muttley Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 As a teenager, I had an uncle who was a great influence on me. He was a bassist in local bands and found an old electric guitar which my mum gave me as a birthday present when I was 14 or 15. Later on, he loaned me one of this basses which I used in my own band. My uncle died at the end of July after a battle with cancer. At the funeral I learned that one band he was in, [url="http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/bands/halcyon-order.aspx"]The Halcyon Order[/url], opened the first Isle of Wight festival in 1968. He had a collection of six basses that have been split between myself and his sons. We have agreed that those six basses will never be sold and will always remain in the family. Here's an old photo of him from around that time: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blademan_98 Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Wow that is really cool. what a legacy. You must be really proud of that. Can you post a pic of the bass you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Great story. I am old enough to remember the early festivals, and I do seem to recall a band called 'Halcyon Order'. I've googled 'Halcyon Order' and come up with a couple of interesting pages. [url="http://www.iowrock.demon.co.uk/archive/iow_archive_uriel.html"]http://www.iowrock.d...hive_uriel.html[/url] [url="http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/iow1968.html"]http://www.ukrockfes...om/iow1968.html[/url] I guess Stuart 'Jumbo Yates' must be your uncle (pictured below). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muttley Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 [quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1347374338' post='1799926'] Wow that is really cool. what a legacy. You must be really proud of that. Can you post a pic of the bass you have? [/quote] Yes, more than proud. I'll post a pic of the basses when I get 2 minutes to rub together. One is a Fender Jazz fretless c. 2005. The bass he loaned me as a teenager was a late 70s Gibson G3. He sold this to buy the fretless Jazz so it's a kind of logical progression. The other bass is an Ibanez Artcore (full scale version). This reminded me of photos of him the 60s and, although a relatively modern bass, is just so cool and a joy to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muttley Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 [quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1347380854' post='1800023'] Great story. I am old enough to remember the early festivals, and I do seem to recall a band called 'Halcyon Order'. I've googled 'Halcyon Order' and come up with a couple of interesting pages. [url="http://www.iowrock.demon.co.uk/archive/iow_archive_uriel.html"]http://www.iowrock.d...hive_uriel.html[/url] [url="http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/iow1968.html"]http://www.ukrockfes...om/iow1968.html[/url] I guess Stuart 'Jumbo Yates' must be your uncle (pictured below). [/quote] Yes, that's right. I was never aware of that nickname though. Amazing that you should remember the band after so many years, especially as they weren't a massive success or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrig Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 (edited) [quote name='muttley' timestamp='1347382729' post='1800058'] Yes, that's right. I was never aware of that nickname though. Amazing that you should remember the band after so many years, especially as they weren't a massive success or anything. [/quote] It's only a vague memory, in those times, I was just a long-haired music nut, and would read just about anything and everything if it was music related, so maybe that's where I've seen the name. I wouldn't like to say that I ever saw them play, unless they did a few London gigs, but I believe they hailed from the IOW and played mostly the south coast. Edited September 11, 2012 by thebrig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grassie Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 I have a book called "Isle of Wight Rock" and it's a compendium of quotes from local bands (and some of the major players that visited here) from the skiffle explosion of the 50's up until 1994 (just before it was published). Halcyon Order are mentioned in the section on the three early festivals (68, 69 and 1970). A great read if you can find a copy (apparently only 1000 were printed). Very cool that your uncle played that first festival - did you know it was organised to raise funds for a swimming pool? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gub Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 Great story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muttley Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 [quote name='Grant' timestamp='1347818928' post='1805428'] I have a book called "Isle of Wight Rock" and it's a compendium of quotes from local bands (and some of the major players that visited here) from the skiffle explosion of the 50's up until 1994 (just before it was published). Halcyon Order are mentioned in the section on the three early festivals (68, 69 and 1970). A great read if you can find a copy (apparently only 1000 were printed). Very cool that your uncle played that first festival - did you know it was organised to raise funds for a swimming pool? [/quote] No, I didn't know that! I must seek out a copy of that book. I expect I will know quite a few people quoted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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