ffred

We broke up in 1974, but had our first album produced in 2001 when World in Sound, a small label operating from Schwetzingen, Germany, found us after hearing a 45 rpm single we releaased in 1971. Since then, we have released "fred" and "Notes on a Picnic", and "live at the bitter end", recorded in New York City in the summer of 1974, and released March 20, 2004. George Graham, long time Disk Jockey for WVIA-FM in Wilkes-Barre, PA, had these kind words in his review of music released in 2003 about "Notes on a Picnic": "The Best Archaeological Find Award goes to three CDs released for the first time in 2003 of material dating back decades. One was the Willie Nelson demo sessions, another was the live recording by the famous Bloomfield-Kooper Super Session band recorded live at the Fillmore East in December 1968, and the other was a regional gem by the Lewisburg, PA, based art-rock band Fred, called Notes on a Picnic, recorded in the mid 1970s but never released until now, thanks to the interest by a European collectors label." http://georgegraham.com/reviews/gdgawd03.html

fred came to be as part of the turn on, tune in and drop out culture of the late 60's and early 70's, when several of us were students in very rural east-central Pennsylvania. We started playing music together in the autumn of 1969. From what started as a lyrical, almost art rocky band featuring David's violin, we became a jazz rock fusion band, inspired by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. When we parted ways, we were playing primarily instrumental jazz-rock with classical elements of composition and arrangement, but where improvisation and risk taking were the orders of the day.

We last played ensemble in 1974, and our virtuouo violinist, David Rose, and innovative bassist, Mike "Bones" Robison, have long since passed to the heavenly combo, once referred to as "St. Peter's Band" in Mike's Beach Boys send-off, "Get 'em Up, God,". Our album, "Live at the Bitter End", caught us at the top of our form before we parted ways in late 1974.

Early on, we modeled ourselves after Procol Harum, the Band, Traffic, and Frank Zappa. Later on, we gravitated toward Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. We were similar to Dixie Dregs, but with more of a jazz feel to the compositions.

David played a violin made by a craftsman named Waltersdorf in York, PA through a custom system assemebled by Charlie Bozenhard. Bo played Rogers drums. Joe played a Gibson SG Standard through Fender Bassman or Sun Coliseum amp. The keys, shared by Pete and Ken, were Fender Rhodes through Fender and Farfisa through Leslie for live shows, some acoustic piano in the studio. Mike initially played a Gibson bass through Fender, but wound up on a fretless Fender bass.

The players: In memoriam: David Rose, violin and vocals Mike "Bones" Robison, bass and backing vocals Gary Rosenberg, lyrics Dick Joseph, management Charlie Bozenhard, Dave's rig for violin Alive and kicking: Bo Fox, drums, percussion and vocals (honest, the drums on "live" are just Bo, proving the rumor that like his favorite super hero, Spider Man, Bo is no mere mortal, but a near divine being with super-human powers!) Ken Price, keys and vocals Peter Eggers, keys, saxophone, percussion Joe DeCristopher: guitar The crew: Roger Brown and Pat Biggs Graphics and photos: LJ Kopf extra kudos to Pete for technical assistance on the album cover work for live at the bitter end, not to mention those amazing tunes. last but not least: Thanks to Wolf and Miguel for taking old tapes out of the can and making 3 albums available after 30+ years on the shelf, and for the engineer at WIS who brightened up that monoral live recording from the Bitter End.