International superstar and man of mystery Jack White may have found even more musician collaborations to add to his ever growing collection, with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke dropping a few hints onstage at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival over the weekend.
According to Billboard, near the end of Radiohead’s headline set, Yorke gave a shout-out to Jack White, “This song is for Jack White,” he yelled out to the excited crowd. “We saw him yesterday. A big thank-you to him, but we can’t tell you why. You’ll find out.”
Not a huge amount to go on but enough to send the blogosphere into overdrive. You see, Bonnaroo is located in Manchester, Tennessee, just a little over an hour away from Nashville where, you guessed it, Jack White’s Third Man Records is based.
That same studio has hosted the likes of Beck, Insane Clown Posse, rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson, and even Welsh crooner Tom Jones over the last 2 years, and with White spending a lot more time in the producers chair lately, the possibilities of a Radiohead or even just Thom Yorke collaboration are certainly exciting.
Sure, some White fans are no doubt still licking their wounds from the breakup of garage rock gods The White Stripes, and they’ll be licking them for a while because White says there is ‘no chance’ the duo will ever get back together.
But we shouldn’t be too sad, it isn’t like White has fallen off the face of the Earth. In fact, he’s been more prolific than ever.
Since the break up, White has got a divorce and has been focusing on Third Man Records, spitting out re-releases, rarities, signing new artists, and new music including his bizarre collaboration with the Insane Clown Posse, Beck, and Tom Jones.
He’s also announced his debut solo album, Blunderbuss, which was released 24th April this year, hitting the road shortly after including a show at Fuji Rock in Japan, before he visits Australia for Splendour In The Grass 2012 and a few sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney.
So what would a Radiohead/Yorke collaboration with Jack White look like? The answer is we just don’t know. It could be like the one off White did with Beck just a few weeks ago, or it could be something a bit more extensive like Yorke’s collaboration side project with Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco.
In the words of Yorke himself; you’ll find out. You can watch Radiohead’s headline set at Bonnaroo in HD here.
