Micheal White
He looks like David
Coverdale did when he was starting out. And if his picture weren't
on the album cover,you would think it was Robert Plant's voice.
But all though the first impression is deceiving, Michael White
proves throughout his self-titled debut album that he has his
own strengths.
"Maybe my first LP has the spirit of Led Zeppelin, but that doesn't mean that I am copying songs", Mr. White explains in a Pop/Rocky interview. "David Coverdale oriented himself around that super group. When I write songs, the ideas have to come to me in the form of experiences and feelings". An example of this, Michael says, is in the song 'Psychometry'."I could only play that song on a certain guitar. As soon as I tried it on another one I forgot the melody". The lyrics for 'Pyschometry' came to Michael spontaneously in the studio. "When Mack, the producer, asked me for the lyric sheet, I said, 'there isn't any'. I simply wanted to sit down in front of the microphone and sing what I was feeling at that moment. The track was finished on the first take".
In contrast to other producers, who often want to put their own stamp on their artists, Michael and Mack work as a team. "Mack works primarilly with big stars and groups like Led Zeppelin, Queen and ELO. When I heard that he would be my producer, I thought he would be too expensive for me. But my record company chose him and I have been working with him for the last five months at Musicland studios in Munich. His tips have helped me a lot".
The thirty-two year old Michael is happy working in Germany. When Mack had to interrupt the session for a couple of days to record some tracks with Queen, Michael used the opportunity to take a look around the country. "Where I would like to go again is Neuschwanstein (a famous castle in the Allgau region). The art in Richard Wagner's music room was really amazing ".
Michael was born and raised in Long Beach, California. "I still live there today, although, I am on the road with the band touring so much that I only come home to change my clothes", laughs the champagne lover.
George Lynch and Mick Brown played in Michael's first band (both are in Dokken today). "That was the mid-seventies. Van Halen and Quiet Riot were competing for who would get the opening slot at our concerts, since neither had record contracts at the time. Later I formed a band with Randy Piper, but after a year Randy joined WASP. After that, I joined the band 'LONDON' with Nikki Sixx. But Nikki was too concerned about image from the beginning, so we split up again. I am hoping I can still get the $800 that he owes me".
Nikki formed Motley Crue shortly thereafter, while Michael set out on his own. Randy Piper, by the way, was supposed to undertake all the guitar parts on Michael's debut LP. "His management ordered him back to the states in the middle of the studio work. So there we we're, suddenly, sitting there without a guitarist. Then Klaus 'Major' Hauser from BAP jumped in and saved the recording".