The most profound experience I have
occurs within the silence.
When silence enters the room and sits with us.
To make the silence audible,
requires a vehicle.
And that vehicle
is music.
For me, interpretation is sacred. This is a sacred space.
The audience comes from outside, in a commercially mediated event,
A liminal zone is needed, an intermediate space,
to reconcile the outside with the inside, to make the transition between the two possible.
And this is the function of the Soundscapes in a King Crimson concert,
tune the air.
Having fun, Robert?
That is a more complex answer.
There is a lot of joy in what we do,
and it is also very difficult, because
the band has a potential that it has not yet has not yet reached,
and that causes me deep suffering.
How far do you have to go?
King Crimson was formed in a basement in West London in 1969.
Despite transcontinental success,
two of the band's founders
Michael Giles and Ian McDonald
abandoned it in the first year.
Robert Fripp had to recruit a new band, initiating a process of fragmentation
and reinvention that has continued for more than 50 years.
AT THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING 50 YEARS OF KING CRIMSON
And now one of your favorites:
There are two versions of this guitar, which are the same, correct?
-Yes, 1 and 2. -Which one is this one?
-This is 1 -Why is it 1?
-Because he seems to like it better. -And how are they different?
There are tiny differences, I'm not sure what they are.
Would it be fair to say
that in your area of operations, those minute differences become differences become significant?
Yes, I think it's fair to say that.
I want everything to be perfect for him, do you understand me?
This is my main concern.
Undoubtedly, he expects a certain degree of perfection. of perfection.
I can't help but see that
this band is full of individuals who could well claim
that, if they are not the best in their field, they are among the top five, are among the top five.
And yet, only one of them
spends 4 to 5 hours a day practicing.
Hello.
Would you like to come in and watch how I take off my clothes?
If possible, I would love to, thank you.
You can't, I just asked if you would like it.
Obviously I would like to, you talk about it a lot.
-I just want to... -Humiliate me.
I just want to understand the boundaries in this relationship.
Now I know what you want
and I know what I can deny you
to have power over you.
I think that seeing what
the inevitable
that your life comes to an end,
you can
increase the sense of urgency
y
the interesting thing is that
the urgency...
I could say that urgency is one of the characteristics
of Crimson's music.
The first thing I want to know
is why you want to make a movie about King Crimson.
The 50th anniversary seems to me
an obvious point
to develop the perspective of what we have been doing.
The summary of my personal involvement in King Crimson is
I have been incredibly unhappy,
miserable, in a word, since
1969 to 2013.
Blood rack, barbed wire,
funeral pyre of a politician,
innocent people raped with napalm fire,
schizoid man of the 21st century.
From the outside, it looks like a dream band.
A band where you can do whatever you want.
A band that can do anything.
A band that can undo its entire repertoire its entire repertoire
and replace it with a brand new one. new one.
It challenges the whole relationship between the audience and the musicians.
Being in Crimson is a bit like having a mild infection.
You're not sick, but you don't feel well either.
I think I broke Robert's heart when I...
Robert has always been good to invite other voices to participate.
He knows he can't do everything alone.
Recruited Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew,
to Tony Levin.
Understandably, if KC is your baby,
wants to have many midwives.
I always thought that Robert and I were partners.
I didn't think I was in someone else's band.
That's why, when I said goodbye from his band, I felt
But how? I thought it was our band.
How to say it?
The problem is not mine.
The problems lie elsewhere.
He has declared that he is happier than ever
because he surrounded himself with people willing to do everything
Robert's way, and that is what it requires.
And if they don't have it their way, he takes his guitar and goes home.
I've seen it done.
This is the first King Crimson
where there is not at least one member who actively resents my presence.
At least one.
Stop following me.
-In Bill's case... -On second thought, come here.
Bill is as crazy as I am,
or just as sane.
The only personal friend of mine who has joined King Crimson.
In many King Crimson I have felt
"I can't be the only sane one in this madhouse."
Being in King Crimson gives the members
the gift of responsibility.
And so...
The responsibility is mine.
What are the parameters? Well...
The parameters are to touch
the right sounds at the right time.
Doing that is my job.
I can't film in there, can I?
I don't need... You wouldn't have have to ask me that.
It's okay.
That question, in fact, distracts me from my interpretation.
It puts me in the position of having to worry...
Don't worry about this.
-Good. -Very good.
Thank you.
You can't go into Crimson without knowing exactly what you're going to do.
Unless Robert trusts you.
At times, some members receive more receive more attention.
-You are being observed... -Under a microscope.
It is more difficult because everything can be seen as
a problem.
It's not that I disagree, in fact I like it
to have someone so demanding, so that everything goes as smoothly as possible.
Let's leave it there.
-What makes you unique as a musician, Jakko? -Almost nothing.
