Roger Brugin

The musical life of Roger Brugin began almost instantly after his proper one did; his parents recounted being the newborn Roger being enthralled with the organ music at his baptism. He joined his church's choir and offered to write hymns from a very young age. He spent many an hour in his adolescence roaming Blackpool - his father, a bus driver, would often give him and his siblings free rides around town - and showed a great interest in the theatre. After shouldering a few roles in his school plays, he intuited that he desired something more than simple performances and artistic expression.

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Into his late teens, Roger continued to teach himself to sing, however he never joined any musical acts or stage acts while in Blackpool. However, in 1960, he was encouraged by his childhood friend Richard Frier to audition for a nascent rock group founded by Cliff Martin and James Davy, two promising but wet-behind-the-ears performers. They were impressed with Roger's voice, and he officially became the third Pluto. Shortly thereafter, Richard was brought on as well, forming the final, familiar foursome the world knows and loves today.

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In the Plutos' earlier records, Brugin seldom undertook any duties aside from vocals. But slowly over the course of 1963-1965, Brugin learned to play the guitar and bass, as well as refined his skill at the keyboard. While he was never quite the master instrumentalist that Cliff Martin was, Brugin demonstrated tremendous initiative and intrinsic ability to be able to break in all three instruments in fewer than 24 months. In later years, he would claim that the intense and exhaustive repetition of playing on tour helped him build up the skill necessary to create better songs after "Your Cup of Tea"...

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After a modest songwriting presence on "Your Cup of Tea", Brugin-penned tracks finally achieved hit status on "Honesty", which of course led to his personal masterwork: two of the four tracks on the technologically-masterful "To Live Without Repose" EP. Often hailed as his coming-out-party as a musician and as a sound designer, Brugin had firmly entrenched his name next to Davy's and Martin's as a true-blue songwriter of The Plutos by the end of 1967.

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While Brugin has often looked to Martin's vast musical knowledge and diverse skills as an instrumentalist as inspiration for his studio innovation, after "To Live Without Repose", he began to boldly go forth into the undiscovered country of the audible avant-garde. One of his accomplishments include composing the mythical "Four Bull Fiddles", with all four Plutos playing the same double bass simultaneously. Unfortunately this demo, along with many of his most experimental ideas, has not been preserved.

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Brugin often avoided or actively shunned the spotlight, making him the only member of the Plutos to consistently do so. He was quotes as saying "Cliff has enough to say for the four of us." Taking time away from the public eye meant that he had more time to immerse himself in the studio - be it at Anapest or either of the two in his London home or his Suffolk summer home. And it was in these studios that he would slave over every take, every track, every effect until he achieved the sound he had envisioned in his head - and what sounds they were.

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Roger's pioneering efforts in the studio, incredible work ethic, and pure talent for quickly mastering musical skill make him one of the more remarkable Plutos and in totality, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

Roger in the studio, 1966

Roger on the harmonium, 1968