Hatfield and the North - Fol de Rol
Hatfield And The North - Finesse Is for Fairies
Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter.[1]
Career
The band grew out of a line-up of friends in mid-1972 consisting of Phil Miller (guitar, from Matching Mole), Phil's brother Steve Miller (keyboards, from Caravan, Pip Pyle (drums, from Gong) and Richard Sinclair (bass and vocals, from Caravan).[1]
The band played a few live shows between July and September that year, and gained their first record contract with Virgin Records with the 'Sinclair cousins'...as Steve Miller was replaced by Dave Sinclair (from Matching Mole and Caravan), the band soon changed their name to Hatfield and the North.
The Delivery line-up reunited for a BBC session in November 1972 with Steve Miller, Phil Miller, Lol Coxhill, Roy Babbington (bass), Pip Pyle, and Richard Sinclair on vocals. (Steve Miller went on to release a couple of duo albums with Coxhill in 1973/74.)
Dave Sinclair left in January 1973, shortly after the band's appearance (with Robert Wyatt on guest vocals) on the French TV programme "Rockenstock", and was quickly replaced by Dave Stewart (from Egg) before the band's first recordings were made.[1]
The band recorded two albums, Hatfield and the North and The Rotters' Club.[1]Backing vocals on the two albums were sung by The Northettes: Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin and Ann Rosenthal. On the Autumn 1974 "Crisis Tour", which Hatfield co-headlined with Kevin Coyne, the opening act was a duo of Steve Miller and Lol Coxhill (also previously of Delivery) and Coxhill usually guested with Hatfield on the jamming sections of "Mumps".[citation needed]
After disbanding, Dave Stewart formed National Health with Alan Gowen from Gilgamesh; Phil Miller was a member throughout the band's existence, and Pyle joined in 1977. (Richard Sinclair also sat in on a couple of gigs and a BBC radio session that year.) Hatfield and the North and Gilgamesh had played a couple of shows together in late 1973, including a joint "double quartet" set, in some ways the prototype for National Health. Miller, Stewart, Pyle and Sinclair also worked together in various combinations on other projects.
The name of the band was inspired by the road signage on the main A1 road heading north from London, where the a succession of signs referred to the first major town, and the overall direction, as 'A1 Hatfield & the North'. This style of sign from the 1970s has now been replaced by a slightly different variant, as shown in the current picture to the right.
Reunions & archival releases
In March 1990, the group reformed to record a TV show with Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair and Pip Pyle joined by Sophia Domancich (keyboards, Pyle's then-girlfriend and band mate in Equip'Out).[1]
In January 2005, the band reformed again with Alex Maguire (from Pip Pyle's Bash!) on keyboards and toured between 2005 and 2006 (notable appearances included a short Japanese tour in late 2005, and the BajaProg and NEARfest festivals in North America). On a small number of European dates in June 2005, Mark Fletcher (from Miller's In Cahoots band) reinforced the band while Pyle was recuperating from a back operation and only played on part of each gig. Pyle died in August 2006 after travelling back from a Hatfield show in Groningen. Following Pyle's death, Hatfield played two previously booked gigs with Mark Fletcher on drums, including the Canterbury Festival in October 2006.
In 2005/2006, the band released two archival collections, Hatwise Choice and Hattitude, featuring the classic Miller/Pyle/Sinclair/Stewart line-up, distributed by the UK label Burning Shed. Both releases contained a mixture of BBC radio sessions and live recordings, along with the odd demo, which are still available on CD and support the musicians and family of Pip Pyle.
In 2007, Cuneiform Records re-released two albums by Steve Miller and Lol Coxhill with bonus material including 20 minutes of material by the proto-Hatfield and the North line-up of Delivery playing "God Song", "Bossa Nochance/Big Jobs", and "Betty" (a variation on some of the Sinclair bass riffs that also produced Hatfield's "Rifferama").
Jonathan Coe's novel The Rotters' Club takes its title from the band's second album. The novel also mentions them several times.