-Yeah, really. -Luck.
-Nice answer, but I don't believe you.... -It's true.
If you weren't an extraordinary musician, you wouldn't be in the band, but at the same time...
...it is true.
Since you are...
that is true.
You are under the shadow of very important figures.
You follow in the footsteps of the greats.
And there must be...
It must be difficult to find your own voice in this context.
Tell him he's talking bullshit.
It's nonsense, is a lousy question.
-What would be a better question? -I can think of one.
No, what I would say is that
this is the music I listened to when I was a kid.
My singing is influenced by the musicians by the musicians I listened to.
It's not that I pretend
I sing like someone else for the sake of the material, I sing as myself, but it happens
that these influences
are those same musicians, then
if this works, that must be why.
There is another, much simpler answer.
-What, "fuck you"? -No, the answer is
King Crimson
is not only part of your musical DNA
-but it's your musical DNA. -I like that.
And all this ridiculousness
of being under the shadow of others
is an inconsistency.
Jakko is not overshadowed by anyone.
He is a giant in his field.
Don't you feel like the favorite son?
I don't want you to film this, no.
I feel this is my job.
It is dangerous to talk about this.
Gavin always says to me. "You are obviously irreplaceable,
Just like the guy who was there before."
I listened to Crimson when I was 11 years old, and it changed my perception
of what music is and can be.
I remember lying on the floor
with his head on a pillow, and the two stereo speakers
one on each side
of the head, with the lights off, to escape lights off, to escape
how I felt.
He wrote to his lover's wife:
As a child, I was adopted
a Polish immigrant and his French wife.
He was very strict, my life was austere and lonely,
had no relatives,
their families, or lived behind the Iron Curtain behind the Iron Curtain,
or somewhere in France.
And this music seemed to come from another place, from another planet.
I could immerse myself in it
and escape into it
because he felt so
magical and unknown.
I listened to this album and was moved by it
music, I became obsessed, I analyzed the covers,
I did as much research as I could about the band,
I was 13 years old and I even named my dog 'Fripp. to my dog, for fuck's sake.
It inspired me to be a musician, and now to be in the band to be in the band, so many years later...
The first trials were difficult,
and Robert said to me "Jakko, this is not an audition,
you already have the position.
Just do it."
Is it hard to let go of that mentality? Because I still feel like I'm on probation.
The thing is, you are.
Can you shake my hand?
Gently, yes.
The other day I shook Robert's hand, for the first time in a while,
and he is so precise, and always dresses like an English gentleman,
but he has the hands of a peasant.
They are full of calluses,
-From practicing so much, it's extraordinary. -Yes, he is always playing.
This is one of the few fingers I don't use,
and this one I do use, you can see the difference in size.
It's years of using it, I guess everybody is
as spatulas for that reason.
I return, I return
There was a very nice moment with the 80's band, the formation that I like the most,
It was Belew, Levin, Robert and myself,
two Englishmen and two Americans. The Englishmen, Robert and I, were speaking
of everything that was going on in the band, as much as possible,
and the philosophy of life as we know it,
while the Americans played pool, ate hamburgers, what they do,
and then, without talking about it, we would get together to play, and the Americans played amazing.
British verbiage notwithstanding,
analysis of what we should do,
there was a nice, balanced combination of American American ability to get things done
and the strategic thinking and strategic thinking of the analytical British.
1,2,3,4,1,2,3,
I look forward to every moment
I wait, I wait for the opportunity
When the band I joined was formed in 1981, Robert called it Discipline, in 1981, Robert called it Discipline
and being one of the North American of the band
I didn't love the name, it has a negative negative connotation in my country.
-What is the definition in the U.S.? -Well... discipline...
Punishment.
-I started with a cold bath in the morning. -A cold bath?
Your body doesn't want to go into a cold cold bath in the morning, so you tell your body:
"Do as I say."
-Discipline. -Yes, exactly.
In a word: Discipline.
Did you pick up your cutlery?
Yes, cutlery, bed linen,
-Well. -A lot of things. The bed is nice, almost new.
-It's a horrible divorce. -Yes.
He said to me, "I know it seems difficult and sad,
it's a mourning and all that,
but there will be moments of great emotion.
It will be something totally new."
And I said, "Maybe if I were 45 or 50, but I'm 60."
And he said, "But you're a rock star, you follow other rules."
Well, we're going on tour, Jakko, and you'll be single.
-And you'll be the only single guy in the band. -Yes.
What did I miss, Paul?
What did you miss?
A precious moment of your life.
For being here.
Because you could be doing something else
much better than anything we do here. we do here.
The same crap every day.
When they come in, the kids love it, they see a great rock show,
They come out, and we do the same thing again in another place. Always the same thing.
Another dark and dirty hole.
Sometimes they are dark, dirty and smelly.
