Freur
Encyclopedia
Freur was a band
featuring Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, who went on to found the successful electronic act Underworld
. It was their second band, following their art school collaboration, The Screen Gemz.
, Wales
by Hyde, Smith and Alfie Thomas. It originally had only a graphic 'squiggle' for a name. In 1983, after recruiting John Warwicker and drummer
Bryn Burrows (formerly of the Fabulous Poodles
), they got a recording contract
with CBS Records
. As the label insisted on a pronounceable name, the band made the compromise that the squiggle was pronounced Freur.
Their first and only hit single
(number 59 in the UK Singles Chart
), was "Doot-Doot" (1983). It was recorded
and co-produced
by Alex Burak at The Point studio
in London
, which was controlled by Rupert Merton of Point Music publishing. Merton (who also had an early version of the Thompson Twins
on his roster of artists
) signed Freur.
The band released five further tracks after "Doot-Doot", between 1983 and 1985: "Matters of the Heart", "Runaway", "Riders in the Night", "The Devil and Darkness" and "Look in the Back for Answers". All failed to dent the UK chart.
Freur released two album
s: Doot-Doot
(1983) and Get Us out of Here
(1986). The second LP was only released in Germany
and the Netherlands
. Freur also composed and performed the soundtrack to the movie Underworld
(aka Transmutations), written by Clive Barker
. Warwicker left the band in 1986 and Freur went into recess. In 1987, Hyde, Smith, Thomas and Burrows, along with bassist Baz Allen signed to Sire Records
under a new name, Underworld
, and found some success with the single "Underneath the Radar" (1988) (it peaked in Australia at no. 5), before initially folding in 1990, re-forming in 1991 under the same name as the successful dance and electronica
act responsible for a number of well received albums and the 1996 hit single Born Slippy .NUXX
.
The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles
would list Freur under the symbol, with the translation by the side, until the late 1990s. John Warwicker is a video artist in the graphic design
collective Tomato, whose founders include Hyde and Smith. "Doot Doot" has been used in Vanilla Sky
, Valley Girls
, a second season episode of Gossip Girl
, and in the 2009 US
ad campaign for the Palm Pre
smartphone
. Most recently it can be heard in the movie Let Me In
(released October 1, 2010 in the US) from a tape player in the basement scene.
The now defunct UK magazine
Sounds
referred to the band as "Elephant with a stick of Rhubarb" because of the shape of the squiggle.
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
featuring Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, who went on to found the successful electronic act Underworld
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
. It was their second band, following their art school collaboration, The Screen Gemz.
History
The band was formed in the early 1980s in CardiffCardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
by Hyde, Smith and Alfie Thomas. It originally had only a graphic 'squiggle' for a name. In 1983, after recruiting John Warwicker and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Bryn Burrows (formerly of the Fabulous Poodles
Fabulous Poodles
The Fabulous Poodles were a British pre-New Wave band formed in 1975. Known for quirky stage antics, such as exploding ukuleles, as well as songs with funny lyrics. The Fabulous Poodles toured with Meat Loaf, Sha Na Na, Tom Petty, Bill Bruford and Chuck Berry . They appeared on the Old Grey...
), they got a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. As the label insisted on a pronounceable name, the band made the compromise that the squiggle was pronounced Freur.
Their first and only hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
(number 59 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
), was "Doot-Doot" (1983). It was recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
and co-produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Alex Burak at The Point studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, which was controlled by Rupert Merton of Point Music publishing. Merton (who also had an early version of the Thompson Twins
Thompson Twins
The Thompson Twins were a British pop group that were formed in April 1977 and disbanded in May 1993. They achieved considerable popularity in the mid 1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States and around the globe. The band was named after the two bumbling detectives...
on his roster of artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
) signed Freur.
The band released five further tracks after "Doot-Doot", between 1983 and 1985: "Matters of the Heart", "Runaway", "Riders in the Night", "The Devil and Darkness" and "Look in the Back for Answers". All failed to dent the UK chart.
Freur released two album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s: Doot-Doot
Doot-Doot
Doot-Doot is the debut studio album by Freur and was released in 1983. The cassette version of the album included four extra tracks.- CD release :The album was unavailable on CD until the 1993 reissue by Oglio Records in the United States...
