Alex Wilson was part of one of the most influence heavy bands of the late 60’s and early 70’s called Iron Claw. With many line up changes in their short existence, they would go on to influence a whole other underground generation just as bands like Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, and Deep Purple did for the more larger audiences. It’s a true pleasure to share this. Enjoy!

When were you born? Are you originally from Scotland? When did you first begin playing music?

I was born in Dumfries, Scotland, on 15th December 1947. We had a piano in the house but it was too big for me! (However, I used to love hearing boogie-woogie piano on the radio at the start of the 50's usually on foreign radio stations). I still remember the Sunday in 1955 (when I was 7) I first heard “Rock Around The Clock” by Bill Haley on the radio! Astonishing at the time, I had never heard anything like it on radio before!) I started playing about with an acoustic guitar about 1956 that had been gifted to the family by an Italian neighbor! That would be during the “skiffle” craze that was in Britain at the time.

Was this something that was relevant in your household? Can you tell me what it was like growing up? Were you involved in any other outfits prior to Iron Claw?

We had no TV until the mid 50's, so all the music I heard was from the radio or at a cinema, until my Dad built a record player and 15” mono speaker into a sideboard and then we could get records! The first single I bought was Little Richard's “Lucille” on a 78rpm disc and it's never sounded better than when it was played through that home-built mono system! Later in the 50's my Dad got hold of a Grundig tape recorder as well and that was a revelation for me , starting my interest in recording.... My favorite band at the start of the 60's were the Beach Boys (same surname and age as me but with early Chuck Berry riffs and harmonies!) I always preferred them to Cliff Richard and the Shadows or the Beatles that the other kids liked, but it was the Rolling Stones that really hooked me and got me into learning the guitar. I had no involvement (in a playing capacity) with local bands prior to Iron Claw.

Amplified Heat circa: 1969. 3 out of this band went on to play in Iron Claw... From the top, Neil Johnstone, Mike Waller, Wullie Davidson, Kenny McKie, and at the bottom Donald MacLachlan with Wilson’s Gibson SG!

One of the Amplified Heat line-ups from July of 1969. Wullie Davidson standing at the back (with his new "severe" haircut!), Donald MacLachlan sitting on left beside Kenny McKie and Neil Johnstone sitting down the front.

What bands, whether they were local or 'name' groups of that time, inspired you early on? What were some of the local venues/clubs that you would go to in your area to see shows? What was the local music scene like in your community before you began participating in it yourself?

I've already mentioned the Beach Boys and the Stones but I would include all the great British bands from the mid 60's, especially the Yardbirds, Animals, Kinks, Small Faces and the Who to a certain extent, then along came Cream... As far as local venues back then, my favorites were package shows at one of the local cinemas, and also there was one largish local venue that used to get big pop/rock bands of the time... The local music scene then was cover bands (and there weren't many) playing “safe” pop or soul music... Because recording was my hobby, in early 1968 I was invited along to record a local band (eventually called Amplified Heat) with a view to letting themselves hear what they sounded like and hopefully improve! (Some of Amplified Heat eventually were involved with Iron Claw). I recorded the band and was asked to assist in the management and promotion of them, which I was happy to do. So by late 1968 I was fully involved with Amplified Heat (and also unemployed at that moment!)

My 21st birthday rolled up and that's when I bought my first “real” electric guitar, a Gibson SG Standard... (being unemployed at this time it cost me about 75% of my unemployment benefit in those days to get it!) I would loan it to the lead guitarist of Amplified Heat (Donald MacLachlan) to use at gigs... During early 1969 I was becoming unhappy with the lack of progress that the Heat were achieving and the idea formed that I could do a better job if I had my own band! I'd heard a young guitarist and drummer previously at Amplified Heat gigs who had requested a “go” at the Gibson and also the drummer's big kit during breaks... and had taken a mental note of their abilities.

After hearing Led Zeppelin on 20th June 1969 in Newcastle I decided to “bite the bullet” and start my own band. So I contacted the two young guys I'd previously heard, Jimmy Ronnie (guitarist, aged 15) on 13th August 1969 and Ian McDougall (a.k.a. Dougal) (drummer, aged 15) on the 23rd of August 1969 and that was the start of what ended up as Iron Claw. I switched to bass, borrowing the Amplified Heat bass when required. As we didn't have a vocalist at that time I had to cover those duties as well! (Fortunately, short lived!)

