TRUSTcompany Hung With Great White Days Before Tragedy

02/27/2003 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Darren Davis

(2/27/03, 10 a.m. ET) -- TRUSTcompany was hanging with Great White just a few days before the band and its crowd were engulfed in flames. The band was scheduled to play New York City's Irving Plaza on February 17, but the show was cancelled due to the blizzard that hit New York City.

Vocalist Kevin Palmer told LAUNCH about the now eerie encounter with Great White at a New York City hotel.

"The show got cancelled and we were stuck at the hotel, and Great White was at the same hotel we were at, and we were hanging out with them," Palmer said. "Monday they were up on the bus, we were hanging out with them, talking, just talking about music. Because when I was a kid I listened to Great White along with a lot of the other metal bands. It was just the craziest thing, and the other night we were at Wal-Mart, we come out, turn on the news, and it was like, 'Great White's club goes up in flames.' And we were like tripping out because we were just hanging out with them three days earlier. It was the craziest thing."

When asked if they hung out with guitarist Ty Longley, who was killed in the blaze, Palmer added, "Ty is one guy we didn't meet. Mark Kendall the guitar player was up on the bus, and Jack Russell, the singer, we were hanging out with him. But we saw that guy walking around the hotel. I saw him and they were like, 'Hey this is our new guitar player,' and I was like, 'Hey what's up?' I didn't really hang out with him but definitely saw him and then it's just like, 'Whoa.'"

TRUSTcompany continues its headlining tour in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday night (February 27), and Palmer added that the tragedy makes him think. "It gives you a reality check. It's like, check out all your exits. It's something I never really thought about."

-- Darren Davis, New York

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