Pip Pyle, RIP

There are probably quite a few blogs this week bearing the above title. Let me (belatedly) join them.

For those that don't know, Pip Pyle was the drummer in "Hatfield and the North", a combo from the mid-70s - see my early blogs about Hatfield and "The Rotters Club".

Of the tributes which I've just read, maybe the best was from Jakko, who played with Pip in REM (not the famous one) in the early 80s. There is a recording of theirs circulating around the 'net which I downloaded months ago but have never heard. Maybe it's about time.

As the tributes make clear, Pip was more than just a drummer. He wrote very amusing lyrics for the Hatfields as well as contributing some ace tunes, all of which hint at the fact that "he was a character", as Jakko recalls.

Looks like there'll be a Pyle binge on the stereo this weekend.