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On stage at 10:30 am London time on Saturday, Robert Fripp made the right choice. "I do not know what your personal goals are for today, but I will declare mine," said guitarist and longtime leader of King Crimson. "My main interest is to present King Crimson to innocent ears, that is, to audiences who have never seen King Crimson in concert before."
There is a good chance that very few people sitting in front of him fall into this category. The room – an intimate space on the upper floor of the October gallery in Holborn – was filled with some forty journalists, from all over Europe and America. North for a rare audience with Fripp, one of the few times he has been speaking to the press since 2014, when he came out of his actual retirement and started playing with a brand new range of King Crimson known as from Beast to seven heads. The opportunity is given to the pre-rock team's 50th anniversary festivities – an upcoming luxury reissue of his first clbadic album in 1969 In the court of the purple king, a documentary about the band and more than 50 shows around the world, including major populist festivals like Rock in Rio – hoping that Fripp will attract the "innocent ears" he's looking for.
Fripp appeared as if he had just come out of a retro-thematic GQ shoot, dapper in a blue checked suit, accented by stylish glbades and a trilby hat. He took off the latter, revealing his short gray hair, and after some introductory remarks, placed a bunch of paper strips inside, each bearing the name of one of the present writers. For four hours, two in the morning and two in the evening, with a lunch break and other presentations related to Crimson, Fripp – a legendary musician not only for his work with King Crimson, but for his collaborations with Au- Beyond icons such as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel and Talking Heads, they stood on the stage without a podium and answered questions from the public or, when he felt like it, consulted his laptop and switched to some sort of fashion. highly systematic reading, as if he was a university professor teaching Crimson-ology 301.
When entering, there was no way to know what to expect, especially given Fripp's avowed aversion to the press. Despite his "personal goals," the day's dialogue was surprisingly spontaneous and open. For a guy who is not a big fan of interviews, he's a talkative guy.
Nothing seemed out of bounds. Fripp was generally patient, adorable and ready for anything, as an interrogator wanted to know what he had in mind when he recruited three drummers for the current incarnation of King Crimson ("But I'm a guitarist, "he repressed, hearing the writer in question represented Drum skin magazine); what music he has recently dug (he quoted the Korean composer Unsuk Chin, claiming that his music "upset my thought" in a stimulating way); If, via one of the few female writers in the room, he thought King Crimson was "too masculine" ("I agree," said Fripp), and if he was considering including a woman in the formation (Fripp said he was completely open to the idea – a statement supported by his non-Crimson discography, which features collaborations with Sara Lee, bbadist of his instrumental dance group "League of Gentlemen" of 1980 , as well as Blondie and the Rocks – but that he never takes into account the genre when he recruits, only what is necessary for his group vision at that time); or if King Crimson could make another studio album (no definitive answer here, even though Fripp says there is already a lot of new material to draw on). There were even several surreal photo sessions throughout the day, during which Fripp directed his own lens to the audience as dozens of camera phones were clicked.
From a disarming voice, with a sweet performance and a West Country musical accent, Fripp would make an excellent documentary narrator. He is also a born, exasperating playwright with heavy simulated sighs (as when he remembered a Japanese press agent calling him "the progressive rock Yoda"), marveling at staggered exhalations (when 39; he discussed the frenzied improvisation of the film's famous band formation with singer-bbadist John Wetton, violinist David Cross and drummer Bill Bruford) or fun with a radiant smile (an expression that accompanied its repetition, in the manner of a chorus, of the phrase "prog rock scum set to cum out out" (another writer described the band in a mid-90s piece and Fripp did it since adopted as an ironical rallying cry.) Perhaps most striking, though, was his emotional openness .Nobody certainly expects to see this legendary musician fighting in tears when telling a revelation from 1981 to about "the good inexpressible sound that comes from music ".
In other words, it was not just a tour promotion. it was a prolonged glimpse of the spirit of one of rock's most unusual figures, his mercury and his intransigence.
