King Crimson singer and guitarist Jakko Jakszyk revealed the band are working on a new studio album – although he has no idea if or when it might be released.
He said the final live lineup of Robert Fripp’s band, which last toured in 2021, had been building the record over time.
Jakszyk unveiled the development while talking about his addition to Crimson in 2013, after having loved the group for years and working on the collaborative album A Scarcity of Miracles with Fripp two years earlier.
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He told Goldmine: “When Robert eventually phoned… to inform me that he decided to re-form the band and to ask if I would be the lead singer and second guitarist, one of the first people I phoned excitedly… was a bass player called Nick Beggs. Nick’s response was, ‘Well, that’s the longest audition in rock history!’”
He reflected: “It was an amazing thing to have done, and in a way, part of it’s still happening. As we speak, we’re doing a King Crimson studio album.
“When that will come out and what format or how – that’s beyond my brief. But yeah, we’ve been doing it piecemeal, and then a couple of months ago, the management said, ‘Can we?’
“I’ve been recording that with a view to it coming out in some format at some point. But who knows when?”
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Jakszyk confirmed that Tony Levin, Mel Collins, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Jeremy Stacey were also involved in the project, which would include material they performed during their most recent tours. “The studio versions of those pieces and some other bits and pieces will emerge,” he said. “I think so.”
He also discussed the upcoming reissue of A Scarcity of Miracles, which will be significantly different from the original. “Because of the nature of how we made that record, there’s lots of improvisation and seriously alternate versions of things that we didn’t release.
“There also are future plans for some live film of us playing in various places. There’s an ongoing thread.” He added: “Whether that means we’ll ever play live again, I don’t know – especially after Robert’s recent illness.”
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Gallery Credit: Ryan Reed