GREAT WHITE's MARK KENDALL: 'We've Been Going Crazy' Working On New Material

GREAT WHITE guitarist Mark Kendall spoke to Rockbandreviews.com about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next album. The effort will mark GREAT WHITE's first collection of new material with singer Mitch Malloy, who joined the group in 2018 following the departure of Terry Ilous.

Asked if fans can expect to hear new music from GREAT WHITE in the not-too-distant future, Kendall said: "We've been going crazy lately. I've been sending Mitch music. He lives in Florida right now; he moved from Nashville to Florida. I've been sending him ideas. We're gonna probably get together pretty soon and start actually doing it for real.

"I was kind of thrilled, actually, because I hadn't really written with Mitch yet, as far as sitting down and having a writing session or whatever, but I sent him just music with no melody ideas or anything, and he came back with a full song — lyrics, melodies, chorus; the whole deal," he continued. "It was a pretty good arrangement, so it wasn't probably too difficult for him because there was a lot of availability with melodies and stuff. But I was real excited that he could come with a song without me humming any melodies or giving him any ideas at all. So that was kind of cool."

Kendall also talked about the songwriting process, saying that he finds it difficult to write music on demand.

"I usually get inspired when I know we're gonna record in three months or something," he explained. "That's when I get in that mode where I'm thinking about it. But I've never done this; I've never [said to myself], 'I'm going to write songs now and go into a room and try to write songs.' For some reason, that just seems like work to me. But what I will is think of things in my head or have my acoustic with me all the time. Maybe while I'm watching TV, something pokes out and then I'll put it down. But I never really force it too much. And then when I do get a song, or at least some parts, we'll get together into a room — the band — and we'll kind of hash it out."

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 alongside Robby Lochner (FIGHT) on guitar, Dan McNay on bass, Tony Montana on guitar and Dicki Fliszar on drums.