The Rotter’s Club continued

Cocaine was the wedge that eventually led to the split between Phil and Pip.
Phil had got into writing seriously when he formed In Cahoots as a vehicle for playing his music. He had moved into my  flat in Colvestone Crescent and set up his studio there. He was spending more and more time on his music and  writing out parts for each composition. He decided to get a computer so that when he was revising a composition, he wouldn’t have to re-write all the parts out again by hand. This was the start of a huge learning curve for Phil with his concentration on orchestration. His first PC was an Atari with a dongle for work, using Midi and Notator software for printing out parts.
Inevitably he spent more and more of his time working on his music and less time socialising.
He wasn’t interested in getting drunk or taking cocaine. He enjoyed the occasional pint, but never got drunk. But with Elton and Pip, drink and drugs were central to their lives. Elton was a big drinker but he managed it pretty well. He drank a lot every day, starting early in the morning. He held his drink well.  He and Pip were always making bets with each other. Pip bet him once that he couldn’t go a week without a drink, to which Elton replied he couldn’t go a day without it and didn’t want to. Whenever he was asked how he managed to play so well drunk, he used to say he practiced drunk!
Later on Elton’s alcohol habit took its toll. The state of his liver forced him to renounce alcohol altogether on doctor’s orders. This was very very hard for Elton. Getting out of it was how he liked to live. Pip was most concerned for him and persuaded him into substituting cocaine as a ‘safe’ alternative to alcohol as it had no effect on the liver. This was just the lifeline Elton was searching for and went for it in a big way. He really got into taking cocaine around the time when a lot of banks were offering customers overdrafts of five thousand pounds if they took out a credit card. Elton took up this offer from several banks.
Pip and Elton were notorious for the amount of raving they did. They looked down on Phil for the studious life he lived and were constant companions when on tour with In Cahoots. They referred to themselves as International Ravers and thoroughly misbehaved themselves. Eventually, after a number of years, Elton succumbed to the Demon Drink and fell off the wagon, only to be addicted to cocaine as well as alcohol.
When Pip started living in France, the only times he and Phil came together were when In Cahoots were rehearsing for either a recording or an upcoming tour. Relations became a bit fraught as Pip only had what he earned as a drummer and no longer enjoyed the largesse of his father. He  was obliged to get Phil to pay his fare and all other expenses regarding coming to England. Phil was quite happy to do this, but Instead of simply asking Phil in an ordinary, friendly way, Pip’s attitude became increasingly demanding and dictatorial. Phil found his attitude really upsetting because Pip had stopped treating him as a friend – only ever making more and more demands as if he, Pip, was some kind of superstar and Phil was an irritating employee. Phil would come off the phone after a call from Pip looking really upset. Rehearsals became very difficult. Once when Phil presented a new tune, Pip refused to play it the way Phil had written it and tried to change it completely, resulting in Phil putting the piece aside. He told Phil that In Cahoots could work perfectly well without Phil but couldn’t exist without himself.

Eventually Pip left the band and formed his own band Bash, which made its debut at the Progman Cometh festival in Seattle In 2002 where In Cahoots also played with their new drummer Mark Fletcher. Steve Feigenbaum, who was at the festival, liked what he heard and offered Phil and In Cahoots a record deal. In January 2003 In Cahoots with their new drummer started work on the CD All That. Cuneiform Records Rune 181 which was released in September. They played in Les Lilas, France, Le Triton Festtival Tritonales and Progeny Festival at London Astoria with Liam Genocky on drums with Mark Fletcher on percussion.
2005 saw Hatfield and the North reformed with Alex Maguire replacing Dave Stewart on keyboards. With this line-up Hatfield departed on a world tour. A year into this tour, on February 8th 2006, Elton Dean died. The Hatfield world tour continued playing Mexico, Italy, England, USA and Germany, finishing in Groningen, Holland on August 26th. After the gig Pip and Phil spent the rest of the evening together. They made up their differences, rediscovered their friendship and told each other they loved each other.
When Phil arrived home in London, he told me how he and Pip had made it up between them and become friends again. It meant the world to Phil, that their old friendship had survived all the traumas. The next morning Patrice Meyer phoned Phil to say that Pip had died in Paris.