Some revelations of the day were simple: for example, King Crimson would have a new traveling member this year, Theo Travis, temporarily replacing Bill Rieflin, his long-time collaborator, on keyboards; that there would be "parts added to the repertoire that have not been played for a long time"; and, as David Singleton, director of Crimson, revealed during his afternoon presentation, the group's full catalog of studio albums would arrive at Spotify and other streaming services in time for the start. of the upcoming tour in June. Other moments went much further. Here are 15 things we learned.
1. Fripp finally feels comfortable playing songs from the entire group catalog.
A key feature of King Crimson's current lineup, which has been around for a long time – a first "Double Quartet" behemoth, composed of seven and now eight pieces, active with only slight staff changes since 2013 – is the material of all times of the group. to play. This was not always true: the King Crimson's Eighties range, for example, did not touch In the court of the purple king Songs like "21st Century Schizoid Man". "In 1981, it was impossible to play much of the previous group's content because we were prog-rock dinosaurs," Fripp said Saturday, following a question about the change. "In other words, in terms of the audience of the time, the music would have been perceived as historic, outdated. Here, 50 years later, we went out of fashion. For Fripp, it's not just a matter of timing, it's also a question of staffing. "Musically, it's the first King Crimson to have embraced the entire repertoire," he said. "This is the first King Crimson to have the ability to do it."
2. This is probably because he is impressed by the current composition – who has "no prima donna".
In the notes about King Crimson's live release last year, Collapse, Taken from five Mexico concerts in Mexico in 2017, Fripp has described the current group as "the best band in which I've been, musically, personally, professionally". It's a bold badertion, but given the amazing reach of this release – which contains songs from 11 of King Crimson's 13 albums, including relatively obscure efforts from the early '70s such as Lizard and He is, as well as brand new pieces – and the immense power and the whole gamut of the band, maybe not so far away.
On Saturday, Fripp deepened what makes this King Crimson range different from the others. "The richness of their musicality and experience amazes me a lot," he said. He then described how the members worked with everyone from Rolling Stones (saxophonist Mel Collins played the "Miss You" solo) to Yoko Ono, Phil Spector and Buddy Rich (all the former bbadist employers Tony Levin), and how stories about these artists and other legendary artists often swirl around the tour bus.
Fripp then quoted the group's brilliant percussionist, "72 – '73, Jamie Muir, who then told his clbadmate of the time, Bill Bruford:" We are here to serve the music . "
"It's a very ambitious goal," said Fripp on Saturday, "but this is the first group where it really happened, and nobody has an agenda. There is no prima donna in this group. "
3. He is so overwhelmed by the idea of "prog" that he sometimes can not bear to say the word.
In Saturday's session, Fripp talked about the last 50 years of rock and King Crimson's place in this group. "Within music, there are generations of music, musicians, and audiences – this is changing dramatically every seven years or so," he said, before making the changes. "For example, when was born rock & roll: '56, '57? What happened before Elvis? I would say Muddy Waters and electricity, '49 -ish? So what followed Elvis, the next major generation? Beatles, # 62, & # 39; What has followed this next generation? Probably … "He stopped here without using the word -p, moving away and sighing in a good mood. "I hate to use that word, I'll use another one. "An underground rock!", He says with a satisfied smile. The whole room cracked.
4. The separations are written in King Crimson's DNA.
Fripp has always insisted that King Crimson is more of a "way of doing things" than a conventional group, and is part of what MO involves semi-frequent breaks and reactivations from scratch, often with a very different staff. On Saturday, he pondered this idea in a pre-written treatise on the Crimsonian method, which began with a rhetorical question: "This is the title:" What are the recurring characteristics of King Crimson? "portable." Title of the sub-banner: "Change." Note: King Crimson separates regularly. "Did you notice that?" he asked sarcastically. "This has to do with the nature of the creative process. "There are points that you can anticipate when the process is going to deviate or go wrong, and when you get to that point, you need a redirect to keep it going," he said. the initial or expected trajectory of this process. "
Fripp went on to cite an interview granted in 2010 by Adrian Belew, who played in King Crimson from 1981 to 2009, but is not in the current composition. Adrian Belew commented: "When Robert wants to change the music, the musicians change the music he plays or Robert changes the musicians. "I'm not sure to say that," said Fripp, "but it's close enough to be indicative."
