The Raconteurs
(also known as The Saboteurs
in Australia), are a Grammy-nominated rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, featuring four members known for other musical projects: Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Dead Weather), Brendan Benson (solo), Jack Lawrence (of The Greenhornes, Blanche and The Dead Weather), and Patrick Keeler (also of The Greenhornes).
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THE RACONTEURS TICKETS
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Biography
Formation
The band is based in
Nashville, Tennessee. According to the band's official website, "The seed was sown in an attic in the middle of a hot summer when friends Jack White and Brendan Benson got together and wrote a song that truly inspired them. This song was '
Steady, As She Goes' and the inspiration led to the creation of a full band with the addition of Lawrence and Keeler." The band came together in
Detroit during 2005 and recorded when time allowed for the remainder of the year. Due to the various members' success in other bands, they were quickly dubbed a
supergroup. The band, however, asserted they were not, saying that the term implies something pre-planned or temporary, whereas they are actually "a new band made up of old friends."
[1]
The band has played a number of music festivals in
Europe,
Asia, and
North America (including
Oxegen in
Ireland,
Reading Festival,
Leeds Festival and
Glastonbury Festival and
T in the Park in The
United Kingdom,
Heineken Open'er Festival in
Poland,
Vegoose in
Las Vegas,
Lollapalooza in
Chicago,
Bonnaroo in
Manchester, Tennessee,
Austin City Limits Music Festival in
Austin, Texas), and
Coachella in
Indio, California, headlining many.
The Saboteurs
The Raconteurs were renamed as "The Saboteurs" for the
Australian market when it was discovered that a
Queensland band was already using the name "Raconteurs". The Queensland band refused to give up their name for the amount they were offered, and instead asked for a higher price from The Raconteurs' record company, who refused to pay the greater amount.
[2] A member of the Queensland band said that they had not been informed of who was trying to buy their name and asked for the larger sum of money to see what would happen.
[3]
Broken Boy Soldiers
The Raconteurs' full-length debut,
Broken Boy Soldiers
, was recorded at Brendan Benson's in-home studio located in Detroit. The first single was "
Steady, As She Goes/Store Bought Bones" and was released as a limited-edition 7-inch, 45 rpm vinyl record in Europe on January 30, 2006,
[4] and in North America on March 7, 2006. A CD version of "Steady, As She Goes" was released on April 24, 2006, with the B-side "Bane Rendition".
thumb, 2006The Raconteurs first performed live at the Academy in
Liverpool,
UK, on March 20, 2006, launching a short British tour. Their first American date was the next month, on April 20 at
New York City's
Irving Plaza. Nearly nonstop touring followed, bringing the band to audiences around North America and Europe. The high profile of
Jack White meant that even though the band was new, they were able to sell out mid-size venues—a rarity for a band's first tour.
Broken Boy Soldiers
was released on May 15, 2006 in the UK on Third Man Recordings/XL Recordings and May 16 in the U.S. on Third Man Recordings/V2 Records. It entered the UK charts at #2 and the U.S. charts at #7.
In November 2006, the Raconteurs played eight dates as the opening act for
Bob Dylan on the north-eastern leg of his U.S. tour. On November 3, 2006, the Raconteurs performed the song "Store Bought Bones" and the title track, "Broken Boy Soldier" on
Later with Jools Holland
. According to
Planet Sound
(who had reporters in attendance), during "Store Bought Bones" White's guitar malfunctioned and they had to re-play the song. This eventually happened four times, with the band breaking up in laughter by the fourth take. The TV airing used edited pieces from all four performances and cut out any laughter. The band's cover of "
Teenage Kicks" by
The Undertones appeared on a 40-year anniversary of the
BBC live compilation. They played it live on a
John Peel tribute.
The band has performed a number of covers during live shows. For instance, the set list usually includes renditions of "
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" (a song written by
Sonny Bono and popularized by both
Cher and
Nancy Sinatra) and "Headin' for the Texas Border" by
The Flamin' Groovies. Other songs the band has covered include
Gnarls Barkley's "
Crazy",
Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?",
The Undertones' "
Teenage Kicks",
Ron Davies' "
It Ain´t Easy",
Love's "A House Is Not a Motel", and
Charley Jordan's "Keep It Clean". The band has also covered the song "Floating" by the Irish band
Jape.
In December 2006, the band's debut album,
Broken Boy Soldiers
, was awarded the title Album of the Year by Britain's
Mojo
magazine. In 2007, the album was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. The Raconteurs were nominated for two awards at the
49th Annual Grammys: one for
Best Rock Album for
Broken Boy Soldiers
, and another for
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Steady, As She Goes".
[5]
Consolers of the Lonely
The Raconteurs released their second album,
Consolers of the Lonely
on March 25, 2008. The first single, "
Salute Your Solution", was released the same day.
The band also played tour dates including:
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 25, the
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 4,
Bonnaroo Music Festival on June 13,
[6] T in the Park in
Scotland on July 12,
Oxegen festival in
Ireland on July 13 and The
Open'er Festival in
Poland on July 4. They played at "The Pyramid Stage" at the
Glastonbury Festival 2008 on June 28, at Lollapalooza on August 1, and on the main stage of
Reading and Leeds Festival 2008 on August 23 and August 24, also at Austin City Limits Music Festival September 26-28, 2008. They played "The Eden Sessions" at the Eden Project in Cornwall on June 29. The band also toured the U.S. during summer 2008.
The Raconteurs played their first Montreux Jazz festival on July 7, 2008.
Members
- Jack White – vocals, guitar, keyboards, stylophone
- Brendan Benson – vocals, guitar, keyboards
- Jack Lawrence – bass guitar, banjo, backing vocals
- Patrick Keeler – drums, percussion
Touring members / guest musicians
- Dean Fertita (2006) – keyboards, percussion, guitar
- Mark Watrous (2008) – keyboards, fiddle, percussion, violin, vocals
Discography
Studio albums
Year
| Album details
| Peak chart positions
|
US
| US Rock
| CAN
| UK
| AUS
| NZ
| SWI
|
2006
| Broken Boy Soldiers
- Released: May 16, 2006
- Label: Third Man/V2
| 7
| 3
| 8
| 2
| 14
| 12
| 9
|
2008
| Consolers of the Lonely
- Released: March 25, 2008
- Label: Third Man/Warner Bros.
| 7
| 3
| 4
| 8
| 18
| 21
| 25
|
Singles
Year
| Single
| Peak chart positions
| Album
|
US
| US Pop
| US Mod
| US Main
| UK
| CAN
|
2006
| "Steady, As She Goes"
| 54
| 52
| 1
| 30
| 4
| —
| Broken Boy Soldiers
|
"Hands"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| 29
| —
|
"Broken Boy Soldier"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| 22
| —
|
2007
| "Level"
| —
| —
| 7
| —
| —
| —
|
2008
| "Salute Your Solution"
| —
| —
| 4
| 28
| —
| 79
| Consolers of the Lonely
|
"Many Shades of Black"
| —
| —
| 37
| —
| —
| —
|
"Old Enough"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"Consoler of the Lonely"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
|
Other contributions
- The Saturday Sessions: The Dermot O'Leary Show
(2007) - "Steady, As She Goes"
Audio sample
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References
- JH (2006). "Jack White and chums drop an album" MTV2.co.uk (accessed May 18, 2006)
- Double-up forces switch, ''Herald Sun'', 2006-04-07
- Saboteurs of Raconteurs, ''Triple J Music News'', 2006-04-11
- The Raconteurs confirm first single, ''NME'', 2006-01-24
- GRAMMY.COM - 49th Annual Grammy Awards Nominee List, http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/49th_Show/list.aspx
- Sisario, Ben (2008-02-06), "Metallica And Pearl Jam and Kanye West and". ''New York Times''. :2