ALCATRAZZ - The "Real" Band Is Writin'!
by Martin Popoff

Hard rock icons ALCATRAZZ are preparing tracks for a fourth album. Known for their three studio albums and one live album back in the early '80s, featuring three big name guitarists - YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, STEVE VAI and DANNY JOHNSON - the band broke up after 1986's Dangerous Games, leaving as a legacy, most pertinently, their No Parole For Rock 'n' Roll debut from 1983.

Now they are back, even if vocalist GRAHAM BONNET is not on board, and a new guitarist, Stig Mathisen, is in the lineup filling some big boots. The rest of the band is original, consisting of Jimmy Waldo on keyboards and vocals, Jan Uvena on drums and vocals and Gary Shea on bass - a new vocalist will be announced shortly. (The band's myspace page is www.myspace.com/therealalcatrazz).

"Gary and I and Jan, the drummer, have wanted to do something for a few years," explains Jimmy. "And we tried to put it together in 2001. We tried to put it together with Yngwie, just basically a one-off, do a record, with Yngwie and Graham. And Yngwie was really cool. But he was just in a position where he felt he would need a lot of the money. And it just wasn't realistic. And I understand his point - he's a draw. And I said, well, let's think about that. But in the meantime, let's get moving on the music and on playing, and then we'll work out the details before we turn on anything."

"And then I called Graham, and we just couldn't match our schedules. So there wasn't any bad vibes. And I just said well, we can do this and we can all make some money and it will be fun, and we'll make a great record. I told Yngwie I'll fly to Florida, we'll work in his studio and we'll do it his way; I don't have any problem working down there. I can stay in Miami for a month or whatever, I don't care. And he and I must've talked ten times. We get along really good. There are no bad vibes at all. He was really honest with me, but it never worked out."

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