Don Pyle

Don Pyle is a Canadian record producer and musician, who has been a member of a number of bands.

His first, from 1979 to 1981, was a punk band called Crash Kills Five. They released one EP in 1980, What Do You Do At Night?. It was in this four piece band that he first played with two members, Reid Diamond and Brian Connelly, who would later become Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. The Shadowy Men were together for 11 years; during this time they recorded three LPs and thirteen EPs and became widely known when their song, "Having An Average Weekend", became the theme for The Kids in the Hall TV show. In 1992, they won a Juno Award for "Instrumental Artist of the Year".

During hiatus from the Shadowy Men, Pyle played with several other bands such as King Cobb Steelie and Fifth Column. He also began producing recordings for other bands, including the debut single and LP by King Cobb Steelie and a record by Phleg Camp. After Shadowy Men broke up in 1994, he and Reid Diamond then formed the band Phono-Comb with Dallas Good for the express purpose of playing and recording with Jad Fair. After releasing one single and an LP, Fair returned to solo performing, and the trio released another single. Beverly Breckenridge of Fifth Column then joined the group to play bass and the quartet recorded the LP Fresh Gasoline for Quarterstick/Touch and Go Records, with Steve Albini producing.

After Phono-Comb came to an end, Don Pyle began a new musical project with Andrew Zealley called Greek Buck. More experimental than his previous outfits, the group are noted for their soundtrack compositions, such as those composed for the films of John Greyson including The Law of Enclosures (1999) and Proteus (2003), Sarah Polley's film I Shout Love, and most famously, the theme song of the series Queer As Folk.

Pyle is openly gay.

In April 2007, Pyle launched his very successful "Trouble in the Camera Club" photography show at The Beaver cafe/bar in Toronto. The extensive collection of photographs documented the birth of the punk music scene in Toronto clubs during 1976–1980. The photographs had never been seen before and remained in the form of negatives for as much as 30 years, before Pyle restored the images. An on-line version of the show continues to be accessible on his official home page.

External links

• www.DonPyle.com (Official home page)
• The Shadowy Site On A Shadowy Web (Unofficial Shadowy Men Home Page)