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(Spring 2004) by George Dionne
With all that has happened in the last year or so, it's easy to forget Great
White's musical achievements. Founded in 1984 by frontman Jack Russell and
guitarist Mark Kendall, the Southern California blues-rock band went on to
sell over six million records during their twenty year career. Known for
their soulful, blues-based signature sound, Great White first took a bite
out of the rock scene when their independently released EP Out of the Night
sold 20,000 copies. In 1987 their album Once Bitten... went platinum. Their
follow-up ...Twice Shy, sold nearly twice as much, and snagged them a Grammy
Award nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance for their hit single "Once
Bitten...Twice Shy". Great White went on to release several more albums
and found themselves playing some noteworthy gigs; The Monsters of Rock,
The World Series of Rock, and The American Music Awards.
Being a survivor of The Station Nightclub fire (read
my account of it), I
jumped at the opportunity to speak with Great White frontman Jack Russell.
I was curious
if he felt
the same way I did. I wondered if he went through any of the emotional battles
I did. Would he be honest? Would he answer all my questions? Would he only
be able to talk about what his lawyers told him was acceptable? I must admit,
all my questions were answered. I found Jack to be truthful and heartfelt.
You can tell when someone's feeding you a line of bullshit. Jack pulled no
punches. We shared our terrifying memories of that night on February 20,
2003. We even shared a tear or two. Love him or hate him, you have to respect
Jack Russell's willingness to speak openly about that night. You also have
to respect his commitment to continue touring, so Great White can help raise
money for the victims of The Station Nightclub Fire.
RIL: Who's in the current version of Great White?
JR: Mark Kendall on guitar, myself, Tyler Nelson on guitar, Scott Towns on
bass, and Derek Pontier on drums. To me it's never mattered because as
long as Kendall and I are together, that's the core of the band. We started
the band in 1978, and as long as that element is there, it's valid. By
myself, it's a little bit difficult to say it's Great White, but me and
Mark have always been Great White.
RIL: You have two benefit shows coming up in California on April 22nd and
April 25th, what can we expect at these events?
JR: You know, more of the same. The crowds have been coming out in droves,
and they've been pretty supportive. They've been support us and The Station
Family Fund. It's amazing to me, it seems the people that can afford the
least, give the most. The fans we've met over the past year have really restored
my faith in humanity. You can say what you want about rock and roll fans,
but they really do care. There's some compassionate people out there that
want to help their fellow human beings. I love that!
RIL: You just completed a tour that helped raise money for The Station Family
Fund (www.stationfamilyfund.org), how successful was it?
JR: Ourselves we raised $70,000. That's not bad for 41 shows when the band
is playing clubs. I know we've generated more income from that just from
the interviews we've done to raise awareness of the fund. It's been a great
thing, and it's really good feeling too. I look at it like this, the people
that lost their lives were fans for like 27 years, they bought every record,
and they came to every show. They basically enabled me to have a living making
music. So what can I do to help their families out? I think it's very important.
This is going to be something we continue for the rest of our career. There's
never going to be an end to it.
RIL: So your going to continue raising money for the victims and their families
for the rest of your career?
JR: Absolutely! We're still making a living, but I think it's important.
It's not about us anymore. You have to consider the greater good. It's part
of the healing process, and being decent human beings. These weren't just
ticket stubs; these were our fans and our friends.
RIL: Will Great White record any new material?
JR: Actually, we're working on it right now. We're currently looking for
a record deal and we're talking to a few of the old members to see if we
can get back together to do a new album. That's just in the works. If it
makes sense we'll do it. We definitely want to do another album. It's about
time. The last studio album came out in 1999.
RIL: That was one of my favorites.
JR: That's my favorite album we ever did, Can't Get There From Here.
RIL: Any plans for another solo album?
JR: You know, I've done two solo albums so far and I'm definitely going to
keep doing the solo thing. I really enjoy it and that's where my heart
is. Great White is a big part of me, but I really think I need both. There's
that part of me that just wants to go out there and kick ass and shake
mass, and have a really good time. Then there's the part of me that wants
to be a little more serious, a little more low key. I'm able to have both.
At one point I thought about choosing one of the other, but I decided I
could have my cake and eat it too so to speak.
RIL: Speaking of records, an Italian Record company recently attempted to
release a Great White EP entitled Burning House of Love, what's the story
behind that recording?
