Catapilla was an English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band active in the early 1970s. They released two albums on the major record label

Vertigo Records Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by U ...

History

The band was formed in 1970 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The original lineup consisted of

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African- British writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist, performance poet and lead vocalist of the space rock band Hawkwind. Early lif ...

and Hugh Eaglestone, drummer Malcolm Frith, bassist Dave Taylor, guitarist Graham Wilson, woodwinds player Thierry Rheinhardt, and vocalist Jo Meek. Jo Meek's time with the band was brief; she was replaced by her sister Anna by the time of the band's earliest live performances. The band was discovered by Cliff Cooper of the

Orange Music Electronic Company Orange Music Electronic Company is an English amplifier manufacturing company. The amplifiers have a distinctive sound and bright orange Tolex-like covering their heads and speaker cabinets. History 1960s Orange was founded in 1968 by musi ...

, who took on managing Catapilla and arranged for them to appear in a showcase event in front of an invited audience of music industry figures. Among them was

Patrick Meehan Patrick Connolly Meehan (12 April 1927 – 14 August 1994) was the victim of a controversial miscarriage of justice in Scotland. Although he died a natural death (of throat cancer in Swansea)Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped de ...

, who was sufficiently impressed to get Catapilla a recording contract with

. Meehan produced their first, eponymous album, released on Vertigo in late 1971. Following this release, the band set off on a Vertigo-sponsored tour of the UK, supporting

Graham Bond Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s. Bond was an innovator, described as "an important, und ...

and

Roy Harper Roy Harper may refer to: * Roy Harper (character), DC Comics character *Roy Harper (footballer) (born 1929), Australian footballer *Roy Harper (referee) (died 1969), English football referee * Roy Harper (singer) (born 1941), English musician * Roy ...

, which failed to earn them mainstream public recognition. Following the tour, Eaglestone, Frith, Rheinhardt, and Taylor all left the band. The remnants of Catapilla reformed the group with the additions of Bryan Hanson (drums), Ralph Rolinson (keyboards) and Carl Wassard (bass), and returned to the studio to record their second album, ''Changes''. It was released in 1972, again on Vertigo. The group disbanded shortly after the album's release. Calvert went on to play in

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

off-shoots, The Invisible Opera Company Of Tibet and Mother Gong with

Daevid Allen Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) ...

and

Gilli Smyth Gillian Mary Smyth (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong, and Planet Gong and released several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong. In Gong, s ...

. Taylor formed the band

Liar A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deception, deceiving or Deception, misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a l ...

with Clive Brooks, ex-drummer with

Egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

. In the 1970s, Hugh Eaglestone set up a secondhand record shop, called Catapilla, in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal c ...

. Catapilla, ''British Record Shop Archive''
Retrieved 6 June 2022

Discography

*'' Catapilla'' (1971) *''

Changes Changes may refer to: Books * ''Changes'', the 12th novel in Jim Butcher's ''The Dresden Files'' Series * ''Changes'', a novel by Danielle Steel * ''Changes'', a trilogy of novels on which the BBC TV series was based, written by Peter Dickinso ...

'' (1972)

References

External links

Catapilla
at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

Catapilla
at Last.fm {{Authority control English progressive rock groups English psychedelic rock music groups Vertigo Records artists