What Does VITO BRATTA Think About MIKE TRAMP Reimagining WHITE LION Classics Without Him? The Singer Responds

In a new interview with The Rock N' Roll & Coffee Show, ex-WHITE LION singer Mike Tramp was asked what his former bandmate, guitarist Vito Bratta, thinks about Mike releasing two albums of reimagined WHITE LION songs with a lineup that includes guitarist Marcus Nand. Tramp said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can't sit here and completely honestly confirm what Vito thinks. He did give Marcus his blessing and so on. I have a feeling that it might awaken a few wounds. I mean, there are times when I sit and watch a JOURNEY [video] with Arnel Pineda singing, and I close my eyes and go, '[Steve] Perry's back.' And I think, man, how does Steve Perry feel? Probably one of the greatest voices next to Freddie Mercury. How does he feel? Has it really, really ever been completely confirmed that that's where he wanted to be, that's what he wanted to happen?

"You almost feel like my woman went away with the pool boy," Mike continued. " It's, like, 'Well when he can do it, we'll bring someone in who can do it and he's gonna be 100 percent.' And there will be people in the 25th row that [do] not know it's Steve Perry up there, I'll guarantee you.

"I haven't really gotten the chance to really say this in any interviews, and that is that when I turned to Vito three days before we were playing the final [WHITE LION] show on the first tour with the new rhythm section, and something had happened, and we were backstage waiting for the power to come back, I turned to Vito and go, 'When we play Boston the day after tomorrow, it's the final show. I'm done.' And Vito, with the classic Vito look, just goes to me. 'Okay.' Just like that. The day after the show, I fly back to Los Angeles, he flies to New York and stuff like that. And I've said this many times, but I don't think people listen. There [was] not one person in the big WHITE LION machine — record company, managers, publishers, merchandisers, road crew and Vito — who said, 'Let's just give Mike a couple of days to fucking calm down. And then we'll say, 'Okay, how about a break right now? And let's regroup and see where we're going with the next…' And up until today, and up until also tomorrow, not one single time in even in between the lines, in a hidden way or a sign in the sky has Vito ever come out with even anything that just smelled like, 'I would like to do something with Mike.' Not necessarily a WHITE LION reunion."

Tramp added: "If Vito had called me and [said], 'Let's do what Robert Plant and Jimmy Page did.' They knew they weren't gonna put LED ZEPPELIN back together because they felt John Bonham was [impossible to replace]. 'Let's do an album together. We're not gonna go out touring. Let's do something, let's see how strong our songwriting is.' Not a single word, but I have had to defend every time I brought WHITE LION back in one way or another — either with lawsuits, that I came too close to, 'Oh, you're calling it…' and stuff like that, all those things. And every time, after the smoke clears, I call Vito and he tells me 'you're my friend' and stuff, and we talk and we don't fucking get any further than just the weather today. But I still have to defend. And Vito has not done the courtesy, both to me and the fans… And as I say that, I consider Vito my friend, and I would do almost anything for him. He has not gone out and told the fucking world that 'I'm not coming back on stage. I'm not recording anything else. There will not be a reunion.' Instead, there's this old interview [that Vito gave to] Eddie Trunk. Eddie was part of WHITE LION at the beginning, so him and Vito and I have always been very, very, very close. And Vito is up there talking to Eddie — it's almost probably even 10 years ago — [and saying] 'Oh, well, the door's not closed.' Door's not closed? But it leaves me being sort of the bad guy, but I'm not gonna feel like the bad guy. I'm just going out there. I've been the only person keeping WHITE LION alive since WHITE LION broke up. One way or another, you can't do an interview or anything with me without WHITE LION being mentioned."

Tramp will release "Songs Of White Lion - Vol. II" on August 23 via Frontiers Music Srl.

MIKE TRAMP'S WHITE LION, the band fronted by the former WHITE LION singer, will embark on a U.S. tour this summer.

Last year, Tramp was asked in an interview about the possibility of WHITE LION reforming for a tour. He said: "When we broke up in '91, we always knew we would never go back together. And a lot of people always talk about reunions. WHITE LION reuniting would not be a better WHITE LION than WHITE LION was, so I'm out there performing the songs, not trying to recreate WHITE LION."