JR: In 1992 we recorded a bunch of cover songs as a follow up to the Recovery
album, which was a live in the studio cover album. We planned on releasing
it the next year, but we never did. About six years ago we sold the masters
to a company in France called Ax Killer. After that, we washed our hands
of it; we had no more control over anything. When this record came out recently,
we were appalled. I had my lawyer call the record company and say this just
isn't right, please cease and desist, and your going to hurt a lot of people's
feelings. They called back and said that they didn't realize and they'll
pull the record and stop the distribution. It's the least they could fucking
do. I don't believe for one minute that they didn't know what they were doing.
It makes me sick that people want to make money off of 100 people that are
dead. You know what? What are you going to do? We have no control over that
unfortunately. I wish we did.
RIL: I read that they did pull the record.
JR: They wrote our lawyer a nice letter saying that they we so sorry, they
didn't realize this kind of stuff slipped through the cracks, and they'll
halt distribution immediately. We'll see if they come through.
RIL: Do you feel that you or the band has lost its identity because the
only thing people want to talk to you about is the fire?
JR: I think that the fans that love Great White for
what Great White is will always like the music. Obviously there was a horrible
tragedy that went along
with Great White's legacy, and that's something that people won't be able
to forget about. I get that. It's not a pleasant thought in my mind. Some
people think oh yeah, Great White was that band involved in the fire that
killed a hundred people, but what are you going to do? I think it's all what
you do with the information. For me I'm trying to be real interactive, as
far as changing some laws, some legislation, and the fire codes. I think
that it’s important that the public is a little more pro-active as
far as their own safety is concerned. We go out to a club, restaurant, or
a movie theater and we take it for granted that these people that cater to
the public have our best interests first and foremost in their minds. That's
not necessarily true. When we go into a club we you need to go, 'where are
the exits at, what happens of something goes wrong, how do I get out of here?'
For me, I've never done that. I've always walked into a place and thought,
'of course it's safe, it wouldn't be open for business if it wasn't.' I found
out the hard way that it's not necessarily true. We can't expect someone
else to watch out for us, we have to do it ourselves. It's important for
the public in general to be more pro-active.
RIL: Now is probably a good time to tell you that I was at The Station fire.
I didn't get hurt physically or anything.
JR: No shit! Thank God, I'm so happy that you didn't
get hurt. I talk to people who were in there quite a bit and when they tell
me they got out,
I say thank God! All of us could have been dead. You know what's really strange?
In some of the reports that I've read, the number of people the club was
over capacity, was almost equal to the number of people that died. It's just
really strange. There were a lot of weird things involved in that night.
I don't blame anybody. I don't think it's anybody’s fault per se, nobody
wanted that to happen. Who the hell woke up and said, 'you know what, let's
put up some flammable foam on this thing and kill a hundred people tonight'.
Nobody wanted that! People ask me how I feel about the indictments; I'm glad
I'm not named, but I feel bad for anybody who got indicted for that. They
didn't want that to happen. They need tougher inspections man. Where was
the fire marshall at when they opened the club and got inspected? They didn't
see the foam? Why didn't he see it?
RIL: I had never been to The Station before that night and I noticed the
foam around the stage. I thought it was strange.
JR: That's the fire marshall's job, right? If that stuff is stuck on the
ceiling, there's like a twelve second burn test they have to do. They stick
a lighter up to it and if it doesn't burn in twelve seconds, it's okay to
have up there. That guy didn't notice the foam? I don't blame him, apparently
the fire marshall that inspected the building lost a bunch of family members
in a fire that was due to faulty inspections. I keep up with all this stuff
in the Boston Herald and Providence Journal. I want to know all the facts.
A lot of people don't see before the first spark. The first domino fell way
before we got there. I'm not trying to say we didn't have anything to do
with it, but this could have been anybody. I don't blame the club owners;
they were trying to save money. It's fucked up. There's a couple of things
I have grievances about with them; the one exit door that opened inward,
and the fact they said we didn't get permission. Look, you don't shit where
you eat. We play these clubs every single year. The last thing we're going
to do is walk into a club that we hope to play next year and piss the owners
off. We're not stupid, we're professionals. It's our livelihood. What am
I going to say, 'I gotta do pyro, fuck those guys, I don't care what they
say.' Come on! We're not Kiss. That was ludicrous that they said that. I
know they we're coving their ass, I get it. You know what, if your responsible
for something, especially something of that magnitude, be a goddamn man.
Say, 'I fucked up!' Take your lumps. You won't hear me blame anyone for that
fire, because I don't think it was anyone's fault. There were a lot of mistakes
made from a lot of different levels. I think that it's our system that's
at fault, if anything. If somebody goes into a club and says, 'you gotta
make some changes here', why did they leave the place open? Shut it down
until the changes are made. That's one thing I learned from this, you never
know. Anything can happen.
