GREAT WHITE SINGER JACK RUSSELL TO MAKE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE STATION CLUB FIRE
Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone reports:
Great White frontman Jack Russell is filming a documentary about the infamous fire that killed 100 people during a 2003 performance at a club in Rhode Island, The Associated Press reports.
“It’s a story of my life intertwined with the story of the fire,” Russell said of the film during an interview on Portland radio station 105.9 the Brew. “It’s really hard, you know, but it’s going to give me a chance to apologize and say how I feel about it. I never had the chance to say, ‘I’m sorry.'”
The fire at the Station club in West Warwick, Rhode Island broke out when the band’s pyrotechnics display ignited flammable soundproofing foam installed in the venue. Over 200 people were injured, with Great White guitarist Ty Longley being among the 100 fatalities.
While Russell was not charged, he and Great White did settle a $1 million lawsuit with victims of the fire, which was part of an overall $176 million settlement fund. Those who were indicted included Great White’s tour manager, Daniel Michael Biechele — who was operating the pyrotechnics without a permit — and Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, the brothers who owned the Station. All three struck plea deals, with Biechele and Michael Derderian serving prison time.
“It was like the 9/11 of rock and roll,” Russell told the Brew. “I have this survivor’s guilt, like, why did I get to live when so many other people didn’t? I feel guilty for people coming to see me play and losing their lives. It’s really hard to deal with it. It’s not like I had anything personally to do … It was just a horrible accident.”
Russell said he was anxious to tell his side of the story through the documentary partly because in the immediate aftermath, his lawyers advised him not to apologize, as it would imply guilt. While Russell hoped making the film would help bring him some closure, some friends and family of the Station fire victims were angered by his remarks.
Read more at Rolling Stone.
additional source: rollingstone.com
Another club fire happened recently in Europe at a band called Goodbye To Gravity’s show and over 50 people have died from it, including the bass player, drummer and both guitarists from the band. No band or club should be allowed to use pyro of any amount inside a structure so small.
It will be interesting to see how victim’s families and the rock community in general react to this horrible tragedy. I’m sure he would love to apologize and feels an enormous amount of guilt. I’m just not convinced that this will be the way to do it, especially if he profits in any way from the documentary. I personally think Great White was one of the most talented, underrated bands that came out of the 80’s rock scene. Jack Russell (I’ve not heard him live anytime recently) had an amazing rock voice. I’ve seen them a number of times in the 80’s opening for different bands and last saw them in a club in Bangor Me in the early 90’s. They sounded great then. A very sad tragedy that took place I’m just not sure if the reaction to his documentary will be altogether positive.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this….
Obviously nobody is going to invest money or time in any production regardless of the topic if they’re going to lose money. Anybody can interview people on their iPhone and put it on YOU TUBE and call it a documentary. If Jack wants to participate in something that is informative and therapeutic then Why not? There are numerous sides to this story and Jack’s story alongside the other survivors and victims’ family members may be compelling if not worthy of attention. Jack was caught in that fire and he did lose Ty Longley so he could be considered both a victim and a responsible party. You can certainly blame Great White management and the club owners who were tried and did jail time but the band basically just showed up for work.
I actually lived about 3 miles from the Happy Land social club fire and you could smell it in the air that following morning. 87 people died due to evil jealousy, the Station nightclub fire was about negligence, stupidity and indifference.