Cliff Ehala – Lead Guitar & Vocals
Guitarist Songwriter from the North East of England.
My first experience with music was listening to my grandfather who was a church organist. My favourite piece he played was Trumpet Voluntary by Henry Purcell, an English composer (1659 – 1695). This inspired me to take piano lessons from a wonderful lady, Mrs Gelson, in Bedlington. Not only did she teach piano, she was also a vocal coach and taught me all about pitch and harmonies. This set me in great stead for my future musical journeys. However, as much as I enjoyed the piano, I knew it wasn’t really for me. One afternoon in 1971, I was sitting in a friends back kitchen and he had an LP on his record player, it was a compilation album with songs from the Move, Joe Cocker, Tucker Zimmerman and Procol Harem to name but a few. A song came on and I went “wow”. It was Tyrannosaurus Rex playing By the Light of a Magical Moon. The use of the guitar and vocal melodies just blew me away and not long after I was in McKay’s in Newcastle buying my first guitar. Other influences include: Paul Kossoff, Brian May, Joe Walsh, Don Felder, Dave Gilmour, Alex Lifeson, Brian Robertson, Scott Gorham, Mick Box, Laurie Wisefield and Chris Hayes.
Equipment Live & Rehearsal
Guitars-
Gibson Les Paul Custom.
Gibson Custom Shop EDS1275.
Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus.
Ibanez Roadstar RS440 II.
Fender 12 string acoustic CD-60 SCE Dreadnaught.
Fender 6 string acoustic
CD-140S.
Amplifiers-
Stoneham Custom 40 Combo,
Blackstar HT Club 40 Combo,
Blackstar HTV-112,
Blackstar HT-5 Artisan Combo, Blackstar HT-5 Combo.
Effects-
Line 6 HX Fx
Mission Expression pedal
B9 Organ pedal
Line 6 G10S Wireless System
LD MEI 1000 in ear monitor system
Microphones-
Sennheiser E935 vocal microphone,
Sennheiser E609 instrument microphone,
Shure SM57 instrument microphone.
Current Band- West Coast Band