pip pyle - news

Obituary by Dave Stewart

Dave Stewart has written a touching and funny obituary which you can read here.

18/9/2006

Pip's Funeral

From Pip's son, Sam Ellidge:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind words and thoughts. We are receiving stickers already and I have some lovely scans, but keep them coming. The family of Pip would also like to invite all of Pip's friends to the funeral at Parndon Wood Crematorium, Parndon Road, Harlow, Essex, CM19 4SS on Tuesday 19th September 2006 at 12 noon.

We are not encouraging flowers but would welcome donations to the Musicians Benevolent Fund.

13/9/2006

Pip's funeral will be held in England in a week or so (the date has not been fixed yet). Pip's children are planning to decorate Pip's coffin with the type of stickers he had on his drum cases, and have asked that if anyone has any Hatfield and the North, National Health, Gong, Chicken Shack, L'Equipe Out, Soft Heap, Bash!, Musicians' Union or 'Keep Music Live' (etc.) stickers they would like to donate, could they kindly send them now.

Alternatively, bearing in mind that these stickers are often treasured possessions, you can scan them and send the image to Sam Ellidge and Sam will make them into stickers. All submissions are welcome. Please feel free to send anything that tickles your fancy, however daft or irreverent - Pip had a wicked sense of humour and would have liked the idea of people having a bit of a laugh at his funeral.

Thank you for your continuing support for Pip's music over the years, he appreciated it very much.

11/9/2006

Canterbury Adscene Obitury

A scan of an obituary in Canterbury local paper Canterbury Adscene with comments from Richard Sinclair can be found here.
Please note that this is a large image file (900KB) and may take some time to load.

4/9/2006

Obituary

The Independent Newspaper has published an obituary for Pip, including a tribute from novelist Jonathan Coe here.

30/8/2006

Pip Pyle 1950-2006

Unfortunately, Pip passed away in a Paris hotel room on Monday August 28th, 2 days after a performance in Groningen, Holland.
A brief biography and tribute to this unique person and genuinely creative talent can be found at the excellent Canterbury music site, Calyx.
He will be sadly missed by his family, friends and all those who had the pleasure to work with him.
For now, the guest book will be a book of condolence for people wishing to share their thoughts about Pip and his wonderful music.

29/8/2006

Pip's news 2005-2006

Hatfield Gigs

Hatfield and the North will be playing at the Groningen Bicycle Festival, Holland where there are a lot of concerts of various good music in different locations. There are bicycles available to cycle from one concert to the next. Sounds fun. We are playing on Saturday August 26th at 7pm.
www.zjft.nl

Also in the book is a festival of progressive (ugh!) music in Montreal, Canada on the 15th September.
The Gesu Centre de Creativite, 1200 de Bleury st, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
http://www.fmpm.net
The Canterbury Festival runs from 16th - 25th October. Canterbury has finally woken up (40 years late) to the fact that there are a lot of groups under the "Canterbury Music" umbrella.The Hatfields are playing on the Friday the 20th under an evening cringingly called "The Canterbury Sound" with Caravan and Brainville 3.
http://www.canterburyfestival.co.uk/eventlisting.asp?id=5

23/8/2006

Gigs in Japan and England October 2005

The two concerts we played in Tokyo went really well, full houses and lots of very enthusiastic Japanese Hatfield fans. We all got cramp in the hands signing autographs!

While the English concerts were a lot more low key, it was fun. The group seemes to have calmed down considerably in temperament since the original band. Either we're older and wiser (I rather doubt that though) or the egos have eroded. Either way, it all sems very positive. Alex Maguire is doing a fantastic job replacing Dave Stewart, he is getting more involved with electronic sounds and reproducing the old Hatfield sound while bringing in his own elements of harmonies and energy. It is always a pleasure to hear and play with him.

12/12/2005

BITS AND PIECES

HATFIELD AND THE NORTH

Since the release of Hatwise Choice (a compilation of live recordings and BBC tapes, available exclusively from www.burningshed.com) the group have reformed and already played a successful gig at the Mean Fiddler in London as well as the Fasano Jazz Festival in Italy. Other gigs coming up are the Tritonales Festival in Paris (June 15th), The Spirit of 66, Verviers, Belguim (June 16th) and De Kade, Zaandam Holland (June 18th). There will be a tour of England and Japan in the autumn.
The line-up is Richard Sinclair (bass, vocals) Phil Miller (guitar) and your truly on the tubs. Dave Stewart has been replaced in the band by my good friend and fellow member of Bash, Alex Maguire.

I have been recovering from a back operation the last two months so Mark Fletcher has temporarily joined with us on drums so I can take a break to play a bit of percussion occasionally (less strenuous!). The stage looks like a drum shop!

The gigs so far have been very successful and lots of fun. We hope to record a CD of all new Hatfield material for release next year and a Volume 2 of archive material is also being considered.

ABSOLUTE ZERO

My friends from Miami, the Cuban bass player Enrique Jardines and the keyboard player and singer Aislinn Quinn tell me they are negotiating with a new arts theatre for a grant to do a world tour in 2006 using a multimedia set up on stage. This is good news as I love playing with this band. Check out our CD Crashing Icons available on Recommended Records (RER).

December 2005: Absolute Zero have been awarded a prize in Miami by the Miami Arts Council. We are working on a multimedia show put on in Miami and hopefully word wide in 2006 which will be sponsored by this prize.

BASH!

I’m working on some new compositions and playing around with some stuff we have already recorded in the hope of getting a new CD out next year. Meanwhile our debut CD "Belle Illusion" is available from Cuneiform Records. I’m doing my best to find some concerts for the end of the year.

BOOK

Convalescing from my back operation has been very boring indeed. I quickly got tired of inspecting the ceiling, reading books and getting bombarded by the TV cathode rays. In desperation I started writing a book myself, extracts of which will appear on this site in the near future.

9/6/2005