By all accounts, Jack White is a pretty unique individual, as demonstrated by his eclectic music, his apparent aversion to modern technology and his ever-varying personal style—among other things—so Discogs felt it appropriate to set up a pretty unique interview with the musician, where White rummages through a bag of random items that have a range of personal significance, revealing some interesting facts about his early music days and much more. 

The “interview” is conducted by Third Man Records archivist Ben Blackwell and presents a relatively jovial, down-to-earth side to White, who seemingly had no idea that he would be seeing and explaining items like a gym-floor-tile sculpture he made in 1996. Many of the bag’s contents point to White’s earlier days, like a cassette tape of the band Vegetarian Cannibals, which White says he and childhood friend and current touring bassist Dominic Davis discovered via a classmate in the band when White and Davis were “just two Polish kids out to find out about rock-and-roll.” The recording inspired them to try their hand at their own tape, though White says their band The Fuck Ups never got around to it. 

White also pulls out the “secret weapon” of his early White Stripes days (a DOD compression pedal), a Dr. Pepper magnet belt that provokes White to reveal his love for the beverage (“Oh, if I saw this, I was getting it. I was obsessed with Dr. Pepper”), an armband from the taping of The White Stripes music video for “Hotel Yorba” and more. Finally, Blackwell presents White with his first 4-track TEAC recorder, which White used in his teenage bedroom recordings and returned to for the demos for new solo album Boarding House Reach. White even explains how the recorder led to the album’s title, recalling when he was recording violinist and Third Man artist Lillie Mae and had to reach past her to the TEAC and exclaimed, “Pardon my boarding-house reach.” 

Watch below, and check out Blackwell’s recent list of the top 10 rarest Jack White recordings (including the one he hid in upholstered furniture and a couple that are only available directly from Jack or Meg White) here.