McDonald Shares in the Fun, Success of the White Stripes

Veteran Los Angeles rock musician Steven McDonald had thought about going to England this weekend, but his trip got canceled.

“I wanted to go to the Reading Festival,” he says. “The White Stripes are playing there and I was hoping to start a rumor that I would be jamming with them on stage.”

The rumor alone would have been a perfect conclusion to what may have been the summer’s most spirited rock-art project. McDonald, who played bass for years with Redd Kross and now leads the Steven McDonald Group, made himself an imaginary member of the bass-less duo of guitarist Jack White and drummer Meg White by taking the songs from the Stripes’ acclaimed “White Blood Cells” album and adding his own bass parts, as well as a few other touches.

For the past two months he did two Stripes songs a week, posting them for listening on the Redd Kross Web site (www.reddkross.com)--all with the blessing of the Whites. He titled the venture “Redd Blood Cells” and even inserted a picture of himself, with Stripes-style red and white togs, into the album cover alongside Jack and Meg.

All 16 songs are available on the site, but McDonald will be removing them after Monday. He says he is reluctant to appear to be taking too much advantage of another act’s music and wants to get back to his own projects--he’s finishing an EP and his group will tour in September.

“Redd Blood Cells” largely comes off as a respectful tribute, at worst filling in some holes that didn’t need filling, at best subliminally giving a little extra body to the music.

“Most White Stripes fans saw I was coming from the right place,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to attack the band or suggest I could improve the record. It just seemed like they were having so much fun and I wanted to be in on it.”