Interview -- Zal Cleminson (Sensational Alex Harvey Band)
"It was a very aggressive approach that
we had. And a lot of the audience I think
found it pretty intimidating."
~ Zal Cleminson ~
In 1972, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band became the "Clockwork Orange" of rock and roll. Exaggerated theatrical antics and always with an ominous undercurrent of foreboding. Smiling the good smile while leaving even longtime fans cautiously unsettled about the portent grey areas that fall between where the band's tongue meets the cheek.
Many didn't understand SAHB's brand of genius. They were excellent pieces of prog-rock, hard rock, glam-rock, and proto-punk. But forget the labels. Like it or lump it. There's just no in-between. Of course, Alex Harvey was the in-your-face troubadour that ran the carnival, but the mimed-faced Zal Cleminson was always the dark, mysterious unknown variable. Smiling and mugging the stage while his piercing guitar riffs and stings found their mark. Only to show up later in dark secluded memories that leave questions as to what was really real. Zal is an unusually fine and most excellent musician of the guitar persuasion. Zal Cleminson...Go get you some.
Zal Cleminson Interview -- September 2022
Zal Cleminson
Casey Chambers: This is the 50th anniversary of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band's debut album "Framed." (1972) One of the song-burners from the album is the outstanding closing track, "St. Anthony." Your guitar lays down the gauntlet.
Zal Cleminson: Yeah, that's one of my favorites. "St. Anthony" was a song that Alex (Harvey) brought with him when we first got together. And it was a song that we first started to play when we weren't actually the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Our band was called Tear Gas before that. And we got to know each other. He said he'd like to come along to one of our gigs and maybe do a few of the songs. And Alex came up on stage almost like a kind of dress rehearsal. And the first song we did was "St. Anthony." It was the first one he'd chosen.
It was just one of those riffs that Alex had. "Midnight Moses" was another one. It had a riff that was already in place. And when he asked the band, 'Look, can you guys play this riff?' We just all looked at each other and went, 'Yeah, we'll beat the shit out of it.' And Alex just smiled. He just had a big grin on his face. He says, 'Yeah, that'll do.' He obviously knew he had the right band. We were almost up and running from day one. Tear Gas had been playing gigs around the country. Mainly in Scotland. And when Alex started getting up on stage with us, we were playing some of the songs that ended up on the Sensational Alex Harvey Band's first album, "Framed." We rehearsed for maybe two weeks and then went into a studio in London to put the album together. Basically, every song you hear on "Framed" is a live recording we did in the studio over the weekend.
"St. Anthony" - Sensational Alex Harvey Band / "Framed" (1972)
Casey Chambers: Did you guys begin touring the album right away?
Zal Cleminson: We were playing small places on our own and warming up for different kinds of bands all around the country. Some of the more prog-rock bands that were going at that time. I don't recall many of them. But we were put on the same bill as a few bands that were pulling in a good audience. That already had a good crowd of their own. A good fan base. And eventually, we built up and up and up. The first big one for us was supporting Slade on their British tour. That was when we were really getting across to a much bigger audience. Even though half of the crowd hated us. They just couldn't figure us out, you know?
Casey Chambers: It was all very theatrical and almost proto-punk for the times. You guys were projecting an edgy, fearless 'this is what we're going to do, get over it' attitude on stage. The crowds had to be taken aback by you guys.
Zal Cleminson: Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. When we supported Slade, the crowd was booing us. They hated us. They just couldn't figure out what we were trying to do. Alex had this incredible persona, and the band really backed him up. It was a very aggressive approach that we had. And a lot of the audience I think found it pretty intimidating. So there was a kind of love/hate thing, to begin with for SAHB. But then the funny thing was, even though they hated us on the Slade tour...when we went out six months later to headline ourselves, half of the crowd were the same fans that had seen us at the Slade gigs. (laughs) So they obviously changed their minds and decided, 'yeah, I quite like these guys.'
"Midnight Moses" - Sensational Alex Harvey Band / Ragnarock Festival Norway (1974)
Casey Chambers: Were you guys getting much radio play at that time?
Zal Cleminson: I don't recall, to be honest, but we did do some TV things. One I remember doing was "The Old Grey Whistle Test." In the UK in the '70s, a lot of bands played "The Old Grey Whistle Test" which was kind of a prog-rock version of "Top Of The Pops." That was more of a top 20 sort of TV show. If you had a hit single, you did that show. If you were more of a progressive rock band, then it was "The Old Grey Whistle Test." And SAHB ended up on both shows. So that was very cool.
Casey Chambers: Was there a conscious effort to appeal to a wider audience or was that just the way things played out?
Zal Cleminson: I know we got lumped into that glam-rock ballpark but SAHB was a much darker, moodier band. It was theatrics done very tongue-in-cheek and quite dark at times. The main thing I took up when I put the mime face on, was characterizing a lot of guitar players with exaggerated antics. The truth was, SAHB was never in competition with Sweet or Mud or Gary Glitter or all those other glam rock bands. For me, it was Led Zeppelin. And Deep Purple. And Pink Floyd. That's where I saw the band heading. But we got sidetracked by record companies desperate for a pop hit. And this idea completely overshadowed the band's heavy and more progressive approach. And I think we lost a lot of the rock audience by trying to fit into that commercial hit single kind of shit. "Delilah" was a cover of a Tom Jones song that was offered to us because they were so desperate to get us on "Top Of The Pops." They just didn't like the idea of SAHB going the more progressive LP route. So the idea of doing "Delilah" was thrust upon us. I hated the song. (laughs) But it became kind of a silly, strange trademark for the band simply because it was a hit. Then we wrote a hit of our own. Hugh (McKenna) and Alex wrote one called "Boston Tea Party," It was good, but it was also a case of the 'let's go down the commercial route' sort of thing again
Casey Chambers: The mime face you adopted on stage was striking and extremely unsettling. Your appearance throws out an ominous spin.
