Mark Kendall states that Terry Ilous did his own stuff vocally which might have been “a hair” too much

Mark Kendall states that Terry Ilous did his own stuff vocally which might have been “a hair” too much

Great White guitarist and founder Mark Kendall was recently interviewed by Shaggy of Idaho’s 94.9 & 104.5 The Rock radio station and spoke about why the band decided to (abruptly) part ways with singer Terry Ilous and go with Mitch Malloy as the new lead vocalist.

Kendall stated (as transcribed by Blabbermouth with slight edits): “We were kind of just growing apart from Terry a little bit. He’s still a great guy and a wonderful singer. I just happened, in my news feed, I saw this Van Halen story… Mitch [Malloy] had done some gang shouts with, like, twenty people on our last record, so I saw him there, and then he came on stage with us on the [Monsters Of Rock] cruise, and then I kind of accidentally saw this Van Halen story, [a] short documentary about when he was in Van Halen briefly. I watched that, and I didn’t even know. It wasn’t, like, by design, the way we got him, but Michael Lardie had been thinking about him too for some reason, and then our agent had mentioned to Lardie about him, but nobody was talking to each other, really. Michael never said anything to me; I just happened to see that. I heard him sing on a couple solo things he did, and we were kind of growing apart from Terry a little bit — not really for any reason. Nothing like big fights or anything. I don’t know — it kind of wasn’t working. We were uncomfortable. I go, ‘Well, let’s send [Mitch] some music — some old stuff and some new stuff — and we’ll see what he sounds like.’ He sounded incredible, and he was interested, so that’s why we moved on. He’s killing it live. He’s a great fit. We’ve been playing really good shows with him.”

Kendall continued: “We want to make new music with Mitch. Obviously, we want the fans to recognize the songs. Terry did a lot of his own stuff [vocally], and it might have been a hair too much. Nothing against Terry — he’s such a good singer. He’s an amazing singer, so I know he’s doing to do great. I just thought, ‘Let’s get a little closer to the original, but interject your own personality into things,’ and that’s pretty much what [Mitch is] doing. He doesn’t want to become a clone or anything like that, but still, the songs have to be accurate so people know what they’re listening to. We’re looking forward to getting into the studio with Mitch, probably in 2019 because we have so many shows, it’s kind of impossible right now. We’ll get into the studio with Mitch next year and make some music with him.”

Interview by Shaggy of Idaho’s 94.9 & 104.5 The Rock radio’s interview with Mark Kendall:

Mark Kendall Interview | Great White

Shaggy interviews Mark Kendall, the guitarist for Great White! Listen as they discuss the upcoming Idaho Rockfest, Great White’s new singer, Mitch Malloy, an…