Aug. 26, 2025

ALCATRAZZ Re-Record Jet To Jet for PRIOR CONVICTIONS

Show Notes
Transcript

BraveWords Records releases the re-record of "Jet To Jet" by Alcatrazz. The single is available today on all digital services.

In advance of their forthcoming 2026 studio album, Alcatrazz reveal a new release to land just in time for their extensive November/December European tour. PRIOR CONVICTIONS contains newly re-recorded versions of nine 1980s era Alcatrazz songs, all featuring new vocalist Giles Lavery. Plus two brand new band compositions “Transylvanian Requiem” and “Stand And Wait Your Turn”.

While founding members Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea continue the Alcatrazz musical legacy they started in 1983! Giles Lavery (Warlord/Jack Starr/Dragonsclaw) honors that same muscial legacy of these classic metal anthems and proves that he is indeed the right choice to take the band forward into their next Heavy Metal chapter!

Alcatrazz hit the road in Europe later this year with Girlschool.

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Hey, you have done to censure for see Wow for

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you young.

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Ro the Short Trip, We made a lightning and we

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were strangers in time?

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How the start is made up? And ships?

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Where the rock road.

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Stop?

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Why? I'm a radio.

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This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe

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Man W four C Y Radio. I'm very excited about

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our next guest because I'm a fan of theirs for

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decades and some really cool new stuff going on. So

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let's welcome to the show. Jimmy from Alcatraz. How are you?

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I'm good? How are you good to be here?

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I'm doing great. My first question is how do you

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guys always get such amazing musicians throughout the decades.

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You know, it happens organically. We don't audition people. We

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just it just kind of people. We know, people that

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know people, kind of thing and word of mouth. You know,

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somebody will say, oh I heard Alcatraz is looking for somebody,

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you know whatever. But typically they're friends of friends or

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like Joe Stump for instance, we started working with him

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years ago. Joe. I knew about Joe. I didn't know Joe,

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but I knew about Joe, and I didn't know what

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he was doing. And then when on and searched and

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looked and found out, you know, his information emailed and

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we talked immediately. I was in California at the time,

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he was in New York. We talked and in five

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minutes you could tell he was he was a great,

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great guy, and he said, yeah, I'll come out, we'll play.

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So I think he came out the next week and

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he walked in the room and we just counted the

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songs off and played.

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Wow.

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There was no talk, there was no rehearsal. Oh well,

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let's let's work on this one. This is the way

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we do this. He just played. So that was a

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real organic thing that just you know, worked out. Great drummers.

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We did auditioned Mark Bancachea for the Grand Bonnet Band

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actually and him, and then we just kept working with

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that love. Mark loved his drumming. He just couldn't tour anymore.

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So, yeah, it's tough when we start getting on in years, right,

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I think that.

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And Mark was faced with the you know, he had

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an amazing job. He lives in la He had an

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amazing job, and he was getting time off work no problem.

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And then they clamped down and just said he can't

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do that anymore. He had to make a decision and

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he just you know, it didn't make sense. So Giles

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was the manager of the Grand Bonnet Band, and I

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knew Giles and I were friends from way back. And

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then we would do sound checks in the Grand Bonnet

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Band when we'd be touring and Graham wasn't there most

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of the time for soundchecks, so Giles would sing it. Wow,

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he would come up and sing so we could get

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our monitors together stuff, and he was killing the stuff.

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I mean, just you know, singing the shit out of it.

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So uh that when the time came, you know, we

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got Doogie and Dougie was great, but Dougie had to

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move on. He was doing his own thing, and so

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Giles was the obvious choice. Really, there was no auditions

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or looking around. It was like, you know, he was

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the obvious choice. So that's how that happened.

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I love stories like that though, because it's like that's

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how you really could discover gold. Sometimes it's just a

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mistake or something happens or fill in, Like I know

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a bunch of texts like guitar and drum techs that

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end up in the band because yeah, they know all

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the songs like, so they can take over in a heartbeat.

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Well, it's like Elwood from zz Top. You know. Elwood

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was Steve Wie's guitar our tech for a while and

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he would come out to rehearsal and we worked together,

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and I knew Elwood from years ago. And then I

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hear all he's got a gig was Eazy Top. He's

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a guitar tech for zz Top and a bass tech.

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I thought, oh, that's cool, and then then he ended

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up playing bass so amazing, Like he just fits right

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in with those guys. So yeah, there you go.

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Yeah, and it's kind of like, you know, Ozzy just

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passed away recently, but same type of thing. It's like

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all of a sudden, like Randy, I think he was

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just tuning his guitar and he was like, you're hired,

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you know type of thing. Yeah, yeah, kind of how

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it happens. I think organically that makes bands like yours,

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artists like Ozzy that just stand the test of time.

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Yeah, I mean, uh Alcatraz. For the second album, we

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did auditioned a couple of people for guitar after Ingbay left. Yeah,

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auditioned Steve VI sounds funny saying we auditioned.

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It was I know, right.

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I talked a few times and he said, yeah, he

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didn't want to play the in Bay stuff. He said,

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I'll play it, but he says, I don't play like that.

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I can't play that stuff, which is crazy he can.

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But we did audition him, and I knew in thirty

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seconds the guy was just so aggressive and was tearing

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the strings off the guitar. Yeah, and we auditioned Chris

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and Pelltieri, and Chris was amazing, just crazy, amazing. He

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played the in Bay stuff pretty much note for note.

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We were just looking to get away from that at

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the time. We want to follow up with somebody that

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played like that. So and Steve didn't. Steve could play

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what was needed for the older no parole stuff, but

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he was Steve Vai And like I said, I just

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loved him because he was so aggressive with a guitar

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and so inventive and he just kind of went nuts

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on stage, which I loved. I thought it was great.

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That's important. I think, you know, it's one thing and

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be a great musician, it's another thing to be a

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great musician on stage.

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It huge difference. I call him bedroom guitar players people go, man,

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you should see this guy. He can play the in

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bass stuff note for note or the Steve v stuff whatever.

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And you look at the video. He's in his bedroom right,

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perfect conditions, you know, and he's playing to a track

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and he's playing great. But like I called my we

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were looking for a guitar player at one point, and

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I called my friend Steve Mathieson, who was incredible guitar player.

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Was he was teaching. He was head of the guitar

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department at am I in La Musicians Institute. So I

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called up Steve. I said, Steve, we need a guitar player.

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And Steik said, well, I've got a bunch of guys

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here that can play all that stuff note for note,

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and none of them would have a clue how to

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tour or they wouldn't be good band members. He goes, yeah,

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they've just sat at home learning this stuff note for note,

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but any other songs. At the time, we were playing Michael

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Shanker stuff, Chris and Pellantary songs, you know, in the

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Grand Bonnet band. And so the guy had to be

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an all around musician. He couldn't just be an inbay Clung,

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you know. So so Steek says, you know, I've got guys.

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I'll give you a name, but it won't do any

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good because none of them would be able to get

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on a bus or a van and know what to do.

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They'd get on stage and they'd be just a fish

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out of water. So I didn't find anybody that way.

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And you're right too, like what happens on stage, like

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you have to be somebody that's prepared for any disaster.

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Yeah, you know.

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And some of those bedroom guitar players, like they're great

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until you throw a wrench in it, and then there's like,

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I don't know what to do that. It's like people

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in my business like that use a script, Like once

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they're off script, they don't know where to.

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Go exactly exactly. And I've seen it. I've done interviews

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over the years, and some people are like, you know,

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are you live or you know, they literally are like

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how did the band get together?

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Right?

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Oh?

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Okay, how do you get your band name?

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Yeah? Yeah? So same with guitar players, because and these guys,

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I'm sure if you were in the guy's bedroom and

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he's playing, and you said, okay, well now play play

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something else, you know, play a solo from whatever, and

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he'd lock up. He'd be like, uh, well, I don't

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really do that. You know, I can play this, I

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can play and he'd play you another solo off the

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Alcatraz record or something. But yeah, they just don't they

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don't get it.

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I even watch people that play on stage and you

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can tell who's really the great musicians because they're not

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even looking at their guitar most of the time, you know,

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or they're not looking at the drums or whatever they're playing.

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And then you see other ones that they're looking to

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make sure every note is perfect. But you know what,

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what I've found out in thousands of shows I've been

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over the year, some of the best shows are when

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it wasn't perfect.

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Well, yeah, and we don't worry about that. I mean,

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Joe Stump is like Steve was when he auditioned. Joe

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is a real aggressive player. And he again Joseph professor

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at Berkeley. You know, can he play the notes perfect?

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Of course he can, but that's not the point live.

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It's all about the energy and if and again he

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was ripping the strings off the guitar he played. He's

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so aggressive and I love that and he's a great guy.

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But yeah, on stage. He's not thinking about anything. He's just.

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You know, he's just kind of like in the zone.

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Yes, you know the same with me. I don't think

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about what I'm doing. That just I know what I'm

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doing and I just kind of play and I just

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have fun basic.

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Factly, and listen. If you're not having fun in this industry,

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it's a wrong industry right now.

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Yeah, you don't get rich, that's for sure.

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No, especially nowadays, like these poor artists are starting now

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opposed to back in the seventies eighties. Oh my god,

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like it must be so difficult. There is no such

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thing as the quote unquote rock star anymore.

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No, it's it's pretty Uh, it's changed drastically. I mean

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there's Metallica. Yeah, my god. Look how many records those

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guys had to make and how many tours they did

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before they got to be Metallica. You know, same with

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the Iron Maiden. But like I said, there's there's Iron

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Maiden and Metallica, and then there's all the rest of us.

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I was at Metallica's first show ever. You're kidding, No,

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en Slayers first show ever. God, wow, it was wild.

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I mean, like my dad moved me to La. I

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was from Jersey and my dad moved me to LA

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in nineteen eighty. Can you imagine of that being the

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time to move to La.

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Well, I moved there shortly after that.

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Right, so you know, and listen. I think bands like

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you and other some new upcoming bands are bringing back musicianship,

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like I think we lost that for a while.

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Oh definitely.

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You didn't have those shred or guitar players. You just

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had people going through the motions. I find some of

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the metal down nowadays is like a formula, like an

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algebraic equation. And you know, metal and rock was never that.

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No, No, there's a lot of bands that play like that.

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That that's that's their goal is to be technically, you know,

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better than the next band, you know, technically right. I

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have never cared about that, And I admire the players

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keyboard players that can play like that. I'm very impressive.

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But I just that's never been me. And I'm more

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worried about concerned about writing songs and and and making

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the band run.

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Yeah. Well, you've you've pretty much done every job in

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the band since the beginning, which is rare.

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Well, yeah, I mean it got into this thing writing

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songs where I would program drums just for the writing,

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you know, and and but I'd work hard on the

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drum program because I would I would really stress out

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over the field. I didn't care about the sound or

226
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anything because it was just a computer. But I would

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stress out over the parts. Is that kick drum pattern right?

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Or you know, should there be fills here? Whatever, It

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doesn't matter what kind of fills, just should it be

230
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broken up here or whatever. And I found the drummers

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playing about ninety percent of what I programmed. And I

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even said to the last drummer we had, I said,

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you know, you don't need to play that, you just

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play what you feel, right, And he was stuck to that. Yeah,

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he played I programmed. And I didn't know whether to

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be flattered or bummed out. You know. I wanted him

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to be him and just waial have fun.

238
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And that's cool about musicians that play in a bunch

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of different bands, because I always have respect when you're

240
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playing a bunch of different bands, because to be able

241
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to know all those songs, or you know, you're talking

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about drummers like Dave Lombardo, like he plays in what

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six different bands, and I'm like, how the hell does

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he do that? And I always knew he was good.

245
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But to me, that's amazing because that means you're not

246
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on a script. You are playing by feel.

247
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Yeah. I mean I tour with Warlord and that's a

248
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difficult gig. Musically it sounds simple, but the arrangements are

249
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really way different. Bill who wrote all that stuff, You're

250
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real quirky and so nothing. You have to memorize it.

251
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You can't. It's not like learning Foreigner songs that you

252
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know where the chorus is, the choruses, you know, you

253
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can feel it and you'd heard them about ten thousand times.

254
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So I could play in Foreigner kind of thing that

255
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wouldn't be a difficult gig. But the Warlord thing was tough.

256
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But it was such great exercise, you know, so different

257
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from Alcatraz, right and now I just played on the

258
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did the eight to Z record and that same thing.

259
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That was a whole different thing from Warlord or Alcatraz.

260
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But I had to stretch to do that. I love that,

261
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you know, I love to So.

262
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Let's talk about the reworking of the eighties songs in

263
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the upcoming new album tell us why people should listen

264
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to the songs now compared to back then.

265
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Well, mainly we have a single. Giles is a new

266
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singer and really brings it on these songs. I mean

267
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he nails them. He sings them like they're supposed to

268
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be sung. He was a fan of Graham's. He loved

269
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Graham and loved his vocal. So Giles is true to

270
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the melodies and the feel of the song, and we

271
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played him on this record. We did them exactly like

272
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they were meant to be done. You know. People should

273
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listen to it though, because it's a really current version

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of Alcatraz. It's the latest. I mean, it's really up

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to date. Giles is nailing this stuff, and we do

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more stuff off No Parole than we've ever done so

277
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and I really feel good about what the recordings on

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this record. I think we did a good job, and

279
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Giles certainly did a great job representing it because we

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were honest with each other. You know, we'd start to

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do a song, and a lot of those songs Giles

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had sung at soundchecks before then he joined the band

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and we had no recordings. We just toured, so we

284
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did one hundred shows with Giles before we ever recorded

285
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this record. Nice, so he had sung Jet the Jet

286
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one hundred times or two hundred times, you know, between

287
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sound checks and having sung it in the Grand Bonnet

288
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Band at soundchecks and stuff. So Jet the Jet for

289
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him was a no brainer. Hiroshima, no brainer. All those

290
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songs for him are easy, so he has fun with

291
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him and he hits the notes every night, very consistent.

292
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So I think what people will find is, especially they

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come see us live, it's a real consistent band. I mean,

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I'd like to say we sound good every night. It's

295
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real consistent energies there every night.

296
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That's key to me, like and to me, it's key

297
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that if you are a live band that can capture

298
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the audience that goes well behind the studio album, you know.

299
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Yeah, And I kind of base everything I work backwards.

300
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I base everything off live, and then when I'm making records,

301
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I think, what would this be like live? Oh, with

302
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these parts enhance the song so it would be good live,

303
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you know. And some songs we do, I know we'll

304
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probably never play them live, but I still think, like, okay,

305
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with this work live, yeah, you know, and we can

306
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only play sixteen seventeen songs whatever, So you know, going

307
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in you can't when you got five six, seven albums

308
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worth of stuff you can't possibly you know, play them all,

309
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and we try to do. The bulk of the set

310
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is off no parole, and that's what people want and

311
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we love playing it. But I always think of live.

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I just think, like I said, when I'm writing, when

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I'm playing parts, I just think, well, with this work live,

314
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how's this going to be live?

315
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You know, that's a great way to go about it,

316
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I think, you know, I think I think it makes

317
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it easier to have it sound good either way.

318
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Yeah, and I don't I try not to play, like,

319
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do you know four tracks of things? So can I

320
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play this live? I got two hands so and in

321
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the band New England that we had, you know, I

322
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got the first album I got Carried Away. I was

323
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I was having fun. I was doing melotron parts and

324
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piano parts and organ parts and whatever, and then we

325
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started rehearsing and I'm like, WHOA, well do I do that?

326
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It was hard trying to get that to sound like

327
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the record because many overdubs. So, you know, for the

328
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last several records, I've tried to keep it simpler, much simpler,

329
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so that I can play it live just like the record.

330
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And I love that because there's so many bands nowadays

331
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that can't do a live show unless they have the

332
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backing tracks, right yeah, And I want musicians up there,

333
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not backing tracks.

334
00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.400
No, I've never never done the backing tracks. We did

335
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them with Graham for vocals, but musically I've never done that.

336
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I know. Oh, there you go. And I've listened to

337
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the twenty twenty five, twenty six version of Jet to

338
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Jet and it's like Alcatraz two point zero. Like it

339
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gives me the feeling from back in the eighties that

340
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I'm nostalgic about, but it also gives me the energy

341
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of today.

342
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Well, and that was the idea, and you just nailed

343
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it right there. You're supposed to. Certainly, it's reminiscent, reminiscent.

344
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It's that song. We didn't want anything, but it's it sounds.

345
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And I don't know where that comes from. That's something

346
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that you can't put your finger on, but it does.

347
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It sounds. When we got done with this stuff, I

348
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listened and I went, Wow, this sounds new. This doesn't

349
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sound like, oh, these tired old songs were beating them

350
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to death. It didn't come off like that. So and

351
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playing it again was fun. I got into it. I

352
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mean I was. I was having a blast playing that stuff.

353
00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.440
Yeah. I love hearing that because I think to myself, Man,

354
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some of the songs that bands have to play for

355
00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:35.359
like thirty forty years, I would be like, oh my god,

356
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I want to play this song again, our own stuff.

357
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I don't mind. I love playing it because people dig it.

358
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Yeah.

359
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What I didn't like was in the Grand Bonnet band,

360
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we had to play songs like Night Games and Since

361
00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:55.400
You've Been Gone. Good songs, but somebody else wrote them.

362
00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:57.960
They had nothing to do with Alcatraz. Really, they were

363
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:01.599
songs that Graham had success with. He didn't write them,

364
00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:05.720
but he had success with him ing Bow or whatever.

365
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And yeah, I got if I had to play since

366
00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:11.079
You've Been Gone one more time, I was going to

367
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shoot something. I really. I didn't hate the song. Like

368
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I said, it was a good song. It's just I

369
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just it wasn't Alcatraz. Right, Hey, we got to play

370
00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.680
this Abba song, you know, we have to play it

371
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because whatever. Yeah, but we're Algatraz. Oh you got to

372
00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:30.799
play the Abba song, you know. So Since You've Been

373
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Gone was coming off. It was starting. I was starting

374
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to get a bad attitude about it.

375
00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:40.119
You know, I don't blame you, though, I mean, I.

376
00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:41.400
Just didn't like it. I felt like we were being

377
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like a cover band, you know, but because Graham vocally, well,

378
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:50.960
he couldn't really sing the stuff. And then at some

379
00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:55.440
point it was all tracks. At that point it didn't

380
00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:58.240
really matter, but we kept doing since You've been gone

381
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and wow, yeah, so I so now I'm so thankful

382
00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:07.960
that this band we don't have to do that kind

383
00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:08.400
of stuff.

384
00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:10.680
Yeah, now you could be excited to go on your

385
00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:15.440
European tour that's coming up, Which that's cool because like

386
00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:18.839
I do coverage at festivals all over the US, UK, Europe,

387
00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:21.200
And what I found out once I started doing festivals

388
00:24:21.240 --> 00:24:23.400
in Europe is like a lot of bands that I

389
00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:26.119
loved in the eighties that I thought were gone haven't

390
00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:28.160
been gone all last time. They were just in Europe

391
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:33.160
because the clouds just love that music like ye never

392
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:33.720
gets old.

393
00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:37.359
Yeah, we play. We toured over there for years and

394
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:40.519
we played like a little club in Germany. The first

395
00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:42.720
time we played this one particular club and I don't

396
00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:45.720