s done it. And it’s amazing to be able to be a part of it and to be able to work with him.