(1983) and Get Us out of Here
Get Us Out of Here
Get Us out of Here is the second and final studio album by Freur and was released in the Netherlands and Germany in 1986. The cassette version of the album included five extra tracks.- CD release :...
(1986). The second LP was only released in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Freur also composed and performed the soundtrack to the movie Underworld
Underworld (1985 film)
Underworld is a 1985 British horror film, written by Clive Barker and James Caplin, and starring Denholm Elliott, Miranda Richardson, Steven Berkoff, Larry Lamb, Ingrid Pitt and Art Malik, in which a mad doctor keeps mutants underground. The film was directed by George Pavlou.-Plot:Dr...
(aka Transmutations), written by Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
. Warwicker left the band in 1986 and Freur went into recess. In 1987, Hyde, Smith, Thomas and Burrows, along with bassist Baz Allen signed to Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
under a new name, Underworld
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
, and found some success with the single "Underneath the Radar" (1988) (it peaked in Australia at no. 5), before initially folding in 1990, re-forming in 1991 under the same name as the successful dance and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
act responsible for a number of well received albums and the 1996 hit single Born Slippy .NUXX
Born Slippy .NUXX
"Born Slippy .NUXX" is a 1996 single by the band Underworld.It was preceded in January 1995 by the single "Born Slippy", which featured the ".NUXX" mix as a B-side. The band has stated that the pounding, relentless rhythm and shouted lyrics of the track were originally meant "as a joke", and the...
.
The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles
Guinness Book of British Hit Singles
British Hit Singles & Albums was a music reference book published in the United Kingdom by HiT Entertainment's "Guinness World Records". It listed all the singles and albums featured in the Top 75 Charts in UK, as compiled by the editors of British Hit Singles & Albums...
would list Freur under the symbol, with the translation by the side, until the late 1990s. John Warwicker is a video artist in the graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
collective Tomato, whose founders include Hyde and Smith. "Doot Doot" has been used in Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...
, Valley Girls
Valley Girls (Gossip Girl)
"Valley Girls" is the twenty-fourth episode of the second season of the The CW Television Network television series Gossip Girl. The episode served as a backdoor pilot for a potential Gossip Girl spin-off series set in the 1980s, entitled Valley Girls...
, a second season episode of Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
, and in the 2009 US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ad campaign for the Palm Pre
Palm Pre
The Palm Pre is a multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux based mobile operating system, webOS...
smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
. Most recently it can be heard in the movie Let Me In
Let Me In (film)
Let Me In is a 2010 American romantic horror film directed by Matt Reeves and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz. It is based on the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In , directed by Tomas Alfredson, and the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist...
(released October 1, 2010 in the US) from a tape player in the basement scene.
The now defunct UK magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
referred to the band as "Elephant with a stick of Rhubarb" because of the shape of the squiggle.
Band members
- Karl Hyde (born 10 May 1957, WorcesterWorcesterThe City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, WorcestershireWorcestershireWorcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
) - vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s - Rick Smith (born Richard Smith, 25 May 1959, Ammanford, WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
) - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Alfie Thomas - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboards - Bryn Burrows - drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s - John Warwicker - keyboards
Albums
- Doot-DootDoot-DootDoot-Doot is the debut studio album by Freur and was released in 1983. The cassette version of the album included four extra tracks.- CD release :The album was unavailable on CD until the 1993 reissue by Oglio Records in the United States...
(1983) - Get Us out of HereGet Us Out of HereGet Us out of Here is the second and final studio album by Freur and was released in the Netherlands and Germany in 1986. The cassette version of the album included five extra tracks.- CD release :...
(1986) - Transmutations (Underworld) (1985) (A film soundtrack; unreleased)
Singles
- "Doot Doot" (1983)
- "Matters of the Heart" (1983)
- "Runaway" (1983)
- "Riders in the Night" (1984)
- "The Devil and Darkness" (1984)
- "Look in the Back for Answers" (1984)
- "The Piano Song" (1986)
External links
- [ftp://ftp.swcp.com/pub/users/lazlo/discographies/freur Discography: Freur/Underworld/Lemon Interupt] - Detailed discography to 1999
- Freur fan page
- Freur biography on BBC Wales
- Band History page
- Doot Doot video at YouTube
- Rare early recording of Doot Doot with Welsh lyrics