Mastelotto, who joined King Crimson during its Double Trio phase in 1994, recently discussed the group and his side projects Stick Men and Ork.
Sheltering at home: “Besides the paranoia of what’s happening to the universe, the Earth and us as a civilization in mass, there was my paranoia about my family, getting to see them and the health of everybody. Besides issues like that, it was fantastic to be home in my place outside of Austin. I’ve never been home for a year, ever since I was like 14. I just jumped in a van and have been in rock ‘n’ roll bands ever since. It was nice to actually sleep in my bed with my wife. I got to see the seasons change and my pets are there, so it was awesome.”
Returning to the road: “We started the U.S. dates in Clearwater, Florida at the end of July. We basically had a week of rehearsals down there before the tour started. Everything has been going great. We finish in the States in mid-September. We’re going to Japan around the third week of November for about three weeks. We’ll have a couple of rehearsals there as well. We were originally going to go to Australia too but that’s on lockdown.”
Streamlining the playlist: “These sets are shorter than what we’ve done over the last five years or so of touring with An Evening with King Crimson. That’s a three-hour show with an intermission. This was already conceived last year to be a co-bill with the Zappa Band, and even the California Guitar Trio on some shows. We’re playing more like two hours, or even 90 minutes, with or without an intermission, depending on the venues and the local sound ordinances.”
Capturing it live: “We have to stop everything to go in the studio and the vibe isn’t always there. It’s a real pain. We have all of this quality equipment with us on the road so we record everything at the highest sample rate, with the best microphones. Essentially, every show is a recording session. It’s more relaxed because you don’t really realize what you’re doing is a recording session. There are 5,000 people there to distract you from getting uptight about it, and there’s just a little bit more fire when it’s live. It’s more spontaneous and combustible on stage because we react and feed off each other.”
Looking at 2022: “It’s all kind of up in the air. It sounds like Crimson probably won’t be touring next year, or not very much. There will be other opportunities. The Ork record is coming out so there’s talk of touring there. There’s a lot of Stick Men work because we had to postpone and cancel shows last year. We have offers in Europe, South America, Canada and other places so we could stay quite busy with just that. After the last show in America, or possibly in Japan, I’m sure we’ll sit down, uncork a bottle of champagne or prosecco and discuss the future of King Crimson.”
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
Who: King Crimson with the Zappa Band
Where: Rose Music Center, 6800 Executive Blvd., Huber Heights
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2. Doors open at 6 p.m.
Cost: $23.50-$83
More info: 513-232-6220 or www.rosemusiccenter.com
Artist info: dgmlive.com
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