GREAT WHITE Is Demoing Music With New Singer BRETT CARLISLE

In a new interview with Larry Mac of the 96.1 KLPX radio station, GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall confirmed that he has been working on new music with Brett Carlisle, who was officially named the band's new vocalist last October. Brett joined the group as the replacement for Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE),who sang for GREAT WHITE for only five months.

"I've had [Brett] out here a few times," Mark said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "And we've been going down to a buddy of mine's, who was in DIO for seven years. His name is Tracy G. His actual last name is Grijalva. But [he's] a great, great guitar player. His studio's a little bit better than mine. I always have to bring a guy over here, and it's just a nightmare. He's been recording there for years and years, so it just goes quicker when I go there.

"We're just putting down demos with a drum machine," Kendall explained. "I'm playing bass. It's crazy. But it's coming out really good. We wanna get something out this year."

According to Mark, there is still no concrete plan for GREAT WHITE to release a new studio album. "We're not really sure how we're gonna do it," he said. "For sure we'll have a couple of videos, but we don't know if we want to put out one song at a time. Do we wanna put out an EP-type thing or just a full album? Because the world has changed so much that I don't wanna waste any music. I want somebody to hear it all, the whole album. And the way people download one [song] at a time or two or three songs here and a couple of songs there… We wanna figure out the best way. So we're talking to a lot of people that are really hip to today's thing and the way it'll work the best to get our music to our fans the best way possible."

Kendall went on to say that he is not as concerned about record sales or commercial success as he is about making sure the new GREAT WHITE songs are strong enough to stand alongside the band's classic material.

"Even in our heyday, I've never really thought dollars and cents; I just wanna know if people like the music or not," he explained. "To where I would be so desperate, I would go to friends of mine who are pretty hard on me — tough critics or whatever — just to get feedback. 'Cause that space in time after you're done recording to when it comes out is pretty brutal. So I always run to friends: 'Tell me you love me. Listen to this.' So I'm kind of the same way now. I just wanna get the music to the people and get feedback: 'How is this? Would this hold up in the '80s? Is it better?' Because I still feel really creative. And we can always get better.

"I'm really feeling pretty good about these songs that we're coming up with," Kendall revealed. "So I'm more anxious for people to hear it than I am selling a million records or whatever. And I think it makes us viable that we still are creative; we still wanna make new music. We're not quite an oldies band yet, even though they kind of label us classic rock or whatever. But that's not so bad. So, yeah, that's it. We wanna keep [creating] and not just go out and be the oldies band that plays the hits every year or whatever. We wanna come up with some tunes and get it to the folks and let 'em know that we're still making music for you. And no matter what's happened with the industry or whatever, we're still the same band and we still make music. This is what we do."

This past January, Kendall told the "Mark 2.0" podcast that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to Carlisle's addition to GREAT WHITE. "It was world news," he said. "I'm seeing stuff on the Internet from Italy, Germany, the U.K. And even some of the more online dirt-seeking-type entities that normally are just huntin' for the headline to say, 'He said his singer sucks'. That's the article. That's the way it starts. These guys actually said good things and posted some of the [fan-filmed videos]. They're cellphone cameras, so the quality probably isn't… But you can hear it. You need to sing great."

Last October, Carlisle was asked in an interview with AL.com about his approach to singing the band's classic songs. He said: "I just want to do the songs justice, because that's what people expect to hear. They want to go to the shows and hear the songs the way they remember them, the way they know them. It's not about me and how many high notes I can hit or anything like that. I just want to do the give the people, and the band, what they want."

Brett went on to say that he is honored to be singing for a band whose songs — including "Save Your Love", "Rock Me" and "Lady Red Light" — he had previously covered with his other band ALL OR NOTHING.

"I just want to learn from them," Carlisle said of his new bandmates "It's just really cool to be included in what I've grown up listening to, like looking at the CDs and everything. And then now people are coming up after the shows asking me to sign like original GREAT WHITE cassettes and stuff. And I'm sitting here feeling like I'm not worthy. Because I didn't record that. But I'm like, I just sang with them, so, sure, if you want me to."

Carlisle made his live debut with GREAT WHITE on September 24, 2022 at the Cannery Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to Brett, he felt welcomed by his new bandmates and the GREAT WHITE fans from the get-go.

"After meeting [the GREAT WHITE guys], they're all super-cool dudes," he told Kevin McKay of the 99 Rock WKSM FM radio station. "In Vegas, we had a rehearsal the day before, and I already knew half the songs well enough to be able to do it. So I wanted to do the best that I could on 'em. But after we hung out, everybody was cool and stuff. I mean, it's a big crowd. I love big crowds; they're fun."

Carlisle has been playing guitar and singing since the age of eight and counts bands like VAN HALEN, SKID ROW and METALLICA as his main influences.

In May 2022, GREAT WHITE announced that it had parted ways with singer Mitch Malloy and had replaced him with Freeman. Malloy had been in GREAT WHITE for nearly four years, having joined the group in 2018 following the departure of Terry Ilous.

Ilous, frontman of '80s L.A. hard rockers XYZ, joined GREAT WHITE in 2010 after stepping in for touring vocalist Jani Lane (WARRANT).

The Ilous-led GREAT WHITE released two albums, 2012's "Elation" and 2017's "Full Circle", before Terry was dismissed from the group.

This version of GREAT WHITE is not to be confused with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE, which features original GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell.