UK Reunion info UK are reforming. Here are the latest reports. From Jobson (and Bruford): Date: Wed, 14 Jun 95 23:50:08 EDT From: bkwells@pop02.ny.us.ibm.net (Bruce Wells) Subject: Original U.K. reforming .... U.K. is reforming with the original members. Bill Bruford, John Wetton, Eddie Jobson, and Alan Holdsworth. News of this comes from the KC shows in NYC. Apparently, after the show, Jobson and Bruford were discussing doing new recording sessions with the original lineup. This comes from someone in my office, whos fellow band mate talked with Bruford and Jobson after the show. This is as much as a confirmation as I have, but I do know the person in my office is very reliable, so I believe it to be true. If you have not picked up the first U.K. album (with Holdsworth and Bruford), it is one worth owning. It will be good to hear the original band again. bkwells@ibm.net (Bruce Wells) ===== Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 11:27:00 -0600 (MDT) From: M.Kusmic@PZ-FMW.KUN.NL Subject: Latest from Jobson [Eddie says that he] 'read the impressive collection of information on the Internet and that he learnt some things about himself he didn't know' (I don't know which things). Also he's installing a mixing console in his studio for the UK recording which will probably start next month (please mention this on the list). Bruford visited the studio and seemed very keen on being a special guest on the new UK album. John Wetton will leave for New York the 10th of July (if I'm right, I can't remember the exact date). Milly From Bruford: From: Richard.Kaczynski@f418.n120.z1.fidonet.org (Richard Kaczynski) Newsgroups: rec.music.progressive Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 10:59:59 -0500 A friend of mine who manages a major local record store got to meet King Crimson after their show in Detroit a few days ago. Having been primed by all the a.m.p. and r.m.p gossip I've fed him (and being a huge UK fan), he couldn't help but ask Bill Bruford: "Bill, I keep hearing rumors about a UK reunion. Is there any truth to it?" "Ah, you hear rumors all the time," he answered evasively. "Well, I have a friend who can oficially put the word out on the Internet if you'd like." The drummer's attention perked up at the thought. "In that case, I'd better tell you the truth." The facts: Eddie Jobson is 100% definitely forming a UK reunion. Bruford refused to give any other names, nor would he comment on whether he was going to participate. "But if the wind blew the right way," he added, "I'd love to be involved." So, FWIW, that's the story straight from Bill Bruford. ===== Date: Sat, 8 Jul 1995 14:26:44 -0700 From: edumark@ix.netcom.com (chris hoard) Subject: Bruford speaks about UK Reunion To: dead-of-night-request@cogs.susx.ac.uk I wanted to pass on some information to this group, as a result of a recent conversation a friend of mine (long-time BB/KC fan) had with BB after the recent KC show in LA. My friend Ken had an extended chat with BB last week, as he's been a long time friend of BB, AH, and Dave Stewart. On the subject of UK, BB confirmed he had been approached by Jobson or Jobson's management, and intimated that Eddie, despite successfully heading up a commercial jingle company in the UK, still "dreamed of being a pop-star." BB mentioned he hadn't been home, when Jobson had called several times, and hadn't been able to connect with EJ. BB expressed clearly his lack of interest in recreating "past glories," and that, at a minimum was committed full time to KC for the next 18 mos. It seems BB won't be in any UK reunions, but that Jobson and Wetton are nonetheless keen on going forward. As for a new project with BB and AH, that wasn't something BB ruled out, but it will have to wait until BB is afforded a break from KC (1997). Both musicians are not very interested in re-treading past territory covered, although BB did mention he was quite proud of the albums he'd recorded in the past with UK and AH... That's my report and BB update/Cheers/CH ===== Conversation with Bill Bruford - Conducted August 7, 1995 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This interview excerpt is being posted with permission from Notes From the Edge (Copyright), THE Internet YES Source and is (Copyright)(c) 1995, Mike Tiano; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If you see this interview portion appear anywhere else, please let Mike Tiano know (miketi@microsoft.com). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MOT: Can we set the record straight on this UK thing for once and for all? Is there a UK reunion in the works? BB: I think Eddie Jobson and John Wetton are doing one. So far my involvement or lack of it is completely undetermined. MOT: Somebody reported you sent some polyrhythms to them for them to use. BB: See, here we're all getting completely overexcited again. No, I didn't send any polyrhythms. Why don't we just drop this subject? When you get a UK album let's see who's on it. That's probably much more exciting, rather than trying to figure out whether I'd sent John Wetton some socks or not, you know. MOT: OK. My only concern is to set the record straight... BB: Don't even try. Don't try setting any record straight, there is no straight record. This is an ongoing flux of gossip which is much more fun than having any straight record...this is fun, this is what cyberspace is invented for, people with not enough work to do, inventing locations, various positions to be in, why should I spoil anybody's fun? I personally am not involved, it's not my interest, but I'm happy to chat to you for a bit about it but it's not my interest as you can probably tell. From Wetton: Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 20:32:52 -0400 From: dave@clo.com (David Gallant) [from Asia newsletter #3] John Wetton confirmed that he will be recording a new UK album with Eddie Jobson this summer in N.Y. ! Also, Bill Bruford & Alan Holdsworth will complete the line-up. However, John said that only he and Eddie are "full time" in the project. Bill and Alan will participate as their schedules allow. ===== Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 00:56:52 -0400 From: dave@clo.com (Dave Gallant) Subject: Wetton Int. John Wetton Interview June 15,1995 Dave: So, to begin with, tell me - what are you up to? J.W. : At the moment, I am in California to meet the people that will be putting out the two albums. That would be Mesa (Chasing the Dragon) and tomorrow I meet with the people at Avalanche (Battle Lines). So, that's what I'm doing here right now. In about three weeks I'll be going to New York to start the UK album. Eddie Jobson and myself are planning to do another UK album. We've signed a contract and it's about to start happening. We've been writing separately - I've been writing in England and Eddie's been writing in NY, and we just had this agreement that we wouldn't finish anything until we met. We've left things open-ended. I have some ideas for songs and lyrics, and we'll convene in three weeks time and start working on the real thing. So that's the next thing in my timeline so to speak. I can only look to the next project, it's very difficult for me to think of what I'll be doing this time next year. I know roughly what I'll be doing up until Christmas, but that's about it. Dave: Do you have anyone else lined up to work on the UK project? J.W. : Oh yeah, it'll be the same people as the first album. Dave: So, Bill Bruford and Alan Holdsworth will be there full time? J.W. : No I don't think so, it will just be Eddie and myself, and then Bill will come in and do his contributions, and then Alan will come in for his contributions. I don't see it as sort of an equal members thing because Bill is a fully paid-up member of King Crimson, and he'll be there because he wants to be there but he's requested "Special Guest" status. Dave: And I guess Alan has his own solo-thing going as well... J.W. : Yeah, that's right. ===== From: "brule" Subject: UK news Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 22:23:45 -0500 Wetton flew to NYC on July 17th and began work on the album at Eddie's studio in NYC where the album will be recorded. John and Eddie are producing the album themselves - evidently Eddie has installed quite a bit of new technology for use during the sessions. The album is being backed by Mitsubitshi of Japan and is to be finished by December 1 of this year. During my 3-hour discussion with John on July 18, (only one day into the project), they were discussing how to bring UK into the 90's. John stressed to me that the intention is to PROGRESS - not REGRESS into the 70's. He definately does NOT want to rehash the past. Nonetheless, if the group does not resemble that of earlier days, then it doesn't make sense to call the group UK. So - it is this balance that they were trying to work out during the early days of work on the album. The plan was for John to go back to England with rough demos from the sessions on July 25 and then return a month or so later with more evolved versions of the demos. According to John, Bill Bruford and/or Allan Holdsworth could very well play on the album, but nothing is confirmed at this point. He seemed to feel that UK will most definately be touring - however, don't get your hopes up too much, (we know how this stuff tends to work out). I will forward any new information I get directly to Ron. Scott Killian ========== ************* John Wetton Tapes Part II - July 24, 1995 ************* Dave: How's goes it in New York? JW: We're over here really discussing concepts, for the UK thing. My purpose for being here is to do a bit of promotion on the two albums that I have coming out, the studio album "Battle Lines" and the live album "Chasing the Dragon". And, also to shake hands with a previous friend of mine who I haven't spoken to in 15 years. To see if we can work together. Dave: How is the UK project looking at this stage? JW: OK! You know, music is really a confusing animal. Just during the recording of one song, it goes from catastrophic to estatic. And it goes backwards and forwards like a table tennis match until the final mix is done. Then I'm really not sure until the next day when I listen to it again and go "alright, that's good". Eddie's studio is still not quite complete, but we've made three albums before, we can make another one. What we want to do is to make a really good one. One that leaps into