Zal Cleminson: Well, when I started playing, I looked at other guitar players playing their solos. The angst, the whole posing with facial expressions. And I just thought it was hilarious. (laughs) So I took it upon myself to sort of stage what they were doing in a kind of comic way. And it got a reaction from the fans. But then as the band got bigger and we started to play bigger and bigger venues, our manager says, 'Look, the people at the back of the hall cannot see what you're doing. They cannot see all those expressions. They can't see all of that stuff.' So we looked at ways I could project it in bigger venues. And while we were in New York, I went to see Marcel Marceau. The famous French mime artist. And we looked at his face and some of his ideas and I developed it into a whole stage persona. I think I used to scare a few people as well. (laughs)
"Vambo" - Sensational Alex Harvey Band / Rainbow Room - London (1974)
Casey Chambers: What are a few of the SAHB songs you're musically proud of? The ones you really enjoyed playing on stage.
Zal Cleminson: Well, the one you mentioned earlier..."St. Anthony"...I would choose first. It's got a real driving thing going on and a great lyric. Very cool. The heavier stuff. "Midnight Moses," of course. "The Faith Healer" is everyone's go-to SAHB song, and the live version is even heavier and moodier than the studio version. "Give My Compliments To the Chef" is another heavy-duty song and "Vambo" is another very cool one. My favorite SAHB song of all time is "The Dolphins" from the "Rock Drill" album. It was part of what's called the "The Rock Drill Suite." And that's a track I really, really dig. And there's some crazy stuff, like "$25 For A Massage" which has almost a disco jazz kinda groove. And "Man In The Jar" which is a very jazz fusion type of thing. So yeah, there are plenty of great tracks to pick from.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Casey Chambers: Who were some of the musical influences on the band?
Zal Cleminson: Well, everybody had their own personal influences. My heroes started out more with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page and people like that. Obviously Ritchie Blackmore and Hendrix. These were my guitar heroes. And you try to emulate and copy and you know, develop a style. Then I heard Frank Zappa and I went, 'Wow! Okay, just forget about trying to copy anybody. Let's just play the guitar the way you want to play it.' Zappa has been the biggest influence on me as a musician. And he was a big influence on the band as well.
Casey Chambers: What was it like coming over to the States and doing some shows?
Zal Cleminson: It was in 1974 or '75. I mean, it was like a dream come true. Every band wants to go to America and play the States and try to break in America. We never really broke America in that sense. Not in the bigger scheme of things. But, there were pockets of industrial-type areas like Pittsburgh and Cleveland and other industrial areas. Detroit...where I think they really started picking up on the band's kinda ethos. Whereas other places a bit more Midwest, I think, were puzzled. We did do a support tour with Jethro Tull which was quite an extensive tour of the States. And obviously with bigger stadium-type venues. But yeah, it was hard for the American audience in general, I think. We did pick up kind of a cult following. And we have a cult following generally throughout the world.
Casey Chambers: It's like...part of what made the band so unique was the same thing that kept the band from blowing up. It obviously wasn't gonna be everyone's cup of tea, but the people who got it...really got it.
Zal Cleminson: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. They're real die-hard fans. And they're still out there. I still get people coming onto Facebook from all over the world just saying that they saw the band or they heard the music and they're fans. There's still a lot of love out there for the band after all these years.
"The Faith Healer" - Sensational Alex Harvey Band / TOGWT (1973)
Casey Chambers: Another favorite is the 7-minute studio gem "The Faith Healer" from your second album, "Next." (1973) It's a must-play and you guys performed a shorter version on "The Old Grey Whistle Test." It starts off with a hypnotic...something. What is that we're hearing?
Zal Cleminson: That was a little gadget that Alex had a guy build for him. It just created this pulsating kind of noise. "The Faith Healer" started with that rhythm and The Temptations were the inspiration for that song. There was a track they did called "Ball Of Confusion." It was kinda noisy, and we were trying to create something like that. The whole groove was a bit of The Temptations and it sounded pretty cool.
Casey Chambers: Before I let you go, would you recommend a couple of your favorite albums?
Zal Cleminson: Well, two of my favorite albums are "Superunknown" (1994) from Soundgarden. That's one of my favorites of all time. And I'm also a huge Radiohead fan. So you could take "The Bends" (1995) or "Ok Computer." (1997) "Ok Computer" for me is a masterpiece. Those would be the two albums. Orphans Of The Ash is the band I've got going now and we're actually recording as we speak We're hoping to have something from Orphans Of The Ash maybe early next year.
Casey Chambers: We'll be looking for it. It's been a real pleasure talking with you today. Thanks for all the great music and looking forward to hearing some more. Stay well out there.
Zal Cleminson: It's cool to talk with you too, Casey, and I hope all goes well for you.
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Good stuff.
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