UK music publication NME unveils Jack and Meg's new image in their latest issue (The Vines on the cover) with a track-by-track preview of Elephant, to which I may add, isn't quite accurate. Don't get me wrong, it's a very positive preview. But they should at least get the lyrics right. And it's a octave guitar, not a bass guitar. Meg didn't sing "I love Jack White like a little brother." Holly GoLightly did. Research people, RESEARCH. More at Triple Tremelo's post here.

Word also has it that Jack and Meg will be sporting "country outfits" for the album cover.

On other side news, althought it has been reported that The White Stripes have distributed vinyl copies of Elephant to battle piracy, the full album are already available for download as MP3s on various sites. Even with the vinyl format, one can't be sure if you distributed vinyl promo to the wrong hands, who clearly has the ability to rip it to MP3 easily (we are in 2003 afterall). To counteract the problem, a 30 secs loops of the songs (made by the record label perhaps?) are actually widely available as well.

Also, it has been revealed by John Peel that he was not allowed to play any more tracks from Elephant on the recent Tuesday show (February 4) due to "marketing strategy." I've listened to the show for a little while myself and it happened that the management of The Blues Goblins (I might have got the band name wrong) emailed in and thanked Peel for playing their records. In light of the closure of Elephant on his show, Peel did seem a little sour about the whole affair, comparing the ironic situations he has on hand. He did mention that he will continue to support The White Stripes but will not play any more of Elephant until he can walk into HMV and buy it himself though.

It might be funny to note that his opening track for Tuesday's show was "'Play Nice Kids" by the 65DaysOfStatic.

You can find out more about John Peel's musing on the show at Triple Tremelo here.

The White Stripes will be embarking on a sold-out mini-UK tour in April. Tour dates are:

THE WHITE STRIPES IN EUROPE
April 7th: Wolverhampton (Civic)
April 8th: Manchester (Apollo)
April 10th: Glasgow (Academy)
April 11th: London (Brixton Academy)
April 12th: London (Brixton Academy)

Elephant will be released on April 7 in the UK and April 15 in the US.