Iron Claw was formed in 1969 in Scotland by Alex Wilson (bass) who recruited Jimmy Ronnie (guitars) and Ian McDougall (drums).
It all started when these boys, all around 15 years old, attended a Black Sabbath performance in November 1969 at the Youth Club, when they were touring Sweden, at that time Sabbath had not yet released their debut album, but already had the famous “war pigs” in its repertoire, with lyrics totally different from the officially released song. Inspired by Sabbath, these boys started to play their shows, becoming the first Black Sabbath cover band, but as they weren't satisfied with just covering covers, they started working on their own album, which called vocalist Mike Waller.
In 1970 they began recording the album, the band moved to London and there they recorded in studios with the idea of recording an 8-track LP. The following year, the band had their second meeting with Sabbath and this time they managed to access the guys for a chat and asked Sabbath for help to release their material through a label, Iommi and his troupe asked for a copy of the master that was delivered to them later. when the Iron Claw members traveled to Newcastle and had them again. They were later warned that the band threatened to sue them for sounding too similar to themselves. In mid-May 1971 vocalist Mike Waller decided to leave the band and thus came the end of Iron Claw. In 2010 the band reunited with a new lineup and in October 2011 they released the album A Different Game.
1 Clawstrophobia 5:21
2 Mist Eye 4:16
3 Sabotage 5:02
4 Crossrocker 7:20
5 Skullcrusher 6:04
6 Let It Grow 2:52
7 Rock Band Blues 4:21
8 Pavement Artist 5:33
9 Strait Jacket 5:07
10 Gonna Be Free 3:49
11 Loving You 2:41
12 Lightning 3:47
13 All I Really Need 3:23
14 Knock 'Em Dead 3:01
15 Winter 6:17
16 Devils 5:34
Backing Vocals, Guest – Mike Waller (4) (tracks: 14)
Band [The Line-ups: Iron Claw Mark III] – Alex Wilson (9) (tracks: 7 to 14), Billy Lyall (tracks: 7 to 14), Ian McDougall (2) (tracks: 7 to 14), Jimmy Ronnie (tracks: 7 to 14), Wullie Davidson (tracks: 7 to 14)
Band [The Line-ups: Iron Claw Mark II] – Alex Wilson (9) (tracks: 6), Donald McLachlan (tracks: 6), Ian McDougall (2) (tracks: 6), Jimmy Ronnie (tracks: 6), Wullie Davidson (tracks: 6)
Band [The Line-ups: Iron Claw Mark IV] – Alex Wilson (9) (tracks: 15, 16), Jimmy Ronnie (tracks: 15, 16), Neil Cockayne (tracks: 15, 16), Wullie Davidson (tracks: 15, 16)
Band [The Line-ups: Iron Claw Mark I] – Alex Wilson (9) (tracks: 1 to 5), Ian McDougall (2) (tracks: 1 to 5), Jimmy Ronnie (tracks: 1 to 5), Mike Waller (4) (tracks: 1 to 5)
Bass – Alex Wilson (9)
Design [CD Re-issue Design By] – Paul Haupt III
Drums – Ian McDougall (2) (tracks: 1 to 14)
Drums [Drummer] – Neil Cockayne (tracks: 15, 16)
Guitar – Donald McLachlan (tracks: 6), Jimmy Ronnie
Keyboards [Additional Keyboards], Saxophone [Additional Saxes], Engineer [Studio Engineer] – Billy Lyall (tracks: 7 to 14)
Vocals [Vocalist]
