Alcatrazz’s Jimmy Waldo recently sat down for a conversation with VWMusic and talked about the times when Steve Vai replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in his band.
Malmsteen made his debut with Alcatrazz in their first studio album, ‘No Parole from Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ released in 1983. Later, he was fired from the band after having problems with his bandmate Graham Bonnet. After the heavy metal band parted ways with Yngwie Malmsteen in 1984, Steve Vai took the guitar for Alcatrazz. Steve Vai’s tenure in the band was also short-lived. Vai served as the lead guitarist for the album ‘Disturbing the Peace.’
When Steve Vai joined the band, Alcatrazz was working on new material for their upcoming album. The band went on a Japan tour with Vai to promote their upcoming release while the album preparations continued. All this took about a year, and at the end of a year, Vai had to leave the band after receiving an offer he couldn’t refuse from David Lee Roth. It is also known that his departure from the group did not cause any problems between him and the other members.
In a recent interview with VWMusic, Alcatrazz’s Jimmy Waldo spoke about Steve Vai’s replacement for Yngwie Malmsteen. First of all, Waldo revealed that Yngwie’s departure from the band was not very surprising for them and he did not have any hard feelings about it. He said that they looked for a guitarist to replace him for a while. According to him, at one point in this search, they auditioned with Steve Vai and liked him as soon as they heard him playing.
Saying that they liked his ‘reckless abandoned’ attitude and really good energy most, Waldo explained that Vai’s musical talent was also impressive. He concluded his speech by adding that he was proud of the different tone of ‘Disturbing the Peace’ from its predecessor, but that the album was not liked by the fans.
Here is Jimmy Waldo’s statements about Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen:
“Yngwie always wanted to have his own band; it was no surprise that he eventually left. There were no bad feelings about that; he finished the tour we were on, then left. We looked for another guitar player for a while, but when we played with Steve, it just seemed right.
He had this reckless abandoned thing and really good energy, which I really loved, not to mention amazing chops. ‘Disturbing the Peace’ is a record I was and am very proud of, but the change in direction from ‘No Parole from Rock ‘n’ Roll’ really didn’t work; that is what the fans wanted.”
Alcatrazz was disbanded and reunited at different times and had different versions. However, their recent reunion in 2019 led to something interesting. The band members started having some internal disagreements in 2020 and due to these, the band broke up again. From this split, two separate Alcatrazz line-ups, the Waldo-Shea-Stump-Benquechea line-up, and the Graham Bonnet-led line-up emerged.
