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JACK RUSSELL Says GREAT WHITE Isn't GREAT WHITE Without Him

June 27, 2012

Daveman of the 105.7 The Brew radio station in Columbus, Ohio recently conducted an interview with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell. You can now listen to the chat below.

JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE is currently taking part in the "America Rocks" tour alongside FASTER PUSSYCAT, BULLETBOYS, PRETTY BOY FLOYD and LILLIAN AXE.

Regarding how the trek — which kicked off on June 15 at Avalon in Santa Clara, California — came about, Russell told DoneWaiting.com, "We're all with the same agency. I talked to Chuck at Artists Worldwide and told him I wanted to do a package. He showed me all the bands and I said, 'Why don't you talk to these guys and these guys and these guys, see if they want to get together and do a tour.' I wanted something that was eclectic and solid and strong. The bands that are on here are all really good in their own right. It all just seemed to work out. It's going to be a chance to see some old friends and make some new ones. I haven't been on a tour bus on a real long tour since '99 when GREAT WHITE did the POISON/RATT tour. The only part I'm not looking forward to is being gone from the Mrs. We're really, really close and we've never really apart for more than a few days at a time. This is the strongest relationship I've been in with a woman. I hate to use the word 'soulmate,' but that's what it feels like. I know it's a word that's overused at times but I really feel like that. It's odd for me, I'm not used to that kind of connection with a woman."

JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE is not to be confused with the other touring and recording version of GREAT WHITE, which features Mark Kendall (lead guitar),Scott Snyder (bass),Audie Desbrow (drums),Michael Lardie (guitar, keyboards) and Terry Ilous (lead vocals).

When asked if he has heard the new album, "Elation", from the "other" version of GREAT WHITE, Russell said, "I haven't. I have no need to. I know what it's going to sound like, it's not going to sound like what I'd want to hear anyway. It would just kind of make me feel bad because it's not going to sound like GREAT WHITE. Good, bad or indifferent, it's not going to be a GREAT WHITE album. . . You can't take a lead vocalist out. That's the one thing that distinguishes each band from another. Every guitar kind of sounds the same, every guitar player that is decent can play another guy's riffs. There have been a couple of bands that have been successful after changing lead singers — like you look at VAN HALEN when they got Sammy [Hagar]. He's a great singer and a friend, but I don't want to hear him sing the songs of David Lee Roth. They should have changed the name of the band to VAN HAGAR. That's the way I feel about any band. There's been talk from some people that Ronnie James Dio went in after Ozzy and BLACK SABBATH was still great. Well, okay, great, he did but it still wasn't BLACK SABBATH to me. . . . You can have a guy, like the guy that is now singing for JOURNEY. He sounds like Steve Perry, but it's still not the same. Not everybody feels that way, but whatever they do, I wish them the best."

JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE is:

Jack Russell - Vocals
Robby Lochner (FIGHT) - Guitar
Matthew Johnson (DOCTOR M, JACK RUSSELL) - Guitar
Dario Seixas (FIREHOUSE, STEPHEN PEARCY) - Bass
Derrick Pontier (GREAT WHITE, SAMANTHA 7) - Drums

Russell filed a lawsuit against his estranged bandmates in March claiming that they fired him and stole the group's name while he was recovering from surgery to repair a perforated bowel. Named in the complaint were Kendall, Desbrow, Lardie and talent agency Bigg Time Entertainment. Kendall, Desbrow and Lardie responded with a 30-page counterclaim, filed on April 24 in a federal court in Los Angeles, accusing their former frontman of, among other things, "miss[ing] 80 performances in 18 months" before leaving the band; "irreparably damag[ing]" their "market reputation" by putting on performances that "are not up to the standard of GREAT WHITE; and misleading the public by stating that the musicians in Jack's new band "were once full members of GREAT WHITE." They also accuse Russell's new bandmates of "profit[ing] from their wrongful affiliation with the GREAT WHITE brand."

April 2012 performance footage:

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