Pip Pyle - 7 Year Itch (1998)

Philip Pyle - 4th April 1950 (Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, UK) - 28th August 2006

Pip Pyle, who sadly died in August 2006, was one of the pillars of the 'Canterbury sound community'. Throughout his career he played with most of the 'Canterbury' musicians in one band or another:
Delivery (1966-70), Chicken Shack (1970-71), Gong (1971), Paul Jones Group (1972), All Wet And Dripping (1972), Hatfield and the North (1972-75, 2005-06), Weight-watchers (1975-76), National Health (1977-83), Soft Heap (1978-88), Rapid Eye Movement (1980-81), In Cahoots (1982-2001), Pip Pyle's Equip'Out (1984-95), Patrice Meyer Trio/Quartet (1985-87), Mimi Lorenzini Trio (1987), Faton Cahen Trio (1987-88), John Greaves Band (1990-91), Short Wave (1991-96), Gong/Shapeshifter (1992-93), Hugh Hopper Band (1994), Richard Sinclair/RSVP (1994), Gong (1994-96), Bash (2002-04), Absolute Zero (1999-06)

In 1966 Pyle was a founding member of 'Brunos Blues Band', later renamed 'Delivery', followed by a short stint with 'Chicken Shack'. Robert Wyatt recommended him to Daevid Allen who needed a drummer to finish his "Banana Moon" album 1971 and he played also on the classic "Camembert Electrique" (1971) album. After a stint with 'All Wet And Dripping', he resumed his collaboration with the Miller brothers and Richard Sinclair in a reformed 'Delivery', in 1972.

Pip Pyle joined then 'Hatfield and the North' until June 1975 and upon Bill Bruford's departure, Pyle joined 'National Health' and played on the band's three studio albums. By the time of 'National Health's' demise, Pyle had been involved in 'Soft Heap' for a couple of years. In 1980-81, Pyle was also involved in 'Rapid Eye Movement', a band led by Dave Stewart. Later in 1981, Pyle took part in the reformation of National Health and in 1982, Pyle was a founding member of Phil Miller's 'In Cahoots'.

In 1984, he met French pianist Sophia Domancich, who became his girlfriend and with whom he formed 'Equip'Out'. A first self titled album was recorded in 1987. In 1985-86, Pyle worked with French guitarist Patrice Meyer alongside Hugh Hopper and and a second 'Equip'Out' album "Up!" was recorded in 1990.

In 1991, Pyle was a founding member of 'Short Wave' with Hugh Hopper, Didier Malherbe and Phil Miller. He also rejoined 'Gong' during the sessions of "Shapeshifter" (1992). Between 1991 and 1997, Pyle worked on his debut solo album,"Seven Year Itch", which was finally released in 1998 and in 1997 Pyle joined 'Absolute Zero'. Pyle formed then 'Pip Pyle's Bash' (Patrice Meyer on guitar, Fred Baker on bass and Alex Maguire on keyboards), which made its live debut in August 2002 at the 'Progman Cometh' festival in Seattle (USA). A live album, "Belle Illusion" (2004), drawn from that concert and a second one in Paris the following year, was released, followed by a short European tour.

In 2005 Pyle joined Phil Miller and Richard Sinclair in a 'Hatfield and the North' reformation, with Alex Maguire on keyboards. The reformed 'Hatfield' made its live debut on March 18th, 2005 in London, and a brief tour of Europe followed in June. On August 26th, 2006 Pyle played his last gig, with Hatfield, in The Netherlands. He died in the morning of August 28th.

All his solo records are recommended!