Freur

Minor UK indie pop band which is most notable for featuring Carl (later Karl) Hyde (b. 10 May 1957, Worcester, Worcestershire, England) and Rick Smith (b. Richard Smith, 25 May 1959, Ammanford, Wales), who would go on to release some of the most seminal dance music of the 90s as Underworld. Hyde and Smith originally worked together in the early 80s as the Screen Gemz, having met while at college in Cardiff, Wales. They formed Freur with guitarist Alfie Thomas. Their name was actually written as a hieroglyphic squiggle, to the amusement and bemusement of writers and chart compilers everywhere. ‘Freur’ was the phonetic pronunciation. They expanded their line-up with drummer Bryn Burrows (ex-Fabulous Poodles) and keyboard player/video guru John Warwicker. The quintet signed to CBS Records in 1983 and enjoyed a minor UK chart success with ‘Doot Doot’. Its popularity was made all the more unlikely by the fact that their record company had issued the original demo version rather than the recording the band had made with Conny Plank and Holger Czukay in Cologne. The record was also a big hit throughout Europe and topped the Italian charts. A second album Get Us Out Of Here was withheld from release in the UK by CBS, after which Warwicker was replaced by Baz Allen. The quintet re-emerged in 1988 with a different recording contract and a new name, Underworld. ~ Rovi