The White Stripes consists of Jack White (vocals, guitar, piano), Meg White (drums).
The White Stripes are a minimalist blues-rock duo from Detroit, composed of Jack White on guitar and lead vocals, and Meg White on drums. The group rose to prominence with the albums White Blood Cells and Elephant.
The White Stripes (Megan Martha White, drums, vocals; and Jack White , guitar, piano, lead vocals) were formed in Detroit in 1997, specifically Bastille Day (see 1997 in music). They decided to give this name to the band because the drummer Meg loves peppermint candies. For several years they were a struggling local band, despite touring with Pavement and Sleater-Kinney. During this time, they released singles on various independent record labels including Sympathy For The Record Industry, the label for their first three albums.
Jack has described their eponymous debut album (released in 1999), as "...really angry...the most raw, the most powerful, and the most Detroit-sounding record we've made."
Their second release, De Stijl (2000), was named after the minimalist Dutch art movement which they cited as a source for the approach to their music and to their image. For a brief period before De Stijl was released, Jack studied fine arts at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, although he never graduated.
The album cover features a sample of De Stijl art in the band's signature colors - red, white and black, according to Jack, "the most powerful color combination of all time, from a Coca-Cola can to a Nazi banner". Those colors are also found in the duo's distinctive wardrobe. It is somewhat unclear why they chose those colors. In some interviews, the group has said that the colors red and white are from peppermint candy (representing childhood innocence) and the color black represents the equilibrium of the number three. Jack has also said that the colors are based on toys for infants, claiming that the colors red, white, and black are used in toys for newborns (because they are slightly colorblind when born). Even before forming the band, Jack was focused on a three color scheme. When he worked as an upholsterer, all his tools, his van, and his uniform were white, black, and yellow.