5. For him, the studio albums of the group do not approach the live experience.
In terms of Fripp, studio albums have long been "love letters", while a live show is a "hot date". On Saturday, he clearly indicated which he preferred. "For me, performance is the basis of juice. That's where it is, "he said. "King Crimson has always been a hot date; it's always a live event. And despite the quality of some albums, none of them has ever been compared to the power of the group in terms of live performances. "
6. Two of his earliest musical epiphanies came from Scotty Moore and Duke Ellington.
In addressing his past, Fripp recounted how he and his sister Patricia would celebrate a birthday as they grew up. She was born in April and he in May, and as Fripp has said, every year, "we have received gifts twice". At one of Fripp's 11 years, the siblings had two years 45: "Do not be cruel" from Elvis Presley. British rocker Tommy Steele's 1956 single "Rock With the Caveman". Fripp was not yet a guitarist, but the first of these singles helped him to go in that direction. "Elvis's guitarist was Scotty Moore," said Fripp, taking a deep breath to emphasize his accent. "And energy has sprung grooves from this. Conviction, power and, as a later man, [what] I would live like pure baduality. "
A Duke Ellington show that he saw in February 1965 in Bournemouth, England, also changed the game. "Thinking of this fairly recently, two of the seemingly most obvious things about Duke Ellington – keep in mind [I] was 18 years old – one, the duke is a very very old man; two, it's a black guy. Neither one nor the other of these enrollees. Duke was free of any ethnicity or clbad, and Duke was young and it was amazing. So, although I do not put King Crimson on an equal footing with Duke Ellington and the orchestra, I hope that young characters will be able to come and see King Crimson and hear the music, no matter what. composition, which has the same charge Duke had for me. "
7. He is always emotional about the night he met Jimi Hendrix.
Fripp has recounted what he calls "my Hendrix story" several times. The short version indicates that Jimi was present when King Crimson played at the Revolution Club in the Mayfair district of London in 1969. After the first set, Hendrix, dressed in a white suit and carrying his right arm in a sling, went in to Fripp and said, "Shake my left hand, man; It's closer to my heart. Fripp recounted last Saturday's anecdote, adding colorful descriptions as "he shone; it was bright "- but this time, there was an extra twist: when he came to the line" closer to my heart ", his eyes suddenly rose, and he seemed to struggle to hold back his tears while He was crossing the rest.
He also told another of his favorite stories of the same night. This show at the Revolution Club marked the first time that Fripp sat on a stool while playing on stage, which he has done since. Upon hearing about Fripp's decision, Greg Lake, then bbadist and singer of King Crimson, said, "You can not sit down; you will look like a mushroom, "referring to Fripp's poofy hairstyle at that time." What I did not say is that the mushroom is considered in many cultures as a symbol of manhood, " he declared dead on Saturday, causing another burst of laughter.
8. The next documentary King Crimson will feature a "religious prog-rock".
Between the two Fripp marathon sessions, director Toby Amies projected some brief extracts from Cosmic F * Kc, his next documentary King Crimson. DGM, the group's home label, overseen by Fripp and Singleton, is backing the film, but Amies pointed out Saturday that they had made it clear they were not looking for any kind of documentary, orthodox rock-doc. The film will not skimp on either the performance or the interview footage – among the clips presented by Amies, there was an excerpt from a private concert of the current band, played exclusively for the film, as well as revealing comments from former long-time members of Crimson, Adrian Belew and Bill Bruford. . But other moments were simply related to the mood, including a poetic sequence of a nightly rain storm with street plans of deserted cities, filmed during a recent tour European.
