Great White says they didn’t start station fire, according to TMZ interview

By Kirsten Glavin

kglavin@abc6.com

@kirstenglavin

PROVIDENCE, RI –

A TMZ video interview headlined: We Didn’t Start the Fire, shows guitarist Mark Kendall and drummer Audie Desbrow saying their band, Great White, was not playing at the Rhode Island nightclub where  pyrotechnics sparked a fire that took the lives of a hundred people.

"There’s actually a misconception on that, it was a singer–solo band,” Kendall said.

They’re now saying lead singer, Jack Russell, was performing a side project of his own, and that their name was advertised in West Warwick to draw in a bigger audience.

That’s why when they sued, they sued Jack Russel touring. If it had been great white they would have sued us,” Kendall said.  It’s a turn of events a little too late for Dave Kane, whose son, Nick O’Neill, was the youngest victim in the fire.

"Why didn’t they speak up before this. This is 13 years, and no one asked this question before?" said Kane.

He told ABC6 the video is confusing but not necessarily surprising.

"I can’t say I was surprised by it, since we have been lied to about pretty much everything since the fire happened,” he said.

For Kane, whether it was Great White or just members of the band playing, it changes nothing. He considers it just another deceiving piece of information that came from the tragedy.

"That they have not brought this forward is the most unusual part to me. That they have not spoken up and said listen, we weren’t the people who did this. And I think that’s the most important part."