Alkatrazz: "We were a little more musical than the standard bands of the time"

The story of Kent’s Alkatrazz was quite different from the stories of many other NWOBHM acts. First off, the band sounded more like American bands of the time and was closer to melodic rock rather than to crunchy heavy metal. Secondly, Alkatrazz got a deal with the major label RCA which was a dream of the most bands of the time and the place. However the band never got that big and an average rocker has heard of Alcatrazz with Graham Bonnet rather than of the subject of this interview. The bass player Garry Bevan and th singer Craig Pinkney (a.k.a. Stevens) are talking about how the band started and what led to its absence.

RUSSIAN VERSION

Let’s start with the very first steps of the band. How did you get to know Bob Jenner and the others? Were you in the band when they called Interface or did you join them later?
Garry: Alkatrazz were actually the brainchild of our manager, Tony Tullett, who had noticed the initial rise and record company interest of both Def Leppard and Iron Maiden and had persuaded both Bob and Nick to move to a more rock direction. I was not involved with Interface but I had seen them once or twice locally and was impressed with their virtuosity, they were playing a jazz/rock style similar to Brand X etc. I first met Bob in our local pub, the Royal Albion in Maidstone, we were introduced by Tony with a view to me playing bass, and very nearly ended up in a fight after I thought, wrongly, that he was making fun of me for some reason.

How come that the Australian singer Craig Pinkney joined Alkatrazz? Were there other singers who you tried to work with?
Garry: There were no other singers. When we formed, Bob, Nick and myself immediately started work rehearsing and writing along with another original member, Dave Saunders, a guitarist. We did not play anywhere and only concentrated on original material with only a couple of standard cover songs to use for extras in the set. Craig joined after answering an advertisement in “Melody Maker”, he was also wanted by another rock band that were quite well known at the time, but I cannot remember their name. We held rehearsals above a local pub and had one guy came down from the north of England, he was OK but the next day Craig came down and as soon as he started to sing we knew he was the right man for the job.

Craig, how did you get into singing and when did that happen? 

Craig: I started singing Beatles songs with the family in our Austin Traveller when I was a kid. Our family emigrated to Australia when I was nine years old from Deal in Kent. I moved back to the UK at age 20 because I wanted to join a good Heavy Rock Band. My middle name is Steven. I thought it made a better stage name.

Do you remember your audition for Alkatrazz? What songs did you play during that audition? 

Craig: Yeah, the audition was above a pub in Maidstone. I think we did a Whitesnake song and jammed on a couple of originals.

Did you remember that band which also wanted you? Why did you decide to move on with Alkatrazz?

Craig: It may have been members of Angel Witch? I auditioned in London and we got rotten drunk and they offered me the gig. I wasn’t sure of their direction and thought I’d try a couple more auditions first.

How can you describe the scene in Kent when that NWOBHM movement emerged? Were you friends with Triarchy, Legend, Denigh, Blackmayne, Dervish and others? Did you consider yourselves as a part of NWOBHM?

Garry: Not really, we were a little more musical than the standard bands of the time. I think I remember Legend and Denigh but we certainly didn’t know them personally.
Craig: Maidstone seemed fairly isolated really and we didn’t have a lot of contact with other metal bands. We just did our thing which seemed to click with the NWOBHM. Bob, Nic and Garry were all excellent musicians so we got down to the business of writing some good songs.

Is it true, that the band played one of the first shows in some prison and that inspired Bob to use the name Alkatrazz?

Garry: We did play in Maidstone Prison for the Hells Angels twice but we were already called Alkatrazz by then, so no. I remember that we had to come up with a name as our first gig was coming up and we needed one fast, it was decided in the rehearsal hall.

What can you recall from pre-RCA days? Was it typical routine “day job — rehearsals at nights — live shows at weekends — back to day job” or were you a professional band who had very tight schedule, tour bus and roadies?

Garry: We became professional very quickly, around six months after forming, so the band was a full-time job. We had a great deal of support from Bob’s father John, he was very central to our initial success.
Craig: I remember after joining the band, Bob's Dad, John, gave me a job. The first day saw me armed with a pick axe and I was told to manually break up a huge bloody footpath! Luckily that changed when we got signed. We had dedicated Roadies (Danny Jenner, Alf Parry, Danny Easom and sound guy Phil Tame) all excellent blokes who liked a pint! Our tour bus wasn’t too glamorous and inevitably Lager bombs were the order of the day!

How did you manage to get a deal with RCA? Was it because of some connections or did they just heard you and decided to give the band a go?

Garry: We got the deal with RCA after appearing on a local radio show. We had recorded “Rockin High” and “Run Wild” at a local studio and were booked to appear on a Radio Kent rock show. This went ahead and a week or so afterwards we had a call from MCA asking if we would like to contribute to a compilated album, which we thought was great, but then the week after RCA offered a much bigger deal. There were no connections involved, it was all on the strength of that one radio appearance, they had not even seen the band live.

Alkatrazz had national tours with Tygers Of Pan Tang, Samson and Magnum. Which band was a perfect fit for you? Do you remember any significant shows from those tours? Did you try to schedule shows in the States?

Garry: All of those tours were great fun, as were the tours that we arranged for ourselves. There were plenty of significant shows, both bad and good but highlights were Hammersmith Odeon and headlining the Marquee. I do remember many more though. We never advanced enough to play in the USA.
Craig: We had lots of memorable shows and on the road we probably partied harder than most. Tony Tullet our manger would take the piss out of the Tygers manger introducing the band every night and that always cracked me up. I loved Magnum's Prog Rock and wasn’t surprised to see Bruce Dickinson and John Sykes go on to bigger and better things. Unfortunately we never made it to the States.

Tell me about recording of the album “Young Blood”. Why was it recorded in two different studios, for instance? How much time you spent in the studios?

Garry: It was a fairly standard affair, recorded in around 10 days. The two original songs recorded locally were put on the finished product too. Most of the songs were already written before we entered the studio.
Craig: That was just a cost cutting thing by RCA. They decided that our demo’s of "Rockin’ High" and I think "Crazy Dancer" were good enough for the first album.

Did you get along with “Desperate” Dan Priest? How substantial was his contribution to the final result?

Garry: Danny Priest was suggested by RCA and we did not know he was not really a rock producer. He was a very nice chap but not necessarily right for the job, so he did not have a great deal to contribute aside from his technical skills at his own studio. After the tour with The Tygers of Pantang, Chris Tsangarides offered himself to produce our next album, but unfortunately that did not fit in with RCA’s plans. He went on the produce many other great albums though with Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy and many others as well as appear in the Anvil movie. On a sadder note, he died recently.
Craig: Dan was chilled and did a good job considering the limited time.

Can you recall anything about the response on the album? Did RCA do all in their power to push the album in charts etc.? Were they satisfied with the sales of “Young Blood”?

Garry: RCA did very little to support the album, from the dreadful artwork to radio play, therefore I doubt that it sold very well but there are some people out there that like it. On a funny note, I was at the Ramblin Man Fair last year, and found a copy in a used vinyl tent. My friends thought it was very amusing.
Craig: RCA weren’t too helpful. They had their big stars and and weren’t serious about supporting the grass roots bands.

The album “Radio 5” came out only a year after the debut which meant that you went back to the studio very soon after the tour with Samson. Did you have enough material for the second album or was it done under pressure?

Garry: We did book quite a lot of pre-production time for writing material. I don’t think we were under too much pressure really.
Craig: I remember writing lyrics and melodies in the studio but there was never any shortage of ideas. The band were very creative.

With “Radio 5” Alkatrazz moved to softer direction and sounded closed to Survivor. Was it natural thing for you and something you wanted to do or was it done on demand?

Garry: We were certainly moving into a more musical direction, but then we were never really like many of the other NWOBHM bands. It wasn’t demanded but there were a few songs written by outside musicians that were being offered to us.
Craig: We were ok with being more melodic but I think the pressure to be more commercial ultimately got to the band and we lost that initial rawness.

How was it to work with Jo Julian who also provided some keyboards? Did he understand what the band was about?

Garry: I really don’t think that he understood rock production at all. We would have been much better with Chris Tsangarides. On another note, Tony Childs sang backing vocals on Blinded. She was a friend of Joe Julian's and was staying at the studio, she also went on to have some big solo hits.
Craig: Jo was a nice guy but he didn’t understand the heavier genres.

Who came up with the idea to cover Fandango’s “Blame It On The Night”? Did you try to record some radio friendly stuff or did you want to be different and pick up a lesser known song to fool around with? By the way, did you get any response from Joe Lynn Turner on the cover?

Garry: That was offered by the record company and we did it to please them, although the original material on the album is far superior to that song. We didn’t get any response from Joe Lynn Turner although I did meet him and Ritchie Blackmore in a London club once, I forgot to mention it.
Craig: That was RCA’s idea and we didn’t mind the song. In hindsight we should have been more focused on our own sound. I was told the writers liked our rendition.

How come that Mel Collins played saxophone on “Miles Away”? Was it a big deal for you? Did you get a chance to hang out with the guy?

Garry: I thought it was great that we could get someone of his caliber to play on the song, and he certainly made it a lot better. I actually never met him as I wasn’t in the studio that day.
Craig: We thought sax might be cool on that track so when someone said they’d get Mel in for the session we thought “Hell Yeah!” We weren’t at the studio when he played.

As far as I understand, Garry left the band soon after “Radio 5” came out. Why was that? Were you offered a better job or were you just disappointed and disillusioned with the whole affair?

I was fired.

Why did the band fire Garry Bevan? How did you get to know Phillip Tame who replaced Garry?
Craig: By that time we were really disillusioned with RCA and their lack of support. I think Garry’s sacking was a knee jerk reaction born out of frustration. It was the wrong move. Phil was our sound guy and a good bass player, but not for Heavy Rock.

Were you still in the band when Tommy Vance invited Alkatrazz to play at his “Friday Rock Show”? If yes, what are your memories about the event?

Garry: No, they had a stand in bass player for that, in fact I have never heard any of the session.
Craig: It went well and I just remember being in awe of the bands that had graced the BBC studios before us!

How do you view the whole thing with Alkatrazz? Which album is your favorite? Why didn’t the band get more recognition?

Garry: It was great fun, there is no favourite album, but certainly favourite songs. I think that there were two different lines of thought as to what we should be like towards then end and if people are pulling in different directions any band would be unlikely to succeed.
Craig: Alkatrazz was a great experience and both albums hold fond memories. I think Bob and Nic were more into fusion and perhaps thats why it ultimately didn’t work out.

Some rumors say that Clive Burr was in Alkatrazz for a while, which I guess isn’t true, but anyway – can you comment on these rumors?

Garry: I have no idea where that one came from but I do think it’s quite funny.

I heard that some ex-Alkatrazz members went on to play in the band Flying Anvil. Can you say anything on this matter?

Garry: I played in Flying Anvil for quite a long time and Nick Parsons also played for a while too. We were a bar/club band with an exceptional guitarist, who I sometimes play with in the UK today when I get the chance.

Garry, what you’ve been doing musically since you quit Alkatrazz? Why did you decide to move to Bali?

Garry: I got heavily into scuba diving after the band folded but I did play with a number of bands in the Kent area, and as I said, still do. You should check out Spitroast, a local Maidstone metal band with plenty of material on YouTube, I have got up with them on a number of occasions. We even had a band in Bali for a short while too, and I would also get up and play with local Indonesian rock musicians too. In fact, in 2016 Craig, who was on holiday in Bali, and myself, got up with a local band and played quite a few numbers, we nearly did an Alkatrazz tune too, but in the end decided not to.

And what about you, Craig? Why did you decide to move back to Australia?

Craig: I’m writing and recording and have done albums with Pink and White Bridge and solo releases. These albums have a more American West Coast style - (think Crosy, Stills Nash or the Eagles.) However, later this year I should finish an album with local guitar legend John Myer who has played with Rose Tattoo. This album of course will ROCK! I moved back to Australia because Englands too damn cold! And the politicians in the UK are possibly even worse than the bozo’s we have here!

Do you still stay in touch with the others? 

Garry: I have seen all of them in the past 18 months in various places, and we get on very well.  

Feel free to say a few words to fans and readers and those who still remember Alkatrazz.

Garry: Errrr. I think I have said enough… But it is nice to still be appreciated, even in Russia.
Craig: Peace be with you and may music continue to move your soul.