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This is it! Tomorrow is the deadline to sign up for VaultrnPackage #16 on Modlife as well as the final day of the Vault in its current form, meaning… Wednesday is the official launch day of the new and improved Third Man Records Vault! As we mentioned previously, your subscription with Modlife will NOT carry over. ALL members will have to re-subscribe to the new Vault in order to maintain a continuous subscription.

We realize that many of you prefer not to renew your quarterly subscription until the corresponding package has been announced, and we don’t want any loyal Vault members to miss out on content due to the timing of this launch. For that reason, all Vault content will be open and non-exclusive until Vault Package #17 is announced in early July, though please note that Vault Chat and comments will be closed to those who have not yet re-subscribed. Similarly, the Vault Novelties Shop, which will be accessible only to Platinum members, will launch AFTER the Package #17 announcement, so all members have equal opportunity to score the wares we will have to offer. (We know, we can hardly wait either!)

We have strived to fill the new Vault up with a solid collection of fun goodies for the launch, however please keep in mind that this is just the beginning. We are thrilled to use our new platform to bring you many more exclusive videos, tracks and photos, as well as the inside scoop on Third Man news and events in the weeks ahead.

This new & improved Vault is new to us too. We liken the way we feel on this day to the way the engineers of the Hadron Collider must have felt when they flipped the switch… so we appreciate your patience with us as we get these protons accelerating and unlock the keys to the universe.

Like always, please contact vault@thirdmanrecords.com if you are having any trouble using the site. We hope you agree that this new Vault is going to vastly improve the way we bring you the content we all love, and we look forward to rolling out all the site’s features in the coming months.

In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for Vault Package #16.

Please note that new subscriptions can presently only be purchased via credit/debit. We will be able to accept Paypal shortly.

A FINAL MISSIVE FROM THE AMBASSADOR OF RECORD STORE DAY

"in one of my final acts as Record Store Day ambassador, i encourage everyone who comes to the third man record store in nashville to be able to hear themselves on a vinyl record, and maybe even mail it to someone they love."

"actively venturing to your local record shop is one of those honors and privileges in this life that we just shouldn't take for granted.
Certain beautiful experiences can only happen in the environment of a record store and i just thought that nothing could drive that point home more than
a one-of-a-kind machine that lets you not only record your own vinyl record, but send it to anyone, anywhere in the world to share
a song, poem, or private message with.  i know those warm, scratchy tones send tingles up (and sometimes down) MY spine.  even if you aren't instrumentally inclined, you could
hold up an iphone playing a song and sing along with the music and combine the best of all worlds tangible, digital, and romantic. 
and for those still skeptical or not sure if they're brave enough to do it, think of it this way;
it's almost the same thing as illegally downloading an mp3 and emailing it to someone.  well…, almost.
enjoy record store day everyone. i hope that you find that special song and someone makes you smile in the process."

Jack white iii

On Saturday, April 20th, Jack White and Third Man Records will unveil their Third Man Recording Booth, a refurbished 1947 Voice-o-Graph machine that records up to 2 minutes of audio and dispenses a one-of-a-kind 6" phonograph disc to the user. Whether it be a song, a message to a lover, an audio postcard or just the curiosity of a process that has mystified so many folks for ages, the ability to "hear yourself as others hear you" is not only a tagline here...it's an invitation, a charge, a call to arms.

An arcade staple through the middle of the 20th century and famously used by Martin Sheen's character in the film Badlands, these "make your own record" booths were popular audio peculiarities that fell out of vogue in the 1960s and 70s. Like the records of old, users of the Third Man Recording Booth are encouraged to mail their recording to a loved one. Third Man even offers custom-printed envelopes and postage stamps to make that happen. Located across the room from Third Man's Dip'n'Dunk photo booth folks can even throw in a photo strip with the record to make it extra special.

The Third Man Recording Booth will be the only machine of its kind in the world that is both operational and open to the public. The booth will run on custom Third Man tokens already in use in the Third Man Novelties Lounge



In a promotional video showcasing the process, Nashville native and Raconteur Brendan Benson uses the booth to record a heartfelt ballad he specifically wrote for the Third Man Record Booth.

Fans who record in the booth will be able to submit digitized versions of their recordings to Third Man to be streamed on a dedicated page on the Third Man Records website.

Additionally, Third Man will be hosting live performances by both Karen Elson and Mark Watrous and selling limited edition colored vinyl copies of the White Stripes Elephant to celebrate Record Store Day at its Nashville location.

