the main notes from this press release:
'...Freur, who triumphed with their debut LP, Doot Doot in 1983, are back in action with their single 'The Devil and the Darkness', which will be followed by the release of their long awaited second LP in the new year.
The line up is still the same...Alfie Thomas / keys and editing, Rick Smith / keys and assorted machinery, Karl Hyde / vocals and guitar, Bryn Burrows / drums, John Warricker Le Breton / video synthesiser and graphics. A new bassisthas been added. His name is Jake Bowie - a little man with orange hair and a dog...'
'Originally concieved in 1982 at the University of Cardiff, in South Wales, Freur converted their Splott terraced house into a nifty little 4-track studio called "The Black Box"...'
'Doot Doot was released in 1983, number one in Italy, 24 in Germany, top five in NZ.' (wow!) (also popular in US and Canada - cult status!) 'College radio went crazy over their music'!
'Everyone wanted to know who Freur were. Where did they come from? And why did they dress up in emeralds, pearls and diamonds? Brightly coloured clothing? Crimped hairstyles?
"We did it because, at that time, nobody else was doing it," explains Karl.
"...we stuck with that look for 18 months."
"A lot of the new material (the new album) started to lean towards a more traditional vein - the background of old England - the celtic and old English styles of modern technology including emulators, sampling equiptment, guitars, drums and a great London studio (Mayfair). The initial backing tracks were recorded in ICC studio down on the south coast...
(somewhere near Bexhill if my memory serves me right - Mattval)
...The Crux of the LP was produced ourselves and John Hudson (who's credits include Gary Glitter, Ultravox and Tina Turner.)"
...
'Like the new single, a lot of the new material doesn't feature any sequneced basslines. As already mentioned, Jake Bowie is the new bass player. In fact Karl promises that if the group have any kind of financial success, more musicians would be added to the current line up.'
next, is the best bit of the whole piece for me...in todays context - Mattval:
"We're getting a bit bored with synths and pure electronic sounds." says Rick...
!!!! hahahaha !!!! oh how times have changed
'...The name is Freur. And so is the noise. The band never intended to come up with a name that meant anything in particular. If anything the name separated the group from all of the other groups. It had to be multi-national. Freur is a noise that everyone around the world can translate. It's got absolutely nothing to do with language. Freur is a sound that rolls off the tounge. It's a pictogram, a logo, a signal post that typifies six different people.'
'Karl: we have most of the actual recording sessions down on video...'
press release by Peter L. Noble 1984
...
the rest of the piece is about the actual release of 'The Devil and Darkness', i've not included everything in the press release, some bits I held back purely because its waffle, some bits I might need if I ever get around to writing a book...
It'll all be in there...and anyway, i might upload a scan of the entire piece in time ...but this is an intersting taster of what was happenening at the time of the second album release.
anyway more bits and pieces to follow...
Mattval1