Levi Smith's Clefs


Levi Smith's Clefs, originally The Clefs, were an Australian R&B, pop rock group, which formed in Adelaide in 1963. Lead vocalist, Barrie "The Bear" McAskill, joined in 1965. In 1967 he took over and renamed the group after founding keyboardist, Winston "Tweed" Harris, left. They released a sole studio album, Empty Monkey, in March 1970 and underwent numerous line-up changes until they disbanded in 1972. After their time in the band various members formed the groups: Tully, Fraternity and Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly. Winston Harris died of throat cancer, aged 63. A drummer from 1970 to 1971, Russell Dunlop, died after a seizure, aged 63. Richard Lockwood, flautist and saxophonist in 1968, died in 2012 of bowel cancer.

History

The Clefs

The Clefs formed in Adelaide during 1963 as an R&B group by Winston "Tweed" Harris on keyboards. The early line-up included Michael Atkins on drums, Bruce Howe on bass guitar, Dennis Marshall on saxophone, Trevor Pridham on vocals and Les Tanner on guitar. Briefly Pat Aulton joined on co-lead vocals, and he later became a record producer. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, observed, " became an in-demand dance band on the city's thriving club circuit." Barrie McAskill replaced Aulton as co-lead vocalist in 1965 with Bev Harrell alongside Harris, Howe, Tanner, Bob Jeffrey on saxophone and Vince Jones on drums.
Harrell left the group and started her solo career, " was one of the most popular solo singers on the mid-1960s pop scene." The Clefs issued three singles in 1966, "I Can Only Give You Everything", "Last Night" and "A Boy Like Me". In early 1967 Harris quit the Clefs and travelled to Melbourne where he formed an R&B, pop group, the Groove, with Geoff Bridgford on drums, Jamie Byrne on bass guitar, Rod Stone on guitar and Peter Williams on lead vocals and guitar. They were popular in Australia in the late 1960s; after their demise in 1971, Harris became a producer-arranger. Harris died of throat cancer, aged 63.