Asked if he has ever thought of calling his solo band WHITE LION and touring with new members, Mike replied: "I can't call it WHITE LION." Pressed about whether he would call his band WHITE LION if he could, Mike said: "I tried, and it cost me money. [Laughs] I think that the audience now is understanding that I'm just keeping the songs alive, and I'm able to perform it in a different way. I'm able to show the image that I'm not coming out there and doing a show but I'm gonna take them through like a greatest hits. I like to tell stories about what the songs are. You can't always do that on a festival when you have one hour, but that is my goal, that I will keep the songs alive. And I think that all the fans and the music fans know who Mike Tramp is and it doesn't need to be called WHITE LION. But it's called 'Songs Of White Lion'."

Back in 2019, Tramp revealed in an interview that he had apologized to Bratta for trying to resurrect his former band without his onetime songwriting partner and bandmate.

The Danish-born singer hasn't played with Bratta since WHITE LION performed its last concert in Boston in September 1991.

In the 33 years since WHITE LION broke up, Bratta's public profile has been virtually nonexistent, while Tramp has remained active, recording and touring as a solo artist and with the bands FREAK OF NATURE, THE ROCK 'N' ROLL CIRCUZ and, more recently, BAND OF BROTHERS. Tramp also attempted to revive WHITE LION with the 2008 album "Return Of The Pride", featuring new members. Two years later, Tramp ceded ownership of the name WHITE LION to Bratta in an out-of-court settlement.

Speaking to SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation", Tramp said that he and Vito are once again on speaking terms following his ill-fated attempt to bring back WHITE LION a decade and a half ago.

"I have, over the past couple of years, been the one out there basically both admitting and apologizing that the only thing that I never planned to do in my career and wanted to do was go back and rehash a version of WHITE LION that had nothing to do with WHITE LION, nothing to do with the guys that played in the band," Mike said. "Mike Tramp's heart was not in it. It was just a moment of weakness, not believing enough in my solo albums. [You listen to] some guys saying, 'Hey, if you put a new WHITE LION together, you can play festivals and get much more money.' And then you fall for that and you engage in it and you go out there, and then you realize it's not what you wanna do. And then, of course, Vito did not want the name WHITE LION to be used without him being in the band. And it actually took a couple of years for me to really understand how much it meant to Vito. And when Vito one day told me in one of these conversations… First of all, he told me, 'Mike, I'm not against you. I just don't wanna turn YouTube on and see the title 'WHITE LION live in so and so,' and somebody doing 'When The Children Cry' solo and it's not me. WHITE LION was you and me, it was our band, we wrote the songs. That is the memories I want for the rest of my life.' And when he told me that, I had tears in my eyes and I totally understood it, because I had also gotten to that point that when we closed WHITE LION, we felt that this is where we wanted to stop it. There was something, going into the '90s, that didn't agree with the things we were looking at, and we wanted to somehow end it on a higher level than something that would not represent us in the future. But it just took many years to really understand it."

Asked if he understands why Vito doesn't want to play music professionally anymore, Mike said: "Yes, I do, because there are actually times when I also don't feel like doing it anymore. When all the magic around us, the stuff that made us fall in love with rock and roll — first of all, our heroes, then the industry, then the touring stuff — when all of that was really exposed that it was a two-faced kind of thing, that the people we thought loved us — and I'm not talking about the fans; I'm talking about the people that made money from us, and stuff like that — turned their back on us and stabbed us in the back, it really ripped us apart. And maybe it's just that I came from a different background than Vito, that I maybe was a little bit stronger or just of a different nature that I just fought back, but Vito just said, 'I just don't wanna deal with this.' And I understand now — I understand it from every conversation that I have with him."

Tramp also once again closed the door on a possible WHITE LION reunion, saying: "I can't be Mike Tramp 1988. I can't sing like that, and I'm not going up on stage and doing a half-assed job, which most of the bands out there are doing."

Mainly active in the 1980s and early 1990s, WHITE LION released its debut album, "Fight To Survive", in 1985. The band had its breakthrough with the double-platinum-selling "Pride" album, which produced two Top 10 hits: "Wait" and "When The Children Cry". The band continued its success with the third album, "Big Game", which achieved gold status.

By the time WHITE LION released its final album, 1991's "Mane Attraction", alternative rock was in the ascendancy, leading to a swift decline of the so-called "hair metal" scene in terms of sales, popularity, radio play, and most importantly, relevance.

Mike released "Songs Of White Lion", in April 2023 via Frontiers Music Srl.