White Lion’s Mike Tramp Says Vito Bratta Will Not ‘Silence’ Him

Mike
Tramp
of
White
Lion
says
his
former
bandmate,
guitarist
Vito
Bratta,
will
not
stop
him
from
continuing
to
celebrate
the
band’s
music,
though
in
what
ways
Bratta
is
holding
him
back
remain
unclear.

Following
the
breakup
of
White
Lion
in
1991,
Bratta
retreated
from
the
public
eye.
Since
then,
he
has
rarely
been
seen
in
public
and
has
only
participated
in
a
handful
of
interviews.
The
most
recent
interview
we’ve
been
able
to
locate
took
place
with


Guitar
World
in
2023.
He
lives
in
the
same
home
in
Staten
Island,
New
York
City,
that
he
grew
up
in.

In
a
recent
interview
with
Anthony
Bryant
of
The
Hair
Metal
Guru,
Tramp
was
asked
whether
he
thinks
Bratta
will
ever
work
in
music
again.

“No.
Did
you
see
how
quick
[of
a
response]
that
was?”
he
replied
(via

Blabbermouth). “And
I
am
probably
about
the
most
frustrated
person
because
I
feel
that
I
constantly
have
to
be
on
the
defense.
Because
he
has
chosen
to
go
into
his
cave.
There’s
no
pictures
existing.
There’s
none
of
anything.
He
doesn’t
even
wanna
come
out
and
just
make
a
quote
or
something
like
that.
So
he’s
chosen
that
it’s
better
to
keep
the
mystery
and
stay
silent,
but
that
mystery
and
staying
silent
can
only
last
for
so
long
because
as
days
go
by,
I
am
pushed
to
having
to
reveal
more
than
I
really
wanted
to,
because
the
truth
of
the
matter
is
I
do
know
the
facts,
I
do
know
the
truth
about
everything
about
Vito
Bratta.
I
just
wish
that
he’d
just
come
out
and
just
say
something.
He
can
put
me
down,
he
can
do
whatever
[he
wants].
But
he’s
not
gonna
silence
me.
He’s
not
gonna
stop
me
from
playing
music.”

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Tramp
went
on
to
claim
that
he
has
approached
Bratta
about
reuniting
White
Lion.

“I’ve
invited
him
many
ways,”
he
said. “I’ve
even
asked
him,
I
says, ‘If
you
wanted
to
do
a
project
that
wasn’t
called
White
Lion’,
sort
of
like
—
not
comparing
ourselves,
but
when

[Jimmy]
Page
and

[Robert]
Plant
got
together
the
first
time
[after

Led
Zeppelin‘s
split].
They
didn’t
call
it
Led
Zeppelin.
They
did
the


Walking
Into
Clarksdale
project,
just
to
see
where
their
songwriting
would
go.”

But
according
to
Tramp: “[Bratta
says] ‘Oh,
I
don’t
wanna
talk
about
it.’
That’s
how
quickly
that’s
getting
shut
down.”

What
Has
Vito
Bratta
Said?

When
Bratta
spoke
with


Guitar
World
in
2019,
published
in
2022,
he
did
note
that
there
had
been
discrepancies
between
himself
and
Tramp
over
the
use
of
the
White
Lion
band
name.

“We’ve
been
in
court
against
each
other,”
he
said. “We’ve
had
arguments,
but
it’s
not
like
we
hate
each
other.
We
just
don’t
talk.”

In
that
same
interview,
Bratta
admitted
that
he
hadn’t
entirely
ruled
out
a
return
to
the
stage,
even
for
one
show.

“I
couldn’t
ever,
ever
say
no
to
that,”
he
said, “because
it
hurts
not
doing
it.
But
a
lot
of
things
would
have
to
change
around
here
for
me
to
be
able
to
walk
out
of
the
house.
I’m
just
happy
that
I
left
it
all
out
on
the
field.
Sometimes
I
really
feel
like
I
exceeded
my
ability.”