Guessing it won’t mean much to forum members but today I attended the funeral of Howard King, singer and guitarist with the aforesaid band. Glad to see around a hundred people there despite what his brother referred to as “the thing”. Drummer Keith York was there looking very well indeed as was Paul Du Noyer. I believe Howard had been in care for some time and died of MND.
I played drums in the first school band he played in and we stayed in periodic touch right up to “the thing”.
Lots more to be said but just thought I’d flag it up for any fans.
That’s nice to know. Thanks guys. Very difficult funeral to attend. There was actually a suggestion on Facebook locally that people should not attend, which was disconcerting. Very glad I went.
I should have clarified that it was a hard decision with regards to whether I attended but once there it was lovely on multiple fronts.
1 - great to see his bro and sister in such fine fettle under the circumstances albeit a bit of a shock to see Howard’s children. Equally lovely to be able to explain my role in what led to Dr. Phibes.
2 - my sibling has been very poorly indeed and was happy to drop me off snd then loiter to see what the numbers looked like before making a decision as to whether their immunity could take it. They ended up in the next to back row absolutely surrounded by people they were at school with and everyone genuinely pleased to see each other. I hadn’t seen many of the same people in 43 years and was surprised to be known to so many.
3 - my mate The Cat was there so we had a brief catch up before our group of school friends meets for a pre-Christmas drink at the end of this month. I had no idea of his connections to the King family so that was fascinating in itself.
4 - Amazing to see Howard’s Dad still going strong well into his 80s. Sobering to realise that the care home we were asked to donate to was the one Howard was living in whilst his Dad still lives independently.
Obviously, his death aside, there was another death hanging over the day. “The thing” as it was called, and yet those there understood that one should never judge people by the worst thing they did and, whilst the worst thing he did was just incomprehensible (especially if, as us locals did, you know the full details of that day), everyone there was far keener to share their memories of what a genuinely gentle soul he was. Quite remarkable in that respect.
I know nothing of the personnel but Hazy Lazy Hologram and Bearhug from the Hypnotwister LP do it for me.
Like others up thread, I can thank the late John Peel for my introduction to the band (and many others of course).
