At the end of the 1980s, the band Great White was at the peak of its popularity, with a chart-topping cover of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy."
Though they went on to sell 10 million records, Great White has become better known for the 2003 pyrotechnics-caused fire that killed 100 people at the Station nightclub in Rhode Island -- an event that guitar player Mark Kendall calls "an American tragedy."
"It's something that I have never forgotten, nor will I ever forget," Kendall said. "I don't try to relive it every day, if you know what I mean. It's not like you're moving on; it's like 'What else can I do?' The families are always in my prayers."
The on-again, off-again hair band plays an outdoor show tonight at LCO Casino near Hayward.
There won't be any pyrotechnics at the show.
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On the night of the infamous show at the packed club in West Warwick, R.I., pyrotechnics mixed with soundproof stage foam and started the fast fire that killed 100 people and injured and burned many more. In the end, club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian and Great White's tour manager, Daniel Biechele, were charged with dozens of counts of involuntary manslaughter. Biechele pleaded guilty, and the Derderians pleaded no contest. Biechele and Michael Derderian served prison time but have since been released; Jeffrey Derderian received a suspended sentence.
Before that show, Todd King of Apex, N.C., considered Great White his favorite band of all time. Kendall, for King's money, is the world's greatest guitar player, and lead singer Jack Russell has the greatest voice in all of rock. King still considers Great White his favorite band, even after he had to yank his then-wife Theresa O'Toole by her belt from the burning club. They escaped without injuries. King has seen the band perform about 60 times -- including a handful of shows after the fire.
King said there were plenty of Great White fans who were angry with the band in the aftermath. Not him.
"I was more angry with the people who took my money and never thought about how people were going to get out if something happened," he said. "No one meant to injure anyone that evening. ... I was never angry at the band. Kids went to that show and never came home."
Chris Riemenschneider, the local music writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune who also writes a weekly pop culture column, classified Great White as part of the B-list of hair bands back of the era -- a list that includes Ratt and Cinderella -- second tier to A-listers such as Motley Crue and Poison.
"They had a bit of bluesy-ness to them," he said. "There was more musicality there than with a lot of their peers."
But musically capable or not, Riemenschneider said they will never disassociate themselves from the fire.
"It was a huge tragedy, and to this day it still disturbs me when I'm ... in a dingy club and it's a packed house," he said. "You worry and think back to that."
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As for Saturday's show, and the others on Great White's summer festival tour, expect that same hard-rock sound, a big dose of the classics and a few of the band's newer songs. It's not like the '80s, Kendall joked, with the girls backstage and the craziness.
"Now it's like family time. People have their kids with them," he said. "The conversations are like: 'Who's your rehab guy? You should talk to my guy. I've been sober four years.' It isn't a huge party. You see 15-year-olds with our T-shirts on. It's really neat. It's a different generation."
