ARTIST'S STATEMENT OF INTENT:

Here is the first installment of what I hope will be an eight part performance art piece. Perhaps I should have tried to contact Jack and Meg before boldly launching this new section to our web site. I hope that anybody involved with the White Stripes will see this as the tribute I have intended it to be. I am in no way trying to suggest that their music is not complete or unfinished, in fact I'm sure that some could use my interpretations as the perfect argument against the use of bass guitar in their music. If that is it's true validity, then so be it.

Then of course there is the issue of my decision to post actual MP3 files of another artist on reddkross.com. For that very reason this section will probably be pulled off of the internet in a very short time. Frankly, mp3's were our only option from a technical stand point. The choices we had available to us for streaming audio, did not sound as I or ... "the rest of my band" had intended when recording the record which I am now calling "Redd Blood Cells." I suppose if I am pressured by record company lawyers, and/or god forbid – the rest of the White Stripes, I will have to discontinue the 8 part series. I'm sure that the remainder of Redd Blood Cells will be readily available on other less discriminating sites.

For me, I see this project as an opportunity to conform to an other's identity while at the same time expressing my individuality as a musician and an artist. Having lived under the banner of Redd Kross for so long, in many ways that band name has become more synonymous with my personal identity than my own last name. Steven from Redd Kross, is a name I find myself answering to nearly as much as my given surname McDonald. This is true I would say for most musicians who have been associated with a known band for an extended period of time. This phenomenon tends to exasperate a young person's already fragile grip on their ego ... especially a rock musician's. That is what this performance is for me, an opportunity to be a part of someone else's group identity ... in this case family even ... It's beyond fan ... I'm joining the band! This is still very much the White Stripes ... same band just a new take on their latest record ... rather my take on their latest record. I feel I am at the place in my life where I can expand the limits of my own identity without losing touch with myself.

Besides it's the coolest thing in the world ... I'm playing bass in the White Stripes ... I am Steven White ... that is unless they kick me out.

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