We had several names during this formative period (eg NAJ, or Mad Dog) and most of our public appearances were as a support act for Amplified Heat. That suited us right away because we could learn cover songs that the Heat wouldn't/couldn't attempt. At one of the earliest appearances we had to play 2x30 minute spots knowing only 3 songs! In November 1969, Amplified Heat were support act to a band called Black Sabbath at a local Dumfries Youth Club and I was there to record the Heat's set... Upon hearing Sabbath playing their own songs in their own style, it inspired me to consider writing and recording our own songs... Fortunately at this point an ex-member of Amplified Heat (Mike Waller, aged 17) had returned to Dumfries and agreed to join my band on vocals. (It's very apparent that the group was inspired by firstly Zeppelin and then Sabbath and rightfully so. You guys quickly began writing your own original material after covering some of their tunes, and other popular bands of the time.

Can you run me through the process of when the band began first started constructing original material? How did the music come together in terms of who brought what to the table? Was it all very much a mutual effort, or did one of you kind of steer the ship?

For the next 3 months (November 1969 up to the end of January 1970) we called the band Mother Earth (we didn't know that name was already in use) and while incorporating Mike into the band we were still doing our usual cover songs... Mike and I wrote our first songs “On The Trail” and “Last December” which we never used in the group... Upon the release in February 1970 of Sabbath's first album, we decided to learn the whole thing, starting to rehearse it at my house on 17th February 1970... Obviously looking back, we had no idea how big a deal it would become! As far as “steering the ship”, there was only one commander! Historically, I was the founder and leader of the band (fairly obvious if you look at the ages involved!) By February 1970 I was 22 and the only one with a regular job... Mike was 18, (unemployed), Jimmy and Dougal were 16 (still at school)... therefore, I was responsible for all the bills, expenses, etc. required for the running of the band...

On 28th February 1970, I changed the name of the band to Iron Claw and bought my first bass guitar, a paisley pattern Fender Telecaster Bass!... (Donald MacLachlan, guitarist with Amplified Heat and Jimmy Ronnie were still sharing my Gibson SG Standard which I had continued to loan them.) We split away totally from Amplified Heat in the summer of 1970 after winning a local competition, part of which was you had to play one of your own songs. We played “Same Old Story” (by Taste), “Wicked World” (by Black Sabbath) and our song was “Sabotage” written on 18th May 1970... Part of the prize for winning the competition was a recording session at a studio in Edinburgh... (Amplified Heat were fellow competitors in the competition and were not too happy about the result which was chosen by the audience!)

What were the Iron Claw practises/rehearsals like? Did you have a designated space for that?

We would rehearse/songwriter at my house, then have a louder run-through at the same youth club where Sabbath had played... For the remainder of that summer we would play anywhere we could (not easy considering how heavy rock we were, most venues were agency run and would only book pop or soul cover bands at the time!). On 3rd September 1970 I took Jimmy Ronnie and Dougal along to see an Irish 3 piece called Skid Row at a show in Carlisle. I'd heard them in concert on the radio and was impressed by the virtuosity of the guitar and the drummer.

(The guitarist was Gary Moore aged 18 then and I remember the effect he had on Jimmy Ronnie in particular... His jaw was nearly touching the floor!) On 17th September 1970 we recorded (in just 2 hours including setting up) our demo single in Edinburgh (the competition prize) on just a 2 track machine, “Sabotage” and “Mist Eye” (our latest song writing attempt written the week before)... I was disappointed with the sound of that demo/studio, so I then decided to “challenge” the group and booked an 8 hour recording session at a 4 track studio in London for 5th December 1970 (which cost me a whole month's wages then!), meaning we had to write and rehearse 8 songs in 3 months and know them well enough to record them in 8 hours. As it would be a demo LP, I wanted a side that was heavier (3x approx. 6 minute songs) and a side of 5x shorter length songs (supposedly more commercial!)

All the songs (apart from “Sabotage” and “Mist Eye”) were written and rehearsed during October and November 1970. All were bass riff driven and lyrics by a combination of Mike and myself. (Can you briefly explain each of the songs that were featured on the LP, and a short history behind their origin?) On side one were the 3 longer songs “Clawstrophobia”, “Crossrocker” and “Skullcrusher”, and side two had “Sabotage”, “Mist Eye”, “Saga”, “Take Me To Your Leader” and finally “Bright Future”. All recorded in 8 hours, all the backings in one take with vocals added, on a 4 track machine. We were so well rehearsed though we managed it fairly easily! It's also worth remembering that when we recorded that demo LP, Jimmy and Dougal were still only 16, Mike was 18 and I was 22... (While we were in London we also took the opportunity to visit the Simms Watt amplification manufacturing site so I could check out their equipment)...

