Interview: David Singleton

Robert Fripp is a guitarist best known as the driving force behind the mighty progressive rock band King Crimson. He has also collaborated with David Bowie (think of the heavenly sustained guitar in the song “Heroes”), Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall, Andy Summers, and many others. And starting with his early recordings with Brian Eno, he also pioneered the tape looping system Frippertronics, creating ethereal soundscapes and ambient pieces. Fripp greatly expanded his audience during the pandemic in a series of quirky videos with his wife Toyah.

David Singleton is Fripp’s “reluctant manager”.

Well, of course, David Singleton is much more than this. He is also a producer for the music of King Crimson and for the recent acclaimed documentary “In the Court of the Crimson King”, an audio engineer, author of The Vicar Chronicles about the music business, co-founder of the Discipline Global Mobile music label, and a musician himself.

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for Fripp and Singleton’s talk “An Evening With Englishmen Abroad” at the New Vic Theatre in Santa Barbara on 3/1/24. It was done by phone on 2/14/24.

Interview: Clem Burke

Clem Burke is the drummer extraordinaire for Blondie, arguably the most successful of the original punk / New Wave bands. Blondie’s hits include “Heart of Glass”, “Call Me”, “The Tide is High”, “Rapture”, “One Way or Another”, and “Dreaming”. Their 1978 album Parallel Lines is regularly ranked as one of the best albums of all time. Blondie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Burke has also played drums with The Eurythmics, Bob Dylan, Pete Townshend, The Ramones (as “Elvis Ramone”), The Romantics, and many more bands and artists.

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for Blondie’s performance at the Santa Barbara Bowl on 8/7/19. It was done by phone on 7/12/19. (Danielle St. Laurent photo)

Interview: Al Stewart

Al Stewart has written songs about World War I pilots (“Fields of France”), an English sailor (“Lord Grenville”), and the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II (“Roads to Moscow”).

Oh, and then there’s that one about a cat. Well, not really. “Year of the Cat”, which got its name from a book on Vietnamese astrology, is based on the movie Casablanca. This was a huge hit single in America over 40 years ago, and remains in the rotation of many classic rock stations to this day.

Before all this, Stewart was an English folk singer who wrote songs about love lost and found, including the 18-minute epic “Love Chronicles”. (Incidentally, “Love Chronicles” is believed to be the first recording with the word “fucking” in it, but it is used in a descriptive rather than pejorative sense.)

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for Al Stewart’s concert at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai, California on 5/12/18. It was done by phone on 5/2/18.

Interview: Chris Stein

The band Blondie got its start in the fertile mid-to-late 70’s New York City punk rock / New Wave scene, and went on to mainstream success with hits like “Heart of Glass”, “Rapture”, “Call Me”, “The Tide Is High”, “One Way or Another”, and “Dreaming”. They recently released their 11th album called Pollinator.

Along with singer Debbie Harry and drummer Clem Burke, guitarist Chris Stein has been with the band since the early days. He co-wrote some of the band’s best-loved songs including the aforementioned “Heart of Glass”, “Rapture”, and “Dreaming”, plus “In The Flesh”, “Rip Her To Shreds”, and “Fade Away and Radiate”.

This interview was for noozhawk.com for the 7/7/17 Blondie concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl, with co-headlining alt-rockers Garbage, and openers John Doe and Exene Cervenka from the band X. It was done by phone on 6/9/17. (Alexander Thompson photo)

Interview: Terry Bozzio

It’s well known that Frank Zappa had the highest standards for musicians in his band, so drummer Terry Bozzio’s membership in that select group starting in 1975 is a true badge of honor. Bozzio can be heard on Zappa albums including Bongo Fury, Zoot Allures, Zappa in New York, and Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar.

Bozzio went on to co-found the band Missing Persons, which fused top-notch musicianship with New Wave sensibilities to give us songs like “Words”, “Destination Unknown”, and “Walking in L.A.” A quintessential ’80’s band, they released three albums before breaking up in 1986.

Another notable gig for Bozzio was playing on Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop album, which is widely regarded as one of the guitarist’s best.

This interview was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for Bozzio’s collaborative performance on 7/1/17 with poet Todd Griese at Studio Channel Islands in Camarillo, California. It was done by phone on 6/5/17.

Interview: Robin Trower

Robin Trower first gained fame as the guitarist for Procol Harum, playing on their classic late ’60’s and early ’70’s prog-tinged albums. When he left after 1971’s Broken Barricades, he followed the direction hinted at on that album’s “Song for a Dreamer” and his earlier Procol Harum song “Whisky Train”, namely Jimi Hendrix-inspired blues-based rock.

He has gone on to release more than 20 albums in this vein, including 1974’s acclaimed Bridge of Sighs – with songs like “Too Rolling Stoned”, “Day of the Eagle”, and the title track – and the brand new album Time and Emotion.

This interview was for the Robin Trower concert at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California on 5/17/17. It was done by phone on 5/10/17.

Interview: Greg Lake

Greg Lake first made his mark as a founding member of King Crimson, for which he was lead singer and bass player. During Lake’s tenure, King Crimson released their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King, which is regularly hailed as one of the pioneering works of progressive rock, and included “21st Century Schizoid Man” and the title track. When this original line-up broke up, Lake joined with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to form the prog rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer (often abbreviated ELP), which became one of top bands in the genre. ELP’s albums included Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery, and their best known songs include “Lucky Man”, “From The Beginning”, and “Karn Evil 9”, all of which were written or co-written by Lake. ELP broke up in 1978, but reunited in the 1990’s and beyond, most recently for a one-off 40th anniversary concert in London in 2010.

Lake is currently on a solo tour called “Songs of a Lifetime”, in which he performs songs and tells stories about his life in music. The following interview took place on 4/24/12 as Lake was on his way to a gig in Alexandria, Virginia, and served as the basis for a preview article for his 5/17/12 concert in Ventura, California.

Photo: Lee Millward

Concert Review: California Guitar Trio

Review of California Guitar Trio concert at Mercury Lounge, Goleta, 6/2/11.