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BIZARRE: 2 | Mind Blowing Facts

“I had a long vamp out and I played an extra few notes. David smiled and said, ‘Tony, in Pink Floyd you don’t do that extra couple notes until far later’”: Tony Levin on playing for Pink Floyd in the post-Roger Waters era

The session icon discusses working with David Gilmour – and reveals he was asked to tour with Pink Floyd after his session work on 1987's A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Guitar World

“This is a guy who worked for Frank Zappa. Frank said to him, ‘Whatever you do, don’t learn how to read music.’ He's all-creative –he's a miracle, really”: Steve Vai on BEAT, being a virtuoso in his 60s – and the Fripp riff he just couldn’t master

He reflects on how Frank Zappa helped him and Adrian Belew, the value of learning from rather than competing with other players and changing rig for his tour with Joe Satriani. But who’s going to be in the SatchVai band?

Guitar World

"He’s basically a juvenile delinquent who’s out of control." Bass legend Tony Levin reveals which studio session was the most significant of his storied career

Bassist Tony Levin has played with John Lennon, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and more, but one studio session was more significant than the others

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“My stock answer was, ‘No.’ Most people who approach me to do something like that are looking to relive the glory days of ’80s rock”: Why Steve Vai dropped his anti-supergroup stance to help revive some of King Crimson’s most celebrated work

BEAT has been celebrating King Crimson’s 1980s albums, with Adrian Belew and Steve Vai’s new guitar partnership at its core

Guitar World

“I can’t say what it will feel like…I’m wise enough to know I’ve got to hear this before judging”: How King Crimson offshoot BEAT moved from an all-star dream to reality

When Adrian Belew failed to persuade the 80s line-up to reunite, he had to come up with another way of bringing that decade’s three albums back to life – and he did it

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The official film of King Crimson's legendary 1982 Munich show is now free to watch online

Watch Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew and Tony Levin unleash the King Crimson beast

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“It dishonors that brand to say, ‘Now we’re King Crimson.’ But we do have the ability to say, ‘Look, this is legitimate – half of the band is onstage here”: Adrian Belew, Steve Vai and Tony Levin on how they made Beat – with Robert Fripp’s blessing

Performing material from King Crimson's trailblazing '80s oeuvre, Beat finds three kings of the strings with the peerless Danny Carey pushing the envelope and Steve Vai doing Robert Fripp proud

Guitar World

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We say farewell to Fish on the cover of the new issue of Prog, which is on sale now!

Plus Tony Levin, Jethro Tull, BEAT, Dream Theater, Public Service Broadcasting, Rosalie Cunningham, Beardfish, Vincent Cavanagh and more...

Louder

“We knew not everybody would like The Astonishing – we’re not blind and we’re not stupid – but we did it anyway. After a long career we reserve the right to do that”: Jordan Rudess’ life and times with Dream Theater

He started out in a college so strict that he couldn’t understand prog when he first heard it. But the composer, educator and tech fan, has made the most of opportunities that came his way

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"We worked out a way for the whole world to tune in": King Crimson-affiliated act Beat announce global livestream of upcoming Los Angeles show

Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai and Danny Carey are currently on the road playing the music of 80s-era King Crimson

Louder

“The only way of getting back on track was to regain control of just about every facet of the band”: When Mike Portnoy quit Dream Theater for the first time, the shakeup led to epic double-album Metropolis Pt. 2

1999 modern prog masterpiece – their first record with Jordan Rudess – came after the dismissal of Derek Sherinian, the demise of internal “fake democracy” and fights with their label and the media

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“I felt like Ken Parker had taken 20 years to eliminate all the things that normally go wrong with a Fender or Gibson”: Adrian Belew on how he persuaded the famed luthier to create his mind-bending signature Parker Fly

Belew is using his signature Parker Fly as his go-to guitar on the 65-date Beat Tour with Steve Vai, Tool drummer Danny Carey, and King Crimson alumnus Tony Levin

Guitar World

“You can rehearse until you're blue in the face, but once you hit the stage and the lights go out, all bets are off”: Steve Vai and Adrian Belew tackle King Crimson classics as their much-anticipated Beat tour kicks off

