Legendary rock singer Jack Russell passed away yesterday, Aug 15, 2024. He had one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in hard rock history, heard on such classics as “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” “Rock Me” and “Save Your Love.”
On this "From the Vault" episode of Big Blend Radio (2018), we chatted with the inimitable vocalist and founding member of ‘80s metal legends Great White, who discussed his newly reissued 1996 debut solo album, "Shelter Me."
May Jack Russell RIP. Our hearts and sympathies go out to his family, friends, bandmates, and loved ones.
Big Daily Blend
Hard Rocker Jack Russell of Great White
[music] Mother, why do you change the nature? [music] Why are you going with your life? [music] I'm turning green in the gray [music] Mother, why do you turn away? [music] A willful lie at the end of the day [music] Don't fall and forget, but take it all away [music] Tell me, I'm a monotone [music] I've made the feel well from the red and the red [music] Mother, sometimes you're twisted [music] I've made the flame look all the way [music] Mother, I can hide a little fear [music] Mother, will you turn away? [music] A willful lie at the end of the day [music] To get all away [music] Tell me, I'm a monotone [music] I've made the feel well from the red and the red [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Tell me, I'm a monotone [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Welcome to Big Blend Radio with Nancy and Lisa. The crazy Big Blend mother daughter travel team and publishers of Big Blend magazines. You just heard "Shelter Me," the title track of the newly reissued first solo album by Jack Russell, the badass vocalist and founding member of the '80s Metal Legends, Great White. The CD is out now through Deadline Music, which is a division of Clear Patrick Records. We've got to love that, right? Yeah, no kidding. Got Clear Patrick in there? Yeah. Go to cleorex.com, R-E-C-S, at cleorex.com to get the album, and we're super excited to have Jack join us on the show today. You can keep up with Jack and his band of pirates touring as Jack Russell's Great White. Go to jackrusselsgreatwhiteband.com. Jack, welcome. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you, really. I'm on the show. How are you guys? We're doing good. We're doing good. You know? Party. I know. I grew up with music, man. As a teenager, partying in places I probably shouldn't have, but I'm kidding. My mother's sitting here as she knows. Unfortunately, she knows all details by now. But I grew up with her music, and it's such an honor to have you on the show. And just super cool to hear "Shelter Me" the album. It's a badass album. And "Shelter Me" I love it because you just right there are shows. I know we talked a bit about this before we started recording and airing this, that you've got this blues undertone and heavy rock vibes that I don't know if people always hear that. Do you think that? Because I hear really old school blues, especially in the guitar part at the end there, of "Shelter Me." Well, you know, there's always been blues in my music. I mean, it's just what I grew up on. It was oddly enough back in the early days when we had first, we were initially signed to our first record, "Do a Capital." I was doing an interview. I had said something in an interview about, you know, my influences. And I said, "Yeah, well, I'll be influenced by Aerosmith and blah, blah, blah." And Joe Perry got word to me and said, "Hey, Jack, you know, go back farther. Go back farther than what you were listening to in your teenagers." So I took his advice and I went back. I started listening to R.S. like Helen Wall, "The Lightning Hopkins" and John Lee Hooker and, you know, people like that. And I really, really, really understood where the inspiration for the bands that I loved, as a child, as a teenager, came from. So, you know, I think anything that you listen to and love somehow finds a way into your music. You know, it's not really necessarily plagiarism per se, but it's just to borrow a quote from paying for all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. You know, so it goes with your music. You know, everything we hear and like finds its way into our own music, you know. And blues has always been a big part of my life, you know. And lyrically and just on every day of life and I live in the blues, you know. I know the blues. Yeah, I think you all are right now. Oh, a little. Don't start me on that. You don't even. Yeah, right. Like, no kidding. Where are you now? Because I was looking at your touring schedule, which is just like, you guys are on the road. You're traveling all over the summer, fall, winter. Again, Jack Russell's GreatWhiteBand.com. See if they're coming to a city near you. It seems like you're going to everyone's city. Yeah, we're playing a lot. You know, we've got a big tour coming up for Live Nation. It's called Hair Nation Tour. We start out in September with the next opening. Then the boys are in the middle and we're headlining. And then later on, the fall and the winter, we start with Jack Russell tribute to Led Zeppelin, which is something we did years ago as GreatWhite. We did three shows. There's an album called Great Zeppelin, which was also on Cleopatra, Adlina. And it was a live concert of nothing but Zeppelin songs. I mean, if you haven't heard, it's really worth a listen. It's pretty frightening. I mean, it was actually times we were mixed in when I came to the studio and I fooled myself. I thought they were listening to a song and we had to say and go, "No, Jack, that's you singing." So we'll be doing that for the winter. You know, which we're doing some selected days for that just because, you know. And the rest of it, you know, we're just taking the band out and having fun. It's been a great year and we're, you know, we're excited to come play. And the band is really, really, really smokin. These guys are incredible musicians and we've been playing together for quite a while. I mean, this is a, you know, I've had this group of guys together for quite a number of years now. So, um, it's pretty polished, I gotta say. And everyone, if you go to the website, you can meet the band members and see a shark fly by your screen. I'd love to hear that back. Thank you. Because the guys are like, it's like the pirates. I mean, you know, I love it. I love it because it's, you know, here we are. Yeah, go ahead. Obviously, you like that. Oh, I'll show you guys. I never answered your question. You said where I'm at. I'm on my boat right now as we speak. This is where I live. Oh, yeah. I live on 54 foots for a fisher. No way. Yeah. I live on a boat. Yeah. So I live. I live on a boat. I fish for sharks. I'm a full blown. I mean, I'm a real pirate. It's not like a joke. This is what I do, you know, it's funny. We're