By Jim Barber
In case the general rock and roll public needed a reminder, veteran vocalist/frontman/songwriter Graham Bonnet decided to unleash a new live album to reinforce his remarkable reputation as one of the most gifted, charismatic and powerful singers of the last 50 years!!
Lost in Hollywood Again, is coming out Dec. 12 worldwide on physical and digital forms through noted Italian melodic rock label Frontiers Music. Like many of his generation of musicians and music fans, physical copies of musical creations, particularly in vinyl form, are still integral to an appreciative and satisfying listening experience for Bonnet.
“I know streaming is still the big thing, but honestly I like to physically have something. Like, I love the old albums, you know, the way they were packaged and all that, with the booklet inside and your big album in there or whatever. But it’s changed now, so I mean, you just put your earbuds in and listen to something that doesn’t sound that great. I like to feel the warmth of the music, you know, and it’s not there with music coming off your phone and all that kind of crap. It’s very disposable. You know, ‘oh yeah, I can listen to that later,’” Bonnet, a native of Lincolnshire, UK said from his home in California.
“But I remember the same thing you’re talking about. I remember every Friday when I got paid at my job when I was 15 years old or something, I’d go to the record store and buy a new Bob Dylan album or Beatles or whatever it may be back then, take it home and listen to it and listen to it properly, you know.”
Lost in Hollywood Again features a selection of material from Bonnet’s vast and varied career, with particular emphasis on his solo material, as well as the solitary album he recorded with Rainbow, 1979’s Down to Earth. That album marked a significant tonal and musical departure for the band, which was originally formed in 1975 after Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple for the first time. Recruiting Elf frontman Ronnie James Dio, a spectacular performer and brilliant songwriter/lyricist, the first three Rainbow albums were masterful concoctions combining stellar, expressive and virtuosic musicianship with Dio’s plaintive and powerhouse vocals, with fantastical lyrical expositions on mythical history, medieval times, and historical narrative.
But the band’s management, and Blackmore himself, were seeking greater commercial success, which meant getting on the radio. So out went Dio, and songs like ‘Catch the Rainbow,’ ‘Stargazer,’ and ‘Gates of Babylon’ to be replaced by new singer Bonnet, and collaborations with hit songwriting maven Russ Ballard, who helped develop songs for Down to Earth that would not only make it the most successful Rainbow album commercially, but with the song ‘Since You’ve Been Gone,’ ensure at least one Rainbow song would be permanently etched into pop culture.
So, the first five songs on Lost in Hollywood Again are from that seminal and pivotal album. ‘Eyes of the World,’ ‘All Night Long,’ ‘Love’s No Friend,’ ‘Making Love,’ and the aforementioned ‘Since You’ve Been Gone.’ The set and album ends with another Rainbow song, which inspired the title of the live album, ‘Lost in Hollywood.’
Although Bonnet only played and toured with Rainbow for one album cycle, because of the success of Down to Earth, he was catapulted into star status as a singer and songwriter, eventually going on to work alongside Michael Schenker on one of the German axe-slinger’s biggest albums, Assault Attack, which was released in 1982. The title track from that album, as well as another MSG staple ‘Desert Song’ also appear on Lost in Hollywood Again, as do two hits from Bonnet’s 1981 solo album Line Up, ‘S.O.S.’ ‘and Night Games.
After his stint with Schenker, Bonnet went on to form the band Alcatrazz, helping introduce two guitar legends into the popular consciousness, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai. ‘Too Young to Die, Too Drunk to Live’ from the 1983 Alcatrazz album No Parole from Rock and Roll also features on the new live album, as do two more recent efforts from the Graham Bonnet Band, ‘Into the Night’ and ‘Imposter.’
It makes good sense to remind audiences of his Rainbow pedigree, but there’s enough non-Rainbow material, including a cover of the Deep Purple classic “Lazy’ to aptly represent the span and diversity of Bonnet’s career.
