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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[clarification needed] The original recordings formed an album called Hot City, released in 2009 by Major League Productions.

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 Singles Chart.

Once the Zal Band folded, Cleminson worked as a cab driver in and around London to support his wife and young family he had at the time.

Tandoori Cassette was an early 1980s short-lived rock band formed by Cleminson and Barriemore Barlow after leaving Jethro Tull in 1980, with Charlie Tumahai from Bebop Deluxe on bass, and Ronnie Leahy from Stone the Crows on keyboards.

When the session work decreased, Cleminson returned to day-to-day jobs including as a computer engineer and reading electric meters.

They also performed at the King Tuts venue in Glasgow where a popular bootleg of the gig was recorded but again disbanded shortly after before reuniting two years later.

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 his first solo album.

Around 2016, Cleminson 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.

As the material neared completion, Cleminson and Cowan thought these songs would sound great live and they toyed with the idea of forming a band to perform them.

In 2018, Cowie decided to leave the band to concentrate on his day job and career as a college lecturer and was replaced by Louie Malvessi.

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 recorded their first studio album and were gigging throughout the UK.

Since the demise of the band in October 2019, Cleminson and Willie worked together on a new project 'Orphans Of The Ash' and have released a studio album in November 2022 titled Ellipsis.

[3] 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.