Dark and horrible holes.
We go to cold, horrible places, in winter.
They are never pretty. Always horrible, cold, dark holes.
But you get used to it. You lose your eyesight.
You lose your hearing to music. This is normal.
Your bones hurt, your back, from carrying things. It's not easy.
But it's a job for old people. Today's young people can't.
Mel, can I have your autograph? Thank you very much.
-Very kind. -My story.
-Part of it at least. -A part of it.
-Joan Armatrading. -I think that's it.
-No, sorry... -Some Girls.
Thank you for these discs, I appreciate it.
-Are you going to the concert today? -Yes, I thought it was time.
I don't think there won't be many more opportunities.
Is it better to be in this formation of King Crimson than in the others?
-Yes. -Why?
You are talking about the formation of the 1970s.
I wanted to play other types of music of music, other styles,
not to be immersed in something as serious as King Crimson.
In fact I wasn't interested in in returning to King Crimson
for 40 years, but now I see that here I have more freedom than in any other band.
In other words, I closed the circle.
And it's a pleasure, which it wasn't in the 70's, it was
-something traumatic. -Traumatic in what way?
Because I had problems with Robert
and Robert with us, it was a very very difficult situation
at the time.
It was all very serious, and if you you made a mistake
was like the end of the world.
You didn't make mistakes, it was verboten, as they say in Deutsch.
And if you were wrong, you looked ugly.
And some of us live
a hell.
Peace is a word of the sea and the wind
Peace is a bird that sings while you smile
-Jakko Jakszyk joined King Crimson. -Robert called me
-after his time with 21st Century Schizoid Band, -when he was rehearsing with Schizoid Band.
-formed band -We had never spoken before.
by former members of Crimson.
I was very nervous, he said. "How's it going?"
I said, "Honestly?"
He said yes, and I replied "it's been three of the worst weeks of my life,
as a musician." He said: "yes, I thought it would be like that."
What many fail to see is that the original line-up of King Crimson
contained a bunch of of motherfuckers.
And the biggest son of a bitch is....
They need three drummers to replace you.
Don't start. I've been told that all night.
Everyone says so and it is very embarrassing.
The Supermarket Lady with an apple in her basket
knocks on the manager's door.
Twisting with the muzak of the horn on the shoe rack
puts his merchandise on the floor.
When you make music,
especially if it is spontaneous music,
the act of entering it
gives you the opportunity to let go everything you know.
Everything you have touched, experienced, heard,
to enter the unknown.
...while polishing a saber, he knows how to season the stew.
Greg Lake.
"I want to be a star." In her immaculate velvet pants.
He was paranoid and power-hungry,
as well as narcissistic.
It was exaggerated and rude.
And then there's me. I don't know what you'll do with me.
You will present me as a buffoon, jumping all over the place.
Writing my texts and
loading equipment and the like.
-Is that what you are, a jester? -The jester is the power behind the throne,
I like to think of it that way.
Peter considered himself the "magic fairy",
by King Crimson.
But the relationship worked
less and less, and at the end of 1971, Robert and Peter
no longer together
on my initiative.
The change is...
part of what the band is. Change is essential.
Otherwise, you become The Moody Blues, for God's sake.
Your mother is very crazy cat food, cat food...
One of the reasons I left Crimson I left Crimson
was because it had started
to hate what he heard.
We played a... a very
dark, and I remember, I think it was
in San Francisco, or perhaps in Los Angeles,
and I thought "I hate this."
"We are subjecting this to the public."
I have learned not to regret nothing,
to take advantage of my experiences in any way I can.
I used to berate myself for leaving Crimson Crimson when I did,
after the first disc.
But then
life found its way around,
and I can no longer regret it, as I did before.
Ian was unable to make a decision.
I see.
And he doesn't know it.
And the only decision he made was the wrong one.
I think I hurt him a lot.
And I...
I am eternally sorry.
I think for many years Ian thought
that he was deliberately playing with his emotions
to get back at him for leaving in 1969,
-which was never the case. -Did his departure leave you indifferent?
No, it broke my heart.
We were driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Ian was in the back seat,
and said to me
that he and Michael had decided to leave.
And it broke my heart.
It broke completely.
I love you, Robert. I'm sorry for breaking your heart. I'm sorry.
I offered my resignation
if that would keep Michael and Ian stayed.
For me it was more important that the band went on, than for me to go on with King Crimson.
And Ian said, "No, the band is more yours than ours."
When we returned home for Christmas,
in 1969,
David and John said "in January
have a tour in Europe, and when they return
are going to Asia."
And I thought, "I can't take it anymore."
"I can't and already."
Some people can.
And I admire them.
Everything OK?
I find it hard to breathe.
My chest hurts.
All are welcome to a hot date with King Crimson.
