In a brilliant publicity move, The Dead Weather make their live debut on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” for millions of viewers to see. All four members of the band are uniformly dressed in black leather and dark jeans, like they’re slicked down by an oil spill. As the initial applause dies down, a hiccupping drum beat starts, followed by the drone of a grainy guitar. Alison Mosshart comes out swinging at the mic; she is a combative singer whose lyrics are the taunt before the first punch is thrown in a down-and-out brawl.

But as mesmerizing as Mosshart is as a lead during the performance, it’s the drummer in the back who’s getting an inordinate amount of camera shots. That’s because it’s Jack White who sits behind the drum set and there’s no ignoring him; perhaps it’s how he looks – he’s vampirically white underneath a huge nest of dark hair, or perhaps it’s his unassuming but solid performance, or perhaps it’s the fact that White, named #17 on Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, is not playing the guitar.

The June 2009 cover of Spin magazine features the four members of The Dead Weather. Besides the title, the largest words on the cover are “Jack White,” as in “Jack White’s new new band – The Dead Weather.” Hovering near Jack White’s head is a quotation credited to him.

Undoubtedly, of all four members of The Dead Weather, Jack White has the most recognizable name. This is no fluke – he’s been busy. In the last five years, he’s managed to create a Coca-Cola jingle, write a James Bond theme, front The Raconteurs, open an office in Nashville for his Third Man Records, and take part in “It Might Get Louder,” a documentary following guitar legends from three generations. White toes the line between mainstream and underground; most musicians couldn’t do half of what he’s done without backlash from the music community and its knee-jerk aversion to commercialization.

However, the attention given to him and his band raises two inextricable questions: 1) Is it possible for Jack White to be anything but a frontman? and 2) Will anyone let him? From what can be gleaned from articles about the band, White’s position as a drummer wasn’t a change of pace for dramatic purposes. But it did give fans a heart attack.

For a new group, The Dead Weather is pretty coherent. But then again, the band is a supergroup, the alchemic combination of members from other successful bands. Mosshart is one half of The Kills, guitarist Dean Fertita hails from Queens of the Stone Age, Jack Lawrence the bassist started off in The Greenhornes and later picked up with White in The Raconteurs, and White now finds himself in his third band, after The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. The Dead Weather’s sound is that of the proverbial clash of the titans. Their first single, “Hang You from the Heavens,” is a solid piece to introduce such a sound. The song’s melody is dark, deeply rooted in grunge and blues, while Mosshart tops the song with vocals that harken back to ’60s garage rock.

Alison Mosshart, as the lead in The Dead Weather, holds her own. While part of The Kills, she often was likened to – who else? – Jack White. The comparison holds true: they are powerful leads, with voices dragged raw by cigarettes and hard rock. She even took over White’s vocals for a couple Raconteurs shows during their last tour. But her singing for The Dead Weather takes on a new tone, beyond comparisons to her bandmate: she’s volatile and sensual without apologies.

She and White are the driving creative forces behind The Dead Weather’s songs, of which the general public has only received a tantalizing glimpse. The B-side to the “Hang You from the Heavens” single is a cover of Gary Numan’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” – full of synth (as it should be) and true to the heart of the song. “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” the band’s second single, is a little bit of a letdown. Although it carries the same dark tone as the first single, it’s more erratic, and less enjoyable than the rest. Hopefully, this is the most incoherent the album, Horehound, gets; their other songs seem to be carefully crafted: wild, but not stupid. Critics are, for the most part, very optimistic about the album. If it is a success, it will be a victory not just for Jack White, the eternal frontman, but for the band as a whole.

Horehound, the debut album by The Dead Weather, will be released July 14, 2009. For those in the Detroit area, the band will be performing downtown at The Fillmore on July 24.