For the sake of this feature, Alcatrazz is the band featuring keyboardist Jimmy Waldo, bassist Gary Shea and former vocalist Graham Bonnet. With all due respect to Bonnet, who is reportedly also working under the Alcatrazz name these days, but any cross-checking of historical information using Wikipedia or similar online sources is bound to give you a migraine. Thus, we are talking about the band that released three albums between 1983 and 1987 before things fell apart, then reunited for a one-off show in 2017, and finally got things in gear in 2020 to release a comeback record, Born Innocent. Three years later, they are three albums into their return with new outing Take No Prisoners, and a new singer.

Alcatrazz was officially dead from 1987 until 2006, when an official announcement was made stating Bonnet had launched a new band, Alcatrazz Featuring Graham Bonnet. The name never truly stuck - at least not in the press - and the outfit became known as The Graham Bonnet Band. This was ground zero for the return of the real Alcatrazz.

"Graham was doing The Graham Bonnet Band, and I hadn't seen him in years because we were both busy doing our own thing," Waldo begins. "His manager called me, introduced himself, and asked if I'd be interested in playing on a couple songs for his new record. I said sure, absolutely, so they sent me some tracks and I played on them, and they were so happy with the results that they asked if I wanted to play on some more songs. At that point I figured I should hook up with Graham again so we could talk. He lived about 20 minutes from me, so I went over and we hung out, and from there I started playing on more material from The Graham Bonnet Band. Then we did a second record, and after that we decided we should do Alcatrazz again."

Unfortunately, the Born Innocent reunion was short-lived, as in December of 2020 Bonnet decided to quit due to issues with management. He announced his intention to continue using the Alcatrazz name soon after. Whether this is an amicable arrangement / situation, not even Waldo knows, nor does he seem bothered by it.

"I'm not in touch with Graham at all so I don't know what he's doing, to be honest with you," he says. "I see things about The Graham Bonnet Band, but other than that I'm so busy doing the other stuff that I've got going on. I'm also not on social media; I can't relate to that stuff, because in the three or four hours spent on a computer I could practice and write a song (laughs). There's also way too much negativity on Facebook, with people trashing bands and music and other people."

Among the diehards, Alcatrazz is heralded as the jump-off point for Swedish guitar legend, Yngwie Malmsteen, in 1983 even though he made his Stateside debut with Steeler only months earlier. He was an integral part of the band's legendary debut, No Parole From Rock N' Roll. This is an important reference in that the band ultimately came as close to full circle as they could get by enlisting Joe Stump for their comeback. Waldo sings Stump's praises, and he has nothing but good things to say about Malmsteen and his Alcatrazz 1984 replacement, Steve Vai.

"I haven't spoked to Yngwie in years, but we parted ways on good terms," Waldo reveals. "Good vibes. I got along with Yngwie. We had our moments, that's for sure, but generally speaking Yngwie and I had a ball together. We wrote songs together, we had fun. I'm still friends with Steve Vai, and we talk fairly often. Steve has worked with Yngwie a lot, and he said the experience has always been great. Steve didn't play with Yngwie back in the day, so he didn't experience any of the childish stuff (laughs), but Steve says he loves working with Yngwie. I'd love to see him again."

As for choosing Stump and vocalist Doogie White to join Alcatrazz, Waldo said it ultimately came down to personal chemistry as much as it did talent.

"Choosing Doogie as our new singer was easy because I had heard the albums he recorded with Yngwie and Michael Schenker. I've always loved Doogie's voice and his writing, I like his lyrical direction. I saw him perform the Michael Schenker Fest show at the Roxy in Los Angeles, which featured him, Graham, Robin McAuley and the other guys singing; me and Graham were working together at the time but things weren't going well. Graham did his thing and he did a good job, then Doogie came out, went to the front of the stage, and grabbed the audience by the throat. He sang his ass of. My wife looked at me and said, 'There's your singer, right there.' This was before we had put Alcatrazz back together. I got to know him over the years since then, and I've always liked him as a person. Doogie and his wife are such cool people, we get along great, so when it was time, we asked him to join and he said yes."

"With Joe, we needed a guitar player after two unsuccessful attempts with other guys. To put it simply, we needed more of that Yngwie thing. Our manager and I, we'd been through two nightmares - basically, stuff that didn't work in The Graham Bonnet Band - so we got on the internet together and just scoured it from the rolodex of names that he had. He knows a lot of people (laughs). We boiled it down to four or five guys and went through them one by one, and one of them was Joe Stump. I knew Joe was a bad-ass player, and I'd always heard good things about him as a person. He had a good reputation, so we just called him up and he said he'd love to give it a shot. He already knew the material, so at that point it was a foregone conclusion that he was our guy. Joe flew to LA, we jammed, and it was like he'd always been there. He had the material down, and as a person I just love the guy."

Waldo and Shea may be the sole remaining original members of Alcatrazz, but they consider White and Stump to be equals. As such, they contributed to Take No Prisoners and the previous album, V, from top to bottom.

"When Joe came in we said 'Have at it...' I'd heard his writing and it was perfect for Alcatrazz, a continuation of No Parole From Rock N' Roll. That's the way I've kinda looked at this since Joe's been in the band, because now we have a good foundation to do that. I love that record, and as a keyboard player I've never been intimidated by guitar players. I love playing with guys that are better players than me. Playing with Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen, to me that was just the best, and with Joe it's the same. Joe's an amazing player and that pulls me up, it makes me work harder. So, by no means did we try to dictate how things should go; they knew what to do. Doogie did what I like Doogie for lyrically, direction-wise, and vocally. He was right there in the thick of things. It was a seamless transition."

As for how Stump and White tackle classic Alcatrazz material when they hit the stage, not surprisingly Waldo has only good things to say.

"It's great. Joe plays the songs correctly (laughs), but more importantly, he plays the old songs with what I call reckless abandon. Everything he plays, every night. Yngwie was like that; he's a very clean player but overall he attacks the guitar. And this is not a put-on, it's not poser stuff for video. Joe plays the songs the way they're supposed to be played."

It's a worn-out cliché to say that Take No Prisoners has that warm '80s sound some folks mistake for nostalgia and others call authenticity, but it's as simple as that. If you're a fan of that sound, or old enough to truly appreciate it, the album's production values will put a shit-eating grin on your face.

"We didn't think about that," Waldo admits. "It's just that Joe records through a Marshall. He's got a collection of Marshalls in his basement, so that's what we used... and maybe one distortion pedal. There was nothing high-tech or fancy about that. It was the same thing with the bass because Gary Shea plays direct through an Ampeg, and the keyboards I use, even though they may be software, it's all old school sounds and old school stuff. And the drums, they were recorded in a concrete room in Italy with the sound dampened by T-shirts hanging on the walls and a wine press that couldn't be moved. If it had been any more old school there wouldn't have been any drums (laughs)."

In spite of their scattershot history, Take No Prisoners marks Alcatrazz's 40th Anniversary. Asked for his thoughts on having lasted as a professional musician from 1983 until now, Waldo says he doesn't really acknowledge the passage of time.

"I've never stopped, so for me there is no looking back. I just keep going. The Alcatrazz thing fell apart after the third record and we all went and did our own thing. I worked with Quiet Riot, I worked with Vinnie Vincent for a long time, so I was always doing something. Now, today, I've continued with Alcatrazz and we just keep going. I feel the same now as I did back then. That's the same Hammond B3 in the corner back there that I used on the first record, and I used it on Take No Prisoners. Really, 2023 feels like 1983 to me."