Alcatrazz is a melodic Classic Metal band formed in 1983 in Los Angeles by Graham Bonnet, Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea.

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History

The band's initial line-up consisted of Graham Bonnet (lead vocals), Yngwie Malmsteen (guitar), Gary Shea (bass), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards, vocals) and Jan Uvena (drums, vocals). Shea And Waldo were previously members of the group New England. Uvena had worked with Alice Cooper. Malmsteen had recently come to the US and joined the band Steeler for one album. Alcatrazz's material was written by Bonnet and either Malmsteen or Vai, with Waldo co-writing on a few select tracks. Shea dubbed the group "Alcatrazz".

The band's debut album "No Parole From Rock 'N' Roll" surfaced in late 1983 on Rocshire Records. MTV gave decent support to the lead single "Island In The Sun" which showed a heavy Rainbow influence. Surprisingly, despite the commercial nature of the song, it barely received any radio play. The album still spent 18 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaked at #128. A second video was released in 1984 for "Hiroshima Mon Amour" which became very popular in Japan. Creative differences between Malmsteen and Bonnet surfaced while on tour. Due to this and his admitted desire to begin a solo career, Malmsteen quit in 1984 and formed his own band Rising Force who signed with Polydor Records. Rochsire then put out "Live Sentence", a concert recording from the recent tour of Japan. A live video concert was also produced. Malmsteen tried to prevent the release of the album but failed. A few Rainbow covers were thrown in, including the classic "Since You've Been Gone". The album would reach #133 in the US. Waldo replaced Malmsteen with Steve Vai, former Frank Zappa guitarist, despite resistance from Bonnet, and the band signed with Capitol Records. 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.

Disturbing The Peace was released 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 #145 and charted for a solid 16 weeks, but Alcatrazz could never break out of their small following. A tour had to be cut short due to financial problems. Steve Vai left in order to join David Lee Roth's solo band in 1986 and the split was on good terms as it was an offer Vai could not refuse. He was replaced by guitarist Danny Johnson (ex-Axis and Rod Stewart), who recorded what would become Alcatrazz's final studio album, "Dangerous Games", which was released in the fall of 1986. There were covers of The Animals classic "It's My Life" (one of the only Rock oriented tunes) and Marbles' "One Good Woman". Bonnet had been a member of Marbles in the late 60's when they had this hit in the UK. The album failed to chart. 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 label issued "The Best Of Alcatrazz" which was a solid look back at the band's all-too brief career.

"God Blessed Video" appeared in the 2002 videogame soundtrack Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on Rock station "V-Rock", a fictional radio station in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

Bonnet has reformed his version of the band 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 did a tour of Japan in May/June 2007. This tour was co-headlined with another ex-Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. As he revealed in a recent interview, it was Howie Simon's suggestion to bring back the Alcatrazz name ^[1]. They also headlined the BerkRock festival in Berkovitsa, Bulgaria in July of 2008 and have played various West Coast USA dates including support slots for Y&T. Their new website is located at . They are currently writing their new CD, to be released in early 2009.

The full story of Alcatrazz can be found at http://www.myspace.com/alcatrazzbio which Eddie Kramer calls "the most truthful account of Alcatrazz I have ever seen".

Band members

Current line-up - Alcatrazz (featuring Graham Bonnet)

• Graham Bonnet - Lead vocals
• Howie Simon - Guitars
• Tim Luce - Bass
• Glen Sobel - Drums, percussion, backing vocals

Former members

• Jimmy Waldo - Keyboards, Co-founder (1983-1987)
• Gary Shea - Bass, Co-founder (1983-1987)
• Jan Uvena - Drums (1983-1987)
• Yngwie Malmsteen - Guitars (1983-1984)
• Steve Vai - Guitars (1984-1986)
• Danny Johnson - Guitars, backing vocals (1986-1987)

References

1. Interview on Rockpages.gr