The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

Biography

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1972. Fronted by Alex Harvey accompanied by Zal Cleminson on guitar, bassist Chris Glen, keyboard player Hugh McKenna and drummer Ted McKenna, their music was a blend of blues rock and hard rock, with cabaret elements. Their stage performances incorporated theatrical elements. The band were popular in continental Europe, and influential in Australia, most notably to AC/DC (particularly their singer Bon Scott) and to the young Nick Cave and his first band the Boys Next Door.

Original run

In August 1972, Alex Harvey formed the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (often shortened to SAHB, and pronounced "saab") with Zal Cleminson (guitar), Chris Glen (bass), and cousins Hugh (keyboards) and Ted McKenna (drums), all members of the progressive rock act Tear Gas except Hugh.
They adopted distinctive stage costumes: Harvey wore vaudeville-like clothes and his trademark hooped shirt, while Cleminson assumed the identity of a harlequin 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 Cleveland radio station 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×The Impossible Dream1974 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1The Hot City Symphony: Vambo / Man in the Jar13:132River of Love3:103Long Hair Music / Hey4:364Sergeant Fury3:265Weights Made of Lead2:366Money Honey / Impossible Dream2:067Tomahawk Kid4:308Anthem7:42 later that year with a different producer, though the songs were dramatically changed. The original recordings formed an album called Hot City, released in 2009 by Major League Productions.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band had top 40 hits in Britain with the single "Delilah×DelilahSeptember 1994 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Delilah4:102Money Honey1:153The Impossible Dream0:564Last of the Teenage Idols7:125Shake That Thing4:066Framed4:567Anthem7:448Gamblin’ Bar Room Blues4:099Tomorrow Belongs to Me3:4610There’s No Light on the Christmas Tree Mama They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight3:4711Cheek to Cheek3:5012Runaway2:4813School’s Out4:5614The Faith Healer7:11", a cover version of the Tom Jones hit from their Live album that reached number seven in 1975, and with "The Boston Tea Party" in June 1976. The song "Anthem" was a top 30 hit in Australia in 1975.
Harvey left the group late in 1976; the other members continued with the name "SAHB (without Alex)". They recorded a new album, Fourplay×FourplayFebruary 1977 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Smouldering5:34A2Chase It Into the Night5:32A3Shake Your Way to Heaven5:13A4Outer Boogie5:02B1Big Boy4:57B2Pick It Up and Kick It4:28B3Love You for a Lifetime5:11B4Too Much American Pie6:15, in February 1977. The album steered towards a solid pop-rock with some slight prog influences. Harvey re-joined the group in mid-1977, while Hugh McKenna left. In 1978, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band recorded Rock Drill, with Tommy Eyre replacing Hugh McKenna, and disbanded shortly afterwards. Harvey died of heart failure on 4 February 1982 in Belgium.

Reunions

In 1992, Glen, Cleminson and Ted McKenna banded together to form "The Party Boys" which featured guest vocalists such as Fish, Dan McCafferty and Stevie Doherty with the Stone The Crows keyboard player Ronnie Leahy. This band lasted about one year before deciding to recruit keyboard player Hugh McKenna and finally reform as SAHB. A live album, Live in Glasgow 1993, was released, with Doherty on vocals. This line-up of SAHB disbanded in 1995, before reforming in 2002 for a tribute night to Frankie Miller at The Barrowlands in Glasgow, with the ex-Nazareth guitarist Billy Rankin on vocals. After a year, "Mad" Max Maxwell replaced Rankin.
Keyboardist Tommy Eyre died in 2001.
SAHB released another live album in 2006, Zalvation, which was their first official release since Rock Drill in 1978, and an autobiography called SAHB Story, written by the former tour manager and author Martin Keilty. The band performed numerous tours and festivals across the UK, Europe and Australia before disbanding again in 2008, after the departure of Cleminson on guitar. The band performed a handful of shows that were pre-booked with the guitarist Julian Hutson Saxby but after that, they decided to move on to separate projects.
Both McKenna cousins, Ted and Hugh, died in 2019. Ted died on 19 January 2019, and Hugh died on 18 December 2019.
Max Maxwell (born 29 April 1958) died on 17 December 2023.

