J-What led to the band lineup changing? Did you record w/the new guys?
M-Are you talking about White Lion? Well it already started w/the "Big Game"
album.. and "Big Game" tour..and I think it just was in one way or another me
and Vito took all the glory that we were what the band was…we did the songwriting
..we were the band..we started the band…I never discredited Greg or James..and
even though I was kinda caught in the middle cause I was friends w/everyone
Vito kinda stood alone on one side.and said "We are the song writers..Ive
asked everybody if they wanna be part of this..or have songs to come to the table..
and nobody would come w/anything"..and it basically came down to a money
issue that never was debated ..then one day….they didn't even tell me,I got a
call from my manager saying..hey..they decided to leave the band.I wasn't surprised
but I didn't anticipate it. And we got Jimmy and Tommy in the band and
the first couple weeks of rehearsal were probably some of the best times
in the bands life, but it was never White Lion.They were great players..and
there was a lot of fun in that.. yet it became a mind funk.Basicaly they were great
players, and we would go out and play..but it wasn't the comradery that went
out on the "Fight to Survive" tour…when we were 4 guys in the back of the van
going up to kill every night on a 3x5 ft. stage in from of Ace Frehley….
J-Do you know where the original guys are? And do you still talk to them?
M-Haha..do I know where they are…ya..Greg and James are in California
and Vito is in Staten Island..the place he was born..and the house hes been livng
in..but its kinda a sore subject cause,I have a great relationship w/Greg and
James now..I bear no anomosity even though we have gone through law suits and
stuff like that..Ive always said..do whatever it takes to settle it…but Vito
has chosen to be on the whole other side.. after the "Remembering White Lion" album..that
I had asked him to do….see…after I had traveled around the country w/the
Capricorn thing..the rumors about White Lion had started. As im writing
inside the album…and I went to Vito…and said I dont wanna do that..but I have
to come to you and say how do you feel about it..and he just said Ive retired
from music I don't wanna do it..
I just said..Ive been approached to do
some sort of album..Ive come to you first..Im going to do it one way or another..but
Im coming to you first,if you and I get together..we are White Lion..and
not that I wanted to go that way,cause I just didn't feel that music anymore..so
he never calls me back after we met …I just moved on..I went to Denmark did the
"Remembering White Lion" cd. I wanted to do something that was just remembering
the songs in a new way..not continuing it..and once I did that album..Id never
touch the stuff again……and since then I didnt hear from Vito and now
last time I heard
from Vito he was suing me..so its kinda like I stand here and
say my memorys of White Lion are unfortunatly seriously bitter…….and its not from
my side…that's just the way it is..J-Ok after White Lion you where in a band called Freak of Nature..tell us about that
and how many releases do you do w/them?
M-Well Freak of Nature was based on all the stuff White Lion wasn't..and all
the stuff White Lion had forgotten.From the start I made the band a total band
effort.. even though I had started the band..I had the record deal..I had all
the stuff behind me,and it was based on Mike Tramp..but when the guys came in
we were writing the songs in the rehearsal room as 5 guys..I wanted it to
be team work..I knew we had to start from the bottom,I knew if I had to ask that
of the guys..they had to be a 5th of the band. We released 2 albums, then I
released a 3rd album of some out-takes..I called it "Outcasts".. but I wrote in
the cd..that Freak of Nature was the happiest days of my life..in rock n roll..
its my proudest moment regardless if any of the albums went on any charts..and
sold a lot..
I don't know if ill ever top it w/my own stuff..its just at
my prime..it was sad for me knowing how quickly the band fell apart, and there
really isn't a reason for it.. we are still friends…but each member has made
it impossible for the band to reunite..
J- Did you always plan on recording a solo album?
M-No cause I hate being alone! but after spending my life w/2 bands,and the
energy it takes to build 2 bands,I couldn't go through starting a new band,I knew
I could never do what Freak of Nature did..it was the best band I've ever been
in…
