Biography
-
Years Active
1983 – 1987 (4 years)
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Members
- Gary Shea
- Glen Sobel (2007 – 2009)
- Graham Bonnet
- Howie Simon (2006 – present)
- Jan Uvena
Alcatrazz was a heavy metal band formed in 1983 in Los Angeles by Graham Bonnet.
The band's initial line-up consited of Graham Bonnet (vocals - ex-Rainbow / Michael Schenker Group), Yngwie Malmsteen (guitar - ex-Steeler), Gary Shea (bass - ex-New England), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards - also ex-New England) and Clive Burr of Iron Maiden fame. Burr was reportedly only in the band for a week, and left upon discovering the band was going to be based in the United States, as opposed to his native England. Burr was soon replaced byJan Uvena (drums - ex-Alice Cooper / Pointer Sisters). Shea dubbed the group "Alcatrazz". For the first album, the bulk of the material was written by Bonnet and Malmsteen, with Waldo contributing to several tracks.
The band's debut album, "No Parole from Rock 'n' Roll" was released in late 1983 on Rocshire Records. Decent support was given by MTV to the lead single, "Island in the Sun", which showed a heavy Rainbow influence. Despite the commercial nature of the song, it received little radio play. The album nonetheless spent 18 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaked at No. 128. A second video released in 1984 for "Hiroshima Mon Amour" became popular in Japan.
Rochsire then released '"Live Sentence" (1984), a concert recording with songs from both concerts of the recent tour of Japan at the Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo on January 28, 1984. Being discontent with the sonic qualities of the recording, Malmsteen tried to prevent the release of the album but failed. Some Rainbow covers were included, including "Since You Been Gone". The album peaked at No. 133 in the US. A live video concert was also produced. During this period, internal turmoil began surfacing within the band, between Malmsteen and Bonnet and Malmsteen left Alcatrazz.
Waldo replaced Malmsteen with former Frank Zappa guitarist Steve Vai, despite resistance from Bonnet, and the band signed with Capitol Records after Rocshire was shut down. With Steve Vai, the group worked on new material and then headlined another tour of Japan, which introduced Vai to the fans and allowed them to play new material from the upcoming album. A concert video was filmed from these dates. Vai left after recording the album '"Disturbing The Peace" to join David Lee Roth's solo band. The band released Disturbing the Peace in the spring of 1985. The album was produced by Eddie Kramer who had worked with Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Triumph, among others. "God Blessed Video" was the first single and video, yet MTV barely played it. The album peaked at No. 145 and charted for 16 weeks. Alcatrazz, however, could never break out of their small following, and had to cut a tour short due to financial problems. The band brought in Danny Johnson to replace Vai, and recorded the album '"Dangerous Games". The album had covers of the Animals' song "It's My Life" (one of the only rock-oriented tunes) and Marbles' song "Only One Woman". Bonnet had been a member of Marbles in the late 1960s when they had this hit in the UK. The Dangerous Games album failed to chart and shortly afterward, Johnson also quit to join the band Private Life. Disheartened by an ever-revolving door of guitarists, and dwindling album sales, they split up in 1987.
In 1998, the Renaissance Records label issued "The Best of Alcatrazz", a look back at the band's brief career. God Blessed Video appeared in the 2002 videogame soundtrack Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on fictional rock station V-Rock.
Bonnet reformed his version of the band in 2006 as Alcatrazz featuring Graham Bonnet with guitarist Howie Simon ( Jeff Scott Soto Band , Talisman ), drummer Glen Sobel ( Impellitteri , Beautiful Creatures , Tony MacAlpine ), and bassist Tim Luce and toured Japan in May and June 2007—sharing the headline with another ex- Rainbow vocalist, Joe Lynn Turner . Alcatrazz continued to perform live occasionally until 2014 with the drum stool changing from Sobel, to Dave Dzialak to Jeff Bowders to Bobby Rock until the band disbanded in 2016.
In March 2017, three-fifths of the original lineup (Bonnet, Waldo and Shea) reunited for three shows in Japan, which also included Conrado Pesinato and Mark Benquechea on guitar and drums respectively. The performances were recorded for the live album/DVD "Parole Denied - Tokyo 2017 (Live)", which was released on December 7, 2018.
In February 2019, Bonnet confirmed that he had once again resurrected Alcatrazz, with a new lineup featuring himself, Waldo and Benquechea, as well as guitarist Joe Stump and bassist Beth-Ami Heavenstone from Bonnet's namesake band. Heavenstone was replaced on bass in January 2020 by a returning Gary Shea. Alcatrazz's first studio album in 34 years, "Born Innocent", was released on July 31, 2020.
On December 4, 2020, it was announced Alcatrazz had parted ways with vocalist Graham Bonnet and had recruited vocalist Doogie White. Bonnet announced that he would "still be recording and performing with Alcatrazz", with a new lineup to be announced. On June 4, 2021, the first single from the White-fronted Alcatrazz, "Turn of the Wheel" was released. A few days later, Jeff Loomis (Nevermore, Sanctuary) was announced as the guitarist for the Bonnet-led line-up, now referred to as Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz.
On July 23, 2021, the White-fronted version of Alcatrazz released another single, "Sword of Deliverance", and announced that their fifth album, titled "V", would be released on October 15, 2021. Music video's were released for the singles "Turn of the Wheel" on June 4, 2021 and "Sword of Deliverance" on July 23, 2021.
The Alcatrazz line-up consisting of keyboardist Jimmy Waldo, bassist Gary Shea, lead vocalist Doogie White, guitarist Joe Stump and drummer Larry Paterson released their studio album "Take No Prisoners", on May 19, 2023.
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