Alcatrazz

Alcatrazz was one of the two stepping-stones for Malmsteen on his way to a successful solo career, along with his earlier stint with Steeler (USA). Though Malmsteen's guitar work was clearly heard on the two releases with the act that he played on, namingly No Parole From Rock'n'Roll (1984) and Live Sentence (1984; live) along with Graham Bonnet (ex-Rainbow/ex-Impellitteri/ex-Anthem/ex-Michael Schenker Group (M.S.G.); vocals), Gary Shea (bass), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards) and Jan Uvena (drums). Although Malmsteen got the notice, it was vocalist Graham Bonnet who, despite being very talented, had difficulty keeping himself employed in bands.

Live Sentence (1984), a live concert recording featuring songs from two concerts of the tour of Japan at the Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo on January 28, 1984 was released. The album also featured Rainbow cover tracks, of note Since You Been Gone; it would ultimately receive a 133 in the US.

Malmsteen left Alcatrazz soon later due to an altercation at the Oklahoma show in 1984 whereby an argument ensured between himself and Bonnet. A microphone was used as a stomach poker, accusations of sabotaged amplifiers and a full-out shouting match over nothing more than artistic jealousy ensued. Malmsteen would go on to form his own Rising Force soon after. Despite resistance from Bonnet, Waldo replaced Malmsteen with former Frank Zappa guitarist Steve Vai for Disturbing the Peace (1985) but this relationship didn't last either and Vai left amicably to join David Lee Roth's (ex-Van Halen) solo band in 1986. Vai would be replaced by the relatively unknown Danny Johnson (ex-Axis) replaced him for their final effort Dangerous Games (1986), an album that featured covers of the Animals' It's My Life and Marbles' Only One Woman; Bonnet had been a member of Marbles in the late 1960s when they had this hit in the UK. The album failed to chart and shortly afterward, Johnson also quit to join Private Life. The lack of sales forced the band to split in 1987.

For its part, getting at US 135, Disturbing the Peace (1985), unlike its predecessor, got barely any play on MTV.

In 1998, 'Renaissance Records' released The Best of Alcatrazz, a retrospective of the band's career.

Bonnet reformed his version of the band featuring guitarist Howie Simon (of Jeff Scott Soto Band, Talisman), drummer Glen Sobel (of Impellitteri, Beautiful Creatures, Tony MacAlpine), and bassist Tim Luce to tour Japan and eastern Europe in 2007; sharing the headline with ex-Rainbow vocalist, Joe Lynn Turner. After many live shows there-after, but no recordings, the act split again in 2014.

During all this, Alkatrazz signed with 'Capitol Records' after 'Rocshire', the now-previous label, was shut down when the owners were arrested for the embezzlement of millions of dollars.

A whole bunch of live and boxed sets would then arrive in the form of Live '83 live album (2010), The Ultimate Fortress Rock Set boxed set (2016), Breaking the Heart of the City - The Very Best of Alcatrazz 1983-1986 boxed set (2017), The Official Bootleg Box Set 1983-1986 - Live Demos Rehearsalsboxed set (2018) and Parole Denied - Tokyo 2017 live album (2018) fore the follow-up albums, Born Innocent (2020) and V (2021) would come along.

Musically Alcatrazz played light mainstream radio friendly heavy metal, plenty of flashy guitar work from Malmsteen and Vai but for some reason it never took off. The follow-up album Take No Prisoners (2023) would see the departure of Mark Benquechea in favor of Lawrence Paterson.