The band has one request:
Please refrain from audio or video recording
with their marvelous devices.
Access this moment,
use your ears and eyes to record,
and let's celebrate.
Tomorrow morning I will see where I have breakfast
and I'll pack my bags. It's too late to practice.
-Yes. -Y...
if I miss a day of practice,
and essentially
of sleep, too,
this affects my performance.
-Substantially. -I see.
-Y... -Can't you rest for a day, Robert?
Not if I'm going to play demanding parts
such as Larks' IV or Fracture.
Ask an athlete
"Why don't you just take a day or two and do nothing?"
The answer is that you lose calisthenic condition.
Look, another aisle.
Why is it important to do this now?
For me, because I am old and because
I feel like I have concrete in my veins, every day.
Literally, I am tense, I'm a tense man,
my hamstrings and legs are tense. and legs.
Do you ever feel intimidated
for being responsible for Robert Fripp's guitars?
Not for the guitars, for the rack.
-Why? -Basically
is the stage's operating mechanism. If the rack does not work,
there are parts that we cannot replace, and we have to information must be saved in various formats
in case something happens.
A replacement cannot be purchased.
Everything else, I could replace it within 24 hours.
But this is an irreplaceable artifact with an irreplaceable sound
he has built over the years. over the years.
You know, you have to be vigilant.
How long are you staying?
-Until they finish with this. -What have you got for us, boy?
There is a nun.
-A nun? -The progressive nun.
-Really? -Really.
The one that comes to the concerts?
What is so progressive about the nun?
Can you see my socks?
They are barely visible.
What a pity.
You like this elevator, don't you?
It is a contrast to what is happening.
-Contrast? -Symbolizes that the nun is ascending.
That I'm taking shortcuts?
-Is there a shortcut to heaven? -Yes.
Really? Which one is it?
Love.
For me, King Crimson works as
if I were to listen to a friend who tells me
what he sees in me.
Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't.
Sometimes it hurts.
It feels like going to the dentist.
Deeper, more.
In the Liturgy it is very important to take a step back
to give place to the Word, to the sound.
Here we are, praying.
From one choir to another.
How to say one sentence and the next
flowing from side to side.
What is very important
is not to try to make your own solo
and think more about things
that they have to say to each other, rather than what you want to tell them
to others.
Robert says not to touch anything
until you need to.
Some of the musicians could stand on the stage
without touching anything, listening to nothing else.
This music involves a lot of listening.
When you look at King Crimson,
is like seeing a man's face.
You know your wrinkles,
and what remains and never changes
is the depth of his gaze.
And growing old is beautiful.
It is very beautiful.
If we talk about art, I don't find it interesting at all.
to have a naked young man in front of me
to paint it.
Beauty is in the depths.
Better give me this old man.
I don't have heroes, but if I did, Casals would be one.
At the age of 82 he was still practicing and they asked him:
"Paul, why are you still practicing?" and he said:
"I think I'm getting better."
Me, every day of the tour, in the dressing room, if I don't have interviews,
I am practicing, and in
the last few days I have been
redigitizing my section in Neurotica
and refining certain specific aspects
of my callisthenic practice.
I don't know to what extent anyone in the audience
could tell the difference, but
in a year's time, you may notice it.
Because it will have an effect on the band.
But I have to say that
answer your questions and talk to you these days
affected my execution last night.
In the bands I've played, other than jazz,
in the pop world,
tend to learn a song, rehearse it and play it
the same every night.
In King Crimson that doesn't happen.
Either because we improvise or because we
because we are wrong, every night is different.
You can't make it to to the sound check
and play and that's it. We have to rehearse.
And now we have a huge repertoire
and we change the program every night.
And that becomes a problem,
remember the songs,
because if you haven't touched them for weeks, and we didn't touch them in the test,
can be a disaster if we are not careful.
Pat forgot his ticket.
-Again? -In what measure?
You have to enter more into that compass,
and then you come back at full volume for the...
You and Jeremy are playing
at the end of that sentence.
I do the second round, Pat, that's why....
The second one, you say? For me that's the third one.
No, I played it well, because I go after....
-And I... -The one you play is the other one.
I'll do the second one, okay?
A good professional musician knows what he is doing, and he does it.
The problem for me is that they only do what they know.
I would ask for three things.
The ability to lead,
the ability to support,
and the ability to do nothing.
You need to have a common pulse, and in this band we play with a click, but we play with a
is not touched by the click.
You play with the other members, it is played with them and for them.
You do not count '1,2,3,4,5,6,7,1,2...'.
You feel it.
And the accents.
What you describe is a groove, not a math class.
Yes. Math class starts when you have
3 or 4 musicians playing in different different metrics and at some point
have to change on a single note.
Counting is not fun,
and I don't count much,
but there are moments in the concert when I have to do it
because we made too many mistakes.