the ninties. Dave: Why do you find find yourself drifting back towards Eddie Jobson and UK? JW: We met again, it must have been about 18 months ago. And, literally for the first time in 15 years. I was living in California finishing off my album. Eddie had done this track with Roxy Music many years ago where he multi-tracks his own violin and ends up sounding like an orchestra. There was a song that I was recording that I thought "if this song has an orchestra, it'll kill it", sort of like Barry Manilow. What we need to do is sort of orchestra, but cool. I immediately thought that this was the sort of thing that Eddie used to do really well. I wonder if he still does it. I got his number, called him up, and found out that he was about three blocks away from me at that time! He lives in New York, but was in California for the weekend. And we met up for lunch. For whatever reason, the song didn't happen, but we talked about the possibility of working together again and it literally went from that to becoming a reality when a Japanese record company decided to become involved. That was completely independent of us deciding to work together. The question came up as to whether or not we'd be willing to do another album. Eddie's lawyer called them up and said that we'd already been thinking about it. Dave: Made it easier to have the built-in interest. JW: Yeah, but that's certainly not the reason that we're doing it. I felt that I needed to do something a little more challenging. I know that Eddie's been doing commercials for 15 years, and I know that there's a musician in him that is bored stiff. When we went our separate ways in '79, we had points to prove. Maybe it's time that we came back in and gave it another shot. It feels like a good time to do it. I get the feeling listening to radio that music doesn't really know where it's going. There's certainly a lot of interest in genuine prog-rock as opposed to recycled prog-rock. We were doing something today that I can't even begin to describe, it's so off-the-wall, but really very good, very cool. Not what you'd expect at all... Dave: You're teasing me. But, we've been waiting 16 years since 'Night After Night', so I think we can wait a little longer. JW: For me it all happened in a flurry. I suppose ASIA was considered progressive in a way, but it wasn't truly in the spirit of the seventies. I get the impression that we can have a lot of fun with this record, we could do a lot of stuff that you're really not allowed to do if you're tied to one of the big corporations. They want their pound of flesh, the music they see. We have the pleasure of being with a flexible Japanese company that just want a great UK record. Dave: How about a release date and the prospect of touring to support the album? JW: We have to hand it in by December 15 otherwise we're in a lot of trouble {laughs}. I would say a release date sometime in March/April. Touring...I think will be specific dates in specific places, not everywhere in every club. Yes we'll probably be touring and we'll probably have all the people who were on the first record. Dave: They'll be on the album as well? JW: Yeah. Basically the album will be myself and Eddie. But, with Bill Bruford & Alan Holdsworth as special guests. Dave: They'll let you do the hard work first! JW: That's right - then they'll come in and place the cherry on top of the cake. Dave: Are you and Eddie producing? JW: It looks like it. I can't see anyone else coming in and possibly understanding what we're doing. Eddie sees it as he's the producer and I'm the artist. I always thought it was more 50-50 than that. Because he hasn't been an artists for 15 years, he sees that {producing} more as his role. Dave: You'll have to help him come out of his shell. JW: Yes. For someone like him, it's a very brave, dangerous thing to do. Dave: I recently heard of a new project of yours with Carl Palmer called K2. Apparently there's another guitarist involved? JW: Misha Calvin. It was a phone call I got from Carl a couple of months ago, I had already committed to the UK project. Carl called and said that he had a guy calling him about a guitar player that's supposed to be really hot, and are you interested in doing something? I had a lot going on with the two albums, UK, possible touring, but my curiosity got the better of me. [discussion of K2 and Mesa deleted] JW: ...When I look back on some of the lyrics I wrote for Crimson, and into the late 70's, they were often bitter and quite damning. The eighties changed me to such an extent, that I discovered that the artists that I really liked were the ones that really spoke to me. It had been staring me in the face all the time. In fact, I went to a Pink Floyd concert and got nothing out of it at all. All it was for me was a carnival. A big light show, and lots of impressive sounds. I then went to see James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Don Henly. Each one of them in every song that they do is actually speaking to you. They're reaching out and twanging your heart strings. And I sit there in the audience and say "Yes! I understand exactly what you're saying because I feel that way too!" I sort of made a conscious effort on