News

Jack White Reprimands Radio Station for Playing Leaked Music

The White Stripes' Jack White called the Chicago radio station Q101 from Spain on Wednesday, but it wasn't for a long-distance dedication. The eccentric front man was calling DJ Electra to voice his displeasure over the station's decision to play his band's new album Icky Thump in its entirety weeks before its June 19 release date.

"I was extraordinarily surprised when Jack called," said station music director/assistant program director Spike (which is not his real name) of the call. "I had no idea what his reaction would be because I don't know the dude. In my head he's this indie-rock dude, so the fact that he'd be calling at all was cool to me. But when he was mad, it was a curve ball." Spike later revealed that the album was in fact obtained through a leaked download.

On DJ Electra's blog, the radio personality wrote about the incident. "I felt like I was going to throw up," she wrote. "Weirdest, most surreal conversation of my life.... We tried to explain where we were coming from—someone gave us a copy of a record that we were really excited to play, and the whole experience was an hour-long lovefest for him and his band—but he wasn't having it. He hung up, very, very angry, and I thought I was going to cry."

In other Stripes news, the band has also cancelled nine of its fall U.S. dates, September 4-13, due to "unforeseen scheduling issues."

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
06.01.07