Zal Cleminson

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 Talma Motown & Stax music. In the early 70's 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 Glenon 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 ultimately were on the verge of collapsed until a meeting with an experienced vocalist called Alex Harvey was arranged by the Management Company. The meeting went well and it was soon decided that Tear Gas would now be working with Alex but under a new name...and that name was...The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Kicking off their careers as SAHB in August of 1972 they were primarily performing material Alex already had and this was all before the theatrics and stage performances that would shortly follow. 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 8 albums in 5 years and were regarded as one of the biggest grossing live bands in Europe. With massive tours supporting the likes of Jethro Tull, Slade, and supporting bands such as The Who and Frank Zappa they were climbing the ladder of being one of the best live bands to see. By 1975 they were selling out iconic venues such as The Apollos and there shows there became famous thanks to their Christmas Shows which unfortunately were never filmed but was witeness by literally thousands of people who attended the Apollo regularly and always say that SAHB were one of the best bands they have seen there. Also in 1975 they released a live album which had a particular song on it...Delilah.

The band had top 40 hits in Britain "Delilah", a cover version of the Tom Jones hit, which reached number seven in 1975. Delilah was a song that became a double edged sword for the band as they only added it in their live set in order for Zal, Chris & 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 meant the band had to fly back over to the UK to perform on Top Of The Pops & shows such as The Old Grey Whistle Test as the song had gone into 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 a solid pop-rock with some slight prog influences. Harvey re-joined the group in mid-1977. It was getting to a point that the band were starting to get exhausted with the constant touring and pressure of releasing album after album where it eventually took its toll and with keyboardist Hugh McKenna stepping away from the band after the release of SAHB Stories due to stress, they replaced him with keyboard maestro 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 were on the brink of falling apart. Shortly after the release of their final studio album Rock Drill the band split up. Harvey died of heart failure on 4 February 1982 in Belgium.

During the success of SAHB, Cleminson had an extremely 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 so they were unable to move on and perform or join any other band so the management company decided to change the band name from SAHB to the Zal Band as they felt Zal was the second in command in terms of popularity and the image of Zal was so recognisable it was (on paper anyway) a good idea. The band recruited The Tubes' vocalist Leroi Jones and 19-year-old Billy Rankin on guitar, who later played with Nazareth. It was not meant to be and the members were not happy so they stuck it out until their contract was up and then called it a day. 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 was now working a normal day job as a cab driver in and around London to make ends meet and support his wife & young family he had at the time and it was not long before another Scottish Rock group got in touch with him to obtain his services.

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 3 years.

Tandoori Cassete was an early 80s 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 pop sensation Bonnie Tyler on several tours and performed live on some of her biggest hits such as Holding Out For A Hero & It's A Heartbreak.

When the session work started to fizzle out, Zal was back doing day to day jobs which included working as Computer Consultant & 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 back in 1982.

SAHB official reformed in 1993, with Zero Zero vocalist Stevie Doherty where they enjoyed relative success touring in the UK & 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 was a great succcess and it was evidently clear 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 being brought back together 2 years later.

In 2004, SAHB got back together for which would be for the last time and they all knew that. They decided if they were going to do this again, they would do it the way it was back in the 70's 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 back in the day so they auditioned Max Maxwell who was mostly known as the Ebaneezer Goode dancer on Top Of The Pops but also had a reputaton in and around Glasgow with bands such as Edith & The Ladies and The. They knew it was working and decided to get everything behind them to go out and Tour and before long they had a live album Zalvation: Live In The 21st Century which was released in 2005. The tour was initially a Farewell but as the tour was so successful they decided to carry on to see how far it would go. The band performed various 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. These two projects didn't get off the ground. Zal did appear 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 was suffering badly with Depression & Anxiety and nothing was lifting him. So he decided to buy a cheap acoustic guitar from a small music shop and try and use the guitar as a form of therapy and not before long he was developing ideas for what would be initially Zal's first solo album. Around 2016, Zal was collaborating with Alan Mair working with him on a project called Electric Brae and some of his initial ideas were being used for that but he was not happy with how the songs were sounding and decided to go in another direction.

