Schicke, Führs & Fröhling

Bio:

Autumn Sun in Cold Water (Sunburst, 1977)

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Song From India (Ticket To Everywhere, 1978)

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Member Since:

September 29, 2007

Members:

Eduard Schicke (drums, percussion, moog, metallophone, xylophone)
Gerd Führs (grand piano, electric piano, moog, clavinet, mellotron, string ensemble, bassett)
Heinz Fröhling (bass, acoustic guitar,  electric guitar, mellotron, clavinet, string ensemble)

Influences:

Pictures - (Symphonic Pictures, 1976)

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Explorer (Sunburst, 1977)

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Eduard Schicke (b. 2/14/47), Gerd Führs (b. 11/27/55, d. 11/3/92), and Heinz Fröhling (b. 5/7/51) met for the first time in 1974. Gerd, who at that time was keyboardist for the jazz-rock band Samspel, saw a concert of the progressive rock group Spektakel of which Ede was the drurnmer and Heinz its guitarist. At that time, Spektakel was one of the most successful bands in Nortern Germany. The day after the concert, Gerd went to the Spektakel music store and played a Fender Rhodes. Both Heinz and Ede were fascinated by Gerd's musical ideas and technical abilities. lt seemed that the chemistry between the three was perfect from the very beginning and they decided to work as a trio. At that point Spektakel split and SFF began. The trio built their own studio an an old farm. where they lived together in order to work day and night to cultivate their common musical ideas. Success came very soon- six months in fact! The first SFF gig at the German Rock Festival, Circus Krone, Munich (1975) fascinated not only the 5,000 people in the audience but also Metronome Records A&R Manager, Hartwig Biereichel. The record deal was signed that very night.

lt was planned that Frank Zappa was to produce the band. Zappa was very enthusiastic about the original sounds of the trio with two Mellotrons (Gerd and Heinz), Moog-synthesizer Paul guitar/Rickenbaker bass combination (Heinz), as weIl as Ede's monster drum and percussion arsenal with gongs and knives and anything else you could imagine. SFF had an orchestral sound which was overwhelming and fascinating. Unfortunately, Zappa had to record his own album at the same time as the SFF project so he dropped out. The band found an excellent substitute producer in Dierer Dierks (Scorpions). The first album, Symphonic Pictures, was released in 1976 and sold about 12,000 copies. Their popularity grew primarily from their unforgettable live concerts-"lt was a bit like magic and with an overwhelming intensity, which led the audience and the band together into another world." In this context one should mention the SFF gigs in Scheeßel (1977) and, of course, the Brain Festival Essen II (1978.)

In 1977 and 1978 SFF recorded and released two more records with Dieter Dierks, Sunburst and Ticket To Everywhere. After the recording of the last album the band developed musical and ideological differences and the trio dissolved. Ede joined the Wuppertal progressive band Hölderlin and two years later opened his own club and disco "Ede Wolf" in Oldenburg. Even today the club is one of Narthern Germany's most successful and famous for good live concerts. Heinz and Gerd continued working together as a duo and recorded three albums: Ammerland (which was released before Ticket To Everywhere) Strings, and Diary. After their split they worked in various pop, jazz and blues bands in Hamburg and Cologne.

(source: http://www.schickefuehrsfroehling.de/sff/index.htm)