“Well, we wanted to do something that was a bit of everything, a bit of my solo stuff, a bit of Alcatrazz, obviously a bit of Rainbow and Michael Schenker, a bit of everything that I thought was, you know, noteworthy. Because, you know, it’s surprising how many people know things like my solo stuff. But the band and I talk together about the set list. We go through all the stuff I’ve done, and it’s a lot to choose from because it goes from 1968 [when he had a couple of singles chart on the UK charts in a duo called The Marbles] to now, which is a lot of music, you know. So we choose it amongst the band because the other guys are younger than me [more about the band later in this article]. And they go, oh, well, we know that. And it’s surprising how many people know things I wouldn’t even think they would ever hear, especially things that were released, let’s say in America. People have actually heard stuff I recorded that was never released here. So it’s something I’ve got to do. I’ve got to do ‘Night Games.’ I’ve got to do ‘Only One Woman,’ and they are from like years ago [1981]. So we put a bit of everything in there just in case. And I usually say before I do something in a show that I think will be unknown, ‘now, I want to ask you, would you know the words? Do you know what this song called?’ And if they cheer, I go, all right, we’ll keep that one in,” Bonnet said of his approach to putting a set list together in general terms, before moving on to discuss the selection of songs he chose to record for Lost in Hollywood Again, particularly the emphasis on Down to Earth.
“I was a new singer in the band, and the manager of the band, Bruce Payne, wanted Rainbow to kind of be more radio friendly. And when we did the Russ Ballard song, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone,’ which nobody wanted to record because it wasn’t in the style of Rainbow at all at the time. But when we actually did it, suddenly it was all over the place, all over the world on the freaking radio. Suddenly Rainbow became radio friendly. And that’s what Bruce was going for, even though the band were like, oh, no, we can’t do that. You know, it’s too poppy. That one and ‘All Night Long,’ our second single, those two are played on the radio, you know, constantly in England, obviously, as well as here in America. Yeah, it was fine. At one point when Ritchie wanted to change the band into more of like a Foreigner kind of a group.
“But it didn’t turn out that way because I don’t sing that way [like Foreigner’s Lou Gramm] and they wanted to do something different anyway. [Producer] Roger Glover came up with some great ideas about lyrics and arrangements. And so did [the dearly departed legendary drummer] Cozy Powell. You know, he was really good at putting the songs together. When Ritchie did something that was probably been done before, he said, ‘no, no, no, no, no. Don’t go that way. Let’s try something a bit more classically, sort of semi-classical arrangements kind of a thing.’ And with [current Deep Purple, former Ozzy keyboardist] Don Airey around, you couldn’t help but do things in that vein. The keyboard playing was just amazing. He also came up with some incredible ideas for the for the Down to Earth album. When he and Ritchie got together they really made the songs into something really interesting. I mean, it wasn’t Foreigner at all, but Ritchie was still trying for that, for some reason, because Foreigner was commercial. But because we did ‘Since You’ve Been Gone,’ we became a little bit more commercial. That song was played everywhere. And I think when Joe replaced me [Joe Lynn Turner who did the next three Rainbow albums] they really did go all in on that Foreigner sound, because Joe’s voice was better suited to it than mine was.”
Bonnet also talked about any concern or trepidation he may have had replacing Dio as the frontman for Rainbow, considering the acclaim the band had under the late legend’s tenure.
“At the time, I didn’t even know who he was. I had no idea. All I know is I’m following him in the band. At the time I had no fear or anything. I just didn’t know what they expected me to do, you know, to follow up somebody I didn’t know anything about. So what I did, I went out and bought some Rainbow albums. And in fact, I almost didn’t join the band because I said, ‘well, I’m nothing like that. I don’t sing like that.’ But my manager at the time said, ‘well, I think it’s a nice move for you.’ What he was saying was it might be a lot of money for him. And so he put an extension on his house, you know, out of that, but whatever. I just went where he said and it eventually became a great career move. It really did,” Bonnet said.
“Again, at first, I didn’t know what they were looking for because I don’t sing like Ronnie. So I thought, ‘well, I’m not right for the band.’ After I was given the job with the band, I went back to London when I was living in England. And I said to my manager, ‘I don’t think I’m right for this at all.’ You know, but they gave me the job straight away. I picked the song ‘Mistreated’ [from the 1974 Deep Purple album Burn, the first to feature David Coverdale on vocals] and that was my audition piece. They said okay, the job is yours. After they interviewed or auditioned, I should say, hundreds of singers, so it was unbelievable. [Then former Deep Purple bassist/producer] Roger Glover got in touch with me because he was working with Micky Moody and Whitesnake at the time in England. So he said, would you come over and audition, because he was back with Ritchie now in Rainbow, and he was producing Down to Earth. Roger Glover called up and I went over there and, you know, I knew what I was expected to do. But I had to say that I still felt I wasn’t the right guy. For instance, I didn’t have long hair or spandex or that kind of thing. I head really short hair. I was in my suit for my audition, suit and tie, a gray suit and tie and gray shirt. But I got the job.”