And I no longer have the confidence to say. "we can play this without making a mistake."
Sometimes, especially when I'm asked to play a solo,
which usually happens every night,
you begin to discover who you are.
If you are climbing a mountain, you know where to put your safety equipment,
and hanging there, you will discover something about yourself.
because you are all alone.
It is a whole experience of letting go
when it works, because you don't feel like you're doing anything.
When it goes well, you feel invincible.
You may listen to the recording and you don't like it anymore, but in the moment
while it happens, you enjoy every second of it.
You don't feel like it's you doing it, it's just
a self-governing current.
It sounds to me like you're saying stop getting in the way of the music.
Rather, you must stop to get in the way of yourself.
It's not getting out of the way of the music, it's getting out of your own way.
He chose you because you do it a certain way,
and he feels it will work.
Robert walks into a room and basically says
"I play this. What are you going to do?"
And now you have to find a solution.
In 2013 he told me, "You have to reinvent rock drumming."
"You have to reinvent the way
how percussions interact in a rock orchestra. in a rock orchestra".
I like Robert's leadership.
In the beginning I was a bit like Miles Davis.
It's about bringing together the five most most interesting people you know,
put them in a study,
throw away the key, and after a week you'll come up with something interesting. you'll come out with something interesting.
If they didn't kill each other.
It was the best concert of my life.
This is the third time I've seen them, and by far the best.
What is King Crimson?
It's the devil, that's what it is.
Many people
have undoubtedly had a peak experience
at concerts. For some,
it may even have been the peak experience of his life.
But what is also interesting
is that they want to repeat it.
And that's when it all gets complicated,
I've never had to deal with that except for King Crimson.
There are people in the audience who perhaps lived the ultimate experience of their life
at a King Crimson concert, and they come back, and of course they want to repeat it.
When I started seeing that,
I empathized more with Robert.
When dealing with the public,
sometimes seems antagonistic or arrogant,
and I understand that, because what do you do with someone
who wants to relive his peak experience?
Call her Daughter of the Moon,
dancing in the shallow waters shallow waters of a river.
Lonely Daughter of the Moon,
dreaming under the shade of the willow tree.
Talking to the trees of strange spider webs,
sleeping on the steps of a fountain.
Shaking silver rods to the song of the night birds...
At a certain point,
we can notice that there is no distance at all
between us and the music, and at that moment,
all words disappear.
If we wait
another peak experience, we denied ourselves the opportunity.
If we set aside our demands and expectations,
we return to that point of silence within us,
something is put within our reach.
The direct experience of being linked to the music,
with silence,
with the real, the authentic,
the real thing is within our reach, if we take ourselves out of the equation.
Seeing things as a child,
to abandon the concepts of what King Crimson is,
and interacting with King Crimson puts that experience within our reach.
Once we have lived through that experience,
what do we do to access
to that open space, innocent and silent
where everything is possible once again?
And then:
There it is.
It never disappears.
It never, ever goes away, that quality of experience
is always present
but we do not.
And the focus of our personal effort changes.
We are not looking for the music, because music never disappears.
The goal is now to be personally present.
Is it OK?
-It is what it is. -I know, but it could be something else.
-It could be something else, Toby. -It's okay.
I want to ask you about your unique circumstances.
You are free not to respond, to tell me how to use it,
or you can send me to hell, whichever you prefer.
What are your unique circumstances?
What do you mean? My colostomy bag?
-Your health. -Well... my special circumstances...
They are not special, they are horrible.
But many suffer from them. I have
stage 4 colon cancer.
I was diagnosed six years ago.
I had 20% of my colon and prostate removed,
the third part of the liver, the gallbladder,
half of the left lung,
pieces of both lungs,
I received radiation and ablations.
And I've been unhappy ever since.
The pain is constant, and life on tour is difficult.
My usual oncologist
gave me "the talk".
He suggested that I start thinking
in doing everything I want to do in my life
while I still can. He told me
"one to three years maybe."
Why is it meaningful to you
-Spend your time playing? -Why do this?
There are several reasons.
The simplest, but also
the most direct, is that this is what I do.
I am, more or less, cut out for this.
If you want to ask me what music is,
what it does or what it can
bring to the world, I believe that it can restore grace,
even for an instant, in someone's life.
And that makes a huge difference.
And I think that's one of the things that
makes a difference in people's lives, that's what's important.
To be able to remember something.
You may not even know what it reminds you of,
but suddenly you are in contact with something.
When you face death, everything changes.
It is no longer a strange idea,
is a reality to be confronted.
Someone comes along and says, "You're going to die."
And much sooner than you would like.
And for me that meant
that I looked at my life and
I felt very unsatisfied and unhappy.
for how I lived it, what I did,
and now I have made an effort
for being a better person and doing things better.
