How cool is it to say that the first time I heard music, it was Rock 'n' roll and it was
The Beatles. Standing there in my grandma's living room jumping around to my brothers Beatles records blasting from the little mono record player, oh how cool it was, the birth of what was to become my life! Now soooooooo many years later, I am proud to say Rock 'n' roll is the only kind of music I have ever played. This love of music has stayed with me and like many others, it was just wonderful to hear greatness being born and being there to witness it. I am so thankful that I grew up with late 60's music as it prepared me for my favorite decade of Rock 'n' roll, the 70's. This was where I really discovered the power of music and what music meant to a person.
My mom used to wake us up with Elvis and Roy Orbison records and it just made you start the day in such a good mood. After school I couldn't wait to get home and listen to Slade and dig into my older brother's records. He had already moved on to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, man that felt like big boy music. This was around about the same time that a guitar suddenly appeared in the apartment. We three boys all took a big interest in this thing and not long after we could make our way through "Oh Donna" and "House of Rising Sun".
We took it one step further in our local youth club which offered us music classes, electric guitars, drums, bass and of course lot's of singing. We got a little band together with a few friends, but all performances stayed within the walls of the youth club. In the youth club my younger brother and I got involved in musical theatre. This somehow led to the recording of a live album with the singing group, all of which happened when I was just 13 years old, wow! When a teen magazine showed up to do a story on the kids from the singing group. My brother and I somehow got singled out. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the editor/journalist and the photographer, both happened to live in our apartment building.
One thing usually leads to another and they approached us and asked if we wanted to record a single of English songs. What the hell did we know? Of course we said yes and we were given a cassette player and two sheets of lyrics. So there we were, lying on our bedroom floor singing along to The Four Seasons "Big Man In Town" and "It Hurts To Be In Love" by someone else. A week later we were in the studio with Denmark's top studio musicians, overloading on Coca Cola and other junk. Man it was great to be a kid. The single was released on EMI Records, first and only print of 500, which I own two copies of. The year was 1975. Nothing much happened with the single, just a few articles in teen magazines, a bit of teasing in school, and soon all was back to normal, or was it?
I ended up working after school for the editor/journalist and it was here I got my real introduction into the world of Rock 'n' roll and all its glamour. It was also at that office a year later that a band by the name of
Mabel came by to talk to my boss. They had just lost their lead singer after supporting The Bay City Rollers. The BCR manager had convinced their singer to come along to the BCR camp and Mabel was now without a singer. I wonder if it was fate that I also was at that show watching it all go down. Next thing I know, here they are sitting in the other room asking my boss if he knew of anyone who could fill the position left by their old singer. I should point out their singer was just 16 years old when he left and the others were in their mid 20's, well-educated and great musicians. Two weeks later my boss and I boarded a train, and headed to the bands house outside Copenhagen, for a so-called audition. I will say that the audition was nothing like any I have ever been part of since, and I have been part of many! In one of the bands bedrooms stood a Marshall 4x12 with a 100W head on top and a Gibson SG. Here you go kid, sing us a song. (I just have to add this for the vintage gear lovers - This was the real deal! A '59 Plexi and a basket weave cabinet, the stuff I would kill for today. Later on we traded it in for Vox AC30's maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, oh we so wanted to be like Queen).
So how did the audition sound? Well I would rather not think of it. But Peter the guitarist and Otto the bassist said to Chris the drummer and bandleader "He will work" but did they really mean it? I couldn't play or sing, but I was young and cute and that's what I think they wanted, but was it what they got? I guess it didn't take long before I soon showed my not so cute, very opinionated side. This you can read all about in my book "
Vagabonden", that is if you can read Danish…..sorry!
From 1976-1982 I was part of
Mabel. A band of 4 friends who will be just that till the day we die. Man I love these guys, but unfortunately I thought later on in my life that all bands would have what I call that unbreakable brother spirit, but it wasn't so, and I have never witnessed it again.
Mabel recorded 6 albums, the last under the name
Studs and 1 unreleased under the name
Lion. The last two you can find in the
Trampshop as part of "
The Bootleg Series" box set.
The final month of
Mabel's life was spent in New York and it was here I met Vito Bratta. 5 months later Vito and I together, would form
White Lion and write all the music. Most people know the story of
White Lion but if not, buy the "
Escape from Brooklyn" DVD, it will help you along.
