Great White
...Twice Shy

Why the name “Great (White) Shark”? It’s the nickname of the band’s guitarist and founder, Mark Kendall, a true Los Angeles native, platinum blond and a fan of white clothes and shoes. One day someone saw him show up for rehearsals driving a (white) car, decked out in a white tracksuit and white Italian shoes, and pulling out his usual white Fender Telecaster… “Here comes the great white shark!” exclaimed their manager Alan Niven. The quip proved perfect for naming the group, which up to that point had been going under Dante’s Fox, with something fiercer.

Kendall is an excellent guitarist. Brilliant and warm, with a great sound, not at all following the contemporary crowd of VanHalenian, Vai, Malmsteen-like colleagues. He’s “seventies” in style, but with something of his own—fresh and flavorful. The singer, Jack Russell, on the other hand, is decidedly Plant-like, without overusing falsetto. Solid and talented as well—not at all a… dog! (Eh… when you get the urge to make a joke, you have to say it; keeping it in hurts.)

Thus, the Californian band Great White—at a time of pop metal, classic metal, glam metal, AOR and so on—plays straightforward hard rock, only barely tinged by prevailing trends. But just barely… mostly, it’s just their blow-dried, fancily styled hair and some colorful stage costumes, because the music is anything but vain or hedonistic.

The album is thoroughly enjoyable. There are no fillers, just good songs; everyone can find their favorites. Mine are, first of all, the opener “Move It,” enhanced by a long and tense instrumental intro that gradually builds the atmosphere before the hard rock explosion. Kendall’s guitar here has a particularly sublime, divinely reverberated tone, and he delivers a perfect solo with devilish drive.

Then I love “House of Broken Love,” a semi-slow bluesy boogie, evocative and melodic, flavorful and mature, classy. Finally, there’s the charting single, a cover of “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” one of Ian Hunter’s masterpieces which, of course, inspired this album’s title. It manages to be even better than the already remarkable original, with an irresistible rock’n’roll piano and perfect arrangement.

Great White is a band quite literally marked by fire, scarred by a terrible tragedy: in February 2003, they were playing in a Warwick, New England venue, up in the northern USA, when some stage fireworks set off by their tour manager instantly ignited the abundant polyurethane acoustic insulation lining the walls and ceiling. This chemical compound was absolutely not fireproof—in fact, quite the contrary—yet the club had supposedly passed all safety checks required by law.

The venue burned like a torch and filled in mere minutes with toxic, unbreathable smoke. Nearly five hundred people were present, beyond a sold-out crowd. One hundred of them—a grim, round number, worse than at the Bataclan—perished from suffocation, burns, or being trampled. Over two hundred more suffered severe burns, crushing injuries, or permanent harm.

The manager of Great White and the club owner each received fifteen years in prison. The band lost their second guitarist, Ty Longley, one of the hundred victims. Initially, they considered breaking up, but then decided instead to set up a Fund for the victims—and especially the survivors—of the fire, supporting it through an intense series of concerts. Where the venue once stood, there is now a small public park and a commemorative chapel.

The band still exists, but recently, they no longer call themselves Great White, but rather… Twice Shy! Perhaps in honor of this album, their best. Or perhaps because last year their singer Russell passed away, and in his honor they decided to change their moniker.