doing this cruise next year in February. It's not February. Yeah, next February, they're doing a legend. The legend's cruise. And I agree to do it. They bought the caveat. They wanted me to go to Jack Russell, not Jack Russell. It was a great white. And also that I steered the ship at some point. And I said, okay, that's no problem. So, yeah, that would be fun. Yeah. I know that, you know, born and raised in L.A. What was it that got you into, like, I'm actually, I want to live on a boat. And I want to, you know, get into the water. Like, well, I was, I'm never being, like, five years old and my father used to take me down. I'm sport fishing down San Diego, which is out of here, you know, a couple hundred miles. I'm going to go off to Mexican waters and fish. And I was always the youngest person on the boat. And everybody expected me to be getting tangled up and, you know, it caused them problems. But, you know, I was really, really good at it. And the more I hung around the water and the ocean, you know, I was a surfer. And I did all that. I scuba dive, you know, anything, a water ski, anything, a hundred below the water. I'm all over it. So, you know, it's just logical that I would end up living on a boat. This is the fifth boat I've had. And, you know, I have no intentions of living on the ground, you know. Cool. That's what I was laughing about at the beginning was like, because here we are in Tucson right now in the desert, which I consider like a dried up ocean. It is, really. Right. Yeah, exactly what. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're like in the dried up beach. And eventually you're going to have your boat here. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I'll be parked on your in your front lawn. You know, you know what guitar is from Tucson. Yeah. It's interesting. It's interesting because of the lightning and everything and going on your website, you know, I'm going. This is what it looks like here. We just kind of have the water, but in the ravine behind us as, you know, things are going on right now in the monsoon season. But I just, there's a connectivity between the desert and, and the ocean that for sure my parents took that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I think. Go ahead. I'm sorry to me. Go ahead. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This could be the sea beds. And so we live in the ocean. It's just not wet. Yeah. Yeah. It is now. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right now you're talking about shark teeth. I'm looking at, I got this, this frame filled with fossilized shark teeth that I have. Hang on. One of my walls. No way. In the head. Yeah. I have a big Megalodon tooth about seven inches long. Yeah, 23 million years old. And, you know, I just, I love that kind of stuff. It's just fascinating. You know, I think one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and one of the most beautiful places on earth that I've ever been is a place called. But here they're Los Angeles and it's on the Sea of Cortez on the, on the Baja side. And it's right down the middle of Baja California on the Sea of Cortez. You know, it is, it is the desert but it's right up against the cobal blue are and it's so spectacular to see the desert landscape against the ocean. You know, it's, it's, and that's, so you have best of both worlds. I mean, you have your Tucson esque, you know, landscape and then you got the ocean. So it's pretty spectacular. And I love it because of the birds. The birds that are like, they, they can hop. They, they want to hang out in the water, but they hop back to land. It's so neat because they go fishing with people. They're like, I'm going to hang with you and who's going to get it first? You know what I mean? Or I'm going to wait for you to go get it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to snag it. You know, it's, it's interesting for you when, when you're on the boat and you're out, you know, is that where you're right? Are you doing a lot of writing lately? You know, yeah, we are writing actually. We're always constantly writing myself and my guitarist Robbie. He was, it was also from Tucson. I, I mentioned that, but we do a lot of writing at his house mostly. Sometimes they'll come down here, but I generate a lot of ideas, you know, when I'm down in the water. It's just difficult to sit and write down here, especially since Robbie has such severe emotions sickness. He gets seasick at the dock, you know what I mean? So it's a little hard for them to come down the right. He needs a desert water to hang out in. It's horrible because he wants to go, you know, wants to go out on the boat so bad, but he, you know, he gets so violently sick, I think he can't do it. So, you know, I feel terrible for him. You know what? He needs roller skates. Yes. Roller skates. He needs roller skates. He needs roller skates. That will help. That will help him. That will help him. Really? You know, it's, it's interesting. It's interesting when people get motion sickness, the last time that we went on a boat, a boat, like, like one that was in the ocean boat, was in San Diego and we went out toward Santa Tomás in Mexico. You know those islands? Yeah, absolutely. Just, yeah. Yeah, I know the honor of course. Yeah, we went whale watching. I think it was Scripps, Burch Aquarium, Scripps Ranch, and we went whale watching and we were on our way to Mexico, actually, because we used to live out just south of Ensenade and La Punta Banda. Yeah. And, I know where that's going. But anyway, we went with the Banda. Yeah, it's great down there. No way. Yeah. You know what La Fonda's at and all the stuff down there, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I go down the bar, I go down the bar all the time, all the time. Oh my gosh. We haven't been for a while. And we used to live there. We went to go, once we moved back, we went to go see our friend. Our old neighbor, you know, and we were like, how are we going to go? And we were like, you know, and things had changed going over the border. We were like, dude, we're going to be late. Oh, yeah. The whale watching guys taking us on this little, little boat. And it's the distance. Punta, yeah. That's both in the waves. I'm like, if I hurl once, that's it. Everyone's going to get it. I went down into the little restaurant thingy. Well, it's not. It's like a little kitchen thing. And I'm like, I need it right now. Otherwise, I'm going to, I'm going to hurl on all of you. And I didn't. I held it. I held it. Because I knew that if you start, once you start, you're, you're. Oh, yeah. You're down. Yeah, I got to see the ones when I was a kid. And it's what I'd never do it again. I've never gotten six cents. I just, I hate it. So I just said, never doing that again. See, that's when I need this song, shelter me. When