Alcatrazz

As part of the Graham Bonnet Band's 2017 "The Book" tour in Japan, a three night special engagement and reunion of Alcatrazz was presented much to the the light of the Japanese hard rock faithful.Founding Alcatrazz members, Graham Bonnet (vocals), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards) and Gary Shea (bass), reunited after 33 years for a unique series of shows in Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo, Japan in March 2017…

Alcatrazz is an English-American heavy metal band formed in 1983 by Graham Bonnet, Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea. They are best known for their songs "Island in the Sun" and "God Blessed Video", and have gone through a number of line-up changes, leaving Bonnet as the only constant member. The band is also notable for featuring a previously-unknown Yngwie Malmsteen, who was the guitarist of Alcatrazz during 1983–1984, and was subsequently replaced by Steve Vai and then by Danny Johnson…

Even the mightiest of ships can falter in the fact of an insurmountable storm, yet despite losing their iconic front man, guitar god dominated shred trustees Alcatrazz have returned as strong as ever with a familiar voice at the helm…

There is a certain charm to an album like this from a historical standpoint, particularly for anybody who still wanted a more flashy and fun style of metal/rock that cut against the "Alternative" ideal of dumbed down songwriting and morose or mundane lyrics about how much the world sucks, because this is about as clear of a rejection of the decade it was born from that one could find. It embodies the same sort of fantastical escapism that would occupy the early days of lighter, fantasy-oriented bands like Freedom Call and Edguy while also being a bit more retro in character, perhaps most closely dovetailing with the somewhat later reformation and restyled incarnation of Domain…

Highway Sentinels is a project created by Steven Rosen and Jimmy Waldo. Steven, himself a legendary author, journalist and guitar enthusiast going back to the 1970s, be it traveling on a plane with Led Zeppelin or as a close friend of Eddie Van Halen, he has always been at the forefront of rock journalism and its surrounding culture…

This album, released in 1988, was the first album for the new lineup of the band. After the shock departure of (due to stress and pressure to perform mounting on) vocalist Eizo Sakamoto, the band looked set to either disband or take a nosedive in terms of popularity. They did neither. Vocalist Yukio Morikawa, who had previously auditioned when previous vocalist Sakamoto Eizo got the job after the band narrowing it down to these two, was called back to see what would have happened had he joined…

Although Graham Bonnet is quite rightly best known for fronting the melodic hard rock of Rainbow, MSG and Alcatrazz, his career goes back to the 1960s, and his initial breakthrough as part of The Marbles in 1968…

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this long lost album from the rock vocalist. Although the Skegness-born Graham Bonnet is probably best known for the melodic hard rock he fronted in the 1980s with Ritchie's Blackmore Rainbow, The Michael Schenker Group, and his own band, Alcatrazz, his musical odyssey started with a duo called The Marbles in 1968…

It must get increasingly difficult for veteran acts to remain relevant in the mainstream rock/pop industry. Big name metal bands from the 80s don’t seem to struggle so much, but it’s a different thing to be on Top Of The Pops in 1974, then remain a force to be reckoned with in those same circles. Enter Michigan rocker Suzi Quatro: the most badass bitch the rock ‘n’ roll world ever did see…