Photograph by Iron Mike Savoia
In an period the place outrageous shred antics, huge hair, and pointy guitars reigned supreme, Mark Kendall injected blues within the Eighties hair steel scene through Les Pauls, ES-335s, and custom-made curios.
With Nice White, Kendall reminded the world that the blues had a spot alongside the slick steel licks perpetrated on Headbangers Ball, which stemmed from a love for the timeless classic gear he watched his heroes play within the Sixties and Seventies. “I used to be an adolescent utilizing Fender Bassmans,” Kendall tells ClassicRockHistory.com. “Even then, I wished pure distortion created by pushing tubes exhausting.”
He continues, “I discovered that by turning the quantity down, the amp I had would saturate the tubes, and I might get distortion that method. Trying again, what I’ve chased all these years is attempting to make the notes as loud as I can however not lose my sound within the course of.”
Timeless albums like As soon as Bitten (1987), …Twice Shy (1989), and Hooked (1991) are proof that Kendall, regardless of his humble nature, achieved his purpose. “You retain troubleshooting,” he says. “And also you attempt to hold getting higher. However I’ll always remember once we met Alan Niven; I used to be noodling round, attempting to play like Alvin Lee, and he mentioned, ‘You have to be doing extra of that.”
He explains, “That wasn’t so widespread again then, but it surely made me be at liberty to do no matter. It’s like, ‘Yeah, simply play from the center, man.’ You already know what I imply? That’s once we began developing with stuff like ‘Rock Me’ and the songs we turned recognized for within the mid to late-Eighties.”
Although Nice White did rise to fame within the Eighties, aka the hair steel period, resulting in the band being perpetually lumped in with the style, Kendall by no means felt remotely near it. “My hair has by no means written a music,” he laughs. “I play the best way I do from listening to Carlos Santana and Johnny Winter.”
“So far as being lumped in with the hair steel factor,” he provides. “I all the time associated that to style. If we’re speaking about style, yeah, I get it. The identical man making Mötley Crüe and Ratt’s stuff made ours. But when we’re speaking about music, in the event you pay attention, our band, we had blues overtones—particularly from my finish.”
As for the way Kendall views Nice White’s place in all of it, he admits, “I suppose it’s straightforward for a journalist to name use’ hair steel,’ or no matter. But when they had been to analysis the music and hearken to the deep cuts, they’d hear the blues influences and that we had been extra musical. Simply take a look at quite a lot of the music—it doesn’t sound like ‘hair steel.’
“So, I don’t know,” he says. “I feel quite a lot of it comes all the way down to taking the workload off quite a lot of journalists, the place they will simply lump us—and an entire decade—in with hair steel and name it that, relatively than listening to it for what it truly is and what actually set us aside.”
“Stick It”
Nice White – Nice White (1984)
With “Stick It,” we used to do demos again once we had been referred to as Dante Fox, which was the identify of our band. And imagine me… attempting to think about a reputation, effectively, anyone who has been via naming your band, you already know it’s absolute torture. Anyway, “Stick It” was one in all our early songs, and once we had been approached by [manager] Alan Niven, he pushed us to get the power out of the band and its songs.
At that time, Alan thought we had been just a little weak lyrically, however the music didn’t actually change from the unique demo. However the lyrical content material of “Stick It” modified a bit… among the lyrics had been saved, however there was a distinct refrain; issues acquired tweaked. However all bands undergo that, you already know? When you’ve heard a few of Van Halen’s early demos, there are elements which are taken from one music and put into one other; that’s only a pure factor that occurs as you attempt to enhance.
However the music didn’t actually change; I used to be enjoying via an previous Marshall I had via a cupboard. And the factor about recording via 4 twelves is you want quite a lot of microphones as a result of there’s a lot EQ floating round. I’ve discovered through the years that enjoying via combo amps is lots higher as a result of they go on tape precisely as you hear them, however if you’re standing subsequent to a cupboard, it’s completely different. However between the Marshall and my BC Wealthy guitars—who I had an endorsement with, that just about made up all of “Stick It” and the entire first album.
“Rock Me”
Nice White – As soon as Bitten (1987)
“Rock Me” got here on our third album. After the second album [Shot in the Dark], we had been simply actually looking for the sound, and after Alan Niven actually opened me up and mentioned, “Simply be free. Play from the center,” that’s when quite a lot of blues influences got here out. After I was developing with “Rock Me,” I used to be sort of simply hammering on one word after which enjoying with my thumb and enjoying the intro half.
After which, Michael Lardie, who was our rhythm guitar participant, he got here up with one part, and I wrote the refrain. That music was the primary time I felt like our true influences got here out and that we had been sincere with ourselves. As an alternative of attempting to be one thing else, we had been actually sincere about who we had been.
