Gary Clail (born 1959) is an English singer and record producer, and the founder of the Gary Clail Sound System. He was part of On-U Sound Records (and also the On-U Sound System) and led Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System. They had a big hit in clubs with the 1991 song "

Human Nature Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of Thought, thinking, feeling, and agency (philosophy), acting—that humans are said to have nature (philosophy), naturally. The term is often used to denote ...

Biography

Clail worked originally as a

roofer A roofer, roof mechanic, or roofing contractor is a tradesman who specializes in roof construction. Roofers replace, repair, and install the roofs of buildings, using a variety of materials, including shingles, single-ply, bitumen, and met ...

, but during the mid- to late 1980s, based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, he became a warm-up act for On-U gigs. Clail first released a record in 1985. Several 12" singles were issued between 1985 and 1987, before Clail's first LP for Nettwerk, ''Tackhead Tape Time'', a split effort between Clail and Tackhead. "Television: The Drug of the Nation" by

The Beatnigs The Beatnigs were a San Francisco-based band active between 1986 and 1990, influenced by industrial music, hip hop and hardcore punk. Biography Michael Franti and Rono Tse met each other clubbing in San Francisco. In 1986, Franti and Tse for ...

was

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

ed by Clail,

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms ...

and Mark Stewart, on the

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 by Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist East Bay Ray in San Francisco, California, with the intention to release the Dead Kennedys' self-produced single " C ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

in 1988. In 1989, Clail, billed as Gary Clail & On-U Sound System, released an album on the label On-U Sound, marking his entrance to the electronic underground scene in Bristol, eventually leading him to work with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

a couple of years later. This output incorporated several singles and

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, as well as the ''Emotional Hooligan'' album (1991). Clail released a further album on Yelen Records, entitled ''Keep the Faith'' (1996). In 2013, Clail formed the Gary Clail Sound System and began work on the album ''Nail It To The Mast''. It was released on 15 December 2014. In 2022, Clail released ''Violence''.

Discography

Singles

*Gary Clail - "Half Cut for Confidence" (1985) *Gary Clail and Tackhead - "Hard Left" (1986) *Tackhead / Gary Clail - "Reality" (1989) *Gary Clail On-U Sound System featuring Bim Sherman - "Beef" (1990) – UK #64 *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - "

" (1991) – UK #10, AUS #38,Australian (

ARIA Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

) peaks: *Top 50 peaks: *Top 100 peaks from January 1990 to December 2010: *"Escape", "The Emotional Hooligan", "Who Pays the Piper", "These Things Are Worth Fighting For" and "Another Hard Man": *''Dreamstealers'' and ''Keep the Faith'': IRE #27, NED #69 *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - "Escape" (1991) – UK #44, AUS #117 *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - "The Emotional Hooligan" (1991) *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - "Who Pays The Piper?" (1992) – UK #31, AUS #177 *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - "These Things Are Worth Fighting For" (1993) – UK #45, AUS #157 *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - "Speak No Evil" (1993) (promotional release only) *Gary Clail - "Another Hard Man" (1995) – UK #86

Studio albums

*Gary Clail On-U Sound System - ''End Of The Century Party'' (1989) *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - ''Emotional Hooligan'' (1991) – UK #35, AUS #95 *Gary Clail On-U Sound System - ''Dreamstealers'' (1993) – AUS #180, NZ #38 *Gary Clail - ''Keep The Faith'' (1995) *Gary Clail Soundsystem - ''Nail it to the Mast'' (2014) *Gary Clail SoundSystem - ''Violence'' (2022)

Compilation albums

*Gary Clail - ''Human Nature: The Very Best of Gary Clail'' (1997)

References

External links

Official Tackhead websiteOn-U Sound website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clail, Gary 1956 births Living people English record producers English rock singers English male singers Musicians from Bristol On-U Sound Records artists Tackhead members