A special Metal Voice report on a three night ALCATRAZZ special engagement as part of THE GRAHAM BONNET BAND‘s 2017 “The Book” tour in Japan. Parole Denied in Japan Report.

Founding members Graham Bonnet vocals, Jimmy Waldo keyboards and Gary Shea bass of the 80’s supergroup ALCATRAZZ reunite in Japan after 33 years.

Watch the report here:

The report includes In Depth interviews with Graham Bonnet Band, their travels and tells the complete back story of the rise and fall and rise of the Alcatrazz band. Watch as both bands immerse themselves in the Japanese culture and are embraced by the Japanese people.

American Hard Rock band ALCATRAZZ Formed in 1983 by former Rainbow and Michael Schenker Group vocalist Graham Bonnet along with Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea and made three albums in the 1980’s.The band debut album included young Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and their second album guitar virtuoso Steve Vai.

THE GRAHAM BONNET BAND includes Graham Bonnet, Vocals / Conrado Pesinato, Guitar / Beth-Ami Heavenstone, Bass and New Drummer Mark Benquechea

The Report was produced by Jimmy Kay and Giles Lavery for The Metal Voice along with narration by Beth-Ami Heavenstone

Some of the Report Highlights

New Drummer Mark Benquechea  replaces Mark Zonder for the Graham Bonnet Band  (3:00)
“I’m the new member I replaced Mark Zonder which has been a really great experience for me, Zonder is a great drummer and filling his shoes are pretty big shoes to fill. ” Mark Benquechea

Yngwie Malmsteen contributions to Alcatrazz (8:50)
“He was hungry at the time he was 19 years old and was a tremendous asset to the band, he really put his heart into it, he wanted to prove himself and I thought to myself one day this kid is going to go on his own and eventually he did. ” Graham Bonnet

Yngwie’s Malmsteen departure from Alcatrazz (11:50)
“Our manager was a drug addict. He was more focused on  making Yngwie a star and so it really hurt the band as he neglected the rest of us and wasn’t as interested in Graham  and that really hurt. Yngwie was destined to be his own guy, to be a solo artist, so when we split with him it was a mutual agreement.” Jimmy Waldo

“I blame our manager for the deterioration of Alcatrazz because  he split the group up internally to focus on Yngwie’s career, he went on to manage Yngwie, we fired him as a manager. ” Jimmy Waldo

Guitarist Steve Vai’s time in Alcatrazz and his departure to David Lee Roth Band (28:23)
I think Steve Vai was a completely different guitar player from anyone I ever played with, he is very inventive, wasn’t  really into the so called Heavy Metal genre. ” Graham Bonnet

Former and late Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr’s audition with Alcatrazz ( 18:36)
“Clive Burr  came down and played with us for a couple days, it just didn’t work out,  he wasn’t in great shape, he hadn’t played in a while, it just wasn’t working, he wasn’t the right drummer for the band. Andy (manager) wanted the Iron Maiden tag, he wanted to be able to use that it would really help the band. ” Jimmy Waldo

Alcatrazz’s third album and their demise  (34:00)
“I think we should have stuck to the previous format we veered too far away from what we did best.” Jimmy Waldo

“To me it was a failure, we lost the heart and soul of the band and eventually fell to pieces because guitarist Danny Johnson left because he had another job offer.” Graham Bonnet