There’s not only a palpable sense of history because of the breadth of material covered on Lost in Hollywood Again, but because of the venue chosen to host the live recordings was the Whisky A-Go-Go, a legendary Los Angeles music venue that has played host to pretty much every artist and band of note over the last six decades. Most significantly, its reputation as THE place to be truly came to the fore in the mid-1960s when they hired an upstart young local band called The Doors as their house band on their rise to legendary status. As well as one of the earliest American performances by Led Zeppelin, as well as shows by Jimi Hendrix, The Who and many more.
“We had played there a couple of times before but never thought of recording a show there. It’s a really cool venue. It’s got some ambiance, it has a history and a lot of tourists go there, so the place always has a good crowd. And I’ll tell you something, when I first went there years ago, I expected something completely different to what it is. It’s not that glorious of a building, but it has a reputation for having good acts, you know, and that’s just the way it is. It’s a traditional place where the best bands will always play from the Rolling Stones to whatever, so it’s an important venue. And there are other places like that here in L.A. that you don’t expect to be such celebrated places – there’s one here, a jazz club called The Baked Potato, which sounds ridiculous. It’s a small place too, but again it’s one of those things where you go to see somebody who’s really great. Like in London, it was always the Marquee Club,” he said, before the interviewer mentioned a similar venue in Toronto, the El Mocambo.
“Yeah, I do know that place. I don’t think we played there with Rainbow, but I’m not sure. I went there with Michael Schenker, who played there. This is like a few years ago, four years ago, actually. So yeah, the smaller the place and the more intimate the venue can make it feel like a palace, you know, if you can make it that way. You can play great music there. My band’s been doing lots of small places, obviously. We’re not doing arenas at the moment, but we have done a couple of theatres. But I love playing anywhere we’re wanted.”
Again, speaking of historic, we have to talk about that voice – Bonnet’s epic voice. At 77 years of age, (he turns 78 on Dec. 23, 11 days after the album is released)and five decades of belting it out on stages throughout the world, there’s little hint of age, or infirmity or diminishment in the power of his vocals when listening to Lost in Hollywood Again. Similar to the seemingly ageless powerhouse singer Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion, Trapeze) Bonnet was gifted with good genetics and a physical makeup perfect for being a soaring rock singer.
“My voice is still there although I don’t think it’s more powerful than it was. I was telling somebody the other day that what I’ve done, starting a couple of years ago, I started to listen to all my old recordings and sort of examined how did I sing those certain notes. How did I do that certain phrase just to check out if I was doing it the same today? And I realized where the different voices I have comes from. If I had a high note, it’s got to be really, you know, from the heart and from the mouth, from the head, and from the guts, you know, it’s got to really be there,” he explained.
“And the way I got those high notes is through taking a really deep breath, taking it all into my lungs. And when those high notes are coming up, now I know when to breathe and how to breathe and really hit that note hard on, really, you know, right in your face, with power, not with weakness. So, yeah, I’ve been lucky, because, as you can probably tell, my speaking voice is very loud anyway. And I guess I also have to sing this face because, you know, your face shape and head shape impacts how much volume you get in that sound box. Glenn Hughes has got a big head, too. He’s got a very big head, and I mean it in the nicest possible way, but he’s got that sound that he can do because he has those kind of features. That’s the way he’s built; his voice will project because of his sound box and his lungs or whatever. And he’s really good at falsetto, which I cannot do, but he can do it really well. Another part of it is that you do have to have a natural feel, you know, which I have had since I was a little kid. Yeah, that’s it.”
Which leads directly to the next question, will Graham Bonnet keep performing as long as that vocal power and prowess remains at his disposal?
“Exactly. I mean, I’ve seen friends of mine who play, or used to play, and they said, ‘oh, I’m too old for this.’ Bullshit. You’re too old for it if you keep saying that. But I think that’s ridiculous. Keep on trying. With some people, if they’ve lost their voice completely, then okay, maybe it is time to pack it in. Julie Andrews, for instance, who’s got nothing to do with rock or metal or anything like, she lost her voice. Linda Ronstadt, her voice is gone, and she was one of the greatest female singers ever, so it does happen. Physical things happen as you get older. I know that. I’m just very, very lucky to have a family full of singers. My mom was a singer. My brother was a singer. A number of my family were musical. And you know, I can’t give it up. This is my job. This is what I do. This is my body. This is the way I make a living. This is what I do,” Bonnet said, adding that besides having no desire to stop singing and touring, he also has no interest in stopping writing, recording and releasing new studio albums.