Zal knew of a keyboardist from Glasgow called 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 / ideas he had. David then joined him in helping put the songs and ideas together and with David being such an avid SAHB fan for years this seemed like a dream come true for him. 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 knew David had the talent and the enthusiasm to help bring him back on the road to recovery and to unleash a side of his playing and songwriting that nobody had really seen...hard edged, industrial rock with glimpses of the sound he began his career with in Tear Gas. Zal always advised in interviews that with sin'dogs he had come full circle and playing music he naturally instinctively played and that he was back to his roots in Tear Gas. Zal was back, and performing the best he had for years.

Once the material was heading towards completion, almost instantly both Zal and David thought these songs would sound great live and they toyed with the idea of putting a band together to perform the songs. David suggested The SAHB Experience in which Zal thought was a great idea which would ultimately tie in with his own career with SAHB and the fact that Alex had taken Tear Gas under his wing to become SAHB..Zal was now doing the same with SAHE. Zal and David organised a few rehearsals with the band to run the songs and they both knew pretty much right away that this was going to work and at that point...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 in an interesting twist, Zal decided to take the mantle of being not only the guitarist...but the 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, Cambridge Rock Festival and more. They also performed a sell out show at the iconic Barrowlands Ballroom supporting Mott The Hoople. They were unstoppable.

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. This recruitment was short-lived as he was soon replaced by Carlos Marin. The band were on fire...word was spreading..this was a band to look out for..but towards the end of 2019.. disaster struck.

After two years of hard work, around October 2019, Cleminson announced via social media that he was leaving sin'dogs which ultimately left both the members of the band and the fans in shock. The band were riding on the crest of a wave with interest coming from both the UK & Europe. The material that was being written for their second album was far superior to the first album and the rest of the band were excited but 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 as well as continues to tour extensively 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.

Zal has been known to lose interest very quickly and his ideas and projects change with him. During the /sin'dogs/ performance at the Winterstorm Festival in 2018, Zal's erratic behaviour almost destroyed the band before it started and as a reault was effectively blacklisted from the festival. His behaviour on the night was unprofessional and embarrassing according to sources who watched him perform. One person quoted on the band's social media page that Zal should be ashamed of himself for letting his band and his fans down. This had a major impact on the continuation of the band and although they recovered for just under a year...things changed and the spark was starting to fade. The material and ideas that Zal was writing was becoming more self-centered and off the wall with little or no thought towards a musical approach like the way they had done at the beginning and initial concept of the material was going to be and this caused the rest of the band to walk away and move on to new projects.

Since the demise of the band in October 2019, Zal & Willie have decided to continue working together on a new project 'Orphans Of The Ash' and have released a studio album in November 2022 called Ellipsis. The album has received mixed reviews and has not been released through a major label. The material on the album consists of reworkings of several /sin'dogs/ tracks which some may argue have not enhanced the original recordings from Vol.1. The versions on Vol.1 had more atmosphere and with the keyboards being part of the overall sound, this is not the case with Orphans. The name Orphans Of The Ash was originally the sub title for the sin'dogs second studio album VOL.2. 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]

In 2022 Sin Dogs reformed without Zal & William McGonagle and according to sources on their social media page the new line up are releasing their comeback EP Renascence and the follow-up to Vol.1 will be released around December 2023 which will be titled The Next Testament: Vol.2.

The new line up features experience rock vocalist Peter Scallan (Samson/GLASGOW/Moritz), Andy McLaughlan (Burnt Out Wreck / The Meissner Effect) on Guitar, and Todd Macleod (The Swampborn Assassins / GLASGOW) on Drums. The response from sin dogs fans has been very positive with regards to the new line up so it looks like fans of Sin Dogs will have the best of both worlds with Sin Dogs and Orphans Of The Ash releasing music for their fans respectively.

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]

Zal will always be regarded as one of the best guitarists to come out of Scotland and rightly so. He had a style that was so unique and many guitarists who are coming up now are citing him as a major influence.

• Interview in Guitar Player (May 2006)