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 Great White have endured tragedy. They've picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and are back in Europe for the first time in eight years, touring on the back of the bands first album in the same period, and through it all have taken the experiences they've had to go through, and absorbed them into the band itself.
This is not a band with ego, this is not a band that is out for what they can get. This is band that are genuinely appreciative of the fact that they can be out on the road, touring with a new record, playing songs from their back catalogue, and looking back on more than 25 years together as a band, and living every day as if it could be the last.
Jack Russell has become a very humble man, as Komodo Rock's Mike
Elliott spoke with him on the bands recent UK tour. Candid, open, with
a passion that is undeniable. While many might think that this is a
band touring on the back of old successes, Russell suggests that in
fact this is a band looking to the future, savouring every minute that
they have together.
Mike Elliott: Thanks for talking to me Jack.
Jack Russell: And yes it is my real name! It was funny, the first time
we came over here, 84 with Whitesnake, our first tour over here, and I
remember being at the hotel and one of the guys was trying to page me
from the lobby, and the guy wouldn't do it. He was like, it's a fucking
dog! I'm like what? I didn't get it, and Coverdale said is that your
real name? And I was like yeah, why? And he was like it's a fucking
dog! He explained it all, Jack Russel terriers, and I was like oh...
They weren't popular in the States until recently, when Frasier came
out, so they became really popular, but prior to that just knew they
were terriers, Fox Hairs they called them.
ME: So you kinda got stuck with it?
JR: All these interviews were coming out back in '82 and '83 and I had
all these dogs around my pictures, and I'm like what the fuck. I know
I'm not a great looking guy but give me a break. I thought I needed a
bag on my head, and it was all Jack Russell terrier on vocals, and I
didn't get it, and then it all finally fell into place and I understood
what was going on!
ME: You were saying that you were over here in the Eighties, but this
is the first time you've been back in Europe for 8 years now.
JR: Yeah it's been a while...
ME: Is it good to be back?
JR: Yeah it's good to back, it's fun, I'm enjoying it a lot. I think
I'm enjoying it more now than the last time we were over, I think the
older you get, at least for me anyway, you appreciate more and more.
This is the twilight of our career at best, and any time we get after
this is icing on the cake, it's a gift. It's been 25 or 26 years now
since the band became Great White, and I've been playing with my
guitarist since '78 when I was 17 years old, I'm 47 now, so that's 30
years.
ME: That's a long time.
JR: It's amazing. And of course in that time, I've made a living out of
it, I'm really fortunate, so anything after this is just above and
beyond ya know? I'm feeling very lucky.
ME: You say it's the twilight of you career, but you've got a new album out now as well, so it's not all doom and gloom.
JR: Oh no no no, it's not the winter of my discontent! [laughs] I'm
just looking at it from a realistic standpoint. I mean how many more
years can you possibly get out of this business without looking stupid?
I don't want to be in a nightclub in America playing for 20 people, 55
years old, and singing 'Once Bitten, Twice Shy'. That doesn't seem
appealing to me at all.
ME: I guess you'd have to ask The Rolling Stones?
JR: Yeah, but they're playing to hundreds of thousands, so it's a little different.
ME: Do you not think they'd be doing it if they were playing to...
JR: With the money they've got, probably not! It's fun to play, but
give me a break, but when you're used to playing Coliseums, playing to
hundreds of thousands of people and shit like that, and your playing
to 20 people, it's like, you know what, it's time to hang up the spurs?
ME: Given the chance, is it something you'd like to do again?
JR: Oh of course, who wouldn't? The fortunate thing about us in the
States right now, is that we've built up some momentum again where
we're actually playing bigger venues every year. We've gotten across
that no mans land, where initially in the nineties, the band where too
young to be contemporary, but we weren't old enough to be classic.
We were kinda in that freakin' wasteland of music, and now we're 25
years in as Great White, and now people are like fuck those guys are
back, that music is coming back in vogue again. The people that were
watching our shows, their kids have grown up and now they're looking
for something to do. They want to relive that nostalgia, they want to
go out there and bang their heads again, or remember their high school
days, or whatever the case may be.
