Alcatrazz have responded to former singer Graham Bonnet’s recent remarks regarding the band’s current Line-up.
“Graham, thank you for the free PR… the Alcatrazz name has been trending quite nicely over the holidays. In a recent interview you seem to have had your say, so now we will have ours:
You claim our current line-up contains, in your opinion… a lack of musical merit, or that the musicians in our current line-up have no connection to, nor the right to perform or record as Alcatrazz… let’s look under the hood a bit to your reasoning as to why…
Despite the fact that we have two original founding members (whom you have willingly, and certainly when it suited you happily worked with more than once at numerous stages in your musical career), one of whom named the band “Alcatrazz” — plus a guitarist that you yourself claimed in interviews at the time was “perfect for the Alcatrazz band”… someone that you yourself “fully endorsed” back in 2019 to record and co-write our “Born Innocent” album, when you were still in the band.
Perhaps you could check in with your apparent new friend Bruce Dickinson… as Bruce’s own keyboard player Maestro Mistheria is currently in a band with our guitarist… Mr. Joe Stump… that band is called Tower Of Babel… small world isn’t it?…we are sure Bruce likely has better things to do though.
The balance of your comments are also all a bit hypocritical, as aside from yourself not one member of your current solo band has any connection to these songs (nor to the songs of Rainbow or M.S.G. which you perform).
In fact many of the songs that you are known by: “Since You Been Gone” “All Night Long” “Night Games” “Warm Ride” “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” “Only One Woman” (to name a few) you didn’t write a single part of any of them yourself… yet you continue to trade off this material whenever you perform live, on recent re-recordings, live albums and compilations of your work… How many more versions of Russ Ballard’s “Since You Been Gone” are you going to re-record?… as many as you like we assume, but your apparent faulty logic of >writers being the only ones who have a right to perform a song< doesn’t compute.
Again; we have two original founding members in our line-up and a guitarist who has been in the band longer than any other guitarist previous.
The version of Rainbow that you were in bore little resemblance in sound or image of the original Rainbow band, yet in our opinion was no less valid… so by your logic as you didn’t write anything with Rainbow, should you be dismissed in equal measure as some kind of imposter Rainbow member when you are out performing those songs? … You do seem to have a habit of shifting the rules around depending on what suits you best.
You have claimed that you have seen videos of our live show and deem us to be “terrible”… you have also made recent comments in the press that you also cannot listen to yourself on similar such videos as they also sound “terrible”… so we suppose, in your estimation, that there isn’t much hope for any of us… God-Damned Video!
You also seem a bit “put-out” that Jimmy recently spoke to the press regarding your lip-synching and running of pre-recorded vocal tracks to cover for your vocal issues live (an absolute truth during Jimmy’s tenure both in your solo band and in Alcatrazz)…
Would you care to take a lie detector test to settle this once and for all? — as we would be happy to also do so… are you up for the challenge?… anytime!
There was of course no mention by you of the fact that you had no problem (for years) stating numerous falsehoods publicly about Jimmy Waldo… not least of all your ridiculous claim that he had “stolen” the main theme from the Alcatrazz song “Island In The Sun” directly from Van Halen’s “Jump” (?)… But wait!, we have a slight timeline problem there, as Jimmy wrote that piece while a member of New England in 1981… it was released in 1983, still some months prior to the release of the Van Halen song (the two songs have nothing in common by the way).
In reality it was Jimmy who would pitch correct your vocals on the records, prepare the pre-recorded live tracks for you to lip-synch to, and basically save your arse night after night — so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that once you decided to take shots at our band and at Jimmy, that we decided (after THREE years of saying nothing about you at all) that enough was enough and he gave it back to you with both barrels fully loaded!.
Jimmy Waldo; as a member of New England, A-Z, Warlord and someone who has performed numerous sessions for the likes of Quiet Riot, Pretty Maids, WASP, and many more, doesn’t need to make up stories about Graham Bonnet to get attention.
You make no mention of the fact that three international trademark courts dismissed your claim to the “Alcatrazz” trademark, for the simple fact that you quit-the-band (!) back in 2020 and that the band contractually was never ever your solo project… a narrative that you are still trying to push, proving once and for all that your ego is still your worst enemy.
Now conveniently enough you say that the Alcatrazz name is an embarrassment to you and you have no desire to be known by it any longer.
