Although beset with behind-the-scenes label troubles, White Lion’s 1985 debut album Fight to Survive paved the way for what would become one of the most influential glam metal bands of the ‘80s.
That status was achieved in part thanks to the electric guitar virtuosity of Vito Bratta, who recently sat down with Guitar World to discuss his most iconic guitar solos.
Bratta revealed he doesn’t harbor too many fond memories of Fight to Survive – and not just because of the well-documented record label problems.
Instead, Bratta says the band’s debut LP was a “fucking disaster” specifically because of the guitar parts that made it on to the record – guitar parts that left him “devastated”.
“What a fucking disaster that record was,” he told Guitar World when asked about Fight to Survive. “Can I tell you something about that record that most people probably don’t know? That whole album is scratch tracks.”
Scratch tracks are simply demo tracks recorded as a temporary filler to help hold down the rest of the song. These are, of course, meant to be replaced with final takes later on down the line, but it turns out Bratta never got that opportunity on Fight to Survive, which is filled entirely with demo guitar cuts.
“None of it is what it was supposed to be,” he went on. “I laid the scratch guitars down, and then the producer Peter [Hauke] told me, 'OK, Vito, that’s good for now. We’ll have you come back in and finish the guitars when the rest of the album is done.'
“So, I’m thinking, 'OK... I guess I’ll redo these and put the polish on after.' See, I was a dumb kid. I knew nothing. I’d never been in a recording studio. And now, I’m in Germany with this bald guy yelling at me. I won’t say I was scared, but I wasn’t going to question him.
“Long story short, Mike [Tramp] finishes his vocals, and Peter tells me, 'We’re done. You can go home now.' And I’m like, 'What about the guitars?' Peter just looked at me and said, 'Sorry. We ran out of money and time. We’re going with what we’ve got.'
“I was devastated. I couldn’t believe a bunch of shitty scratch tracks would be my first record.”
When pressed on the particulars of certain solos on Fight to Survive – including All the Fallen Men – Bratta said he had one overriding memory of the whole experience: “I remember hating all the shitty power chords because they were scratch tracks. That was just a case of me playing whatever I felt then.
“There was no thought behind it beyond tearing it up because I thought I could do it for real later.”
As if having Bratta’s scratch tracks on the final cut of the record wasn’t bad enough, White Lion were also forced to deal with a series of label issues in the lead up to Fight to Survive’s release.
Though the band were signed to Elektra Records during recording, the label dropped White Lion and indefinitely shelved Fight to Survive with no intention of giving it a US release. It was released in Japan in ‘85, and finally reached US audiences thanks to Grand Slamm Records soon after.
A few years later, White Lion signed with Atlantic Records and recorded their sophomore LP Pride, which received a much more straightforward release process – and didn’t include any guitar scratch tracks.
Elsewhere in his Guitar World interview, Bratta recalled how he recorded Pride using Leslie West’s personal favorite 100-watt Marshall – an amp he still owns to this day – and played Jimi Hendrix’s black Fender Stratocaster on one of the record’s solos.
Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the new issue of Guitar World, which features the full conversation with Vito Bratta, as well as an interview with Sophie Lloyd, who revealed how a cartoon character inspired her to play guitar.
