Graham Bonnet recalls MSG firing

Graham Bonnet has recalled the disastrous 1982 Michael Schenker Group concert that got him fired from the group.

He was playing his first show with bandleader Schenker and ex Sensational Alex Harvey Band men Chris Glen and Ted McKenna when the situation collapsed around him.

But he’s glad to have shared a stage with Schenker as they toured Japan recently with their separate outfits.

Bonnet tells The Metal Voice: “I was completely out of it – I’d been drinking all day and I had a bit of an argument with Michael.

“I had all the lyrics stuck on the stage. Then the audience pushed forward and all the lyrics screwed up because the monitors shifted. I was screwed in the first song.”

He continues: “My fly broke – and out comes my penis, because I don’t wear underwear. Out it popped, and I made it part of the act.

“Everybody was telling me to fuck off. I started swearing at the audience and they were swearing back at me. I got off the stage.”

Next morning his manager told him that his performance had lost him his job. “The whole thing was a shambles,” says Bonnet. “I said sorry for what happened – it was just a bad day.”

But Schenker, who’s now leading Temple Of Rock, invited the Graham Bonnet Band on tour with him, and the former bandmates performed together again. “It was amazing,” says the singer. “We smiled at each other in a knowing way. We looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah, this is good.’ I hadn’t seen that smile in a long time – it was magical.”

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.