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County: Antrim

Decades Active: 1970s

1970s progressive rock band, which originated in Belfast

About Fruupp

Fruupp were a 1970's Northern Irish progressive rock band, which originated in Belfast, but developed a fan base in Great Britain. They were relatively popular, particularly on the student scene and as a supporting act, opening for such bands as Genesis, Queen, and King Crimson.

One of the hardest-working progressive bands to end up languishing in relative obscurity, Fruupp was begun in 1971 by guitarist Vince McCusker. After a brief musical apprenticeship in London, McCusker returned to Belfast and quickly pulled together a group of largely classically trained musicians; the lineup was unusual in that keyboardist Stephen Houston doubled on the oboe. (The unusual band name was taken from a Lectreset sheet.) The band's resulting sound is not unlike Spring or early Genesis, with primary composers McCusker and Houston acting as foils for each other: Houston's cello, oboe, and violin typically lend dark folk textures beneath McCusker's aggressive guitar parts and Peter Farelly's Celtic-influenced vocals. After two years of gigging, they shopped their demo tape around and were picked up by Pye Records for their Dawn label. Between 1973 and 1975, Fruupp released four albums, the last of which was produced by King Crimson alum Ian McDonald; the band also toured in support of Crimson. Despite playing hundreds of gigs per year throughout the U.K. and Europe during this period, their record sales never quite took off, and the band closed up shop after a final London gig at the Roundhouse in 1976.
They released 4 studio albums - Future Legends (1973), Prince of Heaven's Eyes (1975), Seven Secrets (1974) and Modern Masquerades (1975). A live album, Masquerading With Dawn, sourced from a bootleg was also released by the band.

Comments

Bryan wrote on 2018-12-24 00:00:00:
There’s no mention of Miles McKee who was their vocalist when I used to see them. Ther regularly played in Limavady when I was at school there. The last time I saw them was at the Marquee in London in 1971, and he was still a member then. (cont)
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