Bands and original music

The Forgers Cover Band (2013-2020) was my three-piece rock/indie covers band. We covered songs from the fifties to the noughties, but mainly specialised in rock & indie music from the nineties onwards.

I played electric guitar and sang lead and backing vocals. I was also the bandleader, manager, booking agent and PR dept….

We performed across the UK, mainly at private functions, and had a residency at The Stage Door Pub in London’s Waterloo. We played the Motcomb Street Festival a couple of times which was great fun!

Recording session

The Forgers audio demo (see Soundcloud embed opposite), was recorded at London’s Alaska Studios. I played Fender Telecaster, Gretsch Tennessean, Gibson Les Paul and Gibson SG guitars into Vox, Ampeg and Marshall amps.

I performed all of the guitars and vocals and was joined in the studio by Simon Czaban (bass) and Jason Holling (drums).

I had a lot of fun recording this demo and learned a lot. Bob at Alaska was great to work with.

Promo video

Recorded at Terminal Studios in London.

In this video I play a Fender Stratocaster Deluxe HSS through a Blackstar HT Dual valve distortion unit into a Vox AC30tb amplifier.

I was joined by Chris Higginbottom (drums and vocals) and Max Wurr (bass and vocals). The sound engineer was Alex Burak, and Henry D.C. Williams recorded the video.

There are some live Forgers videos on my YouTube channel.

I have composed many original songs which I performed on London’s acoustic scene for several years, both as a solo act and with The Cliff Smith Band.

My five track, bare bones ‘Times & Places’ EP was released in 2006. I am currently taking a break from writing and performing my own music to pursue other interests.

I have also composed music for piano, string quartet, choir, orchestra and band.

I still enjoy the creative process and often help my pupils with their songs. I also lay down guest guitar and vocals in recording sessions whenever I have the opportunity.

Original songs

Guitars, vocals, bass, synth guitar and drum programming by Cliff Smith. Recording, mixing and mastering by Ciff Smith, Jean-Guy Sylvestre and Mark Slater. The following tracks are taken from my ‘Times & Places‘ EP:

• Gone So Long
• Close To You
• Life On a Strand
• Trying So Hard
• The One I Left Behind

Julya was a recording experiment. I had just bought a 16 track recorder and wanted to use all 16 tracks! From memory, the track contains, acoustic, twelve string, electric, classical, synth and bass guitars, three or four vocal parts, programmed drums and sound effects…

Cliff Smith on YouTube

Shot in 2006 at my favourite acoustic club in London, The 12 Bar Club, off Denmark Street. It’s a grimy, sticky place and I have had many great nights there, both as a performer and audience member.

This was a period when I was experimenting with a loop station and distortion pedal on my acoustic guitar, straight into the PA. You can hear a little bit of the loop station at the end of the video. Eventually I decided that I preferred working with real musicians, and formed The Cliff Smith Band!