Information/Write-up
Craig F. McCaw emerged from Vancouver’s late-1960s music scene as a distinctive multi-instrumentalist whose blend of guitar, sitar, and keyboard textures helped define one of the most successful Canadian groups of its era. As the lead guitarist for The Poppy Family, McCaw toured extensively with Terry Jacks, Susan Jacks, and tabla player Satwant Singh, supporting a run of hit singles and albums that made the group the top-selling Canadian act of the late sixties and early seventies. The CBC frequently featured the Poppy Family on national television, cementing their visibility across the country during the height of their chart success.
Following the breakup of the group, McCaw left Canada to study composition and theory in Delhi, India under the renowned rudra veena master Asad Ali Khan. His immersion in classical Indian music broadened his harmonic palette and deepened the modal sensibilities that would later surface in his ambient and planetarium work. Upon returning to Vancouver he became a sought-after session musician, working across a wide variety of local bands and studio projects throughout the mid-1970s.
His first major post-Poppy Family project was Sixty-Six Six, a Vancouver rock group active from 1974 to 1976 featuring Chris Raines (Python), John Mitchel, Curt Klassen, Gary Glacken, and vocalists Kendra and Roz Sprinkling. McCaw shared songwriting and production duties with Raines, and the band released a 1975 single on Honeymoon Records: Put You Out b/w Life’s On Fire. Members later moved into other regional projects, while McCaw continued on toward an increasingly solo-oriented path.
A lifelong fascination with astronomy eventually brought him to Vancouver’s H.R. MacMillan Planetarium, where his skills as a musician intersected with new creative avenues. Beginning with visual-effects work, air-brush art, and scripting, McCaw became the planetarium’s de facto resident composer, handling music composition, narration, and full audio production for dozens of planetarium shows over a span of nearly twenty years. His first soundtrack LP, Journey Through the Galaxy, sold out two vinyl pressings and evolved into a cult favourite among collectors of ambient, space-rock, and electronic music. A revised and expanded edition—incorporating material from a sequel show—was later released on CD and digital formats. Additional scores for Electric Sky, Nightwatch, and Going to Extremes further established McCaw as a major creative voice in the dome-theatre field.
As his work expanded beyond astronomy, McCaw moved into television and film scoring, contributing to a wide range of international broadcast projects. His music appeared on Celebrity Fit Club, America’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries, and several children’s and anime series with worldwide distribution. Among his best-known credits are the animated programs Monster Rancher—which aired in over two dozen countries to an estimated weekly audience of thirty million viewers—and Hamtaro Time. Working with Sony/Turner and the Cartoon Network, he composed the theme and underscore for Powerpuff Girls Z, adding another global franchise to his résumé.
McCaw continues to work as President of Roundhouse Productions, a multimedia studio specializing in music-to-images shows for theatres, planetaria, events, and broadcast clients. The studio maintains a state-of-the-art in-house production setup, handling composition, scoring, post-production, and visual integration. McCaw has also appeared occasionally in reunion performances with former bandmates, including a memorable appearance with Susan Jacks and Satwant Singh at the Hippie Daze celebrations on Vancouver’s 4th Avenue.
Across more than five decades of music-making—from psychedelic rock and Indian classical studies to space-theatre soundtracks, animation scoring, and international broadcast work—Craig F. McCaw has built one of the most eclectic and enduring careers of any musician to emerge from Vancouver’s late-1960s creative surge. His music continues to circulate among collectors, anime fans, and planetarium historians, while projects under Roundhouse Productions keep his work active in new visual and immersive environments.
-Robert Williston
Original music from the soundtrack of the Planetarium show at the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium in Vancouver, British Columbia. Spacey, phasey, echoey guitar focussed soundtrack that accompanied a presentation at the Vancouver Planetarium in the mid-70's.
Ken Morrison (tracks: A1, A2, B1): bass
George Hamilton (tracks: A1, A2, B1): drums
Ross Barrett (tracks: A1 to A3, B1, B3): flute
Engineered by Bruce Smith, C. W. Sloan, and Edward John
Produced by David A. Rodger
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