Mike Tramp relieves White Lion's fame

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Mike Tramp of White Lion? Sigh. But what's the use of complaining? It is the downside of living in a poor, third-world country where we are unable to really choose the foreign artists that perform here.

The choices have been very limited. Often, it is the two sides of the extreme, either boybands, or old-timers (Deep Purple was great, though. Rick Wakeman was not).

And now comes the former vocalist of the now-defunct hair- metal band. The former 1980s bubble-gum rocker with mellow hits like When The Children Cry, You're All I Need and 'Till Death Do Us Part.

Tramp was here for 10 days, performing in Denpasar, Surabaya, Bandung and Jakarta to promote his latest solo album called Recovering The Wasted Years which was released earlier this year.

Unpredictably, however, Wednesday's show at the Fashion Cafe in Jakarta, had something more to say than just a rock performance.

We saw a scene of an aging rockstar, trying to scrape back some of his status. Even so, he did it appropriately, showing a bit of good attitude, which was actually a bit sad.

"I was about to come here several times but failed. People told me that now's the perfect time for you to come before they forget you," he said at the beginning of the show, accompanied by a band.

Singing to sparse audience, only some 200 of them, Tramp looked relieved that people still recognized his songs -- White Lion songs actually, which were included on the list that night.

"I was very nervous to come here. But now I can go to sleep and smile. Thank you very much. Thank you for knowing that I'm still alive."

Many in attendance still remember the songs from White Lion by heart, such as Living on The Edge, Broken Hearts and those ballads mentioned earlier.

Tramp's own songs are not bad but they miss the element of catchiness. When Tramp sang the set of his own songs, the crowd went silent again. But they still moved about and cheered.

But Tramp did not expect too much. He knows very well that the glory days passed a long time ago.

When it comes to perseverance, Tramp knows a lot about it. Back in the 1980s, he was the frontman of a band at the top of hard rock charts, selling millions of records and touring the globe several times.

But then the waves of the grunge scene came and swept the hair-metal rockers away.

On this, Danish-born singer/songwriter/guitarist Tramp has his own comment.

"I really don't know. I guess they felt that after all the 1980s bands had helped MTV become huge with rock fans, they could kick us out and let Kurt, Eddie and Hootie in the house that us long haired spandex wearing dudes had sold our soul to build, by looking the way we now did in those great videos," he said over an interview on the internet.

"Can you believe it? What the hell was Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten albums compared to White Lion's Big Game?" he added.

Following the break up of White Lion in 1991, Tramp then formed a band called Freak of Nature, which put out two albums to no critical acclaim.

He returned with a solo album titled Capricorn released in 1998, a 10-song collection of insightful rock melodies that defined Tramp as a solo artist.

"Apparently, all the success in the world can't equal the sense of accomplishment I got as I was writing and recording the songs for this record," Tramp said once.

The album did not say much in the rock scene nor did the recent sophomoric effort.

Younger audiences did not recognize him and older ones still referred to him as the White Lion vocalist. Even his show here was called "Mike Tramp, the voice of White Lion".

Nevertheless, Tramp said he was delighted to be able to do the tour as he had been working his butt off to maintain his career.

"It's tough to have your place among today's many new genre. But I want to be consistent in rock music. I don't want to change what I've been doing. And I know there are still people, fans out there who wait for me," he said during a press conference here.

Tramp performed for about 90 minutes, telling the audience over and over again that he was really grateful to be here and to see that people here like his (White Lion) songs.

He threw his guitar pick, but people were less enthusiastic. When the moment came for the audience to shout "We want more", nothing was heard, until three minutes later.

And then he came back on stage, wearing a Slank (local rock band) T-shirt.

"Thank you again. Remember, that you'll always be inside my heart," he said.

So who's more sad here, the third-world people who only get to see old-timers or aging rock stars who only get to be seen by third-world audiences?

Anyway, gaining back the popularity like in the good ol' days is something that Tramp has to work for, if it ever comes back again. But at least, he is showing some perseverance and consistence, which is in a way, respectable.