Take that.
One day I woke up and these words echoed in my head:
"I accept the inevitability of my own death."
I don't know if you have had the experience
that the universe is expanding and the momentum is opening up.
and everything stops.
Time stands still, everything stops.
And there is only one moment left
in which you are a part.
He has told me several times "David, a part of me
wants to drop everything and go drink cider at the pub."
But, by the way, he created a life in which that is not possible.
One thing he does is finish his money
when it receives a large amount.
He spends it. His wife is furious. But it's intentional.
Build, say, a greenhouse that costs £100,000,
and says "Gee, there's no money, I have to go back to work."
Creates a situation
that forces him to work hard, to be able to work in this environment.
This is the third or fourth time
I see King Crimson and I love them.
And what is so special or unique about them?
I love Tony Levin.
It is special.
I hope the band enjoys it, have fun.
I hope you will be satisfied.
And I think it's a basic basic human interaction.
I didn't come here to sing and dance, to drink beer,
falling down drunk and not knowing which band I saw.
See what the ad says.
They will take us out if we take pictures at the concert.
Only at the end of the concert, or they confiscate our camera.
-You don't live anywhere near here. -We live in Seattle, Washington.
-And they came by plane... -Just for this concert.
-May I ask how much it cost you? -$4 or 5,000, I think.
Robert is not always nice to fans. with the fans.
Do you think there's something masochistic in being a King Crimson fan?
I think it's a beautiful thing. It's part of the experience.
He is true to himself and I respect him.
In fact, he actually from a concert, personally.
It got me out of the Paramount in Seattle in the mid-1990s.
I was in the front row and had a pass pass to take pictures during the second encore,
but I had the camera and I thought "what's wrong with it if I take a couple of pictures?"
And suddenly I was ambushed.
I was taken out of the room during Matte Kudasai
And the guy said to me:
"Fripp's on the shitter."
And they took the camera roll away from me but they let me go in and watch the rest of the concert.
Do you feel that the relationship between the band and its fans
is it bilateral or unilateral?
-Completely bilateral. -Yes?
The musicians and the audience have to
be present to make the music happen.
And that's King Crimson.
It's like Scientology or something like that.
It's quasi-scientific or religious bullshit.
A freak club.
It is something arcane, it is an occult experience.
This whole "Discipline" thing.
Most people don't understand it, but those who do, do understand.
I've played in several bands, and sometimes
something magical happens.
You feel that the music creates itself, that you touched an energy.
King Crimson are the best at this. When they are playing
you think "They are flying. They are possessed
For something bigger than them." And I feel like for that to happen,
conditions have to be to be ideal.
And if an idiot in the audience takes a picture when they shouldn't,
the structure disintegrates, the momentum is lost.
It is a super intense experience
but the process and the conditions to get there are so fragile.
You're not filming me.
Working with Robert is conflicting because people consider him a god.
I don't know if he realizes it, encourages it, or hates it, but it happens. or hates it, but it happens.
It was hard for me to deal with that all the time.
"What would Robert say about this? What does Robert think?"
Don't ask me, ask Robert.
Adrian, as a frontman, is not essentially an ensemble musician.
And I don't think he's interested in being an ensemble musician.
After creating that music, my hair fell out.
It was, indeed, very stressful
under a microscope.
In my partnership with him, he let me get away with a lot,
because I wanted to get as much as he could out of me.
I was willing to let myself follow my own vision.
From the beginning I always felt that it was
a partnership, that we were co-writers, that we were co-writers
and we were guitar partners. On the stage, we were two guitarists.
with contrasting styles, but we played together together, like two sides of a coin.
There was a dynamic on stage,
a guitarist having fun like a puppy,
with a pink or blue suit,
and the black-haired master sitting on a stool,
looking with some disapproval at the puppy,
who turned around, gave feedback and twisted the neck of the guitar.
And he'd say "What did you think? Not bad, huh?"
Let's go further.
Something else happened 90% of the time.
A beautiful partnership.
It was something unique, and I loved and respected him so much,
before, during, and after. It was something
that cannot be obtained elsewhere.
Robert generates situations for the music to emerge that
otherwise it's not possible, and for me that was worth everything.
And we had fun, we laughed, and we're still friends,
and the fact that
he would like to go on and do something without me
it hurts me, I wish I hadn't done it,
and I sincerely believe that he needs me.
What I'm curious about now is: where's the new stuff?
New material, because King Crimson always created.
We didn't just play the music we had already made.
Do you find it necessary to suffer for art?
It will be a tough road.
And with many potholes.
Some people get used to to these potholes,
to bruises and wounds,
better than others.
Overall, I consider myself quite resilient,
You will see that I am not
completely ruined as a human being.
The process of performing music I still find it
a bit absurd, and if you don't find the absurdity absurdity, I think you're lost.