For those who are unable to make the trek out to Nashville, Third Man is also hosting a pop-up shop and live performances at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, CA. as part of their 10-day Desert Gold event.

Courage. What makes a King out of a slave? Courage. What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage. What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty     mist or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage. What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage. What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage. What makes the Hottentot so hot? Who puts the "ape" in ape-ricot? Whatta they got that we aint got?

In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the White Stripes album Elephant, Third Man has gone searching underneath couch cushions and in shady back alleys for the perfect Vault package to accompany the label's reissue of the album. We think we've nailed it.

Of utmost excitement is a 2 x LP blistering live set by the White Stripes recorded July 2nd, 2003 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Titled Nine Miles From the White City, this 26-song, 79-minute, tour-de-force performance is indicative of the absolute explosiveness Jack and Meg embodied at the height of their 2003 touring. Highlights include a rare live performance of Captain Beefheart's "Party of Special Things to Do", an especially frenetic "The Hardest Button to Button" as well as the Stripes Christmas tune "Candy Cane Children." Hearing "Seven Nation Army" in the middle of a set (and not as a closer or encore where it would soon find itself for the remainder of the band’s career) is a quaint reminder of the inauspicious beginnings of the future stadium anthem.  The crystalline soundboard recording is best experienced through the impromptu, off-the-cuff performance of a song written on-the-spot that would be come to called "Little Cream Soda." The song would be re-discovered (via an audience recording) by Jack and Meg during the recording of their album Icky Thump, dusted off and recorded for what would become the White Stripes final studio album.

Providing rare insight into the demo process, the 7" in this Vault package features Jack White's solo demos of the songs "I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart" and "Little Acorns." Accompanied only by his trusty piano (salvaged from a Catholic school in Detroit as it was being shuttered), Jack's double-tracked vocals lend an otherworldly air to "...Heart."  "Little Acorns," in the most happy of accidents, pairs a parable spoken by legendary Detroit-area news anchor Mort Crim with White's germination of a song idea, all through the magic of recycled 1/4" analog tape. Of special note are White's previously unheard guide vocals...edited out of the final mix once it would appear on Elephant.

Finally, tying all previous components back to the actual making of Elephant, the "bonus" item for this package is a 56-page collection of photos taken by David Swanson during the recording of the album. With the wonderful Toe-Rag Studio in London as the setting, this peek into the White Stripes' recording process is both revelatory and intimate. With only three of the fifty-plus images having ever been published before, such a cache of striking images only furthers to cement the depth and breadth of Third Man's Vault. The live show, the demos and the photos all help to contextualize Elephant, the surroundings it sprung from, the resultant whirlwind it created and all the chaos in-between. Ten years later, it's a time that still resonates very deeply with us at Third Man and we hope you feel so too.

The White Stripes
Nine Miles from the White City
-When I Hear My Name
-Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
-Love Sick (Bob Dylan)
-Hotel Yorba
-Aluminum
-Cool Drink of Water Blues (Tommy Johnson)
-The Hardest Button to Button
-I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart
-Stones in My Passway (Robert Johnson)
-Stop Breakin' Down (Robert Johnson)
-Do
-In the Cold, Cold Night
-Seven Nation Army
-The Same Boy You've Always Known
-Black Jack Davey (traditional)
-We Are Going to Be Friends
-Offend in Every Way
-Little Cream Soda
-Cannon/Party of Special Things to Do (Captain Beefheart)
-Candy Cane Children
-The Air Near My Fingers
-Screwdriver (tease)
-Ball and Biscuit
-Screwdriver (reprise)
-Let's Build a Home
-Goin' Back to Memphis (Henry & June)

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LP:
The White Stripes Nine Miles From the White City
2 x LP (LP one on red vinyl, LP two on white)


7":
The White Stripes
I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart (demo) b/w Little Acorns (demo)
Opaque red vinyl with black whisps
Enclosed in a red/white/black die-cut sleeve

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We are transitioning the Vault from being hosted by Modlife to being a part of the Third Man Records’ web properties beginning May 1st. Here’s what you need to know: Your last subscription payment and your deadline to sign up for Vault Package #16 remain April 30th, business as usual. This is also the final day The Vault will be hosted by Modlife.

Beginning May 1st, all online Vault activity will be hosted through the Third Man Store. Once we launch May 1st, you will have to resubscribe to the new and improved Vault in order to a) have access to online content, and b) maintain a continuous subscription. Platinum subscriptions for the new Vault purchased between May 1st and July 31st will assure your order of the Vault Package #17, which will be announced in July.