I go. Yeah. Yeah. I want, I want to get to the point of shelter me because, um, from what I know, that, that is about the homeless, right? Yeah. It's got a lot to do with that. And it's got a lot to do with, um, you know, the meaning for me, maybe the different mean for it. I hate to tell people the songs about because, you know, they might go, well, I thought it was about this. But it used to be really special to me. And now I know that it's about this. I mean, for me, this song is, is about that. And it's also about just the world in general, you know, shelter me from all the stuff that's going on in the world. You know, I mean, it's, it's, there's so much stuff and so many lies and people are trying to see each other. You know, like I said, the line of smoke and I had like a fear and it says, um, um, sometimes your, sometimes your tears are wasted on those who claim to know the way, like, cults. I mean, there's just so much stuff. I mean, you're going in and it's like, you know, there's conspiracy theories and everything. It's like, you know, it's, this world has gotten so crazy and that album was released in '96. So compared to then, so now, you know, it is like off the charts. Even back then, you know, I was noticing what was going on. And see that originally, that song was, there was a song called, Hey, Mister, which is on album, I can't get there from here. And that song was originally written for that album, Shelter Me. And it's about homeless. I mean, directly about the homeless people. And the whole record was, you know, geared toward that, you know, initially. And it kind of grew from there. But yeah, the song, Shelter Me is definitely, if I had to sum it all up, you know, it's definitely had to do with the homeless and, you know, the plight and, you know, not, it's like, especially today. I mean, think about, there's so many people that are just one paycheck away from being on the street. And that's scary. You know, we don't, I mean, look around the streets. You see all these veterans and people that have served our country. And, you know, they can't even afford to feed themselves. And what do we do? We're out there on TV, politicking, you know, for people in some country we never heard of. You know, I said, wait a minute. Why can't we take care of our own people first? We shouldn't have people living on the streets. You know, that's, there's no reason for it. We have the money and, you know, the food and, you know, we just, I don't understand why, but I shouldn't be that way. I mean, it's, it's kind of a punishment for being poor. Like, I grew up in a really poor family on welfare. And I can't tell you how many people that we have talked to on radio shows and, you know, just wherever we go that looked down on the welfare system. Oh, yeah. You're chastised. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. And I'm like, they look at me and they have no idea. And they talk and they talk and I'm like, you have no clue. Yes, there's always going to be people who abuse systems, just like corporate America, corporate America and politicians. There's always good and bad in everything. But without that helping hand, you would be homeless. I mean, we were, I mean, we spent nights in the car, you know. We went to Texco bathrooms. Some of them had showers if you were in a trucking stop. So when people talk about it, like, as a kid, are you to blame people? Yeah, look at those bombs or whatever. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's horrible to stigma that it has. I mean, if you, if you listen, I don't know if you've ever heard the song, "Hey, Mr." But if you take a listen to it, when you get a chance, it's a solid album called "Kank" there from here by Great White. It's the last great album I think the band did. As a matter of fact, I think it's the best album that band ever did while it was together. But there's a song called "Hey, Mr." And it was a song I wrote about the homeless people from their perspective. And just telling people, "Look, I mean, I'm just a man like you. I mean, I don't want to be here. I'm not trying to, you know, it's like just, you know, you need to walk a mile inside my shoes. Maybe then you don't understand what I'm at." And it's probably one of the most beautiful, heartfelt lyrics I've ever written. And it really talks about that, of how, you know, how the homeless people and people like that. It's not like they want to be there. Some of them, yeah, some of them are just lazy. They don't want to work. But most of them, you know, there's people there just, they just need a break, you know? Well, they have to date that time. You know, average age of the homeless person in America is between 9 and 11 years old. So go tell me their dog addicts and alcoholics and don't want to work. Wow, exactly. That's a statistic I did not know. That makes things more horrifying than I imagined. Now that, oh, God. Yeah. When we were here after 2008, things escalated. And we did some interviews with specialists, and there's one lady, Diane Nyland, who traveled the country and does videos on him. And, you know, I'm just like, "Wow." And, you know, I think that communication, we're in the world of social media communication. Well, then maybe we should just have a conversation with each other before we blame and point fingers and decide. And thank God for music, because I think that's, again, like, you know, what I love about shelter me is it, to me, takes me back to my childhood music. And at the same time, takes me further back, and then it takes me to the present. And I think that's when something's really classic. And so tell us about why you decided to reissue it, because this was 1996 that you put it out, right? Yeah, well, the reason for the reissue, I mean, is really, it was never issued. It was never released anywhere but in Japan. So most people weren't aware of the record to begin with. So, you know, even though it's called a reissue, for me, it's actually a new release, you know, in a lot of places, because, as I said, some people weren't even aware of his existence. And I felt so strongly about the record and what a beautiful record. And, you know, I'm not too male in the horn here. I don't mean to sound that way. It was, you know, it had a lot more than just me to make a record sound good. But, you know, I felt it really is something that needed to be heard. I really wanted to get people, you know, to be able to have a chance to listen to it. So I talked to Brian, a Cleopatra, who's been a dear friend for many, many years. And we all came to decide to release, to rerelease, or to release that album in the States and elsewhere, along with the For You album, which is my second solo album. That's another day, another dollar. But, you know, it's just, I think it's really as far as music goes. It doesn't sound like any