![]() ![]() For Fripp, something "clicked with a very loud bang and blew the top of my head off and King Crimson was over". Within the band Fripp's quiet presence stood at odds with that of the other members. With Michael Giles, he formed a pop band in Bournemouth at the height of hippie days in '67 but within two years was at the core of the devastatingly good King Crimson.įor the next six years the band toured extensively, grew from art-cult status to stadium fillers, recorded at least two classic albums ( In The Court Of The Crimson King in '69 which featured their epic 21st Century Schizoid Man, and Lizard in '70) then self-destructed - although there have many subsequent re-formations with various players. "This was very clear, even to an intense and earnest thirteen-year old," he says with a slightly mocking smile. He bought his first guitar at eleven (on December 25, 1957, it was a terrible instrument he says) and carefully analysed the lack of a school of thought for the functioning of the right hand. ![]() He has more often than not gone his own way, and this child of Wimborne in Dorset has remarkably specific recall of dates and places. If these carefully judged words and the prim appearance of the man who played "hairy rock'n'roll guitar" on Bowie's "Heroes" album seem at odds with a rock lifestyle then Fripp can simply point to his past. At the next meeting one can arrive in good time - in which case no mistake has been made. "There is no such thing as a mistake, save one: failure to learn from a mistake. He extends the argument by referring back to when he stood by the door at precisely 8PM - the time he had earlier announced this talk would take place - and closing it on late-comers. Part of my work is, for a period, to play the role of the student's better self and make the demands they would make of themselves." A good technique is part of any discipline and it's too easy for me to be standing by the door and closing it when time is up. "Punctuality is efficient and saves a lot of time. "Punctuality is a personal technique," says Fripp whose conversation is peppered with Zen-like aphorisms. In his quiet, orderly way Fripp later explains the discipline of this Guitar Craft course - the first held in this country and at the invitation of former New Yorker Nigel Gavin and members of the ten-piece guitar group Gitbox Rebellion. Rising at 6AM and setting aside half-hour blocks for "The Practice of Doing Nothing" is clearly something new to the people. Slowly the musicians on this Fripp-designed Guitar Craft course emerge from the room, slightly pale and grasping for news of the outside world after five days as recluses. Now in his mid-forties with tightly clipped hair slightly receding over a broad brow, Fripp looks every inch the description he and Eno once gave themselves, "a small mobile, intelligent unit". At exactly 7pm the doors open and Robert Fripp - onetime guitarist for David Bowie, collaborator with Brian Eno on the innovative No Pussyfooting ('73) and Evening Star ('75) albums, and founder member of prog-rockers King Crimson - emerges.ĭressed casually, but primly, in black sweater and loose trousers, he flits a smile, deftly picks up his small bag and disappears through the trees which surround Fowey Lodge here on the edge of the harbour. Peter smiles knowingly, nods, then excuses himself and walks off the dormitory area. "Are you waiting for Robert?" whispers the guitarist. Their shoes lie around the floor, and beyond the thin wall the group is apparently involved in "The Practice of Silence" according to the noticeboard on the wall. Peter, one of the guitarists studying at this retreat in Howick whispers "are you the journalist?" and our conversation is carried out in hushed voices so as not to disturb the twenty or so people in the room next door. The only sound in this small foyer is a huge fly buzzing monotonously and occasionally slapping itself into the windows. Turn on javascript to use the drop-down menus. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |