Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born drummer from

Sawbridgeworth Sawbridgeworth is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, close to the border with Essex. It is east of Hertford and north of Epping. It is the northernmost part of the Greater London Built-up Area. History Prior to the Norman ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

bands

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

Hatfield and the North Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter. Career In mid 1972 the band grew out of a line-up of ex-members of blues/jazz/rock band Del ...

and

National Health National Health were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band featured members of keyboardist Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band Gilgamesh, including guita ...

Allmusic biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

/ref>

Biography

Pyle joined

Phil Miller Philip Paul Miller (22 January 1949 – 18 October 2017) was an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist and a central part of the Canterbury scene. He was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. Self-taught on guitar, Miller formed his first band, Del ...

, a friend from kindergarten, and Phil's brother Steve, in forming Bruno's Blues Band, which rapidly evolved into Delivery. However, Pyle left the band in 1970 after arguing with singer

Carol Grimes Carol Ann Grimes (born 7 April 1944) is a British singer and songwriter. In 1969, she joined the band Delivery and recorded one album before departing for a solo career. Her debut solo album, ''Warm Blood'' (1974), was recorded with members of ...

. He briefly played in blues band Chicken Shack and

Steve Hillage Stephen Simpson Hillage (born 2 August 1951) is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo sound recording and reprodu ...

's band Khan.Biography
a
Calyx
the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

music website In 1971, drummer

Robert Wyatt Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945) is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming para ...

asked Pyle to play instead of him on one track of

Daevid Allen Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) ...

's solo album '' Banana Moon''. From this, Pyle joined Allen in

. While only in the band for eight months, Pyle played on both '' Camembert Électrique'' and ''

Continental Circus ''Continental Circus'' is a Racing video game, racing Sim racing, simulation arcade game, created and manufactured by Taito Corporation, Taito in 1987 in video gaming, 1987. In 1989 in video gaming, 1989, ports for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ...

''. Pyle was replaced by

Laurie Allan Laurie Allan (born 19 February 1943, London) is an English drummer, best known for stints in Delivery and Gong. Biography Allan started drumming when he was 12. His professional career got going in the early 1960s. He was in The First Real Po ...

, but rejoined Gong in 1989. In 1972, Pyle worked with Paul Jones (who had been singing with

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

) and with British singer

Bridget St John Bridget St John (born Bridget Anne Hobbs; 4 October 1946 in Surrey, England) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for the three albums she recorded between 1969 and 1972 for John Peel's Dandelion record label. Peel produced ...

, before founding

with the Miller brothers in 1972. Steve Miller was soon replaced in the band and the line-up eventually settled on Pyle, Phil Miller,

Richard Sinclair Richard Stephen Sinclair (born 6 June 1948) is an English progressive rock bassist, guitarist, and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene. Biography Born in Canterbury, England, both his father (Dick Sinclair) ...

and keyboardist Dave Stewart. ''

'' was released in 1974, while a second album, '' The Rotters' Club'', followed the next year. As well as drumming, Pyle wrote many of the band's lyrics. Following Hatfield, Pyle joined Miller and Stewart in

as well as playing in other projects, including

Soft Heap In computer science, a soft heap is a variant on the simple heap data structure that has constant amortized time complexity for 5 types of operations. This is achieved by carefully "corrupting" (increasing) the keys of at most a constant number ...

with

Hugh Hopper Hugh Colin Hopper (29 April 1945 – 7 June 2009) was a British progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and other bands. Biography Early career Starting in ...

Elton Dean Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among oth ...

and

Alan Gowen Alan Gowen (19 August 1947 – 17 May 1981) was an English fusion/progressive rock keyboardist, best known for his work in Gilgamesh and National Health. History Gowen was born in North Hampstead, northwest London. He joined Assagai in 1971 ...

. He also played on ''

Neil's Heavy Concept Album ''Neil's Heavy Concept Album'' is a 1984 recording of songs and spoken comedy routines by British actor Nigel Planer, in character as the long-suffering hippie Neil from the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones''. Production, arrangements and ke ...

'' (1984), a spin-off from the television series '' The Young Ones'' with which Stewart was involved. In 1984, Pyle met

Sophia Domancich Sophia Domancich (born 25 January 1957) is a French pianist and jazz composer.''Biographie de Sophia Domancich'' sur le site de lCité de la musique de Paris/ref> Life and Work Domancich began learning piano at the age of six and attended the ...

and the two had a relationship until 1990. Pyle also started his own band, Pip Pyle's Equip'Out, including Domancich. Equip'Out released ''Equip'Out'', ''Up!'' and ''Instants''. He released one solo album, ''Seven Year Itch'', in 1998 with guests including Miller, Sinclair, Stewart, Dean (

saxello The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

), Hopper (bass),

Jakko Jakszyk Michael "Jakko" Jakszyk (born Michael Lee Curran, 8 June 1958) is an English musician, record producer, and actor. He has released several solo albums as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist and has been the lead singer for King Crims ...