(This is side one of the original double sided acetate LP disc of Iron Claw, recorded December 5th 1970 featuring the five short songs I hoped would be single material! "Sabotage" was written on May 18th of 1970, because we needed a self penned song to enter a competition that Guid Nychburris were running at the Loreburn Hall on June 1st - "Beat Contest". The winner of the contest would get a recording session at a studio in Edinburgh. When we won the competition, we had to write another song for the "B-side" of the demo single and on September 6th 1970 we wrote "Mist Eye" .

We recorded both Sabotage and Mist Eye in one "take" on a stereo machine (2-track) on September 17th 1970 at Edinburgh. Before the studio session, we had written another song "Saga" on September 10th 1970 which I deemed "too heavy" for the Edinburgh session! Anyway, we were only allowed to record 2 songs as the prize winners! Pressing on, we wrote "Take Me To Your Leader" on September 22nd 1970 and finally on September 30th 1970, I came up with the riff for "Bright Future" (Wilson and Waller).

At this point I was looking for a different "bigger" studio to record our demos (a 4 track studio!) and found one on the outskirts of London advertising in Beat Instrumental magazine. I applied(!) for a recording session there and sent off money to book it October 5th 1970. At that point I wanted to start writing longer "heavier" songs for the upcoming demo LP and I knew that you could fit approximately 18 minutes on an LP side, so I figured three longer songs would be good to put on side two.)

(This is side two of the original double sided acetate LP disc of Iron Claw, recorded December 5th of 1970, featuring the three "heavier" bass-driven riff songs I wanted for side two. "Crossrocker" (Wilson and Waller) was written on October 12th of 1970, "Claustrophobia" (Wilson,Waller) was written on October 26th of 1970 and finally "Skullcrusher" (Wilson,Waller) was written on November 9th of 1970. These three songs were written at my house with just Mike and myself present in order to get them done relatively quickly. On November 12th of 1970 I received confirmation of the London session and the band started intensive rehearsals at Rugmans Youth Club, Whitesands, Dumfries between November 12th and December 2nd of 1970 of the eight songs we were to record. I could only afford an 8 hour session at the studio and we had to be able to do all the song backings in one "take"!)

(Original Iron Claw acetate disc from a session in Edinburgh in August of 1971 featuring the Iron Claw Mark 2 line up with Donald McLachlan on twin guitar... "Let It Grow" is the track that made it onto the Rockadrome CD, "Lightning" is one of my songs that contains a different arrangement from the Rockadrome release (due to the twin guitars), and "Lady Whiskey" is a cover version of a Wishbone Ash song featuring harmony guitars that was a feature of the band when we played live with this line-up.)

There was quite a bit of line-up changes during the group's lifespan. You replaced Mike Waller in '71 with two new members. Why was Waller replaced?

At the start of 1971 Mike had expressed an interest in wanting to play guitar with the band as well as the singing. I'd bought a Fender Telecaster for him to use and we tried a few nights with him on rhythm guitar but Jimmy was unhappy with him on guitar. Also at this point we were “advised” to avoid sounding like Black Sabbath (this was after we had given them a copy of our London recording at an after-show in Newcastle in January 1971 in the vague hope that they might be able to help us!). So when Mike announced he was leaving in May 1971, this gave me an opportunity to change the musical style of the band. (Can you tell me a little about Wullie Davidson (vox/harmonica/flute) and Donald MacLachlan (guitar) when they first joined the group? MacLachlan's presence provided the dual guitar harmony, but it seems it also eventually brought on some friction.

Live in Langholm 24th of April 1971... Two weeks later Mike would announce he was leaving.

Can you tell me about that? How did they first become members of the group? Were they recruited in a similar manner as in the previous years? In October of '71 McLachlan was removed from the group leaving you to take on more responsibilities. Did you feel any pressure to step up, or was this simply a big relief?

With Mike gone and the need to change style, I decided I wanted to try and expand the band's possibilities musically. In May 1971 I got Wullie Davidson (23) in on vocals, harmonica (and eventually flute). Wullie, at that point, was between bands, but had been in Amplified Heat (who were now just called The Heat), when I had been assisting managing. The same day I asked Donald MacLachlan (22), (who was still guitarist with The Heat), to join and create a twin guitar line-up. Both Jimmy and Dougal agreed at the time to these changes. (Meanwhile Mike joined The Heat on vocals and guitar! The Dumfries band merry-go-round was in full swing then!)

