Whitehorse & Video Nu-R
Avalanche
Grand Theft
Noizey Walker
Assassin
Castaic Pools
pooldude aka Harry Clay has been a music fan, player & songwriter, across 5 decades. He is a multi instrumentalist who has explored everything from clarinet, sax, baritone horn, voice, acoustic & electric guitars, bass guitar, & synthesizers, as well as modern digital recording.
Starting out in New Jersey on piano & Hammond organ in 1st grade, pdude was soon the youngest member of the NJ state champion marching band, playing clarinet. Moving to Phoenix Arizona, young pdude continued studying classical music in school orchestra, & was organist for 2 churches, as well as playing sax in early surf rock garage bands.
In the mid '60s, he moved to Jacksonville Beach Florida, where he took up guitar, & also pursued his love of the ocean, & surfing. As a 17 yr old runaway, pdude went to the Haight Ashbury in the summer of '67, with his surfboard & 1 suitcase, & managed to survive & prosper, & has lived in California ever since.
While living in the Bay Areas of Berkeley & Santa Cruz during the height of the '60s San Francisco scene, pdude witnessed & absorbed the music of many of the greatest bands of the era: the Doors, Animals, Steve Miller Blues Band, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape, Youngbloods, Byrds, Cream, Mike Bloomfield's Electric Flag, Blue Cheer, Lee Michaels, Country joe & the Fish, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Deep Purple, Spirit, Traffic, Moody Blues, Jeff Beck Group, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Savoy Brown, Chicago Transit Authority, Grateful Dead, It's A Beautiful Day, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Santana, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Paul Butterfield, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Jethro Tull, Traffic, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Flying Burrito Brothers, the Rolling Stones...& that's all before the '70s started!
After moving to Ocean Beach San Diego in 1970, & then Huntington Beach, & finally Hollywood, pdude played in many bands throughout his 20 year professional music career. During the '70s & '80s, pdude worked, jammed or recorded with many dozens of talented musicians, including Stewart Copeland (Police), Mick Mars (Motley Crue), CC DeVille (Poison) & Bruce Gary (Knack).
pdude was the bassist, synth player, vocalist, & songwriter who played more than 1,000 gigs next to Mick Mars in Whitehorse & Video Nu-R, from 1972 to 1980. Those bands toured extensively, & played both club gigs & concerts in major cities all over the West Coast, with bands like Dr John the Night Tripper, JoJo Gunne, Cold Blood, Boone's Farm, Bertha, Honk, Van Halen, Canned Heat, Knack, & Motels.
pdude's later bands played on bills with WASP, Quiet Riot, Snow, Dokken, Steeler, Bitch, S.I.N., Odin, Rough Cutt, Great White, & countless others @ LA clubs like the Starwood, Troubadour, Gazzarris, Madame Wongs, Golden West Ballroom, & the Whiskey. pdude even sang in the studio with early Metallica, when Dave & James were deadlocked over who would take over the vocal spot!
Later in the '80s, pdude was an early midi / digital music product specialist for Korg synthesizers, Atari computers, SMPTE Track sftware, & Fostex recording gear, & worked in the studio & demonstrated & sold equipment to classic artists like Bob Ezrin, Trevor Rabin, Julian Lennon, John Fogerty, Jon Anderson, Jeff Lynne, Garth Hudson, Randy California, & Ray Manzarek, to name a few.
Starting in 1990, pdude left the music industry to pursue his 2nd career as an award winning contractor & CAD designer, specializing in building pools & designing landscape architecture & outdoor environments for upscale homeowners in northern LA County.
But he never lost his love of music, & continues to compose & record new original material in his home studio, as well as writing articles @ numerous music websites & forums about his experiences in the West Coast music scene, going all the way back to the '60s.
