Alan St. Clair (born 18 May 1959) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

guitarist, who played with several prominent

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

new wave music New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. La ...

ians in the 1970s and 1980s.

Biography

In 1977, he helped form punk band Dog Days, alongside

Simon Le Bon Simon John Charles Le Bon (born 27 October 1958) is a British singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia. Le Bon has received three Ivor Novello Awards from the British ...

, later of

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

. Other members included Peter Johns, Carol Isaacs and Olivier Behzadi. One demo tape was made, one concert played before they disbanded when Le Bon left London for University in Birmingham. After the band dissolved in 1978, St. Clair continued to work with Peter Johns, and in 1980 formed Voxpop, alongside Ian Johns, Steve Wilcox and Neil Pyzer, until 1981 when they disbanded. The same year, he formed Dive Dive Dive with David Pearson, Vincent Pitt, Patrick Ahern and John Pilny and Beau Shave. Demos and concerts followed. In 1982, he also began to work with

Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is a retired English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, one of the first post-punk bands. After M ...

(singer of

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

and

Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

), helping him with his solo career, playing guitar on his album, ''

Jerky Versions of the Dream ''Jerky Versions of the Dream'' is the only solo album recorded by Howard Devoto, the original singer of Buzzcocks and Magazine. It was his only studio album, which was released at the time with two singles, "Cold Imagination" and "Rainy Season", ...

''. North America and European tours followed. While he was with Howard Devoto, he joined

Spear of Destiny A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...

. He left Spear of Destiny in 1986 after demos were made of the album that became '' Outland''. St. Clair was asked to rejoin Spear in 1988 to tour their new album, ''

The Price You Pay ''The Price You Pay'' is the fifth studio album by Spear of Destiny, released by Virgin Records in 1988 (see 1988 in music). Track listing All songs written by Kirk Brandon # "So In Love With You" - 4:22 # "Tinseltown" - 5:15 # "The Price" - ...

''. Further demos were made by Kirk Brandon and St. Clair, some of which would later appear on ''

Sod's Law Sod's law, a British culture axiom, states that "if something ''can'' go wrong, it will". The law sometimes has a corollary: that the misfortune will happen at "the worst possible time" ( Finagle's law). The term is commonly used in the United K ...

'', although not performed by him. St. Clair was also introduced to various performing artists including Alex Gifford of Propellorheads. Demos were made, but no concerts ensued. St. Clair's last official band was ATR, alongside Harry Matthews, Richard Ramsay, Stuart Johnson and Mark Johnson. He now lives in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

designing and producing bespoke furniture and guitars.

References

External links

MySpace: Alan St. Clair

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Clair, Alan 1959 births Living people British rock guitarists British male guitarists Place of birth missing (living people) Spear of Destiny (band) members