Jack White insists it would be bad for morale if he played his other material during Raconteurs shows.
The 43-year-old singer knows some of his old songs, such as White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’ would go down really well with fans and though he thinks it would "work" within the set, he doesn’t feel it would be fair on bandmates Brendan Benson, Patrick Keeler and ‘Little Jack’ Lawrence, to perform them.
He said: "We could do ‘Seven Nation Army’ and it would work.
"It’s a crowd pleaser, but not good for the morale of the band. I can play anything I want in my solo shows."
The group are releasing ‘Help Us Stranger’, their first album in 11 years and Jack – who has released three solo albums and two with the Dead Weather, as well as producing other artists since the Raconteurs’ last offering – admitted their reunion came about after he struggled to find a place for a song named ‘Shine A Light On Me’ on his most recent solo album ‘Boarding House Reach’.
He told The Sun newspaper: "I did a session in New York and a session in LA but it just didn’t fit.
"That was such a strange record and it seemed like too beautiful a song.
"Then I listened to it a couple of times and it hit me. ‘It really sounds like a Raconteurs song!’ So I played it to Brendan in my car."
Brendan added: "And that put the bug in my ear. So I started putting aside songs that would be good for The Raconteurs."
While fans have waited over a decade for ‘Help Us Stranger’, they may not have to wait as long for a follow-up.
Brendan said: "There’s no shortage of ideas."
Jack added: "We didn’t even finish half the songs we started. There’s a lot of stuff on tape and that’s a really great problem to have…
"I never plan things ahead of time, so it’s hard to say for sure."
Jack White won’t play own material in Raconteurs shows