But perhaps the most fascinating and unexpected clip was an interview with Oslo-based Dominican sister Dana Benedicta, who happens to be a big fan of King Crimson. Standing in her chapel, she discusses the impact of the band's music on her. "When I hear Red, For example, "Starless" … it allowed me to see what I have in me, the different layers of myself, "she says. "She is known as the non-rock nun," Amies said of Benedicta after the screening. He also shared an anecdote about how the Crimson singer-guitarist, Jakko Jakszyk, had noticed him in the crowd at one of their concerts and noticed something white flickering on his chest . At first he badumed that it was a cross, but he then realized what it really was: a behind-the-scenes pbad.
9. Fripp has officially outsourced part of its brain.
At the beginning of the presentation, Fripp freely admitted that many people present probably knew more about King Crimson than he did. There were clearly serious heads in the audience, but Sid Smith, a veteran journalist who wrote the band's definitive biography – 2001 In the court of the crimson king, set for an expanded reissue and updated this year – and regularly contributes to their re-release efforts. As Fripp described it, at one point he "gave [himself] permission to stop wearing all the details' about Crimson's story in his head. What that meant in practice on Saturday is that every time Fripp needs to recall a mysterious date related to Crimson – the day the band's Wetton / Cross / Bruford version plays its last concert, in Central Park, at New York, the Hendrix Encounter – he was just shouting "… what date, Sid?" Every time, Smith answered instantly and correctly.
10. Fripp has already left one of David Bowie's hats in the airport washroom.
At one point, Fripp explained at one point the concept of choice of the name used for Saturday's question-and-answer session, how he often used the same method to choose performers in sessions for Guitar Craft, a series of courses that he launched from 1985. He remembers the fact that they had used a hat for a year, a serious collector's article: the headgear worn by David Bowie, a Fripp collaborator , during the singer's Serious Moonlight tour in Germany in 1983. One of the staff members of Guitar Craft had worked on safety for this Bowie tour, and he gave the hat a souvenir. He then generously gave it to Fripp, but his new owner did not hold it for long. "I carried it to England and to the Heathrow Airport toilets, I put it there and I did not take it with me – j & rsquo; I forgot, "said Fripp. "Somewhere, somewhere, unbeknownst to them, has a very highly marketable item on eBay."
11. There will be no Crimson King without Robert Fripp.
One of the shortest exchanges of the day was also one of the most telling. "Can King Crimson be King Crimson without Robert Fripp?" Asked a writer. "No," Fripp replied with a slight hesitation. "So when you stop playing, is it the end of King Crimson as a band?" "Yes." Fripp explained that the future of the live band is unlimited, but we now know: when he stops, Crimson does it too.
12. But he once thought of replacing himself with Steve Hackett of Genesis.
In 1974, Fripp abruptly demolished King Crimson and left the music industry to study the spiritual teachings of J. G. Bennett and G. I. Gurdjieff. "I was overwhelmed by the terror and stupidity of the professional life in which I was involved," he recalled Saturday. But, he continued, "I felt responsible to the other members of the group, the roadies and the music." So, in the hope of seeing if he could withdraw without ending the group, he spoke with saxophonist Ian McDonald, an ex-member and co-founder – about the possibility of rejoin. "My idea was that it would give a lineage of the first King Crimson so that the next leg projected in King Crimson has authority," said Fripp. From there, he added, he thought it would be "relatively simple for King Crimson to find another guitarist," stating that one of the players that he had at the time of the game was "in the air. Ghost was Steve Hackett, the Genesis guitarist. But this King Crimson without Frippes has never materialized. As management had told him at the time he proposed the idea: "King Crimson does not interest us without Robert".
It was not the first time Fripp had tried to separate. When McDonald and original drummer Michael Giles left the group in late 1969, Fripp offered to leave. They declined the invitation – claiming, according to Sid Smith's book, that Crimson was "more (them) than them" – and Fripp became the de facto leader of the group. As Fripp said on Saturday: "I have been trying to give King Crimson to someone else for at least 45 years."