Legacy

In 2018, Nick Cave told Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, "My first band was basically an Alex Harvey cover band. We did "Framed×Framed1972 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Framed4:542Hammer Song4:063Midnight Moses4:244Isobel Goudie: My Lady of the Night / Coitus Interruptus / Virgin and the Hunter7:315Buff’s Bar Blues3:066I Just Want to Make Love to You6:387Hole in Her Stocking4:418There’s No Lights on the Christmas Tree Mother, They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight3:469St. Anthony4:40", "Isobel Goudie", "Faith Healer×Faith Healer4 February 2002 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Isobel Goudie (Part)2:252Next4:033Tomahawk Kid4:324Faith Healer (live)6:585Gamblin’ Bar Room Blues4:076Sultan’s Choice4:077Action Strasse3:158Tomorrow Belongs to Me3:479Framed4:5710Rock Drill (Part)4:4511The Hot City Symphony: Part 1 (Vambo)5:0212Gang Bang4:4713Mrs Blackhouse3:3614Sirocco6:55", "Gang Bang", "Next", "Midnight Moses", everything. I wore jeans and a tight cropped t-shirt and our guitarist wore clown make-up like Zal... Our first gig was a Battle of the Bands thing in a country town and we played "Framed" and came second. It's been downhill ever since."
Earlier, while the Sensational Alex Harvey Band was still active, Bob Seger included "Gang Bang" in his set, as documented on his July 8, 1974 show at Ebbets Field in Denver. Seger jokingly introduces it as a love song "ballad".
Robert Smith of the Cure said, "People talk about Iggy Pop as the original punk, but certainly in Britain the forerunner of the punk movement was Alex Harvey. His whole stage show with the graffiti-covered brick walls – it was like very aggressive Glaswegian street theatre."

Members

Classic lineup

Alex Harvey – vocals (1972–late 1976, mid-1977–1978) (died 1982)
Zal Cleminson – guitar (1972–1978, 1993–1995, 2002–2008)
Chris Glen – bass (1972–1978, 1993–1995, 2002–2008)
Hugh McKenna – keyboards (1972–1977, 1993–1995, 2002–2008) (died 2019)
Ted McKenna – drums (1972–1978, 1993–1995, 2002–2008) (died 2019)
Later members

Tommy Eyre – keyboards (1977–1978) (died 2001)
Stevie Doherty – vocals (1993–1995)
Billy Rankin – vocals (2002–2003)
Max Maxwell – vocals (2003–2008) (died 2023)
Julian Hutson-Saxby – guitar (2008)

Reunion albums

Live in Glasgow 1993 (1994) (with Stevie Doherty on vocals)
Zalvation a.k.a. Zalvation: Live in the 21st Century (2006) (with "Mad" Max Maxwell on vocals)

Compilations/other releases

Hot City (early version of The Impossible Dream, remastered and released in 2009)
Vambo Rools: 'Big Hits and Close Shaves' (Vertigo 1977)
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Collection (Castle Communications 1986)
All Sensations (Vertigo 1992)
Faith Healer – An Introduction to (Mercury Records 2001)
...Delilah (Spectrum 1998)
Considering the Situation (Universal 2003)
The Best of the Sensational Alex Harvey - #148 UK
Last of the Teenage Idols (2016) – a 14-CD/217-track box set including 21 previously unreleased songs, 59 songs on CD for the first time and a number of rare recordings plus a hardback book of photographs.
Shout: The Essential Alex Harvey (Spectrum Audio 2018)
Good Evening Boys And Girls - a 21-CD limited edition live box set, (Madfish, 2026)