Another project founded by Jack White, Dead Weather began after the Raconteurs toured the U.S. with the Kills in summer 2008. Toward the end of the tour, bronchitis made it difficult for White to sing as much as usual, so Kills singer Alison Mosshart was drafted to sing several of his songs. Mosshart's on-stage chemistry with the Raconteurs led to White, Mosshart, bassist "Little Jack" Lawrence, and White's house guest, Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita, recording a cover of Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" The newly formed band began working on a full album at White's Third Man Studios in Nashville TN, with White on drums for the first time since his stint in Goober & the Peas. Dead Weather finished recording their album in a matter of weeks, crafting a sound influenced by White's and Mosshart's other projects but with a darker feel. The band made its live debut in March 2009, performing a short set for 150 friends at Third Man's offices to celebrate the release of the single Hang You from the Heavens/Are Friends Electric?; a month later, they played their first official gig at New York's Bowery Ballroom. Horehound, Dead Weather's debut album, arrived that summer. The band kept up the rapid pace, continuing to tour and record through 2009. Mosshart announced that Dead Weather's second album was halfway done that October, and in March 2010, the single Die by the Drop arrived. Sea of Cowards, which boasted a heavier and more integrated sound than the band's debut, appeared that May.

~ Heather Phares, Rovi