particular, you know, like, oh, that sounds like 1984 or 1996, or it's just a group of really cool songs. You know, it's very eclectic. You know, yeah, there's some heavier stuff than I've done with Great White, and there's also some really, you know, like the song "Hold the Tide." You know, it's just really, really, really, I don't know, mellow and just kind of dreamy and melancholy. And, you know, I mean, lyrically, it's some of the best work I've ever done, I think. And I said, I don't want to say the kind of sound like I'm going, "Oh, I'm so great. I'm so great." You know, I'm just very blessed. And this record was a blessing for me. I was able to put my thoughts down, you know, easier than some other times. You know, it was nice to be able to take something outside of Great White and do something without the confines of what people, you know, would hear with that particular group of musicians. I mean, every time you bake a cake, you know, you have different ingredients, it's going to taste differently. You know, this one was, you know, the main ingredient was me, you know, so, yeah, it was a lot of fun to make, and I still love it. It's interesting when a musician will go in from a band will go in and say, "Okay, I'm going to do my solo work." Because I think that in a band circumstance, you're sharing, you know, it's like, it's a marriage, you know, it's a family. And then it's like, "I have these things pent up, and I want to do this." And it's true, every album, it's true, there's things going on in the world that direct them, music tells the history of the world, you know, all those things. But there's also that when you make your first studio album, whether it's studio or not, first album as a solo artist, there's something in there where you're like, "This is who I am." Like, this is it, this is, this is, there's something about that initial record that is always beautiful, you know? Oh, thank you, I agree, I agree, it's very honest, you know, and I think, you know, that's for me, whatever record I do, lyrically, musically, I try to be more transparent. Because the end, the end goal for me is for people who really know me as a human being, not just who they see in the pictures or who they see on stage or who they think I am, you know, what I'm singing. You know, I want them to know me as a human being, you know, and to either like or dislike that person, not like or dislike me based on what I do for a living. I mean, there's so many people, "I just love you, like we don't even know me, how do you know you love me, you might hate me if we hung out." And vice versa, there's a lot of people that dislike me that don't know me, you know, and if they do, I think they'd be surprised. So, you know, it's a weird dichotomy, you know? It's a weird thing, because people just make assumptions all the time, and they add up what they think is the right deal and make a judgment call, and they can be so out to lunch, so funny. They really can be out to lunch on something, they just really don't know, but they think they know. And so when you get to do your own thing, I mean, when you're with a band, it's like a people in the boardroom in corporate America. Oh, now there's restrictions of some sort, and then when you get to be on your own, a lot of those restrictions go away. Yeah, well, you know, for me, what it was, was I had, you know, there wasn't anybody sitting there going, "Okay, let's try this, let's try that." It was, you know, mostly me saying, "Okay, well, this is how it's going to go, and this is how that's going to go, and this is what you're going to do, and this is what you're going to do, and this is what you're going to do." And there wasn't anybody going, "Okay, well, this is my part, and let's try this, and let's try that." You know, which is always cool, but that's a band thing, and I really, you know, this was supposed to be a Jack Russell thing, you know, and it came out that way. I'm really, really happy that we came out and proud of the record. I think everybody should do that. Well, absolutely. I think, you know, most musicians who haven't, you know, done a solo record, or if they've given the opportunity, it would, because it's really a good experience. I mean, it's very, very freeing, and like, as you said, you don't have the confines of the constraints of sounding like this. Like, "Okay, well, Great White has a particular sound, so I can't really get away with doing this type of song and a Great White album because people aren't going to understand why would, you know, why would you put this on the Great White album?" You know, and for the most part, it's not that far away, because, I mean, obviously being, you know, one of the main writers in Great White, there's going to be a flavor of that for sure, but I was able to stretch out and do stuff like, you know, 24/7, which, you know, or shelter me, which is not really important. I mean, it's not really a Great White style of music, you know, it's just not, and "Roll with the Tide" is not really a very Great White-esque, you know, so it's, I don't know. I get to talk all day long about the record. I just, I think people in the hearth will be surprised. It's, I've gotten a lot of great reviews on it, and that's made me smile, you know. But I think overall, you know, that the quality of the playing to me was really, I mean, having the musicians I did on the record, I mean, like, Martin Grombacher is one of the most amazing drummers I've ever, ever played with. I mean, you split up that Benatar, you think, "Oh, you hit me the best shot, what a big deal." But the guy is truly an amazing drummer. I mean, he's one of the best in the world, and I learned a lot from playing with him, and Tim Bogart, who, you know, would best bet Bogart in peace and play with Cactus, you know, this guy was hanging out with Jimmy Hendrix, you know, so, you know, these guys are just amazing, amazing musicians. And it was having their talents, you know, enabled me to really ton up the record that was even more special than I were hoped for. Let's play 24/7. Yeah. I want people to hear this. Because this, this is one of the songs on the album for me that just took me back to my childhood in, in weird ways. That's my own personal thing. I'm just a fan. No, no, just things that just was like, "Yeah, man, we need this. This was the album, the song and the album." I came out to Nancy. I said, "Damn it, we need more music like this now." I feel like we're almost in some ways losing it sometimes, like we're losing to it. Oh, yeah. Rocket. Just rocket. Yeah, now we're definitely losing around. Yeah. Well, let's play it, everybody. Here it is. Just put it there. Yeah, this is one of those songs. We just need to have some of this now. Okay? Now we have it. So we're lucky. Here it is, off of Shelter Me by Jack Russell. Check it out. 24/7. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] You're listening to Big Wind Radio with Nancy Leif and you just turned 24/7 from the album Shelter Me, the very first solo album by Jack Russell. Go get it. Go to CleoREx.com. So it's Cleo by Cleo Patra Records. CleoREx.com and also keep up with Jack Russell and his band of pirates touring as Jack Russell's Great White. Go to Jack Russell's GreatWhiteBand.com. They could become into a city near you and I want to go. I don't care if I'm on a boat or not. I want to go. Jack, I love that. I love 24/7. That's a speeding ticket song when you're on a road trip. You know you're going to get a ticket. Do you ever think about speeding tickets when you're right that you're going to get people in trouble? You know what? I haven't had a speeding ticket in so long and I hate to say it, but generally the police at this age of their life, they were generally fans of mine. And I always, if I could pull the door, I'd go, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just on the way back to the studio. We're recording a new album." And that's the first thing out of my mouth. I love the guys like 150 and they'll go like, "Oh, really? What band are you in?" "Oh, Great White." "Oh my God. I love you guys. Okay, give you a warning." So I've gotten out of so many tickets by using that, you know, but sometimes they don't care, you know, for the most part, yeah. Yeah, it depends on the music. Yeah, no. Hey, Bulldog, you put that on the album, Beatles Classic. It's one of my favorite Beatles songs. Why did you decide to do that? You know, oddly enough, I was at a place called Wild the Whiskey in Hollywood one night and they were doing some benefit concert. Yeah. And I was sitting down at a table on the front. And I remember Jeff Pilsen got up with Jeff Pilsen from "Doc" and you know, and he got up and was with a group of people and he played that song. And I was so blown away. And I said, "One of these days, I'm going to record that song." And this was probably a good, I would probably run 1987. So, yeah, almost ten years later, when I did, when I decided to do "Shelter Me" and I thought, "I got to do that song." So, you know, I brought in a horn section and, you know, they'd ask me, "Where's our music at? Our sheet music?" I said, "Well, haven't it?" They said, "Well, what do you mean? We know we're going to play. I'll tell each of you what your parts are." And they go, "Well, how do you know they're all going to work together?" I go, "Because I can hear them on my head." And they're looking like I had lobsters caught on my ears, you know. But it all worked and they're going, "I can't believe you can do that." And I did the same thing with the string sections. So, it was a lot of fun. I really had a blast. And that song, yeah, that song was really cool. I loved the horn parts. And it was a lot of fun to produce that. It is awesome. I heard it was like a surprise. And I was like, "Wow." Because I didn't expect it. It was this unexpected little treasure in their little nugget. One of my other favorites, I know you've got some great white classics and they're like, "Save your love," you know. But Shine On, there's something about that song that just, yeah, it should be Shine On, it turns me on. I don't know, I love that song. Thank you. You know, that's one of my favorite songs in record. It's not my favorite. I mean, that was a song initially. I had written for Great White, but I took it down to show my drummer how to play the jump part, to show Audie. And he couldn't play it. And I said, "You know, I got behind this kid and I actually played the part." And I go, "This is how it goes." And he got behind the kid and he still couldn't play it. I go, "Forget it. I'll put a muscle up." So, Audie enough, and that was kind of funny. That ended up being his wife's favorite. His ex-wife's favorite song in the record. So, every time I heard it, you get upset. That's funny. That's funny. So, yeah, it's a great song. I think we're going to play that one live, and we're going to start playing some of the stuff live, you know, because obviously the record is out. And so, that's probably what I would be doing that one and probably shelter me. But, yeah, I love that tune. So, it's a really, it's a full song. You know? Yeah. Yeah. It's just like, "Yeah." Because this is the song. To me, hearing this, it just takes me back and forth. Like I say, it's through generations, but it's all in one album. And there's a strong theme to me of love, of love, of all, you know, humanity. With you and your going to shelter me. Love goes through the entire album. And to me, it's just like, "God, we just need some old-school rock and roll and some bluesy rock and bluesy." I miss it. I've been craving it. It's just we just have to remember who we actually are. So, to shelter me for me, this is a brand new album for me. And I'm just so, I get so excited about new music. And every time I can hear something new, just I get all excited if it's good, you know? And this was just like, "Man, okay, everybody, speeding tickets galore." But it is about, like, I think, I know it's a reissue from, you know, '96. But at the same time, it is so needed now in today's music. And how do you think, you know, when you listen to everything that's going on musically, I just want somebody to just get down. Get down and dirty. Well, you know, the music is in the air. Right. Well, you know, it really is. I mean, to me, music is timeless. I mean, good music is timeless. You can hear something and go, "Wow, that's just a good song. I don't care where it came from." Or what date it was, or, you know, what year, what decade. You know, if it's cool, it'll like that kind of music or not. I mean, you know, the '80s for music got a bad rap. You know, it was like, I think Eddie Trunk said the best. He said something like, you know, it was the fastest demise of any type of music. You know, one day it was great. And then the next day it was super-in-cooled. He'd like it. You know, and it just didn't get a fair shake. You know, and now people are rediscovering it. I mean, I mean, I mean, we're playing shows. I look out on the audience. I see eight-year-old kids with, you know, my t-shirts on hanging down their knees. You know, I know every single word of my song songs I wrote when they were even born. You know, so it's neat to see that, you know. And yeah, it is an expression of love. I think that's music in its most, you know, at its barest form is what it should be about. I mean, it is about love. It's about, it's all about that. You know, at least good music. And that's why it transcends, you know, borders. It transcends race. It transcends languages. You know, it's just pure emotion. Sorry. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, you know. It is, you know, it's the human spirit in its most innocent form, you know. Yeah, I like that. I like that you said that my first band was called Human Spirit. It's like that funny thing. Oh, there you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know. And also, you know, going through the album, it is, you just, you got to put it up loud, you know. Oh, yeah. Faith in you. Faith in you. It's another one to me that is just goes. There's like some old school just here and there. Like, it's got some blues vibes and it's got like, Zeppelin-a-shee zones in it. It's got like a little, it just keeps wrapping around. That's what's interesting about your music is that you're taking all these, I don't know. I don't want to say eras of music, but it is. You're taking what's good about music. And it's like a scarf running, like flying through your music and just touching places. You know what I mean? If that makes any sense. Absolutely. No, it is. It's a journey. I mean, I don't want to be just one-dimensional or two-dimensional, or three-dimensional. It needs to transcend that. I mean, music should be felt throughout your whole body and not just heard. It needs to be felt in your heart, in your soul, because that's where it is. That's why it touches people. That's why you can hear a song and it makes you feel like, if I want to feel sad or sorry, I'll put on a song that knows it's going to make me cry. Or if I want to feel like, "Hey, screw you." I'll put on a song that will make me feel like shine on. Like, "Hey, who can't screw you?" I'm out of here. There's a song for every emotion you can have. If you can't touch that emotion yourself, you have a tool to bring you there. So that's why I love about music. I think there's so much going on today and everything's so much faster that musicians today are pressured and on one side pressured to bring a whole bunch to the table. On the other side, it's freeing because you guys have had it locked up and waiting for maybe a time to release it where you can say, "Okay, now we can bring this to the table." And what gets me as an elder of the tribe, we're just doing the same thing we did in the 60s over and over and over again. We're like, "Hello, are we ever going to learn?" Yeah, right. You're not kidding? Yeah, thank you. For you, when you write music, are you, because you said you were talking about getting on the drum set and things like that, are you writing lyrics, are you hearing it in your head? Do you play instruments? You know, I'm not really what you would call your regular musician. When I write songs, I hear them in my head and I've never sat around and took the time to learn to play guitar because I didn't want to be one of those guys who sat in the house all day long, a perfecting instrument that I really don't need. You know, I could always sing and that's what I wanted to do, so drums are just easy, so I can mess around. I can do a little bit of everything, but not enough. I'm not proficient enough to actually do it, you know, for a living. But so how I write is I'll come up with a melody or a guitar part and I'll go, you know, I go, "Look, it's like that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that." And I'll have a melody go over that, and then you generally, the melody will inspire a lyric. You know, the song for me, generally, lyrics will come. The song kind of writes itself. You know, I'll come up with a melody and then the song will tell me what it's about. You know, it's kind of like a painting by numbers in a way, you know what I mean? So the pictures are already there. You just kind of figure out what it is, you know? Mm-hmm, yeah. I understand. For me, as a songwriter, I always had a, because just being insecure at a very young age is doing band stuff at a young age. Going in and telling people what to do that we're playing, the instruments, that was a threat. And some of them were not. It was like, and then to say, like, you need, like, when you say it, like, this is how you do the drum part. And then I just took all my songs and said, screw you, I'm keeping them for myself. And one day I will do something with them, because it just, I would rather talk to you. Right, right, right, right. But, but, to go to a band and say, this is what I want, it drove me nuts. It was like, especially, you know, just not, I went off and did my guitar. Ding, ding, ding, sat there in a coffee shop and went ding, ding, ding, ding, ding with it, sang, and then it was like, this is bull. I can't do this, this isn't even, I can't, because I'm, like, loud, as you can tell, she stops. I'm a stomper, I'm not, like, ding, ding, ding. And it drove me nuts. You're more of a gig, right? Yeah, that's just, yeah, yeah, that's it, yeah, and I need to stop. But to tell the band, hey, this is what I want, it was like going into the piranhas, you know. It was, it was. It's like, if you've even started, like, I have an idea, they're like, oh, we're, you know, because not again. You're not the guitarist, you're not the lead person, you're not the lead person. Right, right. Yeah. That's like the drummer saying, I wrote a song, right? Yeah. That's horrifying. Oh, I'm sorry. No, but it's, but actually it's, things turned out well. Things did turn out well, but I think that's the interesting thing about bands of, like, going in, you know, as a lyricist, as a singer, to go in and go, okay, you're going to do this on the drums and you're going, no, I'm taking it now, I'm taking it. Yeah, I've never, I've never had that problem. I mean, I've always been very confident and very self-indulgent, you know, and I mean that in the best of ways. I mean, I, I like things where I like them, and if they're not going to be down the way I like them, then we're not going to do it. You know, I mean, it's, I know what I want, and I'm not afraid to tell people, hey, this is what I want, and this is what I think is best. And if you turn out long with the same lines, I'm thinking, then I'm going to take my toys and go home. And I'm going to throw my, I'm going to throw things too, just, you know, no kidding. Yeah, I know, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, I'm not one of those guys that have tantrums, but put it this way, I'll let you know if I'm not happy about something, you know. There you go. In the ones in terms. Yeah, now what about someone getting into music now? He says, hey, I want to be like, I mean, we've got boy bands and all kinds of things. Run, run, get a real job, be a doctor. What do you think? Anybody who says, I'm going to get into rock and roll now, what would you say to them? Like, and they said, okay, piece of advice, I'm going to get in there, and I'm going to get into rock, and I mean rock, like rock music. Like, seriously, there's such a thing. I would just say just sell all your possessions and just go live on the street. It's right