Fruit are an indie folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 band from Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The group was formed in 1995, and consists of Mel Watson (lead vocalist, horn player, songwriter), Susie Keynes (lead vocalist, guitarist, songwriter), Sam Lohs (lead vocalist, acoustic guitarist, songwriter), Yanya Boston (drums, percussion), and Brian Ruiz (Bass guitar). In 2003 they won the "Best Live Album" award at the Australian Live Music Awards. Their most recent album is Burn, which was released in June 2005.

Formation and early years

Fruit was originally formed in 1995 by a chance meeting following a request for two groups of three to perform together at a local show in Adelaide:

Group 1: Jenna Bonavita, Mel Watson, Catherine Oates
Group 2: Miranda Bradley, Sam Lohs, Susie Keynes

The six members decided to rehearse together to do an encore

Encore (concert)

An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again", "some more"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the...

 performance at the end of their shows. It was later decided that they would combine their talents into one band, which became known as Fruit. All the members had known each other from various bands that they had been part of:

Emerald Sun: Mel Watson, Jenna Bonavita, Daniel Schultze, Yanya Boston

Breathe: Sam Lohs, Adam Budgen (future sound engineer for the band)

Fresh Air: Catherine Oates, Jenna Bonavita, Padma Newsome, Dylan Woolcock, Quincy La

Kai's Dilemma: Miranda Bradley, Susie Keynes, Clive Conway, Ashley Shepherd

Fruit's first studio release was the award winning 1996 self-titled release "Fruit", which was then followed by the much acclaimed "Skin". Their first live album, Shift Live, was released in 1999, which contained songs from their first two albums, as well as previously unreleased songs.

Later years and hiatus

The band returned with their third studio record, Here For Days, in 2001. It was recorded with UK producer Paul Gomersall (who has worked with George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

, Phil Collins

Phil Collins

Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

, Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen

Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...

, and Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...

), climbed to the #3 spot in the Australian Independent Charts. Their second live album, Live at the Basement, was released in 2002, and contained a number of new and old songs. The album won the Best Live Album award at the Australian Live Music Awards in 2003.

2005 saw the release of the album Burn. The album was produced by the Grammy nominated David Ivory, and was recorded in Philadelphia. The band have since gone on an indefinite hiatus; Susie Keynes has been quoted as saying that Fruit is 'off the road for the time being'. The three head members of the band are now currently pursuing other musical endeavours.

List of awards and achievements

Australian Live Music Awards (ALMA's) http://www.ausmusic.org.au/alma/winners.html

• Best Live Album in Australia
  • 2003 - Fruit "Live at the Basement"
  • 2002 - Fruit "Live at the Basement"

• Best Tour Manger
  • 2003 - Sue Arlidge

• Best Up and Coming Live Act in Australia
  • 2001 - Fruit

• Best Emerging Act in South Australia
  • 2001 - Fruit

• Best Live Act in Australia
  • 2001 - Fruit (Nomination)

Queen's Trust Award for Young Australians

• Mel Watson (for The Into One Project)

South Australian Music Awards

• Most Outstanding Instrumentalist
  • 2003 - Mel Watson
  • 1998 - Mel Watson
  • 1997 - Mel Watson
  • 1996 - Mel Watson
  • 1995 - Mel Watson

• Most Outstanding Songwriter
  • 2003 - Mel Watson (Nomination)
  • 1997 - Sam Lohs (Nomination)

• Most Outstanding Vocalist
  • 2003 - Mel Watson (Nomination)
  • 1997 - Susie Keynes (Nomination)

• Most Outstanding Release
  • 1996 - "Fruit"
  • 1997 - "Skin" (Nomination)

• Most Outstanding Band
  • 1998 - Fruit

• Most Outstanding Group or Individual
  • 1996
  • 1997 (Nomination)

• Most Outstanding S.A. Release
  • 1998 - 'Shift' Live @ the Gov & JJJ, Fruit

• Achievement Award
  • 1998 - Fruit, for independent touring
  • 1997 - Mel Watson & Bev Luff for The Into One Project

• Most Outstanding Live Engineer
  • 1998 - Adam Budgen

• Most Outstanding CD Artwork
  • 1998 - Miska Graphics, Rachel Harris & Andy Rasheed Photography for 'Shift'

• Most Outstanding Guitarist
  • 1998 - Anthony Scott

• Most Outstanding Bass Player
  • 1997 - Jenna Bonavita
  • 1998 - Anthony Scott

• Most Outstanding Drummer
  • 1998, 1997 - Catherine Oates

• Most Outstanding Video
  • 1997 - Mel Watson & Bev Luff for The Into One Project

Fruit albums

Fruit - selections from

1. Mama Mama
2. Burn
3. Peace
4. Skin
5. Wait On
6. Wind Blows

Burn (2005)

1. A Thousand Days (Lohs)
2. Latitude (Keynes)
3. Jennifer says Watson)
4. No regrets (Watson)
5. Almost lost my way (Keynes)
6. If only for the sun (Lohs)
7. if (Watson)
8. Burn (Watson)
9. Peace (Keynes)
10. Wait on (Lohs)
11. In between (Watson)
12. Weather girl (Lohs)
13. Cherish (Susie Keynes tribute to Vicki Nottage)
14. All this time (Lohs)
15. One fine day (Keynes)

