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“Face the Day with Special K”
It’s been a while since Glam Metal had the chance to shoot the breeze with Jack Russell of Great White, so I decided to see what the ‘ol boy was up to. Turns out I caught him just as he was getting ready to pack up for 4-date gig on the East Coast that will be followed by a jaunt through Europe that continues through about Valentines Day. We discussed the usual topics, had a few laughs, and for me, being a long time fan of the band, I got to talk to a man who has provided some of the soundtracks of my life. That may sound corny, but you know what, Great White has always been a band that could pick my sorry ass up from a down mood and put a smile back on my face. If I may quote a lyric, "It's never really understood, how a dose of rock 'n roll can make your heart feel good." Well, I understand it and Jack Russell certainly understands it. That being said, lets get Back to the Rhythm...
Jack, welcome! The latest record “Back to the Rhythm” has been out since the summer, has received decent reviews and you’ve toured a bit, so what’s the vibe like currently within the band & are you happy with the direction things are headed?
It’s going great. I’m just happy we’re going at all. It’s been 26 years. We’re very lucky that will still get to do what we love to do and still earn a living at it, ya know? There’s a lot of bands that can’t say that, so um, musically we are going in the direction we’ve always gone. We keep taking steps, but we don’t play outside of ourselves, which is great with me, this band is was it is, we don’t try to make it anything but.
How many new tracks are performed in your live set?
We are only doing one or two right now. We don’t wanna bombard people with new stuff. The (un)fortunate problem is we have so many albums, it’s hard to even touch on every record. I mean, the set would be 5 hours long and I don’t care, I wouldn’t wanna see anyone for 5 hours!
So do you change up the set list regularly?
Yeah we’re doing that this time around. Unfortunately, there are the obligatory tunes ya gotta play, ya know, if you don’t play “House of Broken Love,” don’t play “Save Your Love” don’t play “Rock Me” or “Once Bitten, Twice Shy, it’s just there’s certain songs you have to play no matter what, so there’s time eaten up already.
Is there one or two songs that you love to play live and never get sick of or maybe one you’d like to play live that you haven’t?
No, I don’t really get sick of any of our songs, to be honest with ya. But rehearsal’s another story. After rehearsal, it’s like a nightmare, it’s the worst. But when you’re on stage in front of an audience, it’s a whole different dynamic.
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You’re off to Europe after the upcoming four shows, but tell us about the NYC show on the 22, it’s a special one right? (The first NYC appearance for the original line-up in 10 years)
It’s a fan appreciation show. We haven’t been to New York in long time. We are looking forward to it. It should be a really fun night. It’s our last night in the states before we head off the Europe. The East coast has always been fun for us and we haven’t been there in a while.
Lets touch on the new record for a minute, you collaborated with Jack Blades again, right?
We had some songs that were actually ones that we had penned in the last sessions that we worked on with Jack on the last album, “Can’t Get There from Here.” There were a couple of songs that were we gonna put on the second release with Sony, but I pulled the plug on that because I just didn’t feel like we had a records worth of stuff.
We had three songs that I thought were good, but the rest of ‘em I thought well, this is not a whole album, ya know what, so I pulled the plug on the whole project.
Great White has never been a political band, but on the song “Neighborhood” it seems as if you are making a commentary on the state of the world, especially with lyrics like, “We’ve burned our expectations to justify our misery.” Explain the idea behind this song.
Well, the whole song is pretty much about what you said. I just write about what I see, what I go through, ya know? It just seems like there’s so many cellophane people running around. Just kinda putting these plastic smiles on their faces, thinking this is the best they’ve got, because this is what the TV tells them. MTV says I should wear this and the guy on the news says I should be talking like this, or I should be sad about this and laugh at this. Look at television, it’s ridiculous, it’s soooo terrible. There’s nothing with any substance. It’s all reality shows, because the networks can make them cheaply. And we’re supposed to get into them and we do because it’s like fuckin’ everybody’s sheep. Nobody can have a mind of their own. It’s ridiculous, There are so many things wrong with this world, but of course, I’m not gonna get into ‘em in my music, and start taking my music down to that level. “Neighborhood” is just my perception of the world… of looking around. Everyone’s got a smile on their face. You’re putting on this face so the neighbors think everything’s cool at your house, meanwhile your husbands beating the crap outta you every night, ya know what I mean?
There is a lot of introspection on this record, how much is actually autobiographical?
Everything that I write is more or less autobiographical. I can’t write about something I don’t know. I don’t write about fantasy. I don’t get into the Knights, the Queens and the dragons. I mean, that’s cool…
The Dio aspect of things, I get it…
I’ve never seen a dragon. I don’t think I’ll ever meet a King, so…ya kinda write about what ya know, so I write about my life and the things that I’ve been through and things I’ve seen and things that I feel. Music to me is emotion. It’s basically a snapshot of where you are at any given time in your life. You write about that, than you can look back over your life and say, “Wow, this is where I was then.” A lot of times I write songs and I won’t even know what they mean until after I’ve written them and then I go, “Oh, wow, that’s heavy,” ya know? I just kinda start writing and sometimes it just goes so fast, you don’t really realize what you’re writing down til you’re done with it.
After all these years, how hard is it to keep the creative juices flowing? Have you ever suffered writers block & how to you get past it?
Not really, cause my thing is, I usually don’t write unless it’s time to write. So say we got a month to do an album, I’m like, “Ok, I gotta start workin now.” I work good under pressure. If I got a whole year, if we’re doing an album a year from now, do you think I’m gonna sit down tomorrow and work on a song? HELL NO! I got other stuff I wanna do… play with my dogs, go to the beach, and go to the mountains. I’m not like one of these hard core, “have to be a musician every single day of my life” type of people. I did that for a while and my life was pretty boring. I can’t live, eat, breathe and crap music. I have to have some time away from that to live like a semi-normal person and do things everybody else does. If you’re stuck in the studio 24/7, just makin music, you’re gonna nut up. At least I am. There’s just so many other cool things, I mean, I’m looking outside right now. It’s a beautiful sunny day. I can’t wait to go out and do some stuff before I gotta leave tomorrow. Like, Michael (Lardie) is more the professional musician, where I’m not. He’s in the studio constantly working on stuff, that’s where he gets his groove on and that’s cool, but I gotta have other stuff to do.
That said, how important is to have creative outlets outside of GW, like solo projects for example, What are the pros and cons to that?
I think it’s great. Great White…it’s a certain area. We’re not gonna take this band and be like, “Ok, I wanna do something, these are my solo things, but instead of making an album, let’s maybe do one of these type of songs, lets do this jazz thing now.” But, you can’t take the band and start bouncing it all around to every musical taste. There’s one part of everybody’s taste that encompasses Great White. There’s certain things that Jack Russell wants to do, but he knows if he takes Great White in that area
it’s gonna change the whole perception of what Great White is. So you choose to go out and do a solo album. Same with Mark Kendall, he went out and did, basically, an R&B record. But, that’s not what Great White is. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking it there to some degree, but it’s not gonna happen, ya know? There’s other forces at work here and none of us can take the band and make it solely what we want it to be.
Any talk of an all acoustic greatest hits release or DVD in the near future?
Yeah, actually we have a lot of things in the works right now. Michael and I are working on a record together, kind of some our favorite covers from the 60’s and 70’s. Also, we are doing a “Help” thing, a Beatles thing with some other gentlemen. I think Jani Lane was gonna be a part of it and one of the Nelson brothers.
(Ed note: At this point in the interview barking dogs take over the conversation)
SHUSH GUYS!
I hear puppy faces!
Yeah, those are my little dogs.
They don’t sound little!
Well, one is 75 lbs. and one is like 15 lbs. The little one’s the boss, its hysterical, She’s like a little Hitler, ya know. All she needs is a little mustache! They are my kids, I love ‘em. Life without dogs… I just don’t understand how people can do that. They’re so missin’ out!
So that’s how you spend your free time, hangin out with your doggies on the beach?
A lot of it, yes, watching them goof around. It’s hysterical.
Name for us a guilty pleasure of Jack Russell that fans might be shocked to know about ?
Guilty pleasure, ummm? I don’t really need those anymore. I did all the stuff I would like to do, ya know, for reasons of my own (laughs). But probably, the midnight or 3 o’clock in the morning bowl of Special K with blueberries on it, and go back to sleep so she’s not gonna go, “Hey get out of the refrigerator! You’re gonna gain some weight!” So I gotta sneak out here, really quiet. I try to shut the bedroom door, but the dogs always hear me when I’m in the kitchen.
But that’s about it. I don’t do drugs. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke anymore. It’s like, FUCK, I’m no fun! (laughs) I’m very boring these days. I even spent a week in the hospital on my last birthday in December.
Really? For what?
I almost died. I had a really bad infection; my immune system was so weak from the stuff I was doing to my body. So I was like, “Ya know what, its time to stop all this crap.”
Wow, well I’m glad you’re ok! Actually, I just finished reading Nikki Sixx’s book about his addictions and given the recent passing of Kevin Dubrow due to a drug overdose, has Great White ever dealt with addictions at one time or another that negatively impacted the band or you personally?
Oh sure, I don’t think anything like that has ever been a positive thing. I’ve lost a lot of friends to drugs and alcohol. I’ve been close to death many times myself. Fortunately, it wasn’t my time I guess. But I’ve definitely pushed the envelope more than I should have. I’ve been dealing with this since I was eleven years old, fighting addictions. I’m Native American and Irish…what do you expect? (laughs)
I was born at 1:30, just before last call ya know!
So the odds are stacked against you a little?
It’s been a rough ride in that regard. But you just keep fighting the fight. At this point, I’m 47 years old, and ya know what? I really don’t wanna do that anymore. I’ve done it all. There’s nothing that’s any different. The only thing I haven’t done is died yet, so let’s just keep that one for a ways off. I mean the addiction thing, sure, when we did the “Hooked” record, hell, we all should’ve been in rehab instead of making a record!
That’s one of my favorite records!
We’re there cutting and splicing the drum tracks. We couldn’t get one single performance from start to finish with the drums cause Audie was so fucked up. Then I come in there after days of being awake, and somehow we got this record out, I couldn’t believe it. I’m like, “How did we possibly do that? I can’t even remember that record." It was just amazing; it was kind of like we were on auto pilot. But looking back, I wish it would've been different, I think I would've made some different decisions as far as the band went back then, if I'd have been sober. Being a puppet of the management companies, when we were so screwed up, they took over every part of your life. I mean ya just wanted to party, we didn't care how much money we were making, where it was going or who was taking it.
I think they keep you in that state to take advantage of you.
Exactly! I figured that one out when I got sober for the first time and was like, "Holy crap, where the hell did all the money go?"
Name one of the shining moments of your career thus far.
We were playing Irvine Meadows, I think the summer of '89, it was sold out and my Father was backstage with his Great White shirt on. He always had a Great White shirt on. He was standing back there just pumped up, and there's his kid on stage in front of a sold out house of 18,000 people. He was just blown away. Ya know, he used to tell his friends all the time, "My kid's gonna be a rockstar." They'd say, "Ehhh, your kid's a fuckin' loser, he's a drug addict, he ain't gonna do shit." Finally one day, there I was, and he got to shove it up all his friends asses! So, that was kind of a good day for me, to have a little vindication, ya know.
That was probably my best moment I think.
That's awesome, great story! So how do you yourself and your voice in top form?
I do work out and do try to stay in good shape, and I'm in the best shape I've been in, in a long time. I'm not 25 anymore and it took me til I was 45 to realize I'm not gonna be 25 forever. (Laughs) I'm down to a good weight now, it's like, "Oh, I can fit into these pants again!" In my closet I've got my skinny guy clothes, the medium-heavy guy section and then the fat guy section. I was kinda wearing the fat guy section for a while, up until I was 45. I was reading an article on the internet or something and someone called me a fat obese pig, and I was like, ya know what, you can say whatever you want about me, but you're not gonna call me that again! So, I just went and hired a personal trainer the next day. I was like, screw that guy!! Motivation though, ya know? (Laughs)
As for keeping my voice in shape, I keep my routine of warming up beforehand, and it has worked for 20 years.
Did you always know that you wanted to sing and perform?
Yes, I remember the day it happened. Actually, I wanted to be an archeaologist, now I'm a fossil. But, when I turned six, my parents bought me the Beatles, "Help" album and I was just like, what the hell is this? Immediately I was like, I have to be this. I've got to be one of these guys. I remember jumping up and down on the bed singing, "Help, I need somebody, help..." You don't know how much help you need though...(Laughs) help is on the way!!
So ever since then I knew that's what I wanted to be. I never had a doubt, I never thought, well what if I don't make it, I just always new I was gonna be successful at this.
Any thing you’d like to express to our readers & GW fans across the universe?
Thanks for sticking with us for 25+ years now. We'll see you out there.
Jack, as a huge fan of Great White, having worn out all your records...
Oh, you're the one who bought them all, THANKS!
(Laughs) Seriously, I'm in that 30-something category and my Mom asks me all the time, "Aren't you ever gonna grow out of this rock 'n roll thing?"
Like I'm gonna grow out of this? No, we don't grow out of it, it's in our blood! It's part of our history. This is where we come from, I don't care what anybody says about the 80's. If they missed it, they just missed out. It was the biggest rock and roll will ever be. You'll never see that again. Thank God, cause it just makes our era really special. You'll never see as many bands playing arenas as we had in the 80's. Everybody was playing arenas.
Not only that, but people like to lump them all together, but I feel that every band a distinct sound and most had really talented musicians.
I agree with you. There was alot of diversity. People say, "Oh, it all sounded the same." But it really didn't, you just say that out of ignorance.
Well, I wish you luck. I know there's things you gotta get to before you leave, so thank you for taking the time to talk with GlamMetal today. I'll see ya when you get to Buffalo, eventually.
Thank you sweetie, I really appreciate it. Have a great New Year.
You too, take care out there!
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