Barbara Gaskin Barbara Gaskin (born 5 June 1950) is a British singer formerly associated with the UK Canterbury scene. Gaskin was lead vocalist in British folk-prog band Spirogyra (1969–1974). From 1973 to 1976, she sang backing vocals with Dave Stewart' ...

John Greaves John Greaves (1602 – 8 October 1652) was an English mathematician, astronomer and antiquarian. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he was elected a Fellow of Merton College in 1624. He studied Persian and Arabic, acquired a number of old ...

(vocals), François Ovide, Fred T. Baker (bass), Paul Rogers (double bass), Lydia Domancich (piano, Sophia's sister) and

Didier Malherbe Didier Malherbe (born January 22, 1943 in Paris), is a French jazz, rock and world music musician, known as a member of the bands Gong and Hadouk, as well as a poet. His first instrument was a saxophone, but he also plays flutes, alto clarin ...

(alto sax). Pyle also played in Miller's band

In Cahoots In Cahoots was a Canterbury scene band led by guitarist Phil Miller, their main composer. History The band was formed in November 1982 by Miller with Pip Pyle (drums), Richard Sinclair (bass) and Elton Dean (saxophone), as the Phil Miller Qua ...

from 1982 to 2001, appearing on ''Cutting Both Ways'', ''Split Seconds'', ''Live 86-89'', ''Live in Japan'', ''Recent Discoveries'', ''Parallel'' and ''Out of the Blue''. His last projects were his group Bash!, featuring the French guitarist

Patrice Meyer ''Patrice Meyer'' (b. 18 December 1957) is a French electric guitarist active in Jazz, Jazz rock, Progressive rock and Canterbury scene bands. History ''Patrice Meyer'' was born in Strasbourg in the Alsace region of France. He began teaching hi ...

, Fred Baker on bass and Alex Maguire on keyboards, and a Hatfield and the North reunion (also with Maguire). Bash! released the live album ''Belle Illusion'' (

Cuneiform Records Cuneiform Records is a record label in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1984, the label releases an mixture of musical styles, all with a Rock in Opposition aesthetic, including progressive jazz, jazz fusion, the Canterbury scene, and electr ...

), but only played five live shows in total (including

Progman Cometh Progman Cometh Music Festivals were two Canterbury scene music concerts held at the Moore Theatre (Seattle, Washington), Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, USA, in 2002 and 2003. Progman Cometh 2002 Friday, August 16 * 7:00 ...

), finding it difficult to attract interest from venues. In 2005 Pyle joined Phil Miller and Richard Sinclair in a re-formation of Hatfield and the North, with Alex Maguire handling the keyboards. On 29 January, all three were reunited for the first time in fifteen years when Pyle sat in with the Richard Sinclair Band for a few old numbers ("Above And Below", "Share It", "Halfway Between Heaven And Earth" and "Didn't Matter Anyway") during a gig at

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of 32 ...

's Horsebridge Arts Centre. The rejuvenated Hatfield made its official live debut on 18 March 2005 at the

Mean Fiddler The Astoria 2, subsequently known as the LA2 then the Mean Fiddler, was a nightclub at 165 Charing Cross Road in London, England. History The venue was originally a ballroom in the basement of the London Astoria theatre and connected by stair ...

in London, and a brief tour of Europe followed in June. More international touring followed in 2005-06, including dates in Japan, Mexico, the US and Europe. On 26 August 2006 Pyle played his last gig in Feerwerd (

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 28 August 2006.

Solo Discography

* 1986: ''L'Équipe Out'' ( 52e Rue Est) * 1991: ''Equip' Out Up!'' (NTI Music 3 TMR 301) * 1998: ''7 Year Itch'' ( Voiceprint VP198CD) * 1999: ''Pip Pyle's Equipe Out'' (Voiceprint VP213CD) (re-issue of 1st album) * 2004: ''Belle Illusion'' (

Cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

Rune 193) (partially recorded at

) * 2004: ''Instants'' ( Hux 062)

Chronology

*1966 - 1971 Delivery *1971 - 1971 Chicken Shack *1971 - 1971 Khan *1971 - 1971

*1972 - 1975

*1975 - 1976 The Weightwatchers (with

and

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...

) *1977 - 1983

*1977 - 1988

*1980 - 1981 Rapid Eye Movement *1982 - 2002

*1984 - 1995 Pip Pyle's Equip'Out *1989 - 1996 Gong reformed *1991 - 1996

Short Wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (10 ...

*1998 - 2006 Absolute Zero *2002 - 2006 Pip Pyle's Bash! *2005 - 2006 Hatfield and the North reformed

Filmography

* 2015: '' Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales'' (DVD)

References

External links

Official website
an

*
Obituary
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''
Obituary by Dave Stewart of Hatfield and the North
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pyle, Pip 1950 births 2006 deaths Canterbury scene Chicken Shack members Delivery (band) members English expatriates in France English rock drummers Gong (band) members Hatfield and the North members In Cahoots members Khan (band) members British male drummers National Health members People from Sawbridgeworth People educated at Newport Free Grammar School 20th-century British male musicians