Zal Cleminson | |
|---|---|
 Zal Cleminson,2004 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alistair Macdonald Cleminson |
| Born | 4 May 1949 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Genres | Hard rock, blues rock, glam rock, heavy metal |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1965–2008, 2017–present |
Alistair Macdonald "Zal" Cleminson (born 4 May 1949) is a Scottish guitarist, best known for his role in the Sensational Alex Harvey Band between 1972 and 1978. He was subsequently a member of Nazareth for three years. In 2017, Cleminson put together a new rock band - /sin'dogs/, which recorded and released a four-song CD and toured Scotland and England at the end of that year.
A self-taught guitarist, influenced by guitarists such as Wes Montgomery and Chuck Berry. During the mid-1960s he joined his first band the Bo-Weavels which performed mainly Tamla Motown & Stax music. In the early 1970s he left the Bo Weavels and joined Glasgow-based band Tear Gas. The line up of Tear Gas were: Andi Mulvey on lead vocals, Zal Cleminson on lead guitar, Eddie Campbell on keyboards, Chris Glen on bass guitar, and Gilson Lavis on drums.
Mulvey had previously sung with local beat group the Poets. After changing from their original name, Mustard, they chose Tear Gas as a variation on the same theme. However, Mulvey was soon replaced by keyboard player and vocalist David Batchelor, and Lavis (who later played with Squeeze) by Richard Monro from Ritchie Blackmore's Mandrake Root. It was this line-up who made their recorded debut with 1970's Piggy Go Getter, an album typical of the time with its extended guitar and keyboard passages. However, they were more playful than some - ‘We were a really loud band. In fact we used to open with Jethro Tull's 'Love Story', which started very softly and the crowd would drift towards the front. Then we'd turn the volume up and blow everyone out of the hall.’ Later in 1970 Hugh McKenna replaced Batchelor while his cousin Ted McKenna (ex-Dream Police) took over from Monro on drums. Itinerant musician Ronnie Leahy also contributed keyboards in Batchelor's absence, though the group were by now living in penury six to a room in Shepherd's Bush, London. A second album was recorded for release on Regal Zonophone Records but again met with a lacklustre response from the critics despite regular touring in an effort to establish themselves. Tear Gas met with an experienced vocalist called Alex Harvey, this was arranged by the Management Company. Alex joined Tear Gas and the band's name was changed to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Kicking off their careers as SAHB in August 1972 they were primarily performing material Alex already had. By 1973 they adopted distinctive stage costumes: Harvey wore vaudeville-like clothes and his trademark striped shirt, while Cleminson assumed the identity of a "mime" in full make-up and green-yellow jumpsuit and Glen wore a dark blue jumpsuit reminiscent of a superhero costume incorporating a lighter blue codpiece. SAHB produced a succession of highly regarded albums and tours throughout the 1970s. The band did not enjoy large-scale success in the United States as it had in the UK, though they did acquire a cult following in certain US cities, notably Cleveland, where the group first played at the Agora Ballroom in December 1974. Thanks to airplay from WMMS, songs like "Next" and "The Faith Healer" became popular.
In January 1974, the band went into Advision Studios in London with the American producer Shel Talmy to record a third album. By April, the sessions were finished and the album was mixed. However, the band and management had some reservations about the overall sound and decided to scrap the entire album. Talmy returned to Los Angeles with his tapes. Most of the song titles appeared on the official album The Impossible Dream later that year with a different producer, though the songs were dramatically changed.[clarification needed] The original recordings formed an album called Hot City, released in 2009 by Major League Productions.
The SAHB, as they were better known, recorded eight albums in five years and were regarded as one of the biggest-grossing live bands in Europe. They participated in major tours supporting the likes of Jethro Tull, Slade, and supporting bands such as The Who and Frank Zappa. By 1975 they were selling out iconic venues such as The Apollos and their shows there became famous thanks to their Christmas Shows which were never filmed. Also in 1975 they released a live album containing the song Delilah.
The band had top 40 hits in Britain including "Delilah", a cover version of the Tom Jones hit, which reached number seven in 1975. Delilah was added to their live set in order for Zal, Chris and Alex to do a dance in the middle of the song. But the record company thought it was a fantastic version, they mixed and released the song without the band's knowledge or permission while they were on tour in America, which required the band to fly back to the UK to perform on Top Of The Pops and shows such as The Old Grey Whistle Test as the song had entered the UK charts.
"The Boston Tea Party" was released in June 1976 and the song "Anthem" was a top 30 hit in Australia in 1975.
Harvey left the group late in 1975; the other members continued with the name "SAHB (without Alex)". They recorded a new album, Fourplay, in February 1977. The album steered towards solid pop-rock with progressive influences. Harvey re-joined the group in mid-1977. Constant touring and album releases exhausted the band and keyboardist Hugh McKenna exited after the release of SAHB Stories due to stress. He was replaced with Tommy Eyre, who had worked with Gerry Rafferty prior to this, but at that point the band's chemistry had gone and Alex's drinking was getting heavier so the band disbanded shortly after the release of their final studio album Rock Drill. Harvey died of heart failure on 4 February 1982 in Belgium.
During the success of SAHB, Cleminson had a distinctive stage presence with SAHB owing to his white-face mime makeup. He started wearing the mime makeup when the band started playing larger venues, so they could see what he was doing on stage easier. Cleminson has said "The mime face came about when I went to Paris to see Marcel Marceau performing and it gave me an idea to have an alter ego and mess around with pulling faces when I played so it gave the audience something to watch and with bigger gigs – more people could see what I was up to".[1]
When SAHB split up in 1977, the band were still under contract with Mountain Management, preventing them from performing or joining any other band so the management company decided to change the band name from SAHB to the Zal Band as they felt Zal second in popularity and his image was recognisable. The band recruited The Tubes' vocalist Leroi Jones and nineteen-year-old Billy Rankin on guitar, who later played with Nazareth. But the band dissolved when their contract ended. The Zal Band didn't record anything although it is said there are live bootlegs of some shows around the circuit.
Once the Zal Band folded, Zal worked as a cab driver in and around London to support his wife and young family he had at the time.
In 1979 Cleminson joined Nazareth[2] and recorded two albums with them, 1979's No Mean City and 1980's Malice in Wonderland. Zal was part of the band for three years.
Tandoori Cassette was an early 1980s short-lived rock band formed by Zal and Barriemore Barlow after leaving Tull in 1980, with Charlie Tumahai from Bebop Deluxe on Bass, and Ronnie Leahy from Stone The Crowes on keyboards. They recorded an EP called Angel Talk but disbanded shortly after.
Zal was a regular guitarist with singer Elkie Brooks on many of her tours throughout the 1980s. He wrote and played on Brooks' album Minutes as well as one track on No More the Fool.
Cleminson has also toured with Midge Ure on his Gift World Tour 1985.
Zal also toured with Bonnie Tyler on several tours and performed live on some of her biggest hits such as Holding Out For A Hero and It's A Heartbreak.
When the session work decreased, Zal returned to day-to-day jobs including as a computer consultant and reading electric meters.
During the 1990s Cleminson played with The Party Boys, a casual band formed by SAHB drummer Ted McKenna. The concept was the band would be a 'super group' who would be able to change members and vocalists at various times, featured former Marillion vocalist Fish and Nazareth's Dan McCafferty and Billy Rankin as vocalists. This project slowly weaved into a reformed version of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band with a permanent vocalist due to Harvey's death in 1982.
SAHB official reformed in 1993, with Zero Zero vocalist Stevie Doherty where they enjoyed relative success touring in the UK and Europe, performing at various festivals such as the Tarlair Music Festival as well as recording a live album titled Live in Glasgow 93 which was recorded in Minstrels which is no longer there. This line up of SAHB disbanded shortly after this and Zal decided to take time out.
In 2002, SAHB reformed briefly with ex-Nazareth guitarist Billy Rankin on vocals for a tribute concert held to Frankie Miller at the Barrowlands, Glasgow which demonstrated that there was still an audience and a diehard following for SAHB and their music. They also performed at the iconic King Tuts venue in Glasgow where a popular bootleg of the gig was recorded but again disbanded shortly after before reuniting two years later.
In 2004, SAHB reunited for the last time. They returned to their 1970s style, but with a heavier and grungier approach which included Zal bringing back the iconic make-up. This time it was a different look, more Brandon Lee's Crow with black sunglasses. The band needed someone who was not just a rock vocalist, but someone who could perform in the same way Alex did so they auditioned Max Maxwell who was mostly known as the Ebaneezer Goode dancer on Top Of The Pops but also had a reputation in and around Glasgow with bands such as Edith & The Ladies and The.[clarification needed] They toured and released a live album Zalvation: Live In The 21st Century in 2005. The tour was initially a farewell but due to its popularity, they continued, with tours and festivals between 2004 and 2008 including Sweden Rock Festival, Wickerman Festival, USC Festival, and even a mini-tour of Australia in 2007.
