JACK RUSSELL Says 'The Mystique' From Music Industry Is Gone

I’m Music Magazine recently conducted an interview with former GREAT WHITE and current JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

I’m Music Magazine: There aren’t many bands from your era who are putting out new music, with most just relying on nostalgia and touring. What made you decide to put out a new album?

Jack: “When I first got the band together, I knew we had to get a record out. If I’m not putting new stuff out, then there is no growth in my life. As each year goes by, there are more things that I need to say. This is my therapy and telling my story to the world is very cathartic for me. I tell people about my life and hopefully they can learn from my mistakes. When someone comes up to me and tells me that one of my songs made them stop doing drugs, that inspires me. I realize what I do is important and that my words do get to people. I also have people come up to me and tell me things like ‘Save Your Love’ was their wedding song. It’s really an honor to hear that I was included in such an important event in someone’s life.”

I’m Music Magazine: On a personal note, I have a ton of added respect for you for stepping up and owning your past mistakes and moving on instead of playing the blame game and pointing fingers.

Jack: “Thank you. I was mad and I was hurt at first because no one would call me. If someone had called and told me that they didn’t trust me to stay sober and they just didn’t want to play with me anymore, but nobody did. When I was in the hospital dying, a man that I thought was one of my dearest friends in the world, Mark Kendall, didn’t even call me. They may say that they knew what was going on through management, but that’s not what I am talking about. I’m talking about my friend since I was sixteen that agreed to join me and make a band, they couldn’t even call to check on me. When my colon burst, the doctors didn’t expect me to make it and that’s what they told my wife. That’s all behind me now and I don’t hold grudges. I wish them the best, I wish us better [laughs], and I will always have a love for those guys and the times we had.”

I’m Music Magazine: I think this new [JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE] album [“He Saw It Comin'”] is a great step in moving on. There’s such an eclectic mix from “Sign Of The Times” to “Anything For You” to “Love Don’t Live Here”. It’s tough to find a band today that can deliver such high-quality diversity.

Jack: “The attention span today is like that of a goldfish swimming around in circles going, ‘Hey, nice tree, hey, nice tree.’ What’s your favorite band today? What happened to band loyalty? I blame the industry and the powers that be because they make everything accessible and the mystique is gone. You can go on Facebook and talk to your favorite rock star or someone who is posing as him. In our day, you would be lucky to see the guy or even go up and shake his hand if you were really lucky. Back then, rock stars were inaccessible to a point and guys like Robert Plant never did interviews for the longest time. The coolest thing was when I got to be successful and I got to meet a lot of my heroes, and for the most part, they were really cool guys. My super hero is Steven Tyler [AEROSMITH] and he’s such a sweet guy. He helped me get sober. He called me when I was in the hospital, and he’s such a sweet guy.”

Read the entire interview at I’m Music Magazine.

JACK RUSSELL’S GREAT WHITE‘s debut album, “He Saw it Comin'” (originally titled “The Gauntlet”), was released on January 27 via Frontiers Music Srl. The disc features Jack Russell alongside former GREAT WHITE bassist-turned-guitarist Tony Montana (as a guitar player and keyboardist), Dan McNay (MONTROSE) on bass, Robby Lochner (FIGHT) on guitar and Dicki Fliszar (BRUCE DICKINSON) on drums.