now, don't waste any time, no, you know what, you've got to follow your heart. I mean, if that's something that you believe in and you really want to do it, you know, you can't. I mean, when I was a child, I always knew, I mean, I had, I was gifted with a vision. Sounds really crazy, I know, and some people don't think I'm more mental than I am, but I was given a vision at the age of six on my sixth birthday of what my life was going to be. And I would, I wanted, I started out wanting to be an archeologist, and that was, I put on this Beatles album, and that appearance got me for my birthday. And I had this vision of my life, and I was just going to be a rock star. So from that point on, I changed my whole life, and I started listening to music, and one thing led to another, 11 years old, I started my first band. And, you know, at 17, I started Great White. So, you know, it was meant to be, and, and, but I mean, if it was right now, and I was a young child, and I was thinking about getting into a band and making a living out of it, I would certainly, if I didn't know for sure, I would certainly think twice, because unless some changes, we're not even having music anymore. It's going to be made by machines, and, you know, I mean, it almost is now. I mean, there's no record stores, everybody wants everything now. The internet is destroyed so much of what we love, you know. I mean, and, and society in general. I mean, people don't, there's no, you know, if you don't have a following already, it's hard to get people to interested in your music, because it's so, everything wants, it's like, I want it now, right now. I don't want to go stand in line in the store. I don't want to wait till it comes out. I don't want to go down. Yeah, I want it right now. Okay, I'll just order on the internet. I'll download it. I don't want to go stand, I don't want to drive down to a record store for God's sakes. You know, and have to stand in line and pay for an album. I just download it for free on my computer. Black Friday or whatever Thanksgiving, everybody does that crazy thing. We used to do that for an album coming out, standing outside the album, so we couldn't wait till we get it. Oh, yeah. That was part of the fun, though. That was, yeah. You get to write it back down the store. You know, we camp out overnight. You know, waiting for the first one in line to run in and go display and grab your new release and race home and take a raise of legs, flip open the shrink wrap and pull it out and read every single liner note. You know, it was like an experience. And now it's just like, nobody even cares what's on the liner now. It's like they're missing the whole point. There's so much more to the music than just what's in the grooves. Nothing does any more grooves anywhere. I'm not talking about it. Well, now, well, you've got this out on, you've got Shell to me on CD now. And you also put the lyrics inside there. So people get the lyrics on there. Oh, yeah. I always want lyrics in my music. I mean, it's the same book that was in '96. I mean, it's important for me to always have the lyrics because I want people to know, you know, what I'm saying. I don't want somebody to go, oh, you know, you said that there. It's like rock me. I don't understand. People, they go, rock me, hold me through the night. I'm going, the lyrics say, roll me through the night. I'm the album player. I don't understand why they don't get that. You know, it's just, I make sure that, you know, every record has the lyrics in them. Well, that's really important to me. That's cool. You used to be that people didn't want you to figure it out yourself. Did you hear it right? You know, it definitely sounds like a weird. Yeah, no. Yeah. And music. It's like, I would never know it. I would never know what any Rolling Stones song was about. I did not have lyrics somewhere. No kidding. If you really want people, especially when Keith Richards, you want people to know the name. You give them everything they need to know what you're saying. Exactly. You're either one of them. Yeah. Well, unless it's done. Right. Unless it's... Yeah. Sure. I mean, it's important for me. It's important what I write. So it's important that people hear what I write, you know? And for some people, maybe, you know, the lyrics aren't that important. They're just like, you know, zoos, zoos, zoos. It doesn't necessarily matter what I'm saying, because I really don't believe it anyway. It's just a bunch of stuff that rhymes. Then that's one thing. But if you're trying to create, you know, a message that's important, then, you know, you want people to hear that. You know, understand what you're trying to say. I mean, for me, you know, I have a message for the world, you know, not always something super important, but, you know, to me, it was important not to spend, you know, time writing about it. So I want people to understand what I'm saying. I think it would be fun if you just took a classical piece of music and wrote lyrics to it. Okay. Yeah. I don't know. What did you say? I don't know. I remember music appreciation class and college days. They played afternoon of a fawn, and we weren't allowed to know the name of the piece, and with close eyes, listen to it, and then I said, "Well, that's a nature song." And the teacher went crazy and was like, "Oh, you're so smart." I'm like, "Dude, seriously?" Everybody had their own thing, though. Yeah. But it was like put some lyrics to it. Come on. Some lyrics. Yeah. It's interesting. It's interesting how people get in there. And now it's more like music depreciation instead of music appreciation, you know? I think so. Well, no, because you put shelter me out, and now we have it. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. You know, that's the cool thing. You know, there's always going to be somebody with some good music out there. I mean, all music has its validity. You know, I mean, whether I like it or not, or you like it, it's not a cup of tea. You know, I mean, all music is valid to some degree. You know, I mean, just because I don't like a certain type of music doesn't mean that, you know, that is not music, but there are things that are out there. I feel like my parents, you know what I mean? It's all that joke. It's independent. Honestly, a lot of the independents that I'm seeing come out with, because they're not a slave to a label. Like, you know, they are able to... Oh, yeah. They're working on it. Yeah. They're able to hone their craft and do exactly what they want and say, you know, I'm doing this and whether you like it or not. Right. And that's the stuff I'm seeing now that is so good. And I get excited. I think we're... While there's whatever's going on in mainstream radio, no offensive mainstream radio, but I'm really tired of the same songs over and over. There... I mean, it's just