Heavy metal veterans Alcatrazz and Girlschool have announced they will join forces for a UK tour at the tail-end of the year. The duo will play nine venues across the four nations of the UK in November and December, as well as making a festival appearance at the Winterstorm Festival in Troon on the Ayrshire coast.
UK and Ireland we can’t wait to visit you later this year.
Kicking off at @hardrockhell on November 11 with our headlining performance.
We then join our friends in @Girlschool for a co-headline tour across the UK & Ireland.
Tickets from your usual online outlets. pic.twitter.com/JKZlFKAlNH
— Alcatrazz (@AlcatrazzReal) March 16, 2021
Alcatrazz, who are also due to headline the Hard Rock Hell Festival in Great Yarmouth on November 11th, will be touring without long-time frontman and founding member Graham Bonnet. Skegness-born Bonnet, who is perhaps best-known for his vocal performances with Rainbow on international hits Since You’ve Been Gone and All Night Long, has assured fans that his departure from the stage will be a temporary one.
Filling in for Bonnet will be Scottish singer Doogie White – another Rainbow alumni – who also fronts up fellow metal outfits La Paz and the Michael Schenker Group. In a press release unveiling their new man behind the mic, the band stated: “Alcatrazz are extremely excited to be able to announce that our good friend Doogie White will be singing with us for all of our 2021 tour dates. We are all huge fans of Doogie’s voice as well as his impressive catalogue of music. The band promises an explosive live show featuring all of the Alcatrazz classics that you know, plus added selections from Doogie’s work with Rainbow and Michael Schenker Fest/Temple Of Rock… there may even be a couple of new songs as well! Everyone is looking forward to seeing all our fans and friends in what we hope is a much-needed return to live music.”
The Anglo-American rockers’ last album with Bonnet still in tow was 2020’s Born Innocent - their first new LP in 34 years. In a four-star review, Classic Rock/Louder described Born Innocent as “a record that exudes a frankly indecent amount of vim, vigour and sharp songwriting from men far too old to know better.”
Touring partners Girlschool will take to the road without founding member Enid Williams, with the bassist having left the fold in 2019. Following the death of long-time lead guitarist Kelly Johnson in 2007, the only surviving members of the original quartet are Londoners Kim McAuliffe and Denise Dufort. The newer members of the group are Bradford-born Jackie Chambers, who is also a guitarist with Yorkshire punk band Syteria; and Bishop Auckland product Tracey Lamb, who previously played bass with Rock Goddess – another renowned all-female metal act who broke the mould in the testosterone-heavy British hard rock scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Girlschool enjoyed close ties with Motörhead in the 1980s, reaching number #5 in the UK Singles chart with St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a collaborative EP with tracks split between the two bands. The group’s greatest commercial success came in 1981 with the LP Hit And Run, which also secured fifth-place in the Official UK Albums Chart and attained a Gold certification in Canada.
The full schedule dates of UK dates for Alcatrazz and Girlschool’s 2021 tour is as follows:
18/11/21 – Eleven – Stoke
19/11 – Waterloo – Blackpool
20/11 – Hangar 18 – Swansea
21/11 – Yardbirds – Grimsby
25/11 – Bannermans – Edinburgh
26/11 – Winterstorm Festival – Troon
28/11 – Trillians – Newcastle
01/12 – Camden Underworld – London
02/12 – KK’s Steel Mill – Wolverhampton
04/12 – Limelight 2 – Belfast
