Alastair Donaldson

Alastair Donaldson is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist best known as the bass guitar player for the seminal Scottish punk/pop band The Rezillos, for whom he played under the stage name of William Mysterious. However, he was well known and respected as a formative member of the hightly regarded folk ensemble Silly Wizard prior to his involvement with The Rezillos, and appears on many of their recordings under his real name. He appears on the Rezillos's second single for Sire Records, a double A-side featuring the songs Flying Saucer Attack and My Baby (Does Good Sculptures) and also on their first and only studio album Can't Stand The Rezillos. Surprisingly, he took over the bass slot in the Rezillos whilst working as their saxophonist, but slotted perfectly into the band on his new chosen instrument. He left The Rezillos after a British tour supporting The Ramones, although he did make a guest apppearance at the Rezillos final gig at the Glasgow Apollo, where he returned to his original role of saxaphone player alonside his replacement on bass guitar, Simon Templar. This performace was captured on the The Rezillos posthumous live second album, Mission Accomplished (But the beat goes on). After leaving the Rezillos, he released one single as William Mysterious, Security of Noise. Today, he can still be seen playing solo dates in and around his home town of Edinburgh.