What attracted me was the electrical world.
It's an electrical maelstrom, you're in the eye of the storm,
and you have to stand there and
playing music with coherence.
The personality of King Crimson
was very clear. A kind of
of royal, majestic, hidden figure...
...trying to get out of somewhere.
From a monumental obstruction, a little like
an unfinished sculpture by Michelangelo, a huge block of marble
and a figure emerging halfway out of the block.
King Crimson was like that. A howling roar.
A majestic animal
trying to emerge from something.
And Robert chose the staff, with their unique personalities.
He washed his hands ten times a day.
and my mess became too much for him.
He started going crazy. He would put tape on my cymbals,
to counteract my disorder. At some point I left.
When you go on stage, what's at stake? What's at stake, what do you have to lose?
I would say: What do we have to gain?
I would start with the positive, not the negative.
If we describe or state
what we have to gain, we will know what we have to lose.
Does that make sense? Then why didn't you ask that?
-Because I'm a fucking asshole. -Okay, that's fine.
So, what we have to gain
is to be in the presence of music when you enter the room.
To be in the presence of an audience, with music, when it accesses the enclosure.
That we can win. So what do we have to lose? what do we have to lose?
That event.
What are the consequences of not winning that?
A broken heart.
How do you define that? How do you live it?
As if my mother died.
And when that happens because of the selfishness of the musicians,
I get angry.
They trampled on my mother, careless and ignorant,
and that infuriates me.
I'm actually glad I'm not in the band. I was glad to get out.
It is not a very pleasant place.
You live surrounded by uncertainty.
When it was over, I felt like I'd had an infection for ten years.
As a young man, I wanted to play with the best and do something special and unusual,
and I did. The idea of continuing to do the same thing, with the same musicians in the same context,
makes no sense.
I would be very unhappy in the current band.
Very unhappy.
I left King Crimson in the 70s.
There is a 40-year period in which I did not know
what was going on with King Crimson, and I didn't want to know.
I was done with that.
Robert called me 30 years later, when I was playing with the Schizoid Band,
and apologized to me
for certain things he may have said,
for being cruel to me in those days,
and said that the suffering he caused me
he caused it to himself tenfold.
It was nice for me to clear the air.
I gained a better understanding of Robert
-and to the journey he undertakes. -What did you understand?
That he is now well. He has softened. He is a good person.
But he fought his own battles.
At the time he told me very hurtful things to me,
and obviously he lived through his own traumas.
The world I lived in was crazy, upside down.
In an instant,
I could see that I did not exist.
It was frightening.
Soon after, I went on a retreat.
At Sherborne House, Mr. Bennett's International Mr. Bennett's International Academy of Continuing Education.
One of the phrases I remember is:
"If you possess an unfriendly nature and people dislike you
this is no obstacle to work."
Yes!
This man is talking to me!
I met him a month before
of his death
and in retrospect I see that meeting him was very important.
I went downstairs after listening to Mr. Bennett's Mr. Bennett's talk,
I approached him and said "Mr. Bennett,
I would like to come to Sherborne next year."
He looked at me and said.
"What's your name?"
"Robert Fripp," I said, and he replied....
was a little deaf, he said "how?",
"Robert Fripp." And he said.
Mr. Bennett said
"I will remember you."
The best concert of the tour.
-Did it go well? -Oops...
-I made some ugly mistakes. -Really?
An out-of-tune note, didn't you hear it?
-I played C instead of C sharp. -Where?
-My finger slipped on my first solo. - "My finger slipped, officer."
-Are you coming with us? -No.
-All right, -You're not coming?
-No. -When will we see you, Toby?
-December 23, Robert. -Fabulous.
-It was good to see you. -I love you.
It's time to have fun in Bredonborough.
Greetings.
Thank you for seeing me.
Six Months Later SEATTLE, U.S.A.
Hi, Toby!
Hi Bill, do you like that hat?
-I'm not sure. -OK.
I look like a preacher.
Normally he doesn't like cameras in front of him.
Look at that.
At this point in time, the situation is risky.
We no longer see it as something that can be cured.
The pain is constant, what varies is the degree.
What if I hit that bus?
If it sounds about right, and frantic, fuck it!
Let's leave it until we hate it.
We can go back and change it.
How about my strategy? Leave it until you hate it.
You may come to love it.
Is there a guiding principle in how you make music?
Yes. Be present, pay attention.
These are guiding principles that
govern any area of life.
What does it mean to be present?
It is to exist as much as possible
in the present moment, the here and now.
The only thing that matters is the work.
Everything else matters too but the only thing that stays is the work.
So it better be good.
And if that's what I do with my life?
yes... I don't
only for me, in the void.
I make it to bring her into the world, and I hope
that makes the world a better place and people happy.
