Alcatrazz Ex-Rainbow and MSG Vocalist Graham Bonnet Leads New Band Into Action There's no parole from rock and roll. That's the word from the members of a new Los Angeles-based heavy metal band, Alcatrazz. Although the group has been freshly put together, and has not had to work their way up through the local club circuit, Alcatrazz reportedly signed a big-money record contract because of their lineup. Alcatrazz is fronted by Graham Bonnet, the 35-year-old vocalist whose previous credits include stints with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group. Alcatrazz also has in custody an arresting 20-year-old guitarist from Sweden. Yngwie Malmsteen, who had previously drawn critical raves while doing time in another L.A. metal band, Steeler. Keyboardist Jimmy Waldo and bassist Gary Shea, both of whom used to play in the pop band New England, and drummer Jan Uvena round out the outfit. Other name musicians like Zal Cleminson, formerly of Nazareth, Aynsley Dunbar, once a member of Journey and ex-Iron Maiden member Clive Burr, were among the people considered for the band at one time or another. "We thought along the lines of getting a supergroup together but after listening back to the tapes of the rehearsals, we realized some of those people didn't fit the bill quite the way we thought they would," Bonnet explained from his home in the woods of southern California. "Clive didn't seem to work well during rehearsals. I don't know if it was due to jet lag or what. He seemed very tired. It wasn't anything personal." If anything, it's Bonnet that will carry the band for a while, at least until the public becomes aware of Alcatraz, as a group. Bonnet's screaming vocals are already familiar to rock fans via Rainbow's Down To Earth LP and the Michael Schenker Group's Assault Attack. "I was with Rainbow a couple of years and then I left," he said. "We did the gig at Castle Donnington, a big outdoor festival, which was the last gig Cozy Powell did. After Cozy left the band, it wasn't the same anymore because we're very close friends. A lot of the fun went out of it. It just became a job, and it seemed we were doing the same music over and over again, but slightly rehashed. It just seemed boring. We were rehearsing new songs in Copenhagen, and I wasn't very pleased about being there. Lots of little things put me off to the whole Rainbow thing and I left." Bonnet then did as a solo album, Line Up, which was never released in the United States. The LP featured Cozy Powell on drums, Russ Ballard on guitar and Whitesnake's keyboardist Jon Lord and guitarist Micky Moody among the all-star cast. Line Up featured a cover of the Kinks' Set Me Free and several songs by Ballard, who'd written Rainbow's Since You've Been Gone and I Surrender, and several other well known rock songs. Cozy then asked Bonnet to join the Michael Schenker Group. "Once again, Cozy left the band," Bonnet recalled. "He'd had a big fight with Michael and he'd had enough. Michael got Ted McKenna from Rory Gallagher's band and the rehearsals went on. I got bored. "The warmup gig with MSG was a disaster. I feft it was unimportant. I spent the day with the roadies and I got terribly drunk. I fucked up; I was shit-faced. My fly went, I wasn't wearing underpants and something fell out. I had to walk off stage. The audience went a bit crazy. I had to be smuggled back to the hotel. "The next day, I found the band had left me at the hotel with just two pounds. The band fired me because the manager thought I couldn't do the next gig, which was headlining the Reading Festival. I took the train to England. I was really upset. I was crying. I loved the band and I admire Michael a lot." Alcatrazz's No Parole From Rock And Roll marks the return of Bonnet to the music scene, and the first real opportunity for Americans to see guitar wiz Yngwie Malmsteen. But while Bonnet rejected the idea of retiring from the life of rock and roll, he was recently smacked in the face with the pie of reality. He's now the father of newborn twins, Aaron and Keeley, whom he admits have already changed his lifestyle. With two more mouths to feed, he says he's definitely going all out to give rock fans the music they've been waiting to hear. © Hit Parader Magazine - February 1984