The bluesy bunch of Greenhornes

White Stripes' mates, the Greenhornes - Craig Fox, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler

Don't expect to see the Greenhornes' names in bright lights. They reckon best mates, and tour partners, the White Stripes, can keep the fame thing.

"We've seen some of the stuff they have to do and it's... yuck," says bass player Jack Lawrence.

"I'm comfortable with where we are, but you always want something better, no, I don't know if it's necessarily better, but it would be nice to make more money obviously," says singer and guitarist Craig Fox.

"You always want to do better. That's why you do it. But maybe not on the level of Jack and Meg [White]," smiles Lawrence.

Sitting in the foyer of an Auckland hotel the Greenhornes seem so shy you feel the urge to lower your voice so as not to scare them.

They're nothing flashy to look at, either. Fox has a rosy fresh face; drummer Patrick Keeler is casually scruffy; and Lawrence looks like a character from Revenge of the Nerds, with his long jet-black hair disguising most of his pale, bespectacled face.

But when they play their blues soaked rock'n'roll, that comes straight outta the 60s, boy, can they deliver.

Keeler has the dexterity of the Stones' Charlie Watts and the power of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham.

And despite his geeky look, Lawrence is hard and funky on bass.

The pair are also in the Raconteurs - Jack White's new band with singer/songwriter Brendan Benson - and they release an album soon.

And then there's Fox, who, from his scared-possum stage presence, you would never think capable of the guitar licks and throaty hoots that come out of him.

They have also just released a new album, Sowed Soles - a retrospective collection of tracks from the first three albums of the band which formed in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1996.

So why release a retrospective? Isn't that what a well-known, long-time band does?

Fox just smiles and rambles: "We'd just signed to [record label] V2, and we were going to do a tour in Europe.

"We knew that was coming up, and we'd never been released anywhere besides the US.

"We were originally going to re-release all our records, then we thought it would be simpler to release one because people don't know this band... so why would they buy three albums?" laughs Lawrence.

Fair enough. But from that explanation you can tell these lads don't care too much about the business side of music.

Their success has been painfully slow burning and if it hadn't been for the tour support with the White Stripes, and Jack White's accolades, the world may never have known about them.

"It's not intentional," smirks Lawrence. "It's just hard because you have to tour Europe a lot and all over the world, and because of money it's hard for us to get over there.

"We've never had a big label backing us, just little small ones," he says, fading to a halt.

The Greenhornes' musical influences are obvious - the Kinks, the Beatles, the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, with a bit of soul thrown in.

It comes from growing up in the middle of nowhere in the 80s, not liking what's on the radio, and making do with their parents' records - a steady diet of blues-powered 60s rock'n'roll.

Which fits in with mentors the White Stripes just fine, though supporting Jack and Meg on tour, they say was a mixed blessing

"When we opened for the White Stripes it started feeling robotic. You're just up there, the crowd's not there to see you, they're filing in, getting their seats, you can't see because of the lights... It's just weird," says Lawrence.

The band are just thankful that it's safe to assume there will actually be people at their shows now. "Cause when you're playing to three people, that's pretty bad," smiles Fox.