Less hair, fewer dates, same rocking for Great White

It is not 1989 and the Aqua Net and spandex pants have long been thrown away, but the band Great White is still cranking out rock tunes every weekend.

The band performs at 4 p.m. Saturday at Crosstown KC.

Great White had huge hits in the late 1980s and early '90s with "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and "Rock Me," and has faced its share of adversity since then.

A 2003 fire at a Rhode Island club the band was playing killed 100 people. Since then, the band has toured extensively to help support survivors and victims of the fire, and some of the original members returned to after years being apart.

Keyboard player Michael Lardie, who was around for the early success, left the band earlier this decade to tour with Night Ranger, but returned to the band about a year ago.

With 12 studio albums and six live records, the band has plenty of material to choose from to make up their set these days. The band works hard to find the right balance, Lardie said.

"We try to touch on every record," Lardie said. "With all the albums, it's how do we put that into an hour and a half set?"

One song that almost always appears in a Great White set is "Rock Me" off of the "Once Bitten" album. Lardie said the song holds a special place for the band.

"That song was a big turn-around point," Lardie said. "It was the convergence of composition and style. We really found our niche and our mark. That song is what Great White is all about."

Great White fans probably have a lot of hard partying in their past, Lardie said. The band's songs often talked up the party aspect of rock.

"The typical Great White fan lived through the '80s, and might or might not remember anything about it," Lardie said. "But now it's surprising me, we're seeing the multi-generational thing. There are six or seven year olds singing our songs. That's heavy that it spans that generation gap."

The band released a new album in 2008 called "Rising." Lardie said the songs deal with a number of different subjects. He said the band tries to work in new songs to their set.

"What's been great is the two songs we're playing have strong hooks," Lardie said. "We're noticing by the second or third chorus, the crowd is singing along. That's a good sign for us that they kind of like it."

Lardie and his band mates have honed their touring skills and follow the "weekend warrior" way of touring.

"The business model has changed for us," Lardie said. "We can't slog out in a bus for seven or eight weeks. It allows us to have a little bit of home life. It's great, because we can do three big shows a week."

Lardie said since the band has played together for so long and played some of their songs thousands of times, the music gets better.

"The proof is in the pudding," Lardie said. "I hear a live recording, or even something on YouTube. We play together well. It's instinctual. We've been together 25 or 30 years. Musically, we finish each other's sentences."

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