Discography
Hatfield and the North (studio LP, Virgin 1974; CD, Virgin 1990)
The Rotters' Club (studio LP, Virgin 1975; CD, Virgin 1990) – UK No. 43[2]
Afters (Virgin, 1980)
Live 1990 (live CD, Demon, 1993)
Hatwise Choice: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 1 (Hatco CD73-7501, distributed by Burning Shed, 2005)
Hattitude: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 2 (Hatco CD73-7502, distributed by Burning Shed, 2006)
Gigantic Land Crabs in Earth Takeov
Hatfield and the North es una banda de rock de la escena de Canterbury que permaneció en activo entre octubre de 1972 y junio de 1975, con algunas reuniones posteriores. Tomó su nombre de las señales de tráfico que indican las salidas de Londres, encaminando a los conductores hacia la carretera A1, conocida anteriormente como Gran Carretera del Norte, que corre hacia el norte a través de Hatfield (Hertfordshire) en dirección a Edimburgo.
Carrera
La banda se formó a partir de un grupo anterior, Delivery, que a mediados de 1972 contaba en sus filas con el guitarrista Phil Miller (anteriormente en Matching Mole), el teclista Steve Miller (hermano de Phil), el batería Pip Pyle, que lo fuera de Gong, y el bajista y cantante Richard Sinclair (procedente de Caravan).
El grupo, que dio algunos conciertos entre julio y septiembre de ese año, cambió de nombre a Hatfield and the North cuando Steve Miller dejó la banda, siendo sustituido por Dave Sinclair (procedente de Matching Mole y Caravan). Sin embargo, la formación original de Delivery se reunió de nuevo para una sesión en la BBC en noviembre de 1972, con el refuerzo de Lol Coxhill (saxo) y Roy Babbington (bajo).
Dave Sinclair dejó el grupo en enero de 1973, tras una actuación en el programa de la televisión francesa Rockenstock, con Robert Wyatt como cantante invitado. Lo sustituyó Dave Stewart, del grupo Egg, antes de que el grupo hiciera su primera grabación en estudio.
La banda grabó dos discos, Hatfield and the North y The Rotters' Club. En ambos, contaron con el apoyo vocal de The Northettes: Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin y Ann Rosenthal. Durante la gira "Crisis Tour", en otoño 1974, el grupo contó de nuevo con la colaboración del saxofonista Lol Coxhill.
Tras la disolución del grupo, Dave Stewart y Miller formaron National Health con Alan Gowen, del grupo Gilgamesh. Pyle se unió a la banda en 1977. Richard Sinclair participó en un par de giras y en una grabación en la BBC en ese mismo año. Hatfield and the North y Gilgamesh habían dado algunos conciertos conjuntos a finales de 1973, que incluían algunas canciones interpretadas en formato de "doble cuarteto", prototipo de National Health. Miller, Stewart, Pyle y Sinclair colaboraron también en otros proyectos.
Reuniones
En marzo de 1990 el grupo se reunió para grabar un programa de televisión. Junto a Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair y Pip Pyle actuó la teclista Sophia Domancich, pareja por entonces de Pyle.
En enero de 2005, la banda volvió de nuevo a los escenarios, con el teclista Alex Maguire, y se mantuvo en activo hasta octubre de 2006. Participaron en los festivales de BajaProg y NEARfest en Norteamérica. Pyle, que tenía problemas severos de espalda, falleció en agosto de 2006 tras un concierto en Groningen. Tras la muerte de Pyle, Hatfield dio dos conciertos más, ya apalabrados, con el batería Mark Fletcher. Uno de ellos fue el Canterbury Festival, en octubre de 2006.
Libros
El escritor Jonathan Coe escribió una novela llamada The Rotters' Club, que toma su nombre del segundo disco de la banda.
Material de archivo
Entre 2005 y 2006, la banda publicó Hatwise Choice and Hattitude, dos discos con material inédito de la formación clásica del grupo, procedente de sesiones de radio de la BBC y conciertos, así como algunas maquetas.
En 2007, el sello Cuneiform Records reeditó en CD dos discos de Steve Miller y Lol Coxhill, incluyendo como material adicional 20 minutos de material de la banda Delivery, antecesora de Hatfield and the North, interpretando God Song, Bossa Nochance/Big Jobs y Betty.
Discografía
Hatfield and the North (LP de estudio, Virgin 1974; CD, Virgin 1990)
The Rotters' Club (LP de estudio, Virgin 1975; CD, Virgin 1990)
Afters (Virgin, 1980)
Live 1990 (disco en directo, Demon, 1993)
Hatwise Choice: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 1 (Hatco CD73-7501, 2005)
Hattitude: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 2 (Hatco CD73-7502, 2006)
Music: Hatfield and the North - Fol de Rol - Finesse Is for Fairies - Gigantic Land Crabs in Earth Takeov - From the Canterbury rock movement (70s) - 3 vids - Bio data
