The White Stripes Break Up

The White Stripes have officially split up. The Detroit garage rock duo announced today on their website that they are disbanding and they “will make no further new recordings or perform live”. Jack and Meg White go on to say in the statement that there are a “myriad of reasons” for the break up, but the central cause is to “preserve what is beautiful and special about the band”.

While the White Stripe’s most recent release was last year’s concert documentary and companion CD Under Great White Northern Light, the band hadn’t released a studio album since 2007’s Icky Thump. The band only played a handful of shows in support of the album before the duo cancelled the remaining 18 dates of the tour, with Meg White citing “acute anxiety” issues as the reason.

Since then, Jack White has released several albums with his two other bands, the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, and established a permament Nashville, Tenn., location for his recording studio and label Third Man Records.

You can read the full statement here.