“We just did about three weeks on the road, just over three weeks, almost a month. And it was great that we came home because we could get back in the studio. We came back from Bulgaria a few days ago. And we’re writing a new album right now. I’m thinking, oh, what can I do now? You know, I’m sitting here with a guitar and, you know, writing music, melodies and stuff, but it’s not as physical an experience, you know, until we start recording. I need the rush of singing and performing. It’s being in front of an audience where I feel most at home, being in front of an audience who have a great enthusiasm for what you’re doing, that makes the show. Without them, we aren’t us. They belong to us and we belong to them and the two together make a great show. If they ain’t there, oh, f***!”
Bonnet doesn’t perform alone, obviously. He has built and rebuilt solo bands many times over the years, but for more than a dozen of those years, his bass player (who is also his life partner) has been the steady, soulful musician Beth-Ami Heavenstone. And for more than a decade, his primary songwriting partner and musical foil has been Brazilian guitar master Conrado Pesinato. Also currently in the Graham Bonnet Band are drummer Francis Cassol and keyboardist Alessandro Bertoni, who both play on Lost in Hollywood Again.
“Beth-Ami will give me an idea for a song or whatever, a story or something. But like I am doing right now, right after I am finished doing interviews, this morning, I’m writing a melody to a new piece that Conrado sent me. And so Conrado often comes up with a chord progression, and then I put my melody on top of that, then I do the lyric. That’s the way it works normally. And then we all get together, Beth-Ami, me and Conrado, put the bass and guitar and my bits and harmonies, whatever, all together. But it’s usually the three of us doing most of the writing, arranging and recording,” he said, before talking about the importance of both Pesinato and Heavenstone to the band and the music.
‘Conrado’s been with us for about 10 years or so. And he knows me and I know him. It’s very good to have that partnership, you know. The guitar player’s the soloist and the singer, you know, they’re the two main elements in the band, usually. And that’s the way it goes with most bands. It’s a natural thing, you know, natural progression to have the guitarist and singer as the two main voices and two members that get the most attention, especially with this kind of, you know, devil music that we have. At the beginning, me and Beth-Ami started it all [The Graham Bonnet Band]. We were the first two to actually put something together. And Conrado had worked with Beth-Ami before. And so the three of us started it together. And then we said, let’s try this and let’s try that. At one point we tried another thing, just doing like the three of us, almost like an acoustic trio. We quickly realized that wasn’t the right way to go, so we added keyboards and drums. And it works very well. We’ve got a nice little family. Conrado’s here right now. He’s writing other stuff or whatever he’s doing, and then I’m doing what I’m doing and putting the lyrics together and the melodies. Eventually we’ll have a bunch of songs and put out a new album. That’s what we do.”
Bonnet said that Lost in Hollywood Again is as much a reminder to fans that he and his band are still out there, still vital and still creating great rock and roll music, as it is to tide those fans over until the new Graham Bonnet Band album comes out, sometime in 2026.
“We have got a song that I’ve written called Rory. It’s about [legendary Irish guitarist] Rory Gallagher. We also have [Iron Maiden frontman] Bruce Dickinson already on our album. He’s recorded part of a song that me and Conrado came up with. Bruce has taken the last verse and the last chorus. So I do the opening bit and then Bruce comes in for the last part of the song, which is great. He’s done a great job. And he said to Conrado, ‘I never do this for anybody, but I’ll do it for Graham,’” he said, adding that he and Dickinson have known each other for decades.
“Yeah, we go back a long way. It’s like mutual admiration, I think. He’s got the same sense of humour as me. He doesn’t take the so-called heavy rock thing too seriously, but he’s a great showman. The live show from the band [Dickinson’s solo band] is f***ing amazing.”
Once the album comes out, Bonnet said the touring will begin, with hopes of a return to Canada at some point as well as the various other worldwide locales the band will undoubtedly visit.
Folks can pre-order Lost in Hollywood Again at this link: https://ffm.bio/grahambonnetband_lostinhollywoodlive
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for more than 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his community. Contact him at bigjim1428@hotmail.com.
