Hatfield and the North

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hatfield and the North took its name from the roadsigns out of London directing motorists toward the A1 or A1(M) — the old Great North Road — which runs north through Hatfield to Edinburgh; this is one such sign, although "Hatfield and the North" has now been replaced by "The NORTH, Hatfield".

Hatfield and the North is an experimental Canterbury Scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter.

The band grew out of a line-up of Delivery in early 1972 consisting of Phil Miller (guitar, from Matching Mole), Steve Miller (keyboards; Phil's brother), Pip Pyle(†) (drums, from Gong) and Richard Sinclair (bass and vocals, from Caravan). The band played a few live shows in August/September that year, but with Steve Miller being replaced by Dave Sinclair (from Matching Mole and Caravan), the band changed its name to Hatfield and the North. (Steve Miller went on to form a new version of Delivery in 1973.)

However, Dave Sinclair soon left in January 1973 and was quickly replaced by Dave Stewart (from Egg) before the band's first recordings were made.

The band recorded two albums, Hatfield and the North and The Rotters' Club. Backing vocals on the two albums were sung by The Northettes: Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin and Ann Rosenthal. On Hatfield's 1974 "Crisis Tour", the opening act was a duo of Steve Miller and Lol Coxhill (also previously of Delivery) and Coxhill usually guested with Hatfield on "Mumps".

After disbanding, Phil Miller, Dave Stewart and Pip Pyle all moved on to National Health, which also included Alan Gowen from Gilgamesh; Hatfield and the North and Gilgamesh had played a small number of shows together, including a joint "double quartet" set, in some ways the prototype for National Health. (Richard Sinclair also occasionally guested with National Health.) Miller, Stewart, Pyle and Sinclair also worked together in various combinations on other projects.

[edit] Reunions

In March 1990, the group very briefly 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).

In January 2005, the band reformed again with Alex Maguire (from Pip Pyle's Bash!) replacing Domancich and toured between 2005 and 2006. On a small number of European dates in June 2005, Mark Fletcher (from Miller's In Cahoots band) filled in for Pyle, who had broken his ankle and was recuperating from a back operation. Pyle died in August 2006 after travelling back from a Hatfield show in Groningen. Following his death, Hatfield played a few previously-booked gigs with Mark Fletcher on drums, including the Canterbury Festival in October, 2006.

Also in 2005/2006, the band released two archival collections, Hatwise Choice and Hattitude, featuring the classic Miller / Pyle / Sinclair / Stewart line-up and distributed by the UK internet label Burning Shed.

[edit] Discography

Hatfield and the North (studio LP, Virgin 1974; CD, Virgin 1990)
The Rotters' Club (studio LP, Virgin 1975; CD, Virgin 1990)
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)