-This is my dilemma. -Here is a dilemma.
How much of this can I use?
I don't know.
Use the good stuff.
If there are parts you like,
use them and then ask me.
-Does that seem fair to you? -It's fine.
The good thing is that if I expire you won't have that problem.
I would have a duty to do the right thing for you.
It's okay. No one will care will care anymore.
In other words, you will be free to do whatever you want.
As the necrophiliac would say, "he's not going to accuse me".
I have to take a nap.
-All right. -I'm going to bed.
This could be the last thing we record.
I don't know. Not necessarily.
Not necessarily.
I'm going to take another pill
and see if it works.
-If it stuns me, you drive. -All right.
-Do you want to say something succinct and conclusive? -Oh God.
I am very tired.
Bill's 'being Bill' is irreplaceable.
Bill was a reliable reference.
I could ask him, "Bill, does this musical idea work? this musical idea?" And he would say yes or no.
Bill's sense of propriety
was in the same frequency frequency range as mine.
Bill is still a member of this King Crimson, from afar.
I have something for you.
To play at lower volume, I've been using Bill Rieflin's drumsticks
since 2014, for a song,
Starless, every night.
These are the same drumsticks I used
for 4 years. She gave me a lot of them when she started to get sick.
He said "You'll need them more than I will" and gave me a box.
Today I will try to play the whole concert with them.
Not with this pair, with the other one I bring.
What is the most difficult part?
It is not difficult, it is...
singing Peace at the Albert Hall.
It starts a cappella,
and then I play the guitar.
It scares me because I am totally exposed.
-Do you understand me? -No, no idea.
You told me you felt more nervous
for playing guitar in front of Robert Fripp
that by touching it
on stage at the Royal Albert Hall.
-Did I say that? -Yes.
This must be erased.
My parents came today.
-Are you excited? -Yes, of course.
-Is your brother coming? -Not today, tomorrow.
I am more quiet and insecure.
Perhaps.
You said it yourself. this insecurity come from?
Because I am adopted
y...
I was a sickly child, I didn't go to school school as much as others,
had asthma, bronchitis,
was a weak and tiny child.
I have to go learn a piece.
If you'll excuse me for a second...
-I'm going to stick around. -I'm going to stick around.
Which one do you have to learn?
Peace. Yes I know it but I need to go over it, we'll play it today.
And I have never touched it.
I have never played it with the keyboard.
One last question.
-It is not simple. -What is it?
Is Robert a father figure to some in the band?
Perhaps for some.
Ask him.
Yes, that's fine, thank you.
This is my son.
Django.
And those who sell you drugs.
Django.
-Are you proud of your dad? -Very proud.
I used two scales as a basis today.
One in B, the other in C.
And I wonder...
I think we're going to put the eye on Jeremy.
What was that?
The duckling of the eye, so far,
has kept an eye on Jakko throughout the tour.
But now keep an eye on Jeremy.
I assume you will make a tour.
"The umpteenth King Crimson lineup, now with seven members,
The result is no less than three drummers.
The performance at the first of his concerts in London in London is more akin to a classical recital.
than a feast of guitars.
Two rows of musicians, many vests and ties,
and no conversation on stage.
The precise blasts launched from the stage, of course, were not at all kind.
The musicians walked along the the angular contours
of Crimson's music, ancient and modern.
Sometimes the arrangements were faithful, sometimes creative reinventions.
The trio of drummers intertwined their patterns their patterns,
or raised a chaotic storm in roaring unison.
The singer and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk did a credible job
by singing texts previously interpreted by Greg Lake,
Gordon Haskell, John Wetton or Adrian Belew.
As for the band's leader, guitarist Robert Fripp,
seemed, as always, disconnected. Sitting on the right side of the stage,
looked like the Dorset real estate salesman his father wanted him to be. his father wanted him to be.
And it sounded like the apocalypse.
There were impossible fingerings, jazz, metal,
an infernal banjo, tremulous beauty.
The concert ended, how else? with 21st Century Schizoid Man,
strengthened by a final percussive blast
and a fiery guitar duet.
Even the cerebral Fripp allowed himself a smile."
-Did you like it? -It's better than a kick in the balls, isn't it?
What does music do to me?
Change my status.
What price would I pay to maintain that connection?
Whatever.
When I leave this earthly plane,
am i afraid of death?
None at all. Why? Because consciousness
is a continuum. I can move into the next room.
Perfect. I'm not worried.
There is a party waiting for me.
-What did I miss? -Everything.
Everything. You missed everything.
There was a critical, decisive scene
and decisive in which
the history, origin and future of King Crimson
showed up, and you weren't there.
This DVD, therefore, lacks of effect, utility and interest.
Thank you.
Subtitles: Pablo Cordero
I miss you, Mom.