King Crimson - Indiscipline / Drum Solo (The Noise - Live At Fréjus 1982)

Ah, the headless drum solo. This is King Crimson on tour with Roxy Music in Europe in 1982 and we were the ‘warm-up’ band. What that means is your soundcheck is minimal (even if you get one at all) and the (non-computerised) lights are set for the main act, not for you. Then the lighting man goes for dinner while you’re on. I learned to play in the dark. Moral of the story? Bring your own lighting tech. Part of King Crimson’s mission or function back then was to use the new technology of the day; to take it down off the shelf and see what it could do. There was much talk of Roland Guitar synthesisers, log drums, Tama octobans (those clear conical drums), the Chapman Stick (that Tony Levin is playing), and Simmons electronic drums (the clattering things, but also the little pitched drums). I’d developed a specialised, hybrid electro-acoustic mélange of instruments specifically to accommodate and further the Crimson project at hand. The dense, loud, clattering Simmons do a good impression of the Bur