Levi Smith's Clefs

After Harris left McAskill assumed leadership and at the suggestion of talent manager, Peter Raphael, they changed their name to Levi Smith's Clefs. According to McFarlane, "Scottish-born Barrie McAskill earned a reputation as one of the country's pioneering soul/R&B singers." His size, commanding presence and gravely voice earned him the nickname "The Bear", and he led an ever-changing line-up of Levi Smith's Clefs from 1967 to 1972.
Levi Smith's Clefs played gutsy R&B similar to Max Merritt & the Meteors. The group provided a training ground for young musicians, including later members of: Tully, Fraternity, Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly and Mighty Mouse. McAskill encouraged them to improve their musicianship and to move on when they felt they had outgrown the band – about sixty performers passed through the band's ranks over the years. As a five-piece, Levi Smith's Clefs moved first to Melbourne and then in 1969 to Sydney where they took up an 18-month residency at the Whisky A-Go-Go club in Kings Cross. At that time the city was in an R&R boom, a profitable period for live music, powered by visiting American servicemen, on leave from the Vietnam war.
Some members from this era were Inez Amaya on vocals, Les Stacpool on guitar, organists Ian Walsh and Michael Carlos, bassists Doug Stirling, John Blake, John "Yuk" Harrison and John Helman, and drummers Gil Matthews and Jimmy Thompson. Thompson had played in the second incarnation of Tony Worsley & the Fabulous Blue Jays and the Vince Maloney Sect and went on to join the formative "heavy" version of the Aztecs with Lobby Loyde. Several musicians came and went more than once, and others often sat in, as Canadian-born Michael Carlos recalled in December 2000:
In 1968 the line-up was McAskill, Amaya, Blake, Carlos, Mick Jurd on guitar, Richard Lockwood on flute and saxophone, and Robert Taylor on drums; however, at the end of the year, all except Jurd left. Blake, Carlos, Lockwood and Taylor formed Tully, a progressive rock group. They became the house band for the Australian stage production of Hair, which premiered in June 1969; Amaya joined the cast as a member of "the tribe". Richard Lockwood died in September 2012, three years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
McAskill and Jurd were joined in Levi Smith's Clefs by John Bissett on organ, Tony Buettel on drums and Bruce Howe on bass guitar. They toured Australia and recorded the group's sole album, Empty Monkey, released in March 1970 on Jimmie Stewart's Sweet Peach label. It was one of the first local albums to combine soul, R&B, pop and progressive rock. McFarlane noticed, "Despite being a groundbreaking release in many ways, the album failed to take off. The stand out cut was an 11-and-a-half minute arrangement of the Beatles' 'You Can't Do That'." The album provided two singles, "Lisa" and a cover of Junior Walker's "Shotgun".
Early in 1970 the line-up had changed again with Bissett, Buettel, Howe and Jurd leaving to form a rock band, Fraternity. McAskill assembled a new brass-heavy line-up of Levi Smith's Clefs. They took up residency at Chequers nightclub, playing six nights a week for twelve months, and specialised in tracks by Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago and Joe Cocker. Under the name Barrie McAskill's Levi Smith's Clefs, the band issued two more singles, their version of Ten Years After's "Love Like a Man", and "Gonna Get a Seizure". The released a four-track split extended play, Best of Whisky A-Go-Go on the short-lived Chart label, which was shared with two tracks by local band, Autumn. The Levi Smiths Clefs' tracks were "Down in the Valley" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy".
Many musicians worked in the group through 1970 to 1971, including, the returning Carlos and Jeffrey on saxophone, as well as Julie Robinson on vocals, Bruce Howard on organ, Jim Kelly on guitar, Kiwi guitarist Billy TK, Ted "The Head" Yanni on guitar, John "Yuk" Harrison on bass guitar, Doug Stirling on bass guitar, Russell Dunlop, Allan Turnbull, Greg Henson. Dunlop, Kelly and Kenny became the core of jazz-rock group, Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly, when they left Levi Smith's Clefs in mid-1971. Dunlop left SCRA after a year to work in various groups and as a session drummer. He died in May 2009 – he had collapsed after playing a drum set at his son's wedding in Sydney – aged 63.
The late 1971 line-up of McAskill, Carlos, Henson, Jeffrey and Stirling, also worked as Barrie McAskill's Bear Brigade or McAskill's Marauders. They toured to Adelaide but folded in early 1972 after Carlos and Henson the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar, in Sydney in May 1972. Carlos remained with the production until it closed in 1976. In early 1972 McAskill put together a short-lived group, Barrie McAskill's People, with Michael Barnes on guitar, Ken Firth on bass guitar, Vince Melouney on guitar and Kevin Murphy on drums.
In mid-1972 McAskill relocated to Melbourne and revived the Levi Smith's Clefs name. This first Melbourne line-up was a quartet with Doug Stirling, Kevin Murphy and guitarist Mick Elliott. Elliott was later replaced by Les Stacpool, and McAskill added Ian Clyne on keyboards. By October 1972 it had changed again, with Clyne, McAskill and Murphy joined by Mal Capewell on saxophone and flute, Russell Smith on trumpet and vocals.
McAskill brought in three former members of Chain — Barry "Little Goose" Harvey on drums, Phil Manning on guitar and Barry "Big Goose" Sullivan on bass guitar. Shortly after Capewell, Clyne, Harvey, Manning, Murphy and Sullivan all left to form Mighty Mouse, which subsequently led to a reformation of Chain. Another member, electronic musician Steve Dunstan had provided the opening and closing 'computer noises' for Company Caine's 1971 album, A Product of a Broken Reality. Levi Smith's Clefs disbanded at the end of 1972.

Afterwards

Returning to Sydney in January 1973, Barrie McAskill formed an eponymous group, McAskill, with Eddy McDonald on bass guitar, Dallas "Digger" Royall on drums, the erstwhile Doug Stirling on bass guitar and Alvin Tutin on guitar. The following year the group returned to Melbourne, with Royall joined by Ian Mawson on keyboards, Warren Ward on bass guitar and Lindsay Wells on guitar. During 1975 the group included Bob Fortesque on bass guitar, Paul Johnson on drums, Eddie McDonald on bass guitar, Roger McLachlan on bass guitar, Howie Morgan on keyboards and Jeff Spooner on guitar. That group disbanded in 1976. McAskill returned to Adelaide in 1977 and formed a series of bands, East End Street Band, Barrie McAskill's on Fire, Barrie McAskill and Friends, Barrie McAskill's Soul Survivors, Who Dat Dere, and Topsy and the Bear. In 1978 he formed Barrie McAskill's God's Warriors & the Amazons with McLachlan on bass guitar, Spooner on guitar, Ross Hannaford on guitar, Mal Logan on keyboards and John van Boxtel on drums.
Levi Smith's Clefs reunited for short-term gigs in Melbourne in 2002, 2003 and 2008 and included Barrie's wife, Jan McAskill on vocals and keyboards. An expanded version of Empty Monkey was issued on CD in 2008. According to McFarlane, Barrie McAskill, "is one of Aussie rock's great survivors, first and foremost a dedicated music fan, a champion of soul, R&B and jazz, a band lead par excellence, and at the heart of the matter he is the Levi Smith's Clefs."

Members

Albums