Digital Extra: The Station Fire

03:37 PM EST on Tuesday, March 23, 2004

BY RICK MASSIMO
Journal Pop Music Writer

The band Great White has publicly disavowed the latest record put out under their name, saying the album's title is tasteless in light of the aftermath of the Station fire.

The record label Horizon Italy last week released Burning House of Love, a collection of previously recorded songs written by others and performed by Great White. The title refers to the song by the same name, written by John Doe and Exene Cervenka and originally recorded by their band, X, in 1986.

"This album is not approved by Great White," reads a statement on Great White's Web site, www.mistabone.com . "Rather, the band condemns this release and asks all fans and friends not to purchase this album."

"I was pretty horrified by [the news], and we're trying to investigate now and do whatever we can to stop it," says Great White's lawyer, Edward McPherson, from Los Angeles.

What they can do, however, isn't clear yet.

Copyrights to sound recordings may or may not be owned by the musicians who made the recordings. If Horizon Italy licensed the recordings legally (for example, from a record company for whom Great White recorded the songs), the band wouldn't be able to stop the record.

McPherson says he doesn't yet know how Horizon Italy got the rights to the songs on Burning House of Love. "A lot of times, these little record companies will get a hold of something legally or illegally, and they'll license it to someone, who will license it to someone, who will license it to someone. And sometimes it's hard to track down."

McPherson is trying to contact Horizon Italy; at the same time, he's trying to find out how they got the recordings. "I don't think it'll take long to do our investigation," he said. "We'll appeal, both to their sense of [legality] and maybe some moral appeal as well. Because obviously it's a deplorable thing to do. . . . It's very hurtful to the band, and no doubt hurtful to the other victims of the fire."

McPherson says he hasn't been contacted by any of Great White's record companies yet and is still trying to reach Jack Russell and Mark Kendall, the two remaining original members of Great White. It's possible, McPherson said, that they agreed to license the recordings to Horizon Italy before the Station fire. The band has done some recordings in the past few years without a record label, McPherson says, and licensed the songs on their own. He said he doesn't know yet whether this is the case here.

Either way, McPherson says, "that title was never presented to these guys." McPherson said. "Certainly nobody from the band ever had any idea that it would come out after the fire with a title like this. And they're all just horrified, as I am, and want to do whatever they can to stop it."

The album was listed on www.amazon.com yesterday; McPherson said, "I'm hoping I can appeal to them to take it off."