Graham Bonnet Good Riddance Alcatrazz's Graham Bonnet sheds no tears over the departure of Yngwie Malmsteen The Transatlantic 'dog and bone' lines are sizzling with the heat and intensity of a Turkish sauna on a busy Friday night in Soho... "He's an ignorant little sod, a starstruck little arsehole who started believing everything the press had to say about him almost before the press had learnt to spell his name!" I'm yapping and flapping down the receiver to Mr. Graham Bonnet, and I've just asked him why Yngwie Malmsteen, the fiery lead guitarist with the vocalist's band, Alcatrazz, is no longer a member of the group. So come on Graham, gimme some of those of musical differences blues, huh? "No, no, no," he roars. "It wasn't really anything to do with, er, 'musical differences' or any of that crap; it's just that he thought he was the Son of Blackmore or something equally ridiculous!" You mean he started playing mind games and... "Naw, he was just a real pain in the ass. When he left we gave him a huge mirror to stand in front of and pose his little ass off." Yeah, but was there anything, uh, interesting on it, Graham? "You must be joking! We certainly wouldn't give away any coke to the likes of him!" Well, well, well, this is all very pleasant and heart-warming, I must say. But can we speak candidlyfor a moment, Graham? Who's the replacement? After all, young Yngwie always struck me as quite an asset; visually, technically... "Well, we've got a guy now called Steve Vai who played with Frank Zappa for about three years and, as far as we can tell, he's the man for the job." But Yngwie was responsible for at least 50 per cent of the material on the first Alcatrazz album, 'No Parole From Rock 'N' Roll', right? So who's going to be filling that role in the band now? "Well, we're rehearsing material for the new album right now and the whole band (Vai on guitar, Gary Shea on bass, Jan Uvena on drums and Jimmy Waldo on keyboards) are sharing the writing credits with me." Who's going to be producing the album? "We've got hold of Eddie Kramer, who's worked with people like Hendrix in the past, and, more currently, Fastway. We haven't gone into full production yet but we're looking forward to it, and, anyway, if he's no good we can always kick him out," he laughs. I can feel the lines starting to vibrate and buzz again... Tell me about the live Alcatrazz LP, 'Live Sentence...' For instance, why did it only come out in Japan? "Yeah, I suppose it's sort of unusual to put out a live album as your second release, but then the band are very, very big in Japan. We're something like second top band there. It's a great scene over there, the fans treat you like you're the bleeding Beatles or something." And they do give very good massages, right? "Absolutely! In fact, you've just hit on the real reason why we try so hard in Japan... the massages and the hot baths, yeah!" So when can we expect a UK visit from Alcatrazz? "Soon enough, mate, soon enough. But first we've got the new album to record, and then we're gonna be doing some dates in the States before heading off to Japan and Australia again." Come on, Graham, we promise not to laugh if your trousers fall down this time... "Oh God, tell me about it! I don't think anybody's ever going to forget that awful night with Schenker. But really all that happened was that my pants split onstage and the rest was just made-up and distorted from there." © Mick Wall, Kerrang 1984