White Lion--Escaping the Rock Pack

“It doesn’t really matter how we look,” insisted Mike Tramp, the long-maned, Nordic lead singer of the hot pop-metal band White Lion, which has a Top 15 album called “Pride” and a fast-growing legion of fans.

He was serious--and sadly misguided.

Guitarist Vito Bratta, drummer Greg D’Angelo and bassist James Lomenzo are all good-looking, but Tramp is White Lion’s real swoon-bait, rock’s newest dream boat. The word is that young female rock fans get weak-kneed in his presence.

“But it really doesn’t matter how we look,” Tramp reiterated testily.

He still wasn’t convincing.

The evidence certainly isn’t in his favor. One thing that helped boost White Lion above the also-rans in the rock jungle is a video of a single, “Wait,” which is in the pop Top 15.

The band looks terrific in it. When that video’s on, the hearts of teen-age girls everywhere must be fluttering. And “Wait” isn’t even one of the best songs on the album.

You often hear this band called a Bon Jovi clone. You may recall that Jon Bon Jovi rejuvenated metal by injecting it with a missing element--sex appeal. This clever glamour boy lured females into the sexist, macho world of metal, paving the way for groups like White Lion and proving that if a band’s members are cute and sexy enough, the females don’t really care what they’re singing about.

“Looks never got anybody into the Top 20,” argued Tramp, who was determined not to have White Lion lumped in with the handsome no-talent groups proliferating in pop-metal these days.

OK, so White Lion does have some musical talent. Its distinguishing features are Tramp’s voice and the adventurous, inventive playing of guitarist Bratta who, in another band, might be the star. Because of its pretty-boy image, White Lion can’t escape the Bon Jovi tie-in, but some observers, when discussing Tramp and Bratta, prefer to pinpoint similarities to Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

“But I’m not really a screamer,” insisted Tramp, maintaining that his melodic, bluesy style was shaped by the influences of Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker. “I even prefer to sing soft stuff.”

His favorite song on “Pride,” which is full of booming rockers, is a low-key, folkish ballad--done without bass and drums--called “When the Children Cry,” which seems to belong on another album. On White Lion’s previous album, “Fight to Survive,” he’s partial to the moody ballad, “The Road to Valhalla”:

“I like songs like these because I can really pour my heart out on them. They call for real singing, from way down deep inside. You can’t fake these songs.”

It’s hard to imagine that a band with a corny name like Mabel could survive, let alone have sex appeal. Yet, according to Tramp, when he was in a pop band with that name in Denmark in the late ‘70s, he was the Danish Michael Jackson.

“We were bigger than the Queen,” recalled Tramp, 27, of his years as a teen idol. A native of Denmark, Tramp, who still has a Danish accent, now lives in Santa Monica.

Tramp was recruited into this band, whose members were 10 years older than him, in 1976 when he was 14. They didn’t hire the handsome youngster for his singing talent. “I had no experience then,” he said. “I couldn’t even sing.”

Tramp didn’t have anything good to say about Mabel’s six pop albums. For him the best thing about the whole experience was that it was like being paid to go to singing school. When Mabel finally faded in the early ‘80s, Tramp had developed into a good singer.

Because of his fascination with American rock ‘n’ roll, he migrated to New York and eventually formed White Lion with Bratta, who became his songwriting partner. Elektra Records signed the band, but didn’t think its first album, “Fight to Survive,” was good enough to release in this country.

“It was made with some people who hadn’t been in the band very long--people we don’t have in the band now,” Tramp explained.

“Fight to Survive” was released in Japan and, as an import, got some attention in the American rock underground. Now it’s available here on tiny Grand Slamm Records.

Everybody is always asking rock ‘n’ roll musicians, “Where’s the party?” They’re expected to know since so many of them are notorious party-crawlers. But if you’re looking for the good parties, don’t ask the members of White Lion. They’re part of this new breed of healthy musicians who don’t hang out and misbehave at parties.

White Lion, opening for AC/DC on June 22 at Long Beach Arena, is currently opening for Aerosmith--a perfect traveling companion. These days, touring with those former bad boys of rock is like being on the road with a bunch of monks.

This clean image wouldn’t necessarily have any negative effect on established metal bands like Aerosmith, but could it be deadly for younger bands like White Lion that are still shaping their identities. After all, even pop metal bands rely on young guys who prize rowdyism and revere the life’s-a-party ethic.

“It’s a shame if some of these kids don’t like us living a sensible life,” Tramp said. “But we have no choice. It’s basically choosing between health and death. I’m not into suicide.”