Bill Bruford: ‘Indiscipline’ solo, Fréjus, 1982

This is a solo to set up the King Crimson track ‘Indiscipline’, recorded live in Fréjus, France, which stood as the complete antithesis to the track ‘Discipline’. On the latter, the drummer was obliged to stay out of the way, to avoid attracting attention to himself, to sublimate himself to the interweaving of the guitars, to be a part of the cyclical pattern of a what was effectively a rock gamelan. On the former, the drummer adopts the persona of the terrorist: maximum disruption of a wall of thick slices of guitar, the percussive version of Adrian Belew’s deranged and repetitive spoken lyrics. On this European tour, we were the warm-up band for the headliner Roxy Music. One of the doubtful pleasures of being in that position is that the lighting guy has set his lights for the headliner, and he doesn’t care whether anyone can see the warm up act or not. Yes, the Simmons SDS5 drums and the Roland guitar synthesisers were of their time, but together with Tony Levin’s Chapman Stick they gave us a