like, come on! Just stop it. Yeah. Stop it. Stop it. I know. Well, that's it. There is no, you know, the problem is there's no new rock and roll, you know, that it's the kind of music that we grew up on. And the kind of music that, you know, I still make, you know, and people, there's no outlet for that. You know, but there is, but very few and far between. There's no, I mean, Los Angeles, they haven't had a radio station for a decade. I mean, it's just, here's another song by Led Zeppelin. If I hear black dog over time, I'm going to hang myself. Exactly! Right. How can we start? It's not that it's a bad song, but it's like, come on! And the Eagles, the Eagles are on the hate list. No offense to the Eagles. I don't hate them. Yeah, thank you. Hotel California. You're sick of no. Oh, yeah. It's like, no, I'm not going to get over and over and over and over and over and over. But there's new stuff out there, and that's where I want to see that... Why don't they go get the new stuff? I don't get it. Well, there is new stuff out there. It's hard for them because the Internet is this, like, big lung. Let's go to the fish. It's like this big school of fish swimming out there. And, you know, this is why we, you know, there's a marketing world, which is NPR World that is needed. Because how do you get out of the school of fish and say, look at me, I'm a shark. At this point, the Internet, it's like, it's a wide, crazy school of fish. It is. It is. But, dude... And how do you jump out? You offer something new and fresh. You could have the most badass music, but if no one hears it, no one's going to know. But the radio... Oh, exactly. Something new. Yeah. That's a problem. Yeah. There's enough. There's no... Yeah. We interview musicians all the time with great, great, great music. There's no excuse. I'm sorry, even the advertisers please. Yeah. Get a grip. Yeah. People want something new. Yeah. And everybody's hung this old side. And the thing about music is it's about changing your mind, looking at things in a different way. It's a language. It'll take you places, a journey. That's what music is. Absolutely. And when radio stations don't take that journey, now it's like, here's the Beatles channel. Here's the box. Oh, yeah. I love them all. They're just going round in circles. I mean, they're going anywhere. There's big band. There's parliament. There's big band. There's parliament. There's big band. There's big band. We're not going anywhere. It's just we're stuck in this musical rut. You know, it is Groundhog Day. Exactly. And you know, it's unfortunate because there are bands out there that are really making good music still. You know? Exactly. Yeah. This starts me crazy. Okay. So, last question. I know you've toured the world. Is there a place that you have not performed in that you want to be playing in? Yeah. Absolutely. I want to go to Australia and play. Never had a chance to go down there. I always wanted to go. I want to go before the Great Barrier Reefs completely dead. You know? Oh, yeah. It's the water. Now, Australia. Now, I feel this. Go. Go to Australia. You must go. Because when I grew up in South Africa, when I knew your music, like as a kid, like when I was saying, "I grew up with your music." It was in South Africa. It was big. You were really big in South Africa and South Africa and Australia and England kind of had some musical connection in some marketing way or whatever. But Great White was big. I mean, I don't really think that happened in clubs, but it did happen. And Australia to me is really fascinating in music and in movies. Their movies are weird. Yeah, they are. Cool. Cool, weird. But have you been to South Africa ever? No, I haven't. That's one of the places I love to go. I love to go to Cape. I mean, I go to Durban. I mean, there's so many places I want to go. And, you know, where were there's a lot of sharks. You know what I mean? Like I wanted my next trip on a Guadalupe Island. You know what I mean? Yeah, go to the Cape. Absolutely. You'll get there. No, there's some big sharks down there. Absolutely. You know, full sharks. Oh, yeah. There's great. Oh, I know. It shows me. I know all about them. There's a ton of them out here in the N.S. at Macha Bay. They're all over the place. I got a video of a friend of mine. Just give it a five miles out. One of them hit his boat. So, yeah, there's a lot of them out here. Oh, wow. Do you ever dive? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, cool. Yeah, I got... Oh, man. This boat, I mean, this boat's a big boat. It's a sport fisher. I mean, it's, you know, it's twin diesel. It's 54 feet. It's, you know, it's a... It's a definitely a fishing diving boat. That's what it's for. It's like David... David Closby and the Mayan. They got the big boat of that. Well, I won't go into that whole story. But, listen, thank you so much for joining us, Jack. It's been a total pleasure having you on the show and... You're very welcome. Man, and we love "Shelter Me." Everyone go get it. Again, kleorex.com. For kleo records, go get it. Also, keep up with Jack Russell and his band of pirates. I love that, right? I love it, too. I know. Go to jackrussellgreatwhiteband.com and keep up with them. And we're gonna... We got to play "Shine on," don't you think? That's the song by the day. We got to play that. Perfect. We got to play that. We got to close with that. I thank our sponsored National Parks Arts Foundation. You guys rock. They create unique artists and residence programs in park units within the National Park Service. So, if you're a musician, an artist, a writer, a poet, a filmmaker, a military veteran who is in that, too, in the arts. You could submit your work to... Well, you could submit your resume and everything to be accepted into staying in a National Park unit for a month. And creating your art. And it's amazing. You get to do a workshop or a performance. Just go to nationalparksartsfoundation.org. And every first Friday, we do an interview with an artist that's in residence in a National Park from Gettysburg to Hawaii Volcanoes. Dry Tortugas, just saying... Just saying. Jack Dry Tortugas island that is calling you. Yeah. I'm just saying. I need to go. Here's what you were on. Yeah, there it is. You got to go. But everyone, don't forget, Big Blend Radio airs Sunday through Friday. You go to Big Blend Radio dot com and you'll see our schedule. And you can listen as shows go live and on demand. All the podcasts, the outlets are there. So, Big Blend Radio dot com. Thank you, Jack. Here it is. Shine on again. Thank you, Father Greg. You cranking it. You, too. You, too. Listen, when you see those sharks just go, "Hi, Sharky Sharky" from Nancy and Lisa. Yeah. There you go. There you go. There you go. Here's your hand. Bye. There it is. Everyone. 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