Alex St. Clair

Who was Alex St. Clair?

Alex St. Clair was an American musician.

Twice guitarist for Captain Beefheart, St. Clair was a contemporary of Frank Zappa and Beefheart at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California, where St. Clair played trumpet and Zappa played drums. They bought their first guitars within days of each other.

St. Clair joined his first band, the Omens, around 1959; Vliet did occasional vocals with them. St. Clair went to work around Lake Tahoe in 1964. He returned to Lancaster in 1965 and teamed up with Doug Moon, Jerry Handley, and Terry Wimberley in a blues band. After Vliet was invited to sing with them and Vic Mortensen joined as drummer, the first incarnation of the Magic Band was formed. It was around this time that Snouffer changed his name to St. Clair and Vliet changed his to Van Vliet. St. Clair claimed, "We changed our names because the police were after us for smuggling sponges into Nevada."

St. Clair played on the band's first two albums, Safe as Milk and Strictly Personal. He left the group in June 1968, having become both musically and financially disappointed after a botched European tour. Bill Harkleroad took his place in the band.