By 2011, Great White was touring regularly with Ilous fronting the

By 2011, Great White was touring regularly with Ilous fronting the band, as they continued waiting for Russell to fully recover and return as lead singer. The band appeared to be on good terms with Russell even as late as August 2011, when Kendall stated in an interview that the group were still actively awaiting his return to the stage, further indicating that Russell was not only supportive of the current situation, but even checking in with Ilous on occasion to give the latter encouragement and thank him for doing such a great job singing Great White’s songs. However, Kendall did also state during this interview that while he and his bandmates were eager for Russell to rejoin, they did want to make sure the time was right and that “when he’s back[,] he’s back all the way.” A later interview with Kendall provided additional detail, indicating that the band had initially hoped Russell would rejoin by the early summer of 2011, but that he was not in any condition to return at that time. Kendall also mentioned that the band had several stipulations that Russell would need to meet to return to the lineup, and that Russell himself had set a new target return date of February 2012, meaning he would not be performing with Great White for the remainder of 2011.