What the Fruupp?
They took their name from the remaining letters on a sheet of Letraset. They played on the same bills as ELO, Hawkwind, Genesis, Supertramp and Queen. But they were derailed from the big time by the lure of religion, and they lost the master tape for what could have been their breakthrough album in a fire. And, strangely, it was a Brooklyn rapper who brought the band to people’s attention in the 21st century. Welcome to weird world of Fruupp.
The Northern Irish band were formed in 1971 by guitarist and vocalist Vincent McCusker, who was joined by Stephen Houston on keyboards, oboe and vocals, Peter Farrelly on lead vocals, flute and bass, and Martin Foye on drums. Less than two weeks after making their live debut on June 23, 1971 supporting Rory Gallagher at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, Fruupp relocated to London.
“We had long been inspired by what Genesis used to do: using surreal stories to link together songs onstage. We began to do it for Fruupp’s live performances.”
“If you wanted to play progressive music, there
