GREAT WHITE - GREAT WHITE REFORM AFTER TRAGEDY

GREAT WHITE REFORM AFTER TRAGEDY

Rockers GREAT WHITE have reunited after taking a year off to consider their future following the fall-out from a 2003 fire at a show in Rhode Island, which left 100 people dead. An ill-advised pyrotechnics show was to blame for the blaze, which claimed the life of guitarist TY LONGLEY. The group struggled on after the tragedy but initially split a year ago (05) amid legal problems and a backlash from the families of those killed in the nightclub fire. And some of the group members are talking about the fire for the first time. Guitarist MARK KENDALL says, "It was just a nightmare." The Great White bandmates are now planning to record an album and go back on tour. Members of the victims' families and those left injured by the blaze named Kendall and singer JACK RUSSELL in a federal lawsuit seeking compensation for their losses. The group's ex-tour manager DAN BIECHELE was sentenced to serve a four year prison sentence for his part in the tragedy. Club owner MICHAEL DERDERIAN and his brother JEFFREY received a four-year prison sentence and a 10-year suspended sentence respectively.