April 25, 2007 11:53

The Raconteurs get to work on new album

Jack White has been a busy boy

Photo Gallery: The Raconteurs

The Raconteurs have started recording their second album.

Jack White's side project, which also features Brendan Benson along with The Greenhornes' Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler, have already written 12 songs for the follow-up to 'Broken Boy Soldiers' and are currently holed up in Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

The band are hoping to finish the LP before their frontman hits the road with The White Stripes in the summer.

White described the sound as "very different" from the band's 2006 debut 'Broken Boy Soldiers'.

"We don't know if we're going to finish but we wanted to get everything down before we got busy," he told Billboard.com. "We have a lot bigger ideas about certain things, so we will see how far we get."

Meanwhile, The White Stripes will release their own studio album 'Icky Thump' on June 18.

However, beforehand the pair will release the track 'Rag And Bone' on a special seven-inch vinyl that will come exclusively for free with the issue of NME out on June 6.

The track will be pressed onto red vinyl, while the flipside will feature an etching designed exclusively by Jack White and will come in special gatefold packaging featuring more artwork by the band.

'Icky Thump' will get its first play on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show tomorrow (April 26), and they will play the 02 Wireless Festival in London on June 14 and in Leeds a day later (15).

To check ticket availability and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/GIGS now.