Mike: I never felt more at home. It was the best thing. Actually, it was me; everybody was just following. I was just absorbing it. Did you find it to be more of a gradual following or was the band pretty well received right away?
Those are the only shows we ever played with Felix; then we sort of said goodbye to Felix. Then Dave [Spitz] came in, and then we started playing a lot more and jumping in on a lot of bills. Then we go back to Germany, where we recorded Fight to Survive , and recorded the Pride album, take one.
But instead, we just decided to work and do a few gigs here and there, trying to come up with a game plan about how we can do something next.
Just get ready to come out here. Andrew: Before finalizing the classic White Lion lineup, what incited the incessant lineup shuffling on the heels of Fight to Survive? What qualities were you and Vito looking for in bandmates? So, [Nicky] left the band by himself, and Felix just did not fit in at all. We were struggling, man. As opposed to L. So, Dave [Spitz] comes in and replaces Felix. It was great getting Dave into the band; he had a lot of energy.
But somehow, behind our back, he was also shopping around. He got invited out to record this solo album for Tony Iommi. Then suddenly, behind our backs, he gets asked if he wants to join the band and then leaves. He hated everything about it; he just loved drums. He loved just to sit home and watch TV and play drums. Then Greg came in, and we played a lot of shows with Dave and Greg. The second Dave left, we had a very short period — I think we played with another guy for a short while — but once James came in, it was love at first sight.
That was as much harmony as we could ever call harmony in White Lion. It was a good time; there was a lot of energy, everybody was happy. The best time in White Lion was always the chase, not the catch.
Tell us the backstory behind that. Mike: The only challenge is that we still do not know why we got signed to Elektra Records for a large amount of money. Then after a few months of preparing the album release, doing the album cover, and all the different things, they decide not to release the album, and they sort of released the band from the album deal. We still got the advance from it; they almost wrote us off as a mistake for some reason. It obviously ground us for about a year, then somehow, our managers started working without telling us.
They had some contact with a publisher in Japan, who got it over to JVC Victor, who loved the album, signs the band, and also signs the band for two more albums.
Then from Japan, the album became — those were the days where record stores around the world were breaking bands. They were importing the album to Germany, France, England. And bit by bit, suddenly the albums starts appearing on the charts and all these magazines; No. In the Tri-State area, Jersey, there are a couple big local record stores that are all for Rock, and suddenly the band is selling albums and filling clubs. Andrew: What was the vibe in the band like at the time you flew out to California for the first time to record Pride at Amigo Studios?
Mike: It was the greatest time in the world because we were four guys living in one apartment; we were four against the world. There was nothing else but White Lion in our life. Nothing else but White Lion. There were minimal, maybe one or two, small confrontations in the studio, debating a little bit over a musical part or something like that.
Michael [Wagener], of course, was the catalyst in just creating this phenomenal atmosphere. Michael has worked with a lot of bands, especially a lot of bands after, but when he worked with White Lion, he probably saw some discipline that he maybe had not seen with other bands because we knew our shit when we came in, and we were very much in harmony. Andrew: When White Lion was out on tour with Aerosmith for the Permanent Vacation Tour , was there any notable camaraderie between you and fellow frontman Steven Tyler?
We had a lot of days off, so he and I had done some extreme things of a different kind that he was known for. Those moments — even talking about them — it was just great. It was fucking excellent. It was natural because we were in the band, and Aerosmith respected us and acknowledged us. All the guys in Aerosmith invited me in for dinner every night in their dressing room. I got a great bond with them. Joe Perry would talk to Vito once in a while, but none of the other guys in the band would ever totally bond with Aerosmith in the same way that I would.
It just happened because it happened. How did the band handle the transition to playing arenas? That night, we fucking went out on stage and had our show down pat. We were born for that stage. Andrew: White Lion was unfairly grouped with the Rock acts of its time, but the band offered infinitely more depth and substance than its contemporaries.
As a songwriter, what inspired you to deviate from the blueprint? I would find many moments where I was caught in where I was going, and every time I went for tits and ass, I felt a large amount of uncomfortability.
