The White Stripes have issued a set of facts surrounding their forthcoming sixth album 'Icky Thump'.
According to the band:• Icky Thump has no piano performances (unlike it's predecessor which was mostly written and performed on piano). And is the first White Stripes album to contain no piano based songs.
• It has the most guitar solos Jack White has ever recorded to tape.
• It is the first time the band has collaborated with horns and bagpipes.
• It is the first time The White Stripes have ever recorded and mixed an album at a conventional modern studio.
• Icky Thump was still, however, recorded to reel-to-reel, and mixed to tape in complete analog fashion.
• The album was recorded in three weeks. Shockingly, the longest the band have ever spent working on a record.
• Icky Thump contains the first spoken dialogue song to appear on one of their albums, 'Rag and Bone'.
• Icky Thump is the second longest album of The White Stripes pantheon thus far. Second to Elephant with more than 48 minutes in running time.
• The album's title is a morphing of the phrase "ecky thump" which is an exclamation of surprise or wonderment in Northern England.
• The synthesizer used in the title track was also used on the song 'Telstar' recorded by Joe Meek.
• Jack White used the exact same guitars on Icky Thump that he has recorded with on every White Stripes album.
• 'I'm Slowly Turning Into You' is possibly the first song to be written based on a video treatment. This was inspired by one which was given to The White Stripes by Michel Gondry.
'Icky Thump' is released June 16 in Australia, June 18 in the UK and Europe, and July 19 in the rest of the world.
