Culture news and discussion on TalkFuse.
“When I started out I thought: ‘I’ll be able to play guitar, drink, take drugs and shag as many women as I can!’ But we ended up in the prog vein”: Pye Hastings’ lifelong urges
This is a 2012 Prog magazine interview with Pye Hastings, guitarist and founding member of Canterbury scene band Caravan, looking back on the group's 1973 album For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night and his career more broadly. The piece offers a personal, reflective account of how Hastings' youthful expectations of a rock and roll lifestyle gave way to a quieter existence steeped in progressive rock, offering fans insight into the formative years of one of the era's key bands.
Hastings, then 65, recalls being born in Scotland before moving to England aged nine, settling near Howletts Zoo in Kent after his sister married zoo owner and gambler John Aspinall, which led to his involvement in the Canterbury music scene as a teenager. He reflects candidly that he had once imagined a career full of "guitar, drink, drugs" and women, only for Caravan's path to lead firmly into progressive rock instead, and notes he has since returned to live in Scotland.
In short
- Caravan's Pye Hastings reflects on 1973 album and career, aged 65.
- He grew up near Canterbury after moving from Scotland as a child.
- Expected rock and roll excess but found Caravan settled into prog rock.
Explained simply
Pye Hastings is a guitarist and founding member of Caravan, a progressive rock band that emerged in the late 1960s from the Canterbury music scene. Caravan became one of the most significant acts from this distinctive musical movement in Kent, which blended rock, jazz and other influences into a unique sound. The band has remained active for decades and continues to attract devoted followers of progressive rock.
The Canterbury scene was an important and distinctive period in British rock history, featuring a creative circle of musicians in Kent who developed an approach that set them apart from mainstream trends of the era. The movement produced several influential bands and helped shape progressive rock as a genre. Hastings found his way into this community as a teenager through family connections, and his involvement with the local scene eventually led to the formation of Caravan.
Hastings was born in Scotland but moved to England as a child and settled in Kent. His early proximity to the Canterbury musical community proved formative, leading to his involvement in what would become Caravan in the late 1960s. He has remained with the band throughout its lengthy history and continues to record and perform with them today.
Art Celebrity Culture Entertainment Health Medicine