GREAT WHITE Guitarist Speaks Out On Rhode Island Concert Tragedy

GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall spoke to Guitar World magazine the morning after a devastating fire broke out during the band's show at the Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island, injuring nearly 200 and claiming the lives of 99 people. In the interview, which is published in the May 2003 issue of the magazine, Kendall describes what happened that tragic night of the and pins much of the responsibility for the incident on the club owners, who allegedly used plastic soundproofing inside the club that was banned by Rhode Island safety laws.

"Less than a minute after we launched into 'Desert Moon', the first song of our set, I felt this strange heat on my back," Kendall recounted. "When I turned around, the back wall of the venue was on fire. I didn't see any fire extinguishers around, so I stopped playing. I walked down the steps on the left side of the stage and there was a door that led me outside. When I got outside, I looked at the building and these huge flames were shooting off the side of it, and there was billowing black smoke everywhere. People in the parking lot were screaming hysterically, with fear in their eyes — some of them had flames burning off their clothes. But the reality of what transpired didn't hit me until I saw my sound man outside the building a few seconds later — he was bleeding from his eyes and his mouth, and his skin was torched. I knew right there and then that this was real."

Among those killed in the inferno was Kendall's co-guitarist, Ty Longley. "Ty was the only band member who walked off on the other side of the stage. But there wasn't an exit on that side of the building. He got trapped inside and lost his life."

Longley, who had previously played with the BULLETBOYS and SAMANTHA 7, was one of the most recent additions to GREAT WHITE. Says Kendall: "Ty could play the bluesy stuff, like I do, as well as other, flashier styles. We complemented each other well, both musically and personally. Ty was a great guitarist and a good guy. We all miss him very much."

Still to be determined is who should ultimately bear responsibility for the disaster. Kendall maintains that GREAT WHITE had permission to use fireworks at the Station. "The club gave our tour manager oral consent prior to the gig," he said. "Had we known the soundproofing was flammable, we would not have used the pyro. Who would line the inner walls of a nightclub with flammable soundproofing?"

The guitarist also believes that overcrowding could have been a factor in slowing terrified patrons as they tried to flee the rapidly spreading flames. Club capacity at The Station in West Warwick was 300 occupants, but Fire Chief Charles Hall initially speculated that fewer people than that were inside the building. Later reports indicated that more than 350 people were in attendance during the GREAT WHITE gig. Says Kendall: "There wouldn't have been as many casualties had there been less people in the crowd. All those bodies just couldn't get out of the building in time. I'm lucky that I survived."