Legendary GREAT WHITE singer Jack Russell - now fronting JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE - spoke with John Parks from Legendary Rock Interviews about the his current band situation which has confused some of his fans. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Legendary Rock Interviews: Was it always, always a situation where you were the singer of Great White? Was it always the plan that you were going to rejoin Great White when you were able and all these other singers were just kind of getting them by and keeping them on the road until you were able to rejoin?

JR: "Well yeah. I was always the singer of Great White and they even said that with their big statement that I was 'slated to return on February 10th and we were blindsided and shocked by Jack and blah blah.' I read an interview with Mark Kendall a few months back where he said he talked to me three times a week and they checked in on me constantly but I am here to tell you John. I have not talked to Mark Kendall in a freakin year. The last time I even saw him was at the Jani Lane memorial and he had a panic attack beforehand because he thought he might have to appear onstage and play a song with me. Does that sound like a band that wanted their singer back? I mean come on…..does it? Let me make clear, nobody from that band called me to vent or otherwise say 'Hey ma, we’re sick of this Jack, come on or it’s over.' I was still on the webpage and everything else."

Legendary Rock Interviews: I did a couple of interviews during that time with both Terry Ilous and Mark Kendall. Both of them were very kind and gave me great interviews and I even enjoyed seeing them live but they were very tight-lipped on your status when I asked about you coming back or whether Terry was permanent. I got a little bit out of Terry who told me he wasn’t sure about his status and whether you were coming back but that he talked with you about singing your songs and what an honor it was to perform the catalog. It was all really confusing from a fan standpoint.

JR: "I know and that’s bullshit that they didn’t make it clear that I would be coming back. I did talk to Terry and tell him thank you for doing a great job and everything after the situation with Jani and there was even a point during the shows where Terry was telling people “Jack’s getting better and will be back” and all that and that all started to change only recently. I was on the phone with our manager so much to the point that he was like 'Jack, I’m not gonna tell you again…this is your band, you’re the singer in Great White, we’re here for you, if the guys don’t wanna play with you anymore we will FIRE them, Michael’s on board, Kendall will just go where the money is and Audie might not like it but once he sees you rehearse and sees you’re fine then he will be okay with it.' Again, sneakily and ironically, Michael Lardie sent me a text December 6th which was the day before they filed for the rights to the name and the day after my birthday. Lardie sent me an email that said 'Happy Belated Birthday you old fart…haha, super busy, gotta go, loves Mikey' and then the very next day they filed for the trademark without me. It was like, 'Really Michael??? What the fuck is up with that shit? Can’t you have the balls to call me and say Look Jack, we’re really sick of your shit and we don’t wanna play with you anymore so we’re gonna call it a day and let’s go fight it out in court and see how it goes.' Sending me a text and wishing me a happy birthday the day you take my band away from me was just really sneaky and telling if you ask me."

Legendary Rock Interviews: Prior to that point were you completely supportive of their efforts to keep the ship afloat with Terry and Jani and Paul and those guys?

JR: "Yeah! I told the guys, let’s keep this thing together, let’s keep this going and I’ll call Jani Lane and Jani was like “Well, I really don’t wanna do that and I’m really not comfortable with that but for you I will do that” and he even said that in the last interview he ever did on That Metal Show. He said, “Jack Russell, my friend, called me and wanted me to fill in for him” and he did. He did an amazing job too, I was talking to his widow Kimberly and was like 'You know Kim, Jani saved my life because I woke up from my last surgery on August 11th and the first thing I heard my wife say to me was You know your friend Jani died today of alcohol poisoning’ and I couldn’t believe it. I was in a state of shock that Jani was gone and a few days later (AEROSMITH's) Steven Tyler called me and said 'Jack, what the hell are you doing?' and I just said 'I don’t know man.' Steven said 'Jack, you gotta get sober buddy.' And I did. I really did. Yeah, I gotta take pain medication, I probably have to take it for the rest of my life because my back is so screwed up but you can tell from talking to me or watching me sing that I’m lucid, I’m not all fucked up."

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