THERE’S A STRIKING MOMENT AT THE end of Jack White’s new album, Fear Of The Dawn. “This is the real me,” he sings plaintively in Shedding My Velvet. “I’m not as bad as I was/But I’m not as good as I can be.” For those of us who may have been unhealthily fixated on White’s long juggle between honesty and artifice, it marks the start of a new era. “Ever ything I’m doing right now,” he tells us this month, “is all rebirth.”
A great time, then, to catch up with this most compelling of modern artists. For this issue of MOJO, White gave us unparalleled access to his domain and processes. If you’ve seen the video for Fear Of The Dawn, it was even worked on by our writer, Grayson Haver Currin, as part of his inter view with Jack. There are stories of Bowie, Prince, the Stones, Beyoncé and staring into the sun, about turning your back on negative energy. “Can you be an artist in a stable place?” White ponders. Fear Of The Dawn, and this month’s cover stor y, make the answer to that question pretty self-evident. But are we sure that’s his real hair colour?