RIL: I don't blame anybody, but I wasn't hurt. I think that people who were
hurt, or people who lost someone there may think differently.
JR: That's so cool, and I really appreciate that. I
understand that some of the people do blame the band. I'm okay with that.
Everyone has to grieve
in their own way. I mean, I lost a hundred friends that night, a hundred
really good friends. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose your wife,
husband, fiancé, son, or daughter. I can't begin to imagine that kind
of grief. I know what my grief is. If someone wants to blame us for it, okay.
I'm man enough to put that on my shoulders. I'm not going to tell them not
to do that. What ever makes you be able to deal with the situation, more
power to you. I'm not trying to vindicate myself. It was a messed up thing
that happened. The one thing that got me through this thing was on the anniversary.
I sat and thought about it. I said to myself you know what, there was nothing
I could have done to stop that from happening. That was a big revelation
for me.
RIL: One of the big issues that I struggled with was that I went back to
save people, and I couldn't save one single person. I grabbed onto someone's
hand, but had to let go or I would have joined them.
JR: I tried to get in, but somebody kept pulling me out. My tour manager
or somebody grabbed me and said if I went in there, I was going to die. I'm
thinking, 'what do you mean I'm going to die?' I called my lady on the phone
like a minute afterward. I said, 'honey, we're fine, but I think we might
lose the equipment'. I had no fucking clue. You can't beat yourself up about
it. Life happens and we're put in situations for a reason. For me, this has
been a life changing experience. I'm a much better person, I don't complain
as much, I appreciate every single second I have on this planet, I'm a lot
closer to my family, and I don't give a flying fuck about material stuff.
It's stuff you can't take with you, so who cares? I realized what was important,
your friends and your family. Do you want to be an old man in your hospital
bed with all your toys sitting around you, or do you want to have your family
there? Oh look, my jet ski, thank God he's here. Goodbye Kawasaki.
RIL: Have you had a chance to talk with any other survivors?
JR: A lot of them. We talk quite a bit. I got a bunch of phone calls about
the night of the anniversary. Some of the people wanted me to come down
to the site. I told them that if I showed up there, it would be a media
circus. It would end up being all about me being there. It would take the
focus away from what it's all about. It's not about me, it's about the
people that lost their lives.
RIL: Do you think that Great White will be able to play Massachusetts or
Rhode Island again?
JR: I hope so. I really do. If we can't, I don't want to make anybody feel
bad. I don't want to re-open old wounds. If one person is going to feel bad,
I'd rather not do it. I don't want to hurt anybody. I love people and I love
life. I feel so fucking horrible for people's loss, I cry every day man.
(Jack is holding back tears) I see the sun come up and I think that there's
a hundred people that won't ever see that. That stuff kills me man. You know,
you were there.
RIL: Hey, I've been there with you. I feel the same way.
JR: (Jack is still emotional talking about it) I can't do anything other
than what I'm doing out there now. Some people think it's great and other
people can't believe that we're touring and making money that we are trying
to give to these people. You know what? You don't want our money, then
don't fucking take it. Don't stand in the way of some poor kid that might
have lost both his parents from getting some new school clothes. We all
lost. Nobody got out of there unscathed. No one came out of there the same
way they went in. I will never be the same. My life is so different. I'm
just so glad that I'm talking to you and you're alive.
RIL: I'm grateful that you made it out alive too. I'm glad that we can both
be here and talk about this today. We definitely learned something.
JR: I hope something good comes out of this. (Jack composes himself) I hope
it changes the world and saves some people's lives. The public has such a
short memory. Their like, 'what a tragedy, what a tragedy', then a month
later...'a what?' These people still need help! Some say, wait until the
indictments are done, Great White won't be touring anymore. I say to them,
fuck you. We're going to do this tour forever.
RIL: Do you think that the media will sweep this incident under the rug
now that the first anniversary has passed?
JR: They already have. Some stations picked up the anniversary, others had
a blurb. They should be promoting The Station Family Fund trying to help
these people out, they don't mention any of that. All they talk about is
so-and-so died and this guy was burned really bad. They don't say here's
where you can send money and help these people out. I'm talking about the
victims and the kids that lost their parents. They don't talk about that.
They just want to show the pictures of the building burning. What the fuck
man?!
RIL: Were you disappointed that the major music outlets, such as MTV or
any of the awards shows, chose not to cover the event or help out with fundraising?