In 2006, he appeared in his début acting role as Wilson in the western film A Shot in the West, for which he wrote the theme music.
As well as performing with SAHB, Cleminson was a member of the now-disbanded outfits Ze Suicide and Oskura. But these projects did not succeed. Zal appeared on the promotional photo shoots for both bands...and in these bands his look had the SAHB feel - with Ze Suicide he had the white make up with no lines, and Oskura he had the same make up as the 21st century SAHB.
In early 2008 Zal announced his retirement from the music industry and stated he would never perform live again. His last spell with SAHB he felt he was becoming a tribute to himself as he wanted the band to progress and write new material but according to him the band were less than enthusiastic about the whole prospect.
Cleminson decided to move to Cyprus with partner Rachel, and during his time there he suffered from depression and anxiety, so he bought a cheap acoustic guitar to use as a form of therapy and soon developed ideas for what would initially be Zal's first solo album. Around 2016, Zal was collaborating with Alan Mair on a project called Electric Brae and some of his initial ideas were used for that but he disliked how some of the songs sounded and decided to go in another direction.
Zal knew of a keyboardist from Glasgow, David Cowan, who he knew was in an Alex Harvey tribute band called The SAHB Experience and he had attended some of their shows and was impressed by their musicianship and attention to detail so he contacted David and asked if he was interested in collaborating with him on the material and ideas he had. David then helped him with this. David was also a good friends with SAHB drummer Ted McKenna as he was his student while attending North Glasgow College and as an added bonus had also been a band member of SAHB bassist Chris Glen's band The Outfit.
Zal believed David could help him recover and unleash his not yet seen side of hard-edged, industrial rock. Zal always advised in interviews that with sin'dogs he had come full circle and playing music he instinctively played and that he was back to his roots in Tear Gas.
As the material neared completion, Zal and David thought these songs would sound great live and they toyed with the idea of forming a band to perform them. Zal and David organised a few rehearsals with the band and sin'dogs were born.
Not all members of The SAHB Experience were able to do it as vocalist Andy Massie had a full-time job as did drummer Chris Killen so they brought in experienced drummer Scott Cowie (who was also taught by Ted McKenna) and Zal decided to be both guitarist and lead singer.
The band performed their first mini-UK tour at the end of 2017 and recorded their first self-titled EP. This was followed by an extensive UK tour in 2018 and time in the studio to record their debut album titled 'VOL.1. The band also made appearances at some major festivals which included Cropredy, Sweden Rock Festival, A New Day Festival, and Cambridge Rock Festival. They also performed a sell-out show at the iconic Barrowlands Ballroom supporting Mott The Hoople.
In 2018, Scott decided to leave the band to concentrate on his day job and career as a college lecturer and was replaced by Louie Malvessi. But he was soon replaced by Carlos Marin.
Around October 2019, Cleminson announced via social media that he was leaving sin'dogs. Zal had reasons of his own to quit. The remaining members of /sin'dogs/ moved on to other projects. Keyboardist David Cowan formed his own band, The Meissner Effect, and continues to tour with The SAHB Experience alongside bassist Nelson McFarlane and has recently released his second solo album Identity: Out Of The Dark Part 2.
Drummer Carlos Marin briefly joined rock outfit 'Gin Annie' before leaving and forming his own band Humanity Deluxe who have also recently recorded their first studio album and gigging throughout the UK.
Since the demise of the band in October 2019, Zal and Willie worked together on a new project 'Orphans Of The Ash' and have released a studio album in November 2022 titled Ellipsis. Plans are currently in place for Orphans Of The Ash to begin working on their second album which is yet to be titled. The album 'Ellipsis' by Orphans of the Ash, Zal's collaboration with Billy McGonagle from /sin'dogs/, was released on 29 November 2022.[3]
It's been said that Zal is also working on a fictional post apocalyptic novel called Rool which is yet to be completed.
Cleminson is referenced in the novel The Sacred Art of Stealing, by the Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre, as the basis of the disguises worn by bank robbers during a heist, and inspired the name of the character Zal Innez.
Guthrie Govan has cited Cleminson as one of his most important influences and considers him to have been "his Jimmy Page" in his early guitar development.[4]
