Great White Guitarist Among 97 Killed In Fire, Godsmack May Know Victims

02/25/2003 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Darren Davis

(2/25/03, 10 a.m. ET) -- Great White guitarist Ty Longley has been identified as one of the now 97 dead in the fire that occurred during the band's Thursday night show (February 20) at Rhode Island's the Station. New England natives Godsmack reside just a short way from the club. Vocalist Sully Erna may have known some of those lost. He told us he's saddened, disturbed, and angered over the incident.

"It's a tragedy, you know, and we're still waiting for them to release names because there's people who probably passed away that I probably know," Erna said. "It's 40 minutes from my house. I've been there half a dozen times. It's a sh--ty thing, man. You know, I can't blame that on the band. That's...the building, the fire marshal, they should have been involved in that kind of thing. They're going to point the finger at someone because a lot of lives [were lost]. Someone has to pay for that."

News has been surfacing of several bands using pyrotechnics in the club, including a Rhode Island-based Kiss cover band. "Our first time in, we asked. The second time, it was just expected," Shawn Fox of Kisstory told a Rhode Island TV station. "This is our show, this is what we do. And they knew what we did: spitting fire, the confetti launchers, and the flashpots. They knew it was all part of the show. Never once were we told you can't do that--it's not allowed."

A lawyer for the Station did not immediately return a phone call from the Rhode Island TV station.

Meanwhile, Great White, amazingly, plans to continue. "I personally would like to express my heartfelt condolences to those families of the loved ones who perished, as well as Ty...in the tragedy at the Station," said singer Jack Russell in a web message. "We will continue our tour with a replacement guitarist sometime in the next few days."

-- Darren Davis, New York

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