My, my, my, I’m once bitten, twice shy, baby! With a revitalized ambition and a never ending dedication to their fans, Mark Kendall (guitar), Michael Lardie (guitar, keyboards), Audie Desbrow (drums), Scott Snyder (bass), and Terry Ilous (vocals) are delivering that Great White sound we’ve all come to crave.
With Elation (2012) still creating movement in the musical stratosphere, we can feel the energy and enthusiasm of a resurgence of a band whose music exudes a timeless quality that we cannot help but to listen to. We were able to sneak a quick moment in time with Michael Lardie, who gave us a peak at what’s up next for Great White!
Let’s begin with who is Great White today?
Aside from being the name of the band, I think Great White today is a band that has endured for 30+ years, and is still doing what we’ve always set out to do, by writing songs and performing songs for people, and making them happy. That’s the guidepost for everything that we do. Are we happy, or we making fans happy? It’s a family, and it’s a family that has endured for very long me.
Can you give me a summary of where you’ve been? There is a lot of history with your band.
Oh gosh! There is no such thing as “quick” when you are talking about 30 years. We’ve been lucky enough to have been on four major labels, circumnavigated the globe at least four times. Back in the day, when we were on a bus and touring 7 to 8 months out of the year, we used to do about 200 shows a year. Now, because we do fly gigs all the time, we do about 70 shows a year, and we’re doing just as well as we did when we did 200 shows. It’s a different business than it was 20 years ago. We’ve been lucky enough to have multiplatinum records, a Grammy nomination for “Once Bitten Twice Shy”. We’ve been so fortunate and the fact that we are still here talking about what we’re doing with you is hopefully a testament that there an enduring quality to the music we do.
You just mentioned that it was very different between 20 years ago and today. What are some of the differences that you’ve experienced?
It’s interesting. Because record sales are down so much, I think bands are relying more on their touring to make their living, whereas before, we used to put out a record and go on tour to promote it. I think one big difference now is that when we do a new record, we have a story to tell to help us get performances. They work hand-in-hand, but they work hand-in-hand in a different way now.
Is the money that the same?
Yeah, it’s about the same. Like I said, we can do 70 shows instead of 200 and still have the same kind of year we were having when we did 200.
You’ve been with Great White for over 28 years – how have you changed as a musician?
Well, the ultimate hope is that you just keep getting better at what you do. For me personally, because I play a number of instruments, I always try to take on something new. That’s a challenge for me. On the last album we were able to have some mandolin on it, some harmonica, etc. I like playing a bunch of different instruments because it’s like a little bit of frosting on top of the song. How can we make this different? How can we do this? My ability to do that is one of the joys I have regarding making records. It’s a blast for me to do that.
It’s no secret that Great White has had some great successes as well as some great adversity. Tell us, what are some of the current obstacles facing Great White?
The main channels we used to have for promotion are not there for us like they were back in the day, but then again, now you have YouTube and you have the Internet, and all the social media. It’s just a different portal to get our music to our fans. It’s much more street; it’s much more underground than it used to be. It seems to be working out for us. We are lucky enough to have a big enough fan base to continue to do new music and get it out there. We can pretty much count, luckily enough, that our fan base will pick up the new material. It gives us hope and a reason to keep doing it.
You released Elation in 2012, and you’re still working on new material all the time. Do you feel that fans are wanting more of the new stuff on the set list, or are they wanting some of the older stuff as well?
You are always going to have to play the core material that the fans made popular. We are definitely a band that realizes the importance of our fans, because without them, we would not have a career or have sold as many records as we have. I think what we try to do with new material is maybe put one or two in a new set, and lay it on people to see how they respond to it. It gives them a look at what we’re up to now. Hopefully that pushes them to reach out and grab the entire record. On this album cycle we been doing things a little bit differently. We’ve been trying to rotate in and out songs. In the past, you ended up doing the single or the two singles that you released on the record, and that was pretty much it. You never played a lot of that material from those albums live. This time around we are rotating and have actually played eight of the 12 songs that are on Elation.
Is that a signal that there is going to be more to come?
I think “Complicated” was the last single that we actually worked on this record. We are going to start convening after Thanksgiving, throw all of our ideas and riffs into the pot, and start making some pies out of it.
