Alcatraz Line up: 2023

With Tygers of Pan Tang Alcatraz has snared one of the icons of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). Established in 1978, they were extremely popular in the first half of the 80s, releasing four albums in just three years’ time. Following a series of personnel changes their initial success started to wane and in 1987 they called it quits. For over a decade it looked like the Tygers were relegated to the history books but co-founder Robb Weir had other ideas. In 1999 the guitarist recruited a number of musicians who not only had the chops to do the old songs justice but who could also write new music worthy of the Tygers of Pan Tang label. Together they managed to revive the band: with ‘Animal Instinct’ (2008), ‘Ambush’ (2012), ‘Tygers of Pan Tang’ (2016) and ‘Ritual’ (2019) to name but a few, the resurrected Tygers delivered a series of excellent studio efforts but, even more importantly, they also rebuilt their excellent live reputation. The new ‘Bloodlines’ album – once again recorded with a new line-up – is set to drop in May of this year and Weir is confident the new slab is their best since they were at the forefront of the NWOBHM movement. That means the new material will mesh well with the many hits from their back catalogue included in the set list this summer.