Freur - Doot Doot (Live 1983)

Freur is the name of the second band (following the art school collaboration, The Screen Gemz) of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, who went on to found the successful electronica act Underworld. The band was formed in the early 1980s in Cardiff, 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, and met the label's insistence on a pronounceable name, with 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", "Devil and the Darkness" and "Look in the Back for Answers". All failed to dent the UK chart. Freur released two albums: Doot Doot (1983) and Get Us Out of Here! (1985). The second LP was only released in Germany and the Netherlands. 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 minor success with the single "Underneath the Radar" (1988) before initially folding in 1990. 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" was used in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky (2001). The now defunct UK magazine Sounds referred to the band as "Elephant with a stick of Rhubarb" because of the shape of the squiggle.