In a recent interview with Newsday.com, GREAT WHITE frontman Jack Russell revealed that the band have no plans of ever returning to perform in Rhode Island — the site of the Feb. 20, 2003 nightclub fire which resulted in the deaths of 100 people. "I don't think I'd ever want to play there again," Russell said. "You still got families out there who lost kids for Christ's sake. And if just being in the same state might make them feel bad, I wouldn't want to do that."

GREAT WHITE are currently on tour and raising cash for the survivors. A portion of money made on every show goes to the Station Family Fund. Russell said the band has raised $100,000 for the fund, which was founded by survivors and family members affected by the fire.

He will donate for as long as he keeps making music. "It doesn't fix everything; of course, it never will," Russell said. "But these are my friends — you have to understand, you play a place 20 years in a row, there are 20 or 30 people that I recognize. I mean, I didn't know their names, but I know their faces."

As for the catastrophe that almost shut down the band, Russell said he's "growing closer to that space" of writing songs again. A new GREAT WHITE album may surface next year. "Some of this is going to come out in my lyrics, but I would never want to write a song about 'the fire' per se," he said.

Read more at Newsday.com.