I have been on stage doing, at times, small moments of a third-ranked David Lee Roth rap and stuff. But I was never a person living on sexual innuendos, never talking about that stuff from the stage. As opposed to my three bandmembers, who at that moment had only been in their own country, I had already been many places in the world.
I had grown up with a large amount of history and knowledge; that the world is round and things are not just happy days; Fonzie and Richie Cunningham. Andrew: Well, I think the music still holds up to this day. Mike: Yeah, of course. This was when I wrote a large amount of that song, and then I sort of finished it with Vito, but the song is basically written. This is true Denmark coming out of me right there.
And I think it probably is one of the reasons while the song will stand the test of time, until the end of time. It is timeless; the message is stronger today than it was then. What did you have to do on a daily basis to keep your voice in top shape so that you could go out on stage and deliver each night? Then sometimes, Vito and I would write the songs, and then we would take them to the rehearsal room and maybe change them.
But once we really, really starting touring heavily, obviously, it became a lot of pressure. Even though we were just playing an hour, it was still full voice all the way. At times, I was struggling, and other times, adrenaline would lift me up. So, this time, we really wanted to work with songs and have time to listen to them and change things.
On Main Attraction , I really wrote for my voice at that time, also keeping in mind where we had been. Also, which you hear only a year or two later when I record the first Freak of Nature album, my voice is naturally changing at that time. You can actually notice it if you ever listen to Journey. By the time Journey does the album Frontiers , Steve Perry is already taking a little bit of a different tone to his voice. For example, I think it was just days after your tour with Stryper that you started writing for Big Game , right?
Mike: That should never have happened, but it happened. I was saying before, that when we started writing Mane Attraction, we felt it was a rescue mission because Big Game had not done what it should have done.
To us, the Pride album had been two years. Like I said to you when we started the interview, I have all the answers now. Vito and I, as the leaders of the band — and James and Greg could have been just as much a part of it — did not object. So much is going on, and you want to be a part of it — you also want to take a break from it — and the people that are supposed to help you make those decisions are looking more for you to get back out there so we can make some more money and they can get their share.
There are some great, great songs on Big Game , but the album is unfinished. We needed to get back down on the ground and feel humble again. Suddenly, the money was rolling in, we were having a great time with Michael, but we were having almost too great of a time.
There would never be any form of fiction. That is not written with the Eurovision Song Contest in mind, that is written like my other songs. He wants to get out with his music, and show that classic rock still has its place in a Danish music scene, which has otherwise, for a large part, been ignoring this type of music and its fans.
MTV today has nothing to do with music. No people at my age group or even fifteen years younger are watching that any more. Nobody goes to record stores. He is proud of where he is today, proud of his 12 solo albums that followed after the teenage pop in Mabel and the heavy rock in White Lion and Freak of Nature. He has been through a lot, experienced massive success, but without having his heart in it all. Without hesitation, he acknowledges that the solo albums so far did not get the recognition they deserve.
And of course it would be nice to have the both things working together. These days I have a die-hard audience around the world. In Norway, double Eurovision participant from and Ketil Stokkan, delivered a just as surprising Melodi Grand Prix comeback this year.
They are the same generation Tramp is today 60 while Stokkan is 64 years old and both comebacks were unexpected. When accepting to take part in Melodi Grand Prix after that many decades, they also both knew what they wanted, and they told their broadcasters straight out how things were going to be.
When we recently talked to Ketil Stokkan for a musical video portrait , he also raised concern that Melodi Grand Prix is becoming a show only young people can win.
Many of the older viewers are left unable to vote as broadcasters step away from phone calls and SMS. Mike Tramp shares that concern. In Denmark, you can only vote via the broadcaster app, and he is plain aware of that it might cost him some votes… but just like Stokkan, he decided to focus on what else he can get out of this, if not enough votes.
With the song Everything Is Alright , he wants to show the real Mike Tramp… In case anyone is still in doubt about who that is, he defines himself like this:. It is kind of crazy, because basically on the way back from the final show when I flew to L.
The whole concept and how it was all going to be built up From that day on, I was going to be in total control of making those decisions, ya know?
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, '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.
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