King Crimson unveil new-line up and 2014 tour plans

Robert Fripp has unveiled a new incarnation of King Crimson.

Speaking to Uncut, Fripp said: “King Crimson is returning to active service. We are on-call to be ready for a live performance on September 1, 2014. Seven members. Four English, three American. Three drummers. It’s a different configuration of King Crimson than before. Some are familiar names, maybe more than others.”

This line-up – the 8th in the band’s history – will be Fripp, Gavin Harrison, Bill Rieflin, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Mel Collins and Jakko Jakszyk.

They are all former Crimson members, except Rieflin and Jakszyk who have been involved on the fringes of Crimson for a few years. Rieflin collaborated with Chris Wong, Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox in a project called The Humans, while Jakszyk played in Jakszyk Fripp & Collins, alongside Robert Fripp and Mel Collins.

Fripp has been embroiled in a legal dispute with Universal Music Group for six years, which has only recently been resolved. This legal dispute caused him to retire from live performance. King Crimson last played together in 2008, while Fripp himself hasn’t performed live since 2010. There are no plans, he says, for the new King Crimson to enter a studio. They will play “reconfigured” versions of existing Crimson material.

“The first performance will take place in either North or South America,” Fripp told Uncut. “There will be rehearsals primarily in England, and the final batch of rehearsals will most likely be in America in August or September 2014. There is a plan to include the UK in the tour dates, but it depends on a number of circumstances. Right now the primary geographical focus is the United States.”