Because we had to get the band out playing quickly, while learning how to incorporate two guitars, we reverted back to doing new types of covers and had intensive rehearsals. We played some gigs at the start of June 1971 with just Wullie, but eventually Donald arrived in mid June. In August 1971 we recorded 3 demo songs (inc 2 new songs “Lightning” and “Let It Grow”) back at the Edinburgh Studios which now had a 4 track recorder. In September 1971 the Edinburgh studio contacted me, saying they were expanding to an 8 track machine and because of the quality of playing on our two demo recordings we had made there offered us the chance of unlimited studio time so they could learn how to use the 8 track. Naturally I accepted! With the first of the 8 track recording sessions looming, it brought to a head a personality clash that had been brewing. Jimmy was unhappy with Donald on guitar (does that sound familiar?) and gave me an ultimatum, either Donald goes, or he goes.

Live at Lincluden Youth Centre 10th of February 1971 - Top photo: Gary Irving, one of the Claw's roadies, posing with Wilson’s Gibson SG.

Personally, I thought the twin guitar approach sounded great, but I was left with the nasty job of informing Donald that he was no longer required from the start of October 1971. So in October 1971 we started recording and experimenting in the Edinburgh studios. I bought Wullie a flute in October as well as extra equipment for the guitar to use in the studio. We were playing as a 4 piece regularly as well during this period, including actual concerts with seated audiences which was an increase in pressure that Dougal later told me he didn't enjoy. We recorded solidly until April 1972, using keyboards and saxes to augment the recording sounds. These were played by the studio engineer Billy Lyall who asked at one point if he could join the band. Jimmy didn't want keyboards in the band live (sound familiar again?), so that idea was scuppered. Billy Lyall eventually started a band called Pilot...

In 1972 during these recordings Jimmy and Dougal were 18 years old, Wullie and I were 24... In May 1972 Dougal announced he was leaving, telling me he wasn't enjoying the type of music we were recording. He couldn't be persuaded to change his mind, but soldiered on until July 1972. At that point I recruited a drummer called Neil Cockayne (20) from a local Dumfries cover band called Kruza. Neil played until the band split up in April 1974. He was the drummer when we recorded the song “Winter” in Newcastle on an 8 track in 1973. Eventually in early 1974 everybody (apart from me!) was getting married and moving miles away from Dumfries, so the band was no longer viable for rehearsing or playing. I was the only one left in Dumfries at that point and still responsible for the bills that had accrued during Iron Claw's existence (eg in March 1974 I was still buying a replacement guitar amp for Jimmy to use and strings for my Gibson SG Standard which Jimmy was still “borrowing”)...

The band split up in April 1974, at that point Jimmy was 20, and Neil was 22, Wullie and I were 26... To help to pay for the bills left over, in 1976 I created a limited number of cassettes of some of the recordings and sold them just in Dumfries. Many years later they surfaced somehow on a German bootleg CD (In 1992 under the fake name Antrobus and 1996 the same songs, now as Iron Claw)... the bootleg reviews eventually led to a proper release on Rockadrome in 2009.

Billy Lyall was the "fifth" member of Iron Claw between November 1971 until April of 1972.

Iron Claw in London area December 4th 1970 for first recordings ... from the left Jimmy Ronnie, Ian McDougall, standing Mike Waller, Alex Wilson (arms folded), roadie John (Steak Pie) Copeland (also frizzy hair), and sitting holding the cover of Uriah Heep LP our other roadie Gary Irving… Gary claimed the picture on the Uriah Heep cover was his mother!

How have you been during these rather strange and difficult times? How has COVID affected you both a musician as well as an individual? Are you planning on playing, or putting new music out once this all goes away?

I'm retired from a “normal” working job now obviously, but am still busy with recording, mixing and occasionally writing. I have a compilation CD out (also on streaming sites) called “Doonhamers Rock Metal” (Doonhamers is a collective word for folks from the South of Scotland!) which demonstrates some of the various projects in that particular genre I have been involved in over the years.

Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?

I still have many recordings of Iron Claw from the early days... I haven't heard them for nearly 50 years so can't remember the quality of the recordings, but if anything remotely listenable exists it might be interesting to hear them again!

https://www.facebook.com/alex.wilson.7528

Dakota Brown

Alex Wilson - Iron Claw

David Waldon - Kanaan

Robert Sakell - Flasher