Fruit Shop
| Fruit Shop | |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1989 |
| Associated acts | Vehicle Derek, Latch |
| Past members | |
| Adam Warne (drums), Steven Taylor (vocals), Simon Clifton (unplugged guitar), Kevin Borrett (bass), Simon Wilson (vocals), Paul Bott (vocals), Andy Sandall (guitar) | |
Fruit Shop formed in 1989 specifically to perform at the BGS Rock Night on 9th February alongside Centurion, Vehicle Derek, and The Outpatients. After a number of practices in the then new BGS Music Room the band performed this and two other gigs during BGS events over the next couple of months.
The band were originally called 'S.H.I.T.E' but were forced to change their name when teacher Nick Fitton spotted their flyers around the school and removed them all, demanding a name change or he would see they were banned from the show. The band formed around the 6th Form classmates of Vehicle Derek drummer Adam Warne and featured future Vehicle Derek bass player Andy Sandall on guitar. The band performed in fancy dress and played a mix of basic original songs and cover versions, including 'Girls' by the Beastie Boys, 'Walk This Way' by Aerosmith and Run DMC, and a version of The Age of Chance's cover of Prince's 'Kiss'. The name Fruit Shop was taken from on original song written by the band called 'The Fruit Song'. Highly influenced by Monty Python at the time the song consisted of a repetitive riff and the band's three singers shouting out the names of fruit.
The band played again at the 6th Form Music Afternoon a month later alongside other musical performances from BGS and BHS students, and their final show was a 6th form Assembly where the band performed two songs and provided musical accompaniment to a performance art piece about distraction. They ended the set with a cover of Muddy Water's 'Hoochie Coochie Man' with the lyrics changed to tell the life story of Jesus, in keeping with the theme of the assembly.
Reaction to the performance was mixed, with Robin Gracey demanding an apology and banning the band from performing at BGS again, mostly due to the use of pornographic magazines as props during the 'Distraction' piece. The performance was strongly defended by the band members' form teacher Rev Peter Harding who felt it made some good points and liked the 'anarchistic spirit' they had shown.
Members of Fruit Shop would move on to form Latch, a slightly more serious band later that summer.