Alcatrazz bassist Gary Shea recently addressed Yngwie Malmsteen’s claims about his songwriting contributions to the band’s debut album. He shared his perspective in an interview with Guitar World.
Shea’s comments came in response to a direct question about Malmsteen’s tendency to take credit for the music created during his time with Alcatrazz.
When asked “Yngwie takes a lot of credit for the music he made with you in Alcatrazz. How accurate is that?”, Shea provided a detailed response about the collaborative nature of the band’s work.
“Yngwie actually has a great sense of humor in private. Of course, he didn’t write all the songs, vocals, keyboard parts and basslines,” Shea said. “Island in the Sun was a New England song that Jimmy had written. Graham wrote new lyrics for it, and he wrote General Hospital.”
The bassist emphasized that Alcatrazz operated as a collaborative unit rather than a solo project.
“We were a band, not a solo project. I put in a B minor ascending arpeggio at the intro of Hiroshima,” he continued. “Yngwie told me I was stepping on his solo, but the lick stayed. He did write a major part of the music but it was no-one’s solo album. Because of the band’s structure, he played some of his most memorable solos on No Parole.”
Shea also revealed details about Malmsteen’s departure from the band and his replacement.
“Yngwie was replaced for becoming difficult to work with. We’d auditioned Chris Impelliteri and Steve Vai in secret,” he explained. “We chose Steve, but both are brilliant guitarists. This was prior to going a major tour with Ted Nugent in the summer of ’84. Our label agreed to the swap, but asked that we do it going into our next record. We all agreed to that.”
The bassist concluded with praise for both guitarists and their subsequent work with Steve Vai.
“Yngwie is great, and Steve is awesome. They’re bookends,” Shea said. “Steve was a joy to work with musically and brought a whole new bag of tricks from the Zappa camp. I’m very proud of the level of musicianship on Disturbing the Peace. Along with producer Eddie Kramer, I felt we’d come into our own sound and looked forward to more down the road.”
Shea’s revelations provide important context to the ongoing discussion about creative contributions within Alcatrazz during their most commercially successful period.
Yngwie Malmsteen previously said about his time in Alcatrazz, “The thing is that, me as a creator, I am a solo artist since January 1984. Every record I’ve made, it’s been a solo album. I even consider the Alcatrazz album a solo album. I wrote everything on that too.”
The album at the center of this songwriting dispute, “No Parole from Rock ‘n’ Roll,” marked a significant achievement for the band. The Final Vinyl reported that the debut album spent 18 weeks on the Billboard charts and peaked at No. 128. Malmsteen departed the band in 1984. This commercial success came despite the internal tensions that Shea now describes.
The collaboration between Shea and keyboardist Jimmy Waldo had deeper roots than their Alcatrazz work. ZRockR noted that both Gary Shea and Jimmy Waldo were formerly members of the band New England. They brought their established musical partnership to the Alcatrazz lineup alongside Graham Bonnet and Yngwie Malmsteen. This pre-existing relationship likely contributed to the collaborative songwriting approach that Shea describes.
Malmsteen’s musical contributions to the album, while disputed in terms of scope, were undeniably significant to the band’s sound. Heavy Metal Overload observed that Yngwie’s neo-classical riffing added an intricate, frosty edge to the album. Every song featured classically-based soloing. This distinctive guitar work became a defining characteristic of the record and helped establish Alcatrazz’s unique position in the hard rock landscape.
The timing of Malmsteen’s departure and the subsequent changes to the band’s lineup reflect the broader challenges facing Alcatrazz during this period. ZRockR confirmed that “No Parole from Rock ‘n’ Roll” remains the band’s only studio album to feature Yngwie Malmsteen on guitar. This makes it a unique document of this particular musical collaboration and the creative tensions that Shea now openly discusses.
