New Interview with White Lion's Vito Bratta
"Reclusive" Guitarist Interviewed in September Issue of "Guitar World"
This is already “old news”; I heard that the September 2023 issue of Guitar World contained an interview with Vito Bratta weeks ago, now. Yesterday, I obtained a copy of the issue (the last remaining copy at a local Barnes & Noble) and read the interview. It is well worth your time if you have any interest in the subject.
An excerpt, along with a link to order the entire issue from Magazines Direct, can be found here: “Vito Bratta recorded White Lion’s All You Need is Rock ‘n’ Roll with Jimi Hendrix’s black Stratocaster - and Leslie West’s Marshall amp”.
Although the issue has been available for some time, copies may still be found on what lingering newsstands remain in this economically recessed and depressed green culture of declining literacy and print media. Although I think I remember such publications available in supermarkets, drug stores, and convenience stores in better times, I could not find it in ShopRite, CVS, or 7-Eleven. (If my current area has a good old-fashioned newsstand, I haven’t found it yet. Thanks to my mother for finding the last copy at her local Barnes & Noble.)
The article, “Behind the Solos: Vito Bratta”, is written by Andrew Daly. It is illustrated with vintage photographs of Bratta from 1988 and 1989. There are no recent images. Daly circumspectly avoids asking about potential reunions, but if he asked Bratta about future music plans in general, the answers were not printed. Bratta comes across as a modest individual who is dissatisfied with most of his solos, especially those on White Lion’s debut, Fight to Survive. (“All You Need is Rock ‘n’ Roll” is an exception.) Another revelation in the piece is Edward Van Halen’s comments to his friend Bratta on the subject of whether or not he was another clone of Van Halen.
The September 2023 issue has a cover story interviewing Sophie Lloyd and also includes features on Opeth, Greta Van Fleet, Gov’t Mule, Steve Howe (best known for Yes), Sevendust, and even Angel’s Punky Meadows. [Meadows, as far as I know, has been retired much longer than Vito Bratta and is perhaps best remembered now via the lyrics of Frank Zappa’s “Punky’s Whips” and (unedited) “Titties and Beer”.] Guitar and bass guitar transcriptions include The Beatles’s “You Never Give Me Your Money”, Muse’s “Will of the People”, and Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”. (When I was a subscriber, many years ago, issues regularly had five songs transcribed. This issue is significantly lighter on content compared to my recollections of former issues.)
I wrote about Bratta and White Lion last year: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three of “Remembering White Lion” can be read at those respective links.
Thanks to Vito Bratta for his brief return to the music spotlight (and for his immeasurable, virtuosic, spirit-kindling music), and thanks to Andrew Daly and Guitar World for bringing him back.
Postscript: Bratta’s former White Lion partner, Mike Tramp, released Songs of White Lion, a collection of new recordings, on Frontier Records on April 14 of this year. After a tour earlier this year with a truncated lineup, Tramp has announced dates for a continuation of the tour with a full band. On July 28, Tramp posted to social media that U.S. dates would be announced shortly.