So they're coming out to the shows again, and plus now we have their
kids, and I'm looking out on the audience, and we've got 3 generations
of people coming to our shows, and I'm like holy crap!
ME: These kids grew up listening to what their parents listened to, and out they come.
JR: Yeah, so the wider the demographic, it's really impressive, and it
gives us a whole other shot at it. I'm having a great time. The
frustrating thing about coming to Europe is we always tend to come over
here for a while, we start building things up, and then we stay away
for 5, 6, 7 or 8 years, and we've got to start all over again. So this
time, we're going to come back every year, we're not going to stay
away. Due to circumstances beyond our control last time, then the fire
happened, it didn't allow us to...
ME: Circumstances is always the big killer.
JR: Yeah, all good intentions, best laid plans...
ME: It's good that your going to keep coming back.
JR: I want to, I love it over here. When I was a kid my whole fantasy
was be a rockstar, buy a castle, live in England. That was my fantasy!
ME: So you got halfway there, you became a rockstar.
JR: There ya go, exactly.
ME: But no castle yet?
JR: No castle yet. Too much fucking taxes over here! I thought Uncle Sam was bad, you guys are nailed to the wall! [Laughs]
ME: So by the time you can afford the castle you won't want to be here.
JR: Yeah, I'll be able to afford the castle, but I won't be able to eat!
 ME: So with the new album, it's not only the first time you've been to Europe in 8 years, it's also the first album in 8 years.
JR: Right.
ME: How's it be doing?
JR: Really good. We set out to make a record, something that captured
the bands spirit, and I really think we did that. I love the album, to
me it's very much a quintessential Great White album. That one and the
last one are probably my two favourite records, encompassing the whole
record as a body of work. We're selling the crap out of it. We're
supposed to have some here with us tonight, we sold them all last
night. It's great.
ME: That tells you something doesn't it.
JR: Well yeah it's really cool. I brought all my solo records with me, I thought I'd sell a couple, and fuck they're all gone!
ME: And you wish you'd brought more.
JR: Yeah, we've got more on the way, but it's frustrating because you
want people to hear your songs. And sometimes it's easier for them to
buy it at shows rather than finding it in stores, or pay stupid amount
of retail.
ME: I think people prefer buying at shows because they know where the moneys going, and they know you're going to get it.
JR: That's a good thing too, I'd never thought about it before, but
that makes sense. It's really tricky. you know how the music industry
is, selling 10,000 is like selling 10 million now. Back in the day
before mp3's and downloads, when people actually bought their music
rather than stole it, you could make a living selling records. Nowadays
bands are making more money touring. You sell 10,000 records, you
probably had 2 million stolen. Most fans don't understand that, they
think “It's not gonna hurt if only I just do it”, but you and you and
you and you.
It is the way it is, it's a different outlook, but I'm just glad we
came up when we did as opposed to coming up now. I don't know what I'd
do, I'd be scared shitless. If you don't sell 3 million records out of
the box you're screwed.
ME: It's kinda a tough situation for new bands, because it's much easier for new bands to get seen and heard now.
JR: Yeah I dunno... I'm old school I guess. Play your ass off at clubs, build up a following.
ME: It's weird you say that, but that seems like a very American thing, you'll trek across the country...
JR: Well no, we just played in LA. LA was where the scene was, so we
just kept playing in this club, that club and building up a following.
ME: That doesn't seem to happen over here so much.
JR: No it's a different thing. It's grassroots man, it really is, you
build up your own following. There's no hype, you either deliver the
goods or you don't. That's the cool thing about it, people either show
up at your gig and like what you're playing, or they don't come.
That was the fun thing when we were coming up, the scene in LA was
amazing. You could tell something was going to explode. Motley, Ratt,
Dokken, us, all these bands were all just hanging out, playing every
night, walking up Sunset Strip, and you just knew something was going
to explode. Everything just took off.