Fruit The Trio Album - Live At The Church (2003)

1. If Only For The Sun (Lohs)
2. Alameda (Watson)
3. Intro Chat
4. Peace (Keynes)
5. Weather Girl (Lohs)
6. Intro to Narrow
7. Narrow (Watson)
8. The Gift (Keynes)
9. Nothing But Blood (Lohs)
10. Thankyou Chat
11. Love You So (Watson)
12. Wind Blows (Keynes)
13. Alter Ego (Lohs)
14. Shift (Keynes)
15. Burn (Watson)

Live At The Basement (2002)

1. Wind Blows (Keynes)
2. All This Time (Lohs)
3. Alameda (Watson)
4. Nothing But Blood (Lohs)
5. Dreaming (Keynes)
6. Mamma Mamma (Watson)
7. Island (Lohs)
8. Human Condition (Watson)
9. Sunsets & Hurricanes (Watson)
10. Wild Angel (Keynes)
11. Skin (Lohs)

Here For Days (2001)

1. Sleeping In The Daytime
2. Wind Blows
3. Burnt and Crispy
4. Romantic sentimentalist
5. Alameda
6. Wounded Child
7. Yeah Yeah
8. Cossip Queen
9. 6 Thousand, 4 Hundred & 20 Something
10. Mamma Mamma
11. Wild Angel
12. New York Buildings
13. Tales And Truth

U.S. Limited Release Fruit EP (2000)

1. Company & Crowds
2. Nothing Higher
3. Shift
4. Gossip Queen
5. Island

Shift, Recorded Live

1. Magic (Live at JJJ)
2. Breathe Me
3. Alter Ego
4. This Life
5. Shift (Live at JJJ)
6. Nothing but Blood
7. The Gift
8. Six Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty Something
9. Body Breakdown
10. Little Things
11. One Bite
12. Turning to Blue
13. Forever Young
14. Time to Go

Skin (1997)

1. Body Breakdown
2. Little Things
3. Game of Love
4. One Bite
5. Stay
6. The Gift
7. Skin
8. Guardian of Sin
9. Cool Desire
10. Perpetual Dreaming (Bonavita)
11. Time to Go
12. Body Breakdown (Remix)

Fruit (Self Titled, 1996)

1. Tin Can (Lohs)
2. Been There, Done That (Bradley)
3. Rings Around Me (Keynes)
4. Writing On The Wall (Bradley)
5. Luscious (Lohs/Watson)
6. Sugar Plum (Watson)
7. Dreaming (Keynes)
8. Turning To Blue (Lohs)
9. Forever Young (Watson)
10. Finally (Watson)

Sam Lohs

We Trip Over Things (2006)

1. Not a Lullabye
2. One Minute
3. Radiant
4. Skin on Bone
5. So Much More
6. We Trip Over Things
7. Salt
8. Weather Girl
9. Wait On

Six Degrees (1998)

1. Alter Ego
2. Violetta
3. Starfish Park
4. Tiffas Song
5. Rush
6. All The Lies
7. If Only For The Sun
8. No Violins
9. Brave
10. Six Degrees
11. Token

Mel Watson

In Between (2003)

1. Nineteen Seconds
2. In Between
3. Sailaway
4. Come On
5. Jennifer Says
6. Love You So
7. Observer
8. If
9. 24 7
10. Lives For A Lie
11. Sunsets And Hurricanes

Vox Humana (2001)

1. Horn Addiction
2. Family
3. Illusion
4. Remedy
5. Magic - Slow Version
6. Where Will We Go
7. Space Machine
8. Organic
9. Narrow
10. Wired
11. Blind
12. Think Of Me

Susie Keynes

Kiss For Her Fears (2002)

1. These Things
2. Sometime
3. Inside My Mind
4. Kiss For Her Tears
5. Bedroom
6. Washaway
7. Roses
8. Ridgeway
9. Common Ground
10. Round the Bend
11. Hilltops

List of notable tours

Fruit spent ten years solidly touring internationally throughout the USA, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

2006

• FRUIT "Wait On" National Tour
• Fruit come out from the cold
• 2006 Northern Summer

2005

• Australian Summer Tour
• US - Canada Fall 2005
• Burn around Australia
• 2005 North American "BURN" Release Tour
• 2005 Australian "BURN" Release Tour
• 2005 North America Winter Tour

2004

• 2004 North America Tour
• 2004 Australia & Germany Release Tour

2003

• 2003 North America Tour

2002

• 2002 North America Winter Tour

2001

• 2001 North America Winter Tour
• 2001 North America & UK Summer Tour
• 2001 Australia Tour

2000 and earlier

• 2000 International Tours
• 1999 International Tours
• 1998 International Tours
• 1997 International Tours

External links

• Official website for Fruit
• Susie Keynes at Myspace
• Official website for Mel Watson
• Official website for Yanya Boston
• Mel Watson at Myspace
• Mel Watson at Sonicbids
• Fruit collection at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  's live music archive