Vocalist Mike Tramp fought long and hard between 1999 and 2008 to revive White Lion. It all started with a tribute album called Remembering White Lion; then, in 2003, came the announcement that the original line-up would reform, closely followed by a firm denial from the other musicians. The rest consisted in legal problems and various changes in the line-up of Mike Tramp’s White Lion, topped by the deafening silence of Vito Bratta, the band’s guitarist and Tramp’s historical partner in White Lion, who seemed to not want to hear anything about a reformation. This silence lasted until 2007, when the guitarist finally announced that his return had never been ruled out, and all that had kept him away during this time were family and health problems. Hope at the end of the tunnel for White Lion’s fans – met by silence again. In 2008, tired with waiting for the guitarist, Mike Tramp released Return Of The Pride under the name White Lion, which he’d been allowed to keep. The title is a direct reference to Pride, the band’s cornerstone second album.

Here’s a quick summary of past events, in order to fully appreciate what the singer confessed to us when we talked to him recently. « White Lion was over in ’91 and today it’s easy for me to say that it was a mistake to try to reform, or more precisely, do a new version of White Lion so late in my career when I already said goodbye to White Lion in ’91. » he told us abruptly. A « mistake », he says: the word is strong and shows how sorry Mike Tramp really is. He adds: « Unfortunately, I had to go record Return Of The Pride to look back and see that it had nothing to do with White Lion in the sound and that the only thing that was White Lion was the vocals. »

In the end, he had to put things straight: « White Lion was over in ’91 and there won’t be any reunion of any kind. »

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