It was amazing, it really was! The hairs on my arm are standing up just thinking about it!
ME: With you, you've done a lot of records over the years, but the back
catalogue is still durable, people still like it now. Why do you think
that is?
 JR:
I think there's an honesty about our music, we don't try and trump
things up, or be something that we're not. That may not be enough for
some people, we're just a rock n roll band, and like us or don't like
us it doesn't really matter. There's a certain honesty about that, a
certain simplicity, that allows this band to remain somewhat timeless
as far as some of the songs go, there's a few songs that have
definitely stood the test of time. Some are kind of, that sounds kinda
1986, but for the most part in the body of work, I listen back to it
now, and it doesn't really remind me of a certain era. The songs are
basically blues songs for the most part, and blues never goes out of
style, so it's not like we were writing Cherry Pie here. We're lucky in
that regard I think.
The band never got as big as some of the other bands because of that though, because we weren't glam, the pop.
ME: You weren't Poison and you weren't Motley Crue, you were somewhere in between.
JR: And that's OK, and one of the reasons why we're still viable today.
I think when it's all said and done, I think there'll be a certain
level of respect looked upon this band that won't be there for other
bands that sold more records, or done more than we've done, just
because, this song versus that song, well fuck that's a song!
ME: As a band you've had to overcome a lot of adversity. Obviously
that's not going to have been easy for you, but do you think that's
made you a stronger band over time?
JR: Absolutely. Anything that touches your character is going to make
you stronger, solidify the unit. All the shit I went through as a kid,
the arrests, the drug abuse, all the stupid crap I used to do, I look
back and think I wish I hadn't done that. I think, you know what, it
makes me the person I am today, all the experiences are culminations of
who I am, and if I am happy with who I am right now, then I should be
happy with what I've been through.
You just kinda take what life throws at you, and do the best you can.
Only God knows the mind of God, I sure don't. There's been times in my
life when I've been “What the fuck are you thinking pal!?”. But you get
through, you get through it and look back, and somehow that did
strengthen me. Even all the crap that went on with the fire, it was a
horrible tragedy, but you try and find something in it to gleam from it
and say “What can I take from this that kinda maybe have some kind of
positive thing” ya know?
It really affected the way I perceived things in my daily life. How
much more I appreciate things. I'm still complaining because I'm a lead
singer, but my complaints are a lot fewer in comparison. My life's more
special now because, when you deal with something like that you realise
the fragility of life, and how easy it can be taken away. In a blink of
an eye everything can completely change.
I think especially as Americans, we take everything for granted, you go
out to a certain place and go “Everybody's got my safety first and
foremost in their mind”. I walk into a restaurant and the first thing
this guy is thinking is not my dollars, it's that I'm safe. And that's
not true. There's a certain accountability that the public has to have
for their own safety. I'm in places now, and I look around and find
where the exits are in case I need to get out, and I find myself doing
that now, and it's a good thing.
ME: People always tell you you should do that, but you never do.
JR: You never think any thing's going to happen in your life, ever. Who
gets in their car and says I think I'm going to die in a car crash
today. Nobody would get in their cars, I certainly fucking wouldn't!
ME: Until something happens that's close to you, you won't appreciate
it. Do you think that's why your appreciating playing live more,
touring...
JR: Absolutely. Hell yeah! Like I said, I don't know how long this is
going to last. For all intense and purposes, it should have been over
that night, it should have been over that night. I've got five years
after that which were a total gift. If I'd made a right turn instead of
a left, we wouldn't be having this conversation now.
ME: It's a horrible way of looking at things, but then you realise that...
JR: That that's reality though.
ME: And it's those things that make life worth living, that make it real.
JR: Absolutely. That's very true. I definitely appreciate things a lot
more than I used to. Every breath seems a little bit sweeter than the
one before it, ya know?
A big thank you to Jack for taking the time to talk with us.
'Back To The Rhythm' is available now via Frontiers Records.
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