GREAT WHITE: New Album Title Revealed

Metal Sickness webzine recently conducted an interview with GREAT WHITE members Mark Kendall (guitar) and Audie Desbrow (drums). A couple of excerpts follow:

Metal Sickness: You celebrate this year the 25th anniversary of the band. What does this means to you?

Desbrow: It means we've been around a hell of a long time.

Kendall: It's completely wacky how fast time has a way of flying right by you. I think it's a wonderful thing when you can make music with people you love working with and have longevity as well. We are always looking forward to the next tour, Album, or whatever and I think that's what keeps us going.

Metal Sickness: On the Mistabone website, the message is clear, GREAT WHITE is recording a new album. Can you give us more information about it?

Kendall: We just finished our record and we are all very excited. The energy from everyone was great. The band played better than ever and the songs are good too. We had a lot of fun making the record and I think that is the most important thing. If it's not fun, don't bother, right?

Desbrow: Yes, the album is called "Back to the Rhythm". It will have 12 tracks on it, except for Japan and Europe get bonus tracks the U.S. won't have. It will sound like GREAT WHITE but a really great production. The songs are very eclectic. Some songs sound as if they were from the 1984 era of GREAT WHITE.

Metal Sickness: Do you think there’s still a place for band like GREAT WHITE in 2007 (I mean, a real rock 'n' roll band while nu-metal is so important in the charts, with a lot of noise, loops, screams etc.)

Desbrow: Absolutely, I believe the generation of music lovers are getting a little bored with all that negativity and sampled sounds and are searching for something real again. Don't get me wrong — there are several new groups out now that are absolutly killer. I really dig them. What I mean is there are roots to music back when before it turned into product. There are many great musicians that played from the heart. It was always expressed through their music.

Kendall: We have never been concerned about the flavor of the month or whatever. There's a lot of great music out there and I think it is healthy to have all these different styles happening. But we will never change who we are because of what someone else does. Staying true to your music is what it is all about for me. We are still able to go and play the festivals with ZZ TOP, CHEAP TRICK or whatever. As far as this music, I think there will always be an audience for rock and roll.

Metal Sickness: What are the differences between the new GREAT WHITE and your earlier incarnations?

Kendall: If you are speaking about the 1984 band, we are different in that we have grown musically into our roots and our songwriting has improved.

Desbrow: We're older and wiser and came up with some great material. There are a couple of songs on the new record that are very vintage GREAT WHITE. I don't think this could have been achieved if we hadn't split up for all this time.

Metal Sickness: Have you got regrets about your career, and the choices the band have made in the past?

Kendall: I am sure there have been many but one that stands out was putting out "Call it Rock and Roll" as a first single on our follow-up record to "Twice Shy". It was a big mistake that cost us. It was to close to the vibe of "Once Bitten Twice Shy". Our manager insisted on it and we hated the idea along with the record company.

Desbrow: Yeah, just a couple: 1. That I would have stayed away from partying and drugs more than I did, and 2. That I would have taken advantage of my musical opportunities outside of the band. Finally the choices the band made was nobody's fault — I let most of my misshaps happen because of my own doing.

Read the entire interview at www.metalsickness.com (scroll down to English version).