Great White – “Complicated” (Official Video)
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Nice! So for Thanksgiving we are gonna have some Great White Pie!
(laughs) There you go! That’s one way to look at it!
You’re also working with Mark Kendall on tour managing and advancing the shows technically. What would somebody expect to see, that is never been to one of your shows before, from a Great White show?
A lot of that stuff is under the surface kind of stuff, where I’ll call up and talk to the sound people, and talk to the backline people, and get all that stuff sorted. Mark will talk to the venue people, talk about catering, getting picked up from the airport. Between all of that, our drummer Audie does the merchandise. We travel with just the five of us and managed to make it work every day.
Is that different from the way it was 20 years ago?
Oh yeah! Because everybody had a crew guy, and you had a tour manager, and the lead vocalist usually had a personal assistant. You had a crew of six or seven, plus the band. So, it was a much larger entourage. A lot more bands are leaning toward what we are doing now, because they are realizing that having that many crew people out there costs a lot of money, especially the way flights are now. If you are paying two salaries and two flights, you’re looking at a much healthier bottom-line.
Absolutely! A lot more streamlined.
We are a one-stop shop, that is no doubt.
How do you stay healthy on the road, with such weird hours?
It’s difficult. You have to make reasonable food choices, and sometimes you do without what would be typically known as a “full meal”, based on the fact that what is usually offered up is, um, pitiful. You have to think intelligently. Just realizing that it’s important for all of us to eat better than we did when we were 20, because we could get away with it back then. All of us exercise too. That’s the only way that you can continue to be in good enough shape to go out and do this. Inasmuch is that it’s only that many shows, comparatively speaking, you are really in a sleep deficit most weekends. Your flying into the first gig you go into on your day off. You play the show. Then after three hours of sleep you get to the airport to fly to the next city. Sometimes you don’t get the chance to get any kind of rest in between. You have sound checks. You have meet and greets. Before you know it, it’s showtime. You’re talking about three or four shows over a weekend in the summer; it’s a pretty heavy sleep deficit. It’s really important to stay in shape by exercising and eating intelligently.
I’m a little nervous. You didn’t say anything about bathing…
Bathing is absolute! Even if we have to nap while we’re standing in the shower, we are still bathing! (laughs)
I’m glad to hear that because I’m sure there are some bands out there that don’t!
No no no! This is a clean machine, I can assure you!
How do you stay sane on the road with such weird hours?
I think it’s that two hours that you are on the stage that is always the payoff. It always has been. Into our 50s now, it still is. That moment of time that you are on the stage playing the songs for the people and you’re getting the response back. You’re getting energy back from them, it makes all the other 22 hours of things you have to go through to get there and make it happen worthwhile. I think we passed sane about 25 years ago.
(laughs) What is the craziest on the road story you can talk about?
Oh that is the catchphrase right there: “That I CAN talk about”! That is always difficult. I would have to defer to the fact that there will be a book someday, and there will be some great stories!
That answer was “Alice, wait for the book!” You’ve shared the stage with many great bands. Who would you want to share the stage with again and who would you want to share the stage with that you never have before?
Three of the tours that we had in the 80’s and 90’s were some of my favorites. Working with White Snake was amazing, because they had that blues rock element, and out of the bands that were available for that tour, they picked us at a very pivotal time in our career. Being out with them for 10 ½ months basically pushed us to our first platinum record. Working with White Snake for 10 ½ months was amazing.
We did a great tour with Tesla, where we did a flip-flop headliner thing back and forth for 5 ½ to 6 months. That was an amazing experience.
We opened up for the Scorpions in 91. I would work with those guys anytime – lovely lovely guys and great musicians!
As far as who we haven’t played with, I’d love to do a couple of dates or a couple of months with Aerosmith! That’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to do.
Great choice! You all are named Great White…and I’m terribly afraid of sharks. It’s a ridiculous phobia, I know. Tell me why I should not be afraid of your band?
It’s the intense energy and vibe we try to bring to our music. That’s pretty much where the moniker comes into play. We are probably five of the most Zen like people you’ve ever met in your life! (laughs)
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by Alice Roques, Cofounder and Managing Editor of RockRevolt Magazine
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