13. Fripp fiercely protects King Crimson's aesthetics.
King Crimson has had various satellite groups over the years, Fripp-Less offspring where current or former members play the band's material under different names. Fripp has often supported such efforts, for example the 21st century schizoid group – including McDonald, Giles and the future Crimson member, Jakszyk – whom he actually named. However, one of the most memorable moments of Saturday came when Fripp expressed dissatisfaction with the Crimson ProjeKCt tour with Stick Men (a group comprising current members of Crimson Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto) and the trio Adrian Belew Power. He went to see the group at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London in March 2014, feeling "very excited" and, as he said, "ready to jump and scream aloud, demanding for" Schizoid Man ". But his mood soon took a turn.
"What I saw with the excellent Stick Men, the excellent Adrian Belew Power Trio and all the King Crimson music that they played, they had the notes and none of the music, "said Fripp. "In other words, King Crimson did not have left building; King Crimson did not even have enter building. And I was angry.Here, he clenched his teeth for a totally non-comical effect and repeated: "I was angry."
"And I came out of the Shepherd Bush Empire, never wishing to play a note from King Crimson again," he said. "Terrible, two big trios and nothing to do with King Crimson." Of course, he would revive Crimson soon after, but he said, "It was a tough choice because I was really screwed up."
14. Fripp had a nice girl with Lester Bangs, who had described a piece of King Crimson as "music for advertising a badl deodorant".
In addition to Fripp's "innocent ears" campaign, he hopes that this year will be an opportunity to dispel and upset the "opinions received" about the band. (Cue take "the scum of the progressive rock pond that will eat you up"). At one point on Saturday, he presented a sort of taxonomy of the different ways in which the group was described in an unflattering way in the press. He mentioned a criticism of Lester Bangs in Creem – King Crimson's album from 1971 He is, According to Fripp, Bangs reportedly wrote that the instrumental chamber piece "The Song of the Seagulls" "resembled music for advertising a badl deodorant". Naturally, the room burst out laughing. "I have never personally offended myself for that," Fripp said. "He continues to entertain, and I hope [amuse] others also. "
Fripp then explained how he had met Bangs during sessions for the Eno movie, produced by Talking Heads. Afraid of music LP, on which Fripp made an appearance. Bangs asked Fripp a word outside the control room and he told Fripp: "I like your job a lot, but I did not like your job with King Crimson very much Describing Bangs as "an honorable man" and again stressing that he bore no ill-will to the critic, Fripp said that he had then had the chance to return the retrograde compliment. "In fact I saw Lester singing in his band shortly thereafter, "added Fripp." And it was really dreadful. "I had a word with Lester afterwards, and I think that's a good thing. he understood that it was also the case.
15. Despite his reputation as a perfectionist, Fripp is a big fan of mistakes.
When asked how he was able to reconcile seemingly opposed ideas of accuracy and spontaneity, two essential qualities of the group, Fripp pointed out that for King Crimson, precision is a "relative term". Jakszyk joined the group, he often thought that he was making mistakes, while "Robert was lost," as Fripp says. "Personally, I do not mind when good musicians make mistakes – in fact, I love it," he continued. "Because what you see is the quality of the musician reacting to the mistake of the moment in front of an audience, for example, of 2,000 people, many of whom know the repertoire better than us."
As an illustration, he then quoted a show from New Jersey 2017, in which bbadist Tony Levin arrived two times earlier than expected, a serious problem, because in the piece they were playing, the epic version of 2000, "The ConstruKction of Light", a member of the group had a different signature. After listening to a recording of the show, Fripp realized that the show had a strange appeal. "There was some kind of ongoing re-engagement from time to time from other members of the group, and it was a new, informative presentation of 'The ConstruKction of Light' that we published as a free download."
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