White Lion recorded and released 4 albums between '83-'90. "
Fight to Survive" '84. "Pride" '87. "Big Game" '89, and "Mane Attraction" '91. The band played its final show on September 2, 1991 and then broke up. We have never attempted to reunite and it will never happen. We the band, all feel we reached far beyond what we ever had imagined. Top 10 hits, millions of albums sold, 3 world tours and over 200 shows supporting our own heroes like KISS, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe. Yes we did it all, it was great and then it was over. Still the music will live on and it does everyday.
After White Lion I formed
Freak of Nature, and experienced a fresh new start, fell back in love with Rock 'n' roll and was once again energized by it all. I don't want to tell the
Freaks story, it's really for those who chose to be part of it. But please do check out the 3 albums we made and follow the story for yourself - "Freak of Nature", "Gathering of Freaks" and "Outcasts". Also check out the Freak of Nature DVD "
Live in Japan". This was a kick ass band and a short but great time.
Freak of Nature ended in April '95 and it was time to go "O sole mio" or as they say, my own way.
Ever since the day I could play a few chords on the guitar, I have written songs by myself, even during the time with
White Lion and
Freak of Nature. I wrote many songs outside these bands which ended up on cassette tapes that were put away in boxes that filled up over the many years. When the time came to start looking at doing my first solo album I started listening to the many, many hours of songs I had written. Even though not many of the songs were used, it was very clear to me that I had my own style of writing and it showed up in every song. I trace this all back to my young years in the youth club in Copenhagen. It was always about sing along songs, no matter what we did. Nobody wanted to hear riffs or solos. They all wanted to hear melodies and songs that they could sing along to and from this my song writing skills were born. I remember the first song I ever really mastered was Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heavens Door". Every song I have since written has had at least one of the four chords used in that song!
I recorded Capricorn in '96 and it was released in '97. I am very proud of that album because it speaks of who I am in every way. I didn't think very hard of what I wanted to do, I just did what was natural for me to do! Be myself. More albums would follow the same pattern as the first. "
Recovering The Wasted Years" 2001, "More To Life Than This" 2003, "
Rock 'n' Roll Alive" 2003 and "
Songs I Left Behind" 2004. Now we're all waiting on the next one which will see daylight in 2006.
I have had a great life so far and seen the world through the eyes of Rock 'n' roll. I have met people of every nationality and sharing a mutual admiration of Rock 'n' roll, we have found peace and respect for one another. Yes it has been a great journey. I have played the biggest stages in the world and I have played the smallest. I have been a star and I have shared special and private times with even bigger stars. Yes I have almost done it all. But what does it all mean in the end? I think it means knowledge, experience and a way to judge what it is that you want to do, choosing what is right for you. I always tell others, "don't learn from my success, learn from my mistakes".
But what is right for Mike Tramp? I know you think one thing and I think another. There comes a time in a man's life when he's lived a full life and now finds that comfortable chair which he likes to sit in. I have found that chair and that chair is me - a kid from Copenhagen, Denmark who went out into the world not just to follow his dreams, but to follow an urge to move on when he wasn't happy where he was. That I have certainly done. Instead of sitting at home miserable and complaining about the times changing, I've packed my bags and headed down the endless highway. But every highway has an end and I have found my chair and it's comfortable in the right way. I know who I am and what I want. I also know who I am not and what I don't want. I am Mike Tramp, I play Rock 'n' roll. I might never have a hit single again or sell many records. Never the less, my albums will shine of the life I have lived and experienced and it's my story to tell, so listen up good!
I am a torchbearer of Rock 'n' roll and I stand by my heroes and those who created this great form of music. Many of us still believe that this pure art form and craftsmanship should not be replaced by what is to come. To play Rock 'n' roll and to be Rock 'n' roll, you must pay your dues. Don't jump the line, don't take the easy way, the Pioneers didn't and you shouldn't either. Elvis, Morrison, Hendrix, Bonham, Moon, Lennon, Lynott, Scott, Mercury, Harrison, and many other great ones died paving the road of Rock 'n' roll. So I say to you, tread carefully and choose wisely!
Long live Rock 'n' roll!
Mike Tramp
Melbourne-Australia 2006