You didn’t like Alcatrazz when the great Doogie White (ex Rainbow, Michael Schenker, Malmsteen) was singing for us, nor do you like it now that Giles Lavery (Warlord, Jack Starr, Dragonsclaw) is singing for us. Actually you told us you didn’t like the music of Alcatrazz when YOU were a member either.
Which is fair enough… we quite liked your last solo album by the way… apart from that song “David’s Mom” … which was crap!… We all have opinions, so let’s let the fans make up their own minds.
You seem to make a big deal of the fact that our singer (Giles Lavery) is also our manager and was at one time your manager…a man of many talents indeed (but not in the kitchen!)… you make this comment in some kind of attempt to diminish his work as a vocalist (as mentioned above he also sings quite successfully as member of, and for: Warlord, Jack Starr’s band and Dragonsclaw).
Again, your hypocrisy is palpable — Your own bass player is your current manager, of course she is also your girlfriend (and driver, nurse and landlady)… and speaking of musical merit, she herself did not actually play the bass on the Graham Bonnet Band albums (you can ask your guitarist Conrado more about that!) …Oh…did someone just say “Spinal Tap”…?
We continue to record and tour internationally quite successfully without you… so you do your thing and we will do ours.” Alcatrazz (with two Z’s)
Last year BraveWords Records released ‘Prior Convictions‘, the new album by Alcatrazz. ‘Prior Convictions‘ contains newly re-recorded versions of nine 1980s era Alcatrazz songs, all featuring new vocalist Giles Lavery. Plus two brand new band compositions ‘Transylvanian Requiem‘ and ‘Stand And Wait Your Turn‘.
Stream or purchase ‘Prior Convictions‘ – here
Tracklisting:
- Transylvanian Requiem (New Song)
- Stand And Wait Your Turn (New Song)
- Jet To Jet (2025)
- Starr Carr Lane (2025)
- Hiroshima Mon Amour (2025)
- Island In The Sun (2025)
- Too Young To Die, Too Drunk To Live (2025)
- God Blessed Video (2025)
- Skyfire (2025)
- General Hospital (2025)
- Kree Nakoorie (2025)
Credits:
Produced Jimmy Waldo
Mixed & Mastered by Andy Haller
All songs recorded 2025
Line-up:
Giles Lavery – Vocals
Joe Stump – Guitar
Jimmy Waldo – Keys
Gary Shea – Bass
Mark Benquechea – Drums
About Alcatrazz:
Alcatrazz, formed in 1983 in Los Angeles, has been as well known for the legendary players and singers who have passed throughout the bands ranks as much as they have for their music.
Formed originally by the trio of Jimmy Waldo, Gary Shea (both fresh from late 70’s hitmakers New England and the short lived band Warrior featuring a pre-Kiss Vinnie Vincent) along with vocalist Graham Bonnet (himself with impressive credentials having been a then recent member of Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group) the band set about completing the line up with drummer Jan Uvena (formerly of Alice Cooper) and a then very young Yngwie Malmsteen, a guitarist who had quickly made a name for himself upon arriving in the USA in the early 80s. The band issued their now classic debut ‘No Parole From Rock N Roll‘ album (1983) which was met with universal critical acclaim. Yngwie was soon to depart in favor of Steve Vai just in time for the bands second album ‘Disturbing The Peace‘ (1985).
Web Links:
About BraveWords Records:
There is a serious void which desperately needs to be filled, hard-working and creative bands that have yet to find a partnership and a mutual vision with a professional team. The music-fuelled minds behind BraveWords Records, Brian Adams, Giles Lavery, Tim Henderson and Michael Brandvold, have built the ultimate home for an artist that will take you where you want to be. Collectively, with nearly 100 years of music industry experience under our belts, the BraveWords Records team will take care of all the crucial aspects of your project from global distribution (digital and physical), publicity and media coverage (web, radio, visual), social media blanketing and streaming opportunities (such as Streaming For Vengeance). Where most labels have forgotten the concept of actually marketing a release sensibly, BraveWords Records will construct a viable and comprehensive marketing plan, including visibility at BraveWords.com, which attracts a million visitors monthly. BraveWords Records has all senses on high alert as the music industry continues its never-ending transitioning, so the artist will always be aware of new opportunities to build their brand and strive for world domination. BraveWords will also have a focus on licensing film and TV content, both contemporary and retrospective across many genres. As artists and labels transition to the many new mediums available today for their work, BraveWords intends to stay ahead of the curve in providing and actively seeking opportunities for our roster of clients.
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