And I do not forget that Alan Niven threw me in a storage and was like, “Go write an album,” which was simply loopy. I used to be mainly dwelling on the seashore, you already know, in Redondo Seaside. I used to be proper there on the seashore on this small apartment, and I’d hand around in the storage all day writing stuff. After issues had been fleshed out, the band would collaborate, jam, and get into the rehearsal house, which is the place I’d give you guitar elements and preparations.
“As soon as Bitten, Twice Shy”
Nice White – …Twice Shy (1989)
The humorous factor about “As soon as Bitten, Twice Shy” is that it occurred simply by coincidence once we had been touring with Judas Priest. What occurred was we had all the fabric for the …Twice Shy album most recorded, and Alan Niven got here to us with that music and mentioned, “I’d such as you to do that.” And, you already know, we thought it was an okay music to throw on the document, however he actually preferred the lyrics.
We ended up placing our personal spin on it as a result of it wasn’t completed out of desperation, like, “Oh, we have to do a canopy music as a result of we’re just a little brief on materials.” It wasn’t like that. As a result of if that was the case, we’d have regarded for an previous hit, you already know? That’s normally the trick; you discover the hit, and do it once more by taking that hit, and placing a spin on it.
However “As soon as Bitten, Twice Shy” wasn’t even actually recognized in America. It was by no means an enormous hit, and we had been simply doing it as a result of Alan Niven preferred it. We preferred it, too, however we had no thought it was going to be a single. So, how I bear in mind “As soon as Bitten, Twice Shy” was that it was sort of introduced in on the final minute, and we discovered the music and tweaked the lyrics a bit.
However our model sounded sort of badass and rawer, so the document firm flipped out, made it a single, and had been mainly leaping across the room. [laughs] Perhaps it was rawer as a result of I went with a extra conventional sound that wasn’t overly distorted. I used my Gibson ES-335; it simply appeared to suit. The tone wasn’t too fats, very pure, and sort of normal, not like typical heavy steel. And for the solo, I didn’t need to use a Strat or one thing skinny, and I wasn’t into the Les Paul for that, so the 335 labored completely there, too.
“The Angel Track”
Nice White – …Twice Shy (1989)
I truly wrote all of the music for “The Angel Track” on guitar and got here in to kick it round with the band after the actual fact. Alan Niven actually preferred it, however he felt it might be higher if it was transposed onto a piano and made it extra of a piano-driven music. So, Michael Lardie, who additionally performed keyboards, took the music I did on guitar, made it a piano music, after which, I performed round with that and did a melodic solo over it.
Plenty of songs occurred like that the place they had been written on guitar after which modified round and delivered in a different way later. However what was additionally cool is that on “The Angel Track,” I used a guitar made by a man named Jim Foote, who had a music retailer referred to as Music Works in Redondo Seaside. He made a number of guitars for Jake E. Lee, and so they had been simply actually good guitars, man.
We used to rehearse at Music Works, so we had been near Jim, and he made me this superior guitar with EMG pickups, which was good for that music. I wished the verses to be sort of clear, and I mainly used the guitar Jim made me and went with a really clear tone over the piano stuff Michael did. I bear in mind everybody pondering it was a very nice solo, and I used to be very pleased with the clear tone over the verses, too.
“Desert Moon”
Nice White – Hooked (1991)
Michael Lardie truly got here up with the modifications on “Desert Moon.” The refrain had this repeating half over the modifications, doing the identical factor time and again, whereas the chords had these actions. I’ve recollections of figuring out all of the modifications with Michael in rehearsals, which was superior as a result of, lyrically, I knew the music was fairly good.
However we had a break throughout the tour we did with Tesla, and we went to the Bahama for 5 days. We got here again, and we had “Desert Moon” completed, and we performed that music dwell at Electrical Woman Studios, and we had radio stations from everywhere in the nation come to New York to observe us play it. So, we knew it was a very good music, but it surely all stemmed from Michael Lardie and jamming—which is how quite a lot of our stuff got here collectively, simply in a rehearsal room.
And on that music I used a dimmed Marshall. I used to vary guitars to suit any given music lots, however again then, I used Marshalls more often than not. I feel I used one of many guitars Jim Foote made me on that observe, too. I had a document one with EMG single-coil pickups, which I’d use for actual clear sounds; I feel I used that one. And of word, I’d modified to La Bella strings, which weren’t recognized years in the past for his or her electrical guitar strings, however Vivan Campbel turned me onto them, and so they had been simply so live-sounding and didn’t tear my fingers up.
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Mark Kendall of Nice White Interview: My Profession in 5 Songs article revealed on ClassicRockHistory.com© 2025
