Jack White: 'Dead Weather not contrived'

Jack White has denied the suggestion that the sound of his new supergroup The Dead Weather is contrived to be successful.

The White Stripes frontman, who drums in the new band, told The Guardian that the style of music he plays with Alison Mosshart, Dean Ferita and Jack Lawrence arose naturally.

White said: "The way I like to start a new project is to take a cover song and make a stab at it, ideally one that has nothing to do with the people in the room.

"So I said we should try out a version of 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' by Gary Numan, and by the end of that day we had four or five songs of our own."

He added: "There's a preconception in the listener's mind that things are contrived to be successful, from deciding on how the songs should sound to how the album will be sold.

"But that's not how most musicians work. I end up spending a lot of time trying to explain how natural the process is."