6 Music - Music News

The director of a new documentary about The White Stripes has tipped the Detroit duo to return soon after their three-year break.

Emmett Malloy followed the band on their gruelling 2007 Canadian tour for the behind-the-scenes film Under Great White Northern Lights.

Jack and Meg White played in every province and territory in the country but cancelled subsequent US and UK tours because Meg was suffering from acute anxiety. They have hardly been seen together since.

Malloy told 6 Music news: “Jack’s done a few interviews that I’ve read and it always sounds like they are going to get back together and do something.

“After this tour, we all needed a break but I just can’t imagine that band not doing more records and doing more shows.

“They just probably needed a break like everybody does. I foresee them doing some shows together sooner than later.”

The tour left the pair “emotionally and physically exhausted”, the director explained, and viewers see Meg in tears at the end of a show to mark the group’s 10^th anniversary in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.

"At the beginning a few doors were slammed in our face."

Emmett Malloy

“They had just played a two-and-a-half hour set to a small audience,” Malloy recalled. “That was a very emotional evening – it was very celebratory. It was an amazing set where they played so much of their catalogue.

“That was all the highs and lows of everything they’ve been through in their relationship as a band. The White Stripes have had some amazing moments together as a band and I think that was a moment to reflect on those 10 years.”

The film gives a candid view of the enigmatic duo, but Malloy admitted that it took time for the pair to be comfortable with being under the constant gaze of the cameras.

“I do know Jack and Meg well and had worked with them quite a few times at this point,” said Malloy, who has directed music videos such as Icky Thump for the band.

“The first couple of shows, it took us a minute. At the beginning a few doors were slammed in our face – I don’t mean slammed in a malicious way.

“I just meant it took us a minute to get that comfort level to where we were entering the backstage area and they were comfortable and things were just happening. But that’s a common evolution of filming.

“It takes a minute for everybody to get used to the cameras being there. In time we got to a point where they were comfortable enough to fall asleep in front of the camera so that was a pretty good sign.”

The film is being shown in selected cinemas before being released on DVD.