May 9, 2009 1:54

Jack White: 'New White Stripes album due next year'

He says they've already recorded two songs

Photo Gallery: The White Stripes

The White Stripes are set to begin work in earnest on their new album later this year, after Jack White completes his touring duties with his side-project The Dead Weather.

White says that that he and Meg White have already been working on material for the upcoming album, which “won't be too far off. Maybe next year”.

"We had recorded a couple of songs at the new studio," he told musicradar.com. "I talked to her about coming by when I was done in the summer rehearsing with The Dead Weather - I won't be done in the summer touring with them, but after the summer jaunt."

The band cancelled tour dates in 2007 after Meg White began to suffer acute anxiety, which the frontman now says "is in the past. Meg is a very shy girl, a very quiet and shy person. To go full-speed from a dead-halt is overwhelming, and we had to take a break".

“My son was being born, so we didn't had a lot of time left. We were trying to cram everything into a short time span, and we were just plowin', man! The train was out of control," White says.

He also revealed that the reality of touring is the opposite of what most people think:

"We just needed to stop for a while. When it comes down to your health...It's hard; people don't really understand. They think you go up on stage and you're having a blast, like you're partying or some shit. That's not the case. It's hard work to go on tour."

--By our New York staff.
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