JR: Abso-fuckin-loutely! I'm disappointed in a lot of the bigger bands that
are making tons of money that didn't stand up and say let's do one show and
give them all the money. Let's take are T-shirt sales from one night and
donate it to these people. I look at the video tape from that night and I
see a lot of band's T-shirts in that front row, and they didn't say Great
White. One of them start with an A(erosmith), and another starts with a K(iss).
What the fuck man. Pony up guys. I'm so surprised that they turned their
backs on their fans. It kills me man. If I were in their shoes, I'd want
to know what I could do to help.
RIL: I think that with some people, they don't get involved with something
because it doesn't affect them directly.
JR: This is about people. It's not about politics. These people are rock
and roll fans. What happened to the camaraderie of rock and roll? We're all
bros in this, and we're all doing the same thing. Our fans are your fans,
and his fans are our fans. What happened to that?
RIL: Are you afraid of the impending civil lawsuits?
JR: Fuck no! I never gave a shit about that. It's only
money. They want to take my money, go ahead. I don’t really care. We
were all there. It was a fucked up thing. If someone wants to take my money,
then go ahead.
What do I care? I just happy that I'm still alive.
RIL: Did you read about the woman who removed Ty Longley's memorial cross
because she felt he was responsible for her daughter's death?
JR: I heard that. I know that Ty's girlfriend went out and met with her on
the night of the anniversary. I think they kinda got some things squared
away. She was like, 'well you should have Jack Russell call me'. What am
I going to call her for? So she can yell at me? I'm done. I spent a year
of my life being a whipping boy. I didn't do this. I was there like you were.
Nobody wanted this to happen. I took all these pot shots and all this crap.
I'm still trying to help people out. If people aren't diggin it, and they
say it's my fault, that I'm a murderer; I don't care anymore. I tired of
being the press' whipping boy. That's the truth. The fire happened, I can't
take it back. Regardless of what people think, I'm still going to be out
there doing the benefit tour to help people out. These people are my friends.
If some don't like it, fuck em.
RIL: Do you have an opinion about those who were indicted?
JR: I feel so bad for my tour manager. He was such a professional. He would
never do anything to hurt anyone. I understand that the laws of the state
are the laws of the state. If they could have found a way to indict us,
they would have. I'm sure there are certain guidelines to where responsibility
lies. I don't blame anybody. It's just a fucked up accident.
RIL: Have you ever thought about packing it up because of the incident or
the criticism?
JR: At first I thought that I'd never do another show,
but then I thought that it wouldn't be right. I love playing music, and I
love being on stage.
It's a tough horse to get back on, but we got back on it. I'm glad we did
it, because I feel so much better. We're helping a lot of people out. At
the same time we're still having fun and playing our music. Our fans have
been so supportive. They come out in droves and they donated all kids of
money. I'm selling the T-shirt I wear on stage for the night, and donating
it One guy gave me $500 for my sweaty T-shirt. Can you believe that? I'm
thinking that's half the guy’s salary for a month. So where's Aerosmith
and Kiss at? Come on you fuckers. Steven my old pal, pony up!
RIL: So playing your music and touring is like therapy for you?
JR: Oh absolutely! It’s been very healing. Me
and Mark were a little apprehensive before we did our first show. After that,
we got on stage and
the fans were going out of their minds. I thought, 'thank God we did this'.
It feels right. I love to sing, it's the core of my being. I love making
people feel good. I lovemaking them smile and making them forget their problems.
That's what rock and roll is all about. It's just horrifying that this band
of all bands that sings about love, happiness, and having a good time had
something like this happen to them. I could see if it happened to some Devil
band, but it happened to Great White. Obviously, God gave us this for a reason.
So what am I going to do with it? Am I going to be a pussy and hide out,
or am I going to try and be a man and stand up to the thing by helping people
out? My whole gig in life is being the best person I can be, and enhancing
as many people's lives as I can enhance. It has changed me dramatically.
I could have been dead.
RIL: That was a big thing for me. I was obsessed with the fact I could have
died.
JR: When you think of it, you think about what twist of fate would it have
took for me to not get out of there? Not much. A left turn instead of a right,
someone not pulling me out? We both escaped death dude. What are we going
to do with our lives now that we have a second chance?
RIL: Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?
JR: I want to thank everyone that has been supportive of The Station Family
Fund (www.stationfamilyfund.org) and the band during the last year. I want
to thank them from the bottom of my heart. They've been wonderful. God
bless them all!
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JACK
RUSSELL
