I just read this about the White Stripes and it mystified me

[Popinjay]

I read an Onion interview with Jack White (?the lead singer) and he said they recorded their last album for 3 weeks straight in the studio. He said the most amount of time was spent writing songs. This is crazy to me because I would imagine they would have all their songs or a good amount of their songs written before heading into studio.

Is this a common artistic practice for bands? What percentage of them and which of them do this? As well, how many and what drugs do they do during this period?

I kind of want to start my own band and do this.