If there’s one person we can consider an authority when it comes to the state of music, it’s Jack White. Having been at the forefront of the garage rock/blues scene for over 20 years, he’s seen bands come and go, and now he says that today’s music needs some fresh blood to help it remain relevant.

Speaking to The Kevin & Bean Show on influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ, White opened up on the fact that many music festivals are lacking rock bands.

“Rock & roll needs an injection of some new, young blood to really just knock everybody dead right now,” said White. “I think it’s brewing. It’s brewing and brewing and it’s about to happen. I think that it’s good.”

“Since rock & roll’s inception, every 10 or 12 years there’s a breath of fresh air and a new injection of some sort of what you could I guess call punk attitude or something like that. A wildness,” he continued.

“Things get crazy and then they get crazy for a couple years, then they kind of get subtle, and then you gotta wait for the next wave to come through and get people really excited and screaming about it again.”

While Jack White didn’t give any examples as to why he thinks a change is about to come in the world of rock music, we tend to think that he just needs to look at the right festivals to see the right amount of rock on offer.

Jack White is set to release his third solo album, Boarding House Reach, on March 23rd. Will this record set him become the injection of fresh blood that rock music needs today? Only time will tell, but with plenty of guests on the new LP, including Australia’s C.W. Stoneking, we can be pretty sure it’s going to be amazing regardless.

Check out Jack White’s ‘Connected By Love’:

YouTube VideoPlay

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine