The bassist for the rock group that was touring as Great White's opening act said yesterday that the band traveled with a box of pyrotechnics in the hold of the tour bus and used the same setup to detonate them at nearly every show.
Jason Williams, one of three members of the band Trip, identified Dan Biechele, Great White's tour manager, as the man who set off the pyrotechnics during concerts.
He said Biechele "ran everything by the book" and said that he believes Biechele asked for permission at a club before using the shooting sparklers.
Trip, which is based in Washington, was on the road with Great White for about a month before last Thursday's show at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The groups shared a tour bus, starting in the Midwest before making their way to the East Coast.
Williams described the '80s band and its crew as "great guys," and said the tour bus had strict rules: no alcohol, because some of the men were recovering alcoholics, and "no girls on the bus." Biechele also told people not to drink before concerts.
"Everything was very businesslike," Williams said.
Trip would help Great White load its equipment at a club because the two bands shared a "backline" of equipment, including drums and amplifiers. That made for a quick changeover between each band's set, he said.
GREAT WHITE used pyrotechnics at most shows, Williams said in a telephone interview from Washington.
"I have no idea where they got it," he said. "I just talked with Dan about it one day when he was setting it up and I said, 'Do you always set it up?' and he said yeah, he had done it for years; he had a lot of experience with it."
Biechele, 26, originally from Orlando, Fla., previously toured with the band W.A.S.P.
"I know he set up the pyro and he was the one who controlled it," Williams said. "It was just a board that held these little pyrotechnic cylinders in place, two of them at 45 [degrees] and one straight up in the air."
The board, which was about a foot and a half long, was reused from show to show, with fresh pyrotechnic cylinders each time, he said. It was always put in front of the drum set.
"I believe as soon as we were off, as soon as we left the stage they were set in place," he said. "I don't ever remember seeing them on stage when we were on stage."
Biechele was "the one that had the little button and pushed it" to set off the spray of sparks, he said.
There were a couple of venues where Great White decided against using pyrotechnics, Williams said, because the crowd was too small and "they didn't want to waste them on little crowds."
A club's setup was another factor, he said. "If there was a ventilation duct that ran above the stage, that would be a reason not to have them."
Williams said he can also remember overhearing one conversation about pyrotechnics between Biechele and a manager of a club in Florida.
The club manager, listening to Biechele's run-through of the planned show, told Biechele he could not use pyrotechnics. Biechele responded that the club's owner had approved their use, Williams recalled. He believes the issue became moot when the band decided against using the display because the audience was small.
Williams said the pyrotechnics traveled with the band, in a cardboard box in the luggage hold of the bus. The box was marked "explosives"; it also had a sticker that warned against bringing the contents on an airplane.
WILLIAMS REMEMBERS thinking The Station was a small club when he arrived for last Thursday's gig, and being told that the show had sold out. Still, he saw more tickets being sold at the club during the day, he said.
A local band, Fathead, performed first, then Trip took the stage, playing its original rock music. Williams looked out on a packed house, playing for a crowd he described as "very responsive."
When the band's set was finished, Trip's lead singer, Michael Shapiro, went to the bus to get a cup of tea, and the two men agreed to meet back up at the bar.
Williams said he never saw Great White and Biechele preparing the stage between sets. He was walking through the crowd toward the bar when the music kicked in, then the pyrotechnics went off. Williams was out of sight of the stage, but heard the crowd "ooh" in awe at the sparks. Then the music stopped.
"I looked around the corner and I saw flames burning on each side of the stage," he recalled. It looked like the band members had left the stage. Williams said he expected to see someone try to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher, but no one did.
Williams headed for an exit on the far side of the bar. A crowd was bunching up, trying to get out. He remembers telling people to calm down.
"I said something about Chicago, people getting trampled," he said. "People seemed to kind of relax for a second. Then, a flood of people came over the bar, flying toward me . . . the smoke came right behind them, just really fast."
He got a breath of the smoke, and the lights went out. He dropped to the floor and could feel people on top of him, making their way to the door. He crawled to a corner about 10 feet away, put his T-shirt over his mouth, stayed low to the ground and waited for a break. He could hear people screaming and glass shattering.
"As soon as I saw a little glimmer of light, I ran for the door and made it through," he said.
OUTSIDE, DAZED victims were sitting in the snow. Williams ran to the other side of the building and realized that the entire structure, not just the stage's soundproofing, was on fire.
He found Shapiro, Trip's singer, who had been on the bus, and then John Reagle, their drummer. They took a head count for both bands and their crews. Missing were Bill Long, Trip's manager; Bob Rager, the touring soundman; and Ty Longley, Great White's guitarist.
They went looking for their colleagues. Williams found Long, who had staggered through a broken window, his hands and arms badly burned and his long hair singed off. Great White's lead singer, Jack Russell, and Biechele found Rager and carried him away from the building.
Longley was missing. They would learn days later that he had died in the fire.
AROUND MIDNIGHT, an hour after the fire erupted, Williams made his way to the tour bus and called his mother to tell her he was safe. Everyone aboard began watching the news.
"We figured there were going to be a few fatalities," he said. "We didn't know it was going to be anything like it was."
A police officer and a woman from a fire department stayed with them. Eventually, the band members wrote out statements for the police, then were called to a nearby restaurant, where they were interviewed by detectives and representatives of the attorney general's office.
Investigators suggested they fly home. The band left Rhode Island, shipping their remaining equipment so as to be less conspicuous as they traveled. Still, they were met by reporters and photographers when they arrived home.
The rising death toll, Williams said, was devastating for the band.
"We were sobbing about 10 people," the first report, "and then it just kept going and going -- every time we'd see new news break we'd go through this whole emotional experience and shock."
Investigators have stayed in touch. This week, Williams spoke with a police detective and a representative from the attorney general's office, who were looking to clarify small details. He said he hasn't been asked to return to Rhode Island to testify before a grand jury, "but I'm kind of figuring we will."
Long and Rager remain hospitalized -- Long at Rhode Island Hospital and Rager at Brigham and Women's in Boston. Williams talked to Long on Wednesday, to tell him "everyone back here loved him and we're all pulling for him."
GREAT WHITE insists the band had permission to set off the pyrotechnics. Club owners Michael and Jeffrey Derderian, through a lawyer, have denied that they gave permission or that they knew the display would happen.
Yesterday, the Providence lawyer representing Biechele issued a statement saying a "high-ranking club representative" had approved the use of pyrotechnics the night of the fire.
Thomas G. Briody said Biechele "always sought permission from promoters or club representatives before pyrotechnics were used" and did not use them if permission was denied.
"He confirmed that The Station wanted pyrotechnics with a high-ranking club representative almost a week before the performance that led to the fire. Any suggestion that Great White did not have permission to display pyrotechnics is simply false."
Mario Giamei Jr., one witness at The Station, has reported that moments after the pyrotechnics touched off the fatal blaze, Biechele said he fouled up.
Briody refused to answer any questions about his client's actions on the night of the fire, or whether Biechele would testify before the grand jury.
Briody said Biechele is cooperating with investigators. He described his client as a "remarkably mature, hard-working young man who has successfully managed touring musicians for over six years," and a "trusted professional within his industry" who is "regarded by his colleagues as thoughtful and meticulous."
He said that since the fire, Biechele has been "subjected to vicious threats, taunts and obscenities by e-mail and by voice mail." Briody asked the media "not to permit anyone to turn Dan into a scapegoat for this horrible accident."
ALSO YESTERDAY, Robert Ellis, lead singer for Mutha Ugly, a hard-rock band that played at The Station about a dozen times, said he did not believe the club's sound manager, Paul Vanner, would ever have allowed Great White to bring in its pyrotechnics.
Ellis said he once asked Vanner if he could bring a "super-soaker" water gun onstage to douse the fans on a hot summer day, but Vanner refused, saying it would be dangerous because of all the electrical equipment in the club.
"That guy was a straight shooter, no dummy. He followed the rules," Ellis said.
The Alabama-based company that reportedly manufactured the pyrotechnics that Great White used for a show in Bangor, Maine, two nights before the show at The Station, issued a statement yesterday saying it was cooperating with investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who are working on the Rhode Island case. The Maine incident also is under investigation by authorities in that state.
"It would be premature to assign responsibility for this terrible tragedy before all the facts are available and have been fully reviewed," the statement from Luna Tech Inc. said. "It would be especially wrong to assign blame to a product which is routinely used in a safe manner when appropriate regulations are followed by its users.
"We have been requested not to speak publicly about this tragedy," the statement said. A woman who took a reporter's call at the company yesterday afternoon would not say who had made that request.
With staff reports from Paul Parker and Jennifer Levitz.
