New Robert Fripp/King Crimson dialog/Q&A on Innerviews

[Kcrimso]

Love you guys, but I find the level of pretension in the complaints about Fripp's "pretentiousness" so far beyond anything Fripp approaches.

Indeed...

[MissKittysMom]

Current KC has an air of professionalism about them; it fits with the "repertory" description. That's not a term that I can imagine applying to most other rock bands. Maybe not to any other, including earlier KC.

I hope they don't do another studio album in the near future. The new music so far from this iteration is not particularly interesting, and certainly not ground-breaking as so many of their studio albums have been. Live is what they do, and I hope they do it long and well without becoming a nostalgia band. We'll know it's over when they start playing at senior centers.

[NogbadTheBad]

I think the repertory description is a good one for this line-up. If a new live album was an amalgam of the material they've been playing live then I agree I not so interested in it but I'd be hopeful they'd surprise us as they have before, they've earned the benefit of the doubt.

[JAMOOL]

My takeaway from that interview: Robert Fripp loves lists.

But that closing stuff about John Wetton... wow.

1) lists and 2) talking about himself in the 3rd person

Regardless of what you think of Fripp personally - I think he's kind of a goofball but he's clearly very intelligent and even quite humble in his own way - he's a great interview, if you can get one. I always loved reading his writing, even if he comes off remarkably pretentious at times. I'm impressed by his memory, especially at 72. Its as if he remembers every single gig the band ever played.

Increasingly, having seen the band six times since 2014 (and planning twice this fall), all I can say is: Crimson isn't just playing to a "nostalgia" crowd. The demographics are expanding, so it's no longer just gray hairs and no hairs (like, I suspect, most of us here) dominating their audiences; increasing numbers of women are in attendance, and the overall age is no longer largely 55+; instead, I'm seeing people ranging from teens through thirties and forties, ultimately lowering the median age considerably. And that means, implicitly, that the number of people attending for nostalgia reasons is dropping and the number of people hearing Crimson for the first time is on the rise.

there's a lot of truth to this...just by following other message boards, FB groups, you can see people discover KC the same way I did, at about the same age, too (I discovered them at 15, as "Greg Lake's other band"...I'm 32 now). I don't see that with any other progressive bands, at least not to this extent. There's something special about them.

[jamesmanzi]

I hope they don't do another studio album in the near future. The new music so far from this iteration is not particularly interesting, and certainly not ground-breaking as so many of their studio albums have been. Live is what they do, and I hope they do it long and well without becoming a nostalgia band. We'll know it's over when they start playing at senior centers.

Never thought I'd say this, but I agree. I'm happy to have a few new pieces rolled out here and there in the live set, but I don't need a new studio album from these guys.

[wilcox660]

I tease because I love. Robert's an excellent player in a world packed with excellent players. I've always found him to be a courteous gentleman to me. He sure can talk.

[bondegezou]

Do you think he actually truly believes what he states in these sorts of interviews? I tend to think actually he does, even though its pretty silly, and very self-serving as you point out.

I think he does too.

Henry

[notallwhowander]

He goes into quite a lot of depth about what his role in the band is; at least seven points in the "Can King Crimson exist without Robert Fripp? When you stop performing, is that the end of the band?" section.