The pair have joined forces with Tony Levin and Danny Carey to perform King Crimson’s 1980s albums across a sprawling 65-date tour

Guitar World

“I never mind faking it. I had a filthy cold on the night, so vocals were grabbed from other shows. It’s only artifice when you pretend it’s something it isn’t”: Peter Gabriel explains his passion for the video medium

Nearly 30 years after Sledgehammer cleaned up at the MTV Awards, he was pushing boundaries again with his Back To Front concert movie

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Guitar World

“It’s amazing to see Adrian Belew and Steve Vai playing together. My temptation is to pick up the camera! I have to remind myself to stick to my job playing bass”: For the King Crimson-channeling Beat tour, Tony Levin is a virtuoso among virtuosos

The bass icon on how he’s being challenged by parts he wrote, changing classic tracks –and when his Funk Fingers will make their next appearance

Guitar World

“I’d be playing the synth, thinking, ‘Peter, do you see this? Sting is playing that part – and you don’t mind when Sting does it!’” Tony Levin explains the origins of his Funk Fingers appendages – and the friendly rivalry they sparked with Peter Gabriel

The bass icon says the Funk Fingers are at the heart of an ongoing argument about the performance of Big Time

Louder

“Robert Fripp was triggering sounds and I just responded… I told him I was feeling more comfortable, and he said: ‘You mean like you’re no longer being auditioned?’”: The series of incidents that led to Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins’ A Scarcity Of Miracles

The reunion of two bandmates who’d fallen out badly in the 70s, combined with the energy of a lifelong fan, resulted in a stunning album that assembled the leading lights of Crimson’s final era

Louder

“It was an intimidating show.” King Crimson bassist Tony Levin recalls the only gig ever played by Mothers Of Invention spin-off band Aha, The Attack Of The Green Slimebeast, with a dance troupe, a body-painted Danny DeVito and an audience of two people

Aha, The Attack Of The Green Slimebeast, featuring Tony Levin and three members of The Mothers Of Invention, only ever played one show, but it was a memorable one, involving gunpowder, a sex toy and a near-naked Danny DeVito

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“He’s so playful and cheeky… nothing he ever does sounds muso. I recognise the punk-rock chancer that I am in his playing”: What Guy Pratt learned from Tony Levin

Pink Floyd and Saucerful of Secrets bassist hails his friend and counterpart for inspired work with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson and much more

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Robert Fripp, Mike Portnoy, Pat Mastelotto and more guest on new Tony Levin album

King Crimson and Peter Gabriel bassist Tony Levin will release Bringing It Down To The Bass in September

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“We were trying to get to that level of the music we really loved… It’s always slightly out of reach, but my God, you can have fun trying to get there”: Tears For Fears on their mystical purpose

A King Crimson show in 1981 kickstarted the duo’s partnership, powered by all kinds of prog and never completely destroyed by their battles

Guitar World

“Rory Gallagher’s a saint in my house. There’s even a saintly painting of him above where I hang my guitar”: Meet Louise Patricia Crane, the solo-loving songwriter, seeking new prog sounds with King Crimson’s Jakko Jakszyk

Netherworld is the sound of Crane and producer Jakszyk testing the boundaries of where guitar can go, in the company of special guests Tony Levin, Gary Husband and Ian Anderson

Louder

King Crimson 1982 France concert to be released on vinyl and CD in September

King Crison's Sheltering Skies (Live in Fréjus, August 27th 1982) is the very first time a live album from the 1980s line-up has been released on vinyl

Louder

“I was keen to get a new audience. It took me until album number three before I found an identity”: The adventure of Peter Gabriel’s first four solo records

Car, Scratch, Melt and Security log the incredible distance he covered between leaving Genesis and creating So

Louder

The story of King Crimson's Red is on the cover of the new issue of Prog, on sale now!

Plus BEAT, Anthony Phillips, Hawkwind, The Tangent, SIx By Six, Whom Gods Destroy, Trifecta and loads more...

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