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In March 1999, they released the single " The Big Three Killed My Baby", followed by their debut album, The White Stripes, on June 15, 1999. In 1999, the White Stripes signed with the California-based label Sympathy for the Record Industry. This was followed in October 1998 by the single " Lafayette Blues" which, again, was only released on vinyl with 1,000 copies. Their debut single, " Let's Shake Hands," was released on vinyl in February 1998 with an initial pressing of 1,000 copies. Jack initially declined, believing it would be too expensive, but he eventually reconsidered when he realized that Buick was offering to pay for it. In 1998, Dave Buick-owner of an independent, Detroit-based, garage-punk label called Italy Records-approached the band at a bar and asked if they would like to record a single. They began their career as part of the Michigan underground garage rock scene, playing with local bands such as the Hentchmen, the Dirtbombs, the Gories, and Rocket 455. The White Stripes had their first live performance on August 14, 1997, at the Gold Dollar bar in Detroit. They were also noted for their lack of a bass player, and their general refusal to be interviewed separately. White has explained that they used these colors to distract from the fact that they were young, white musicians playing "black music". It revolved around this childish idea, the ideas kids have-because they are so much better than adult ideas, right?" įrom the beginning, they established certain motifs: publicly pretending to be brother and sister, outfitting their production in only black, red, and white, and heavily using the number "three". But since our last name was White, we decided to call it the White Stripes. Meg loves peppermints, and we were going to call ourselves the Peppermints. There was something in it that opened me up." The couple then became a band and, while they considered calling themselves Bazooka and Soda Powder, they settled on the White Stripes.
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In Jack's words, "When she started to play drums with me, just on a lark, it felt liberating and refreshing. On Bastille Day 1997, Meg started learning to play the drums. Shortly after, Goober and the Peas broke up, but Jack continued to play in other bands, such as the garage punk band the Go (he played lead guitar on their 1999 album Whatcha Doin'), the Hentchmen, and Two-Star Tabernacle. Contrary to convention, he took his wife's surname. Īfter dating for several years, Gillis and White married on September 21, 1996.
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In 1994, he got his first professional job as the drummer for the Detroit cowpunk band Goober & the Peas. By this time, Gillis was already playing drums with musician friends, including his upholstery apprenticeship mentor, Brian Muldoon. The two became friends, and began to frequent the coffee shops, local music venues, and record stores of the area. In high school, Jack Gillis (as he was then known) met Meg White at the Memphis Smoke-the restaurant where she worked and where he would read his poetry at open mic nights.
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