Battle Lines to go that way too. In 1990, when ASIA played in Japan, my manager was at the show. He said that the songs that really come across are the ones! where you just pick up an acoustic guitar and speak to the audience. He said THAT is your strength! The guy I wrote most of the album with was Bob Marlette. And we just made a conscious effort to keep the album along that vein. I think it worked well, and we succeeded in many areas. I think in ten years time we'll look back on it and say it really was a good album. The move to speaking in the first person is quite a big step, especially for someone like me - I have trouble telling a joke to a room of three people. Painfully shy... Dave: How will you take this new writing style into the UK project? JW: This is one of the things that we've been talking about. Because of the transition I feel I've made in the last twenty years in terms of my writing, for me to go back to writing abstract art-rock - I would see that as a huge step backwards. Maybe it will be an amalgamation of the two. [rest deleted] [Reposted with permission from:] ASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIA The ASIAN ARMADA NEWSLETTER dave@clo.com http://www.clo.com/~dave/dave.html Dave Gallant ASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIASIA ===== Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 12:37:31 -0400 From: RICHARD.W.RAPP@adn.sprint.com Subject: John Wetton - UK Project Last night, in a interview on Ed Schakie's Classic Cafe show, (93.3 WMMR, Phila), John Wetton confirmed a "reunion" of UK and an upcoming album release. He said Carl Palmer and Eddie Jobson have agreed to be in the project, and that he was confirming the guitar player today. (He wouldn't say the name prematurely). From Holdsworth: From J Sedula Tue Jun 20 00:54:38 1995 Newsgroups: rec.music.progressive Subject: Re: UK Reunion/Holdsworth Date: 19 Jun 1995 05:37:51 GMT It just so happens that I saw Allan Holdsworth tonight in San Francisco-great show, BTW-Holdsworth and drummer Chad Wackerman were amazing. Anyway, during the break between sets, AH was standing next to me at the bar, and I couldn't resist asking him if there was any truth to the UK rumor. He sort of rolled his eyes, smiled, and said he too had heard the rumor, but no one has talked to him about it. Frankly, considering the show I saw AH put on tonight, the thought of him playing w/ Wetton and Jobson seems unfathomable-a true step backwards for AH. Hopefully, after seeing four Crimson shows this coming week(yeah!), I will probably feel the same way about Bruford. Anyway, thought you'd like to know... ===== Date: Wed, 19 Jul 1995 21:02:50 -0400 (EDT) From: MARKCH@midd.middlebury.edu Subject: RE: Elephant-talk digest v95 #208 In ET #208 The Engineer formerly known as Tim asked: A question, Is this U.K. rumour real??? Well, a couple of weeks ago I had a nice little chat with Allan Holdsworth before he played a gig in a little tiny club called Metronome in Burlington, Vermont. I asked him if there was any truth to the rumor that there was a UK reunion in the works. He said he had also heard the rumour and had even been approached by Wetton's management, but that nobody had said anything about the specifics (time, place, money). It was one of those shows that made you want to rush home, gather all your guitars together. . . . . .and take a match to 'em. murkie (markch@middlebury.edu) Jesus is coming! Look busy! ===== Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 00:49:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Jeff Preston Subject: Talkin' to Pat I got a call from Pat Schroeder tonight, who wanted to give me a "verbal update" on the Birchmere and Bottom Line gigs. Pat has been a guest at Casa Holdsworth in the past, and got to hang out with Allan and the chaps quite a bit this past week (or so), and had some news on the U.K. reunion rumors I thought I'd report... As others here had noted, Allan has *not* yet been contacted about the possible U.K. "reunion" album, but Pat said that when he supposed aloud that Allan would have no interest in it, Allan said, "Oh no! I would DO it, and I'd even be willing to tour; in fact, when I get home, I'm going to make some calls (about this)." So, there it is: If Wetton and Jobson want him, he sure sounds interested at this point. ===== From: "Butler, Keith" Subject: U.K. Reunion? Date: Wed, 26 Jul 95 20:43:00 EDT I attended the Alan Holdsworth show on Friday July 14th at The Bottom Line in NYC. After the late show I hung around waiting to ask Alan to autograph my U.K. CD sleeve and Chad Wackerman to autograph his solo CD sleeve. After they did, I proceeded to ask Alan about a rumor I've heard a while ago that the original members of U.K. may be reuniting around the end of the year after the King Crimson tour. I'm sad to say that he knew nothing of a U.K. reunion that would include him as a member. However, he said he would definitely be interested in joining if asked too do so. Another fellow there said he saw Eddie Jobson a few weeks earlier at a King Crimson show in NYC, to which Alan replied that he hasn't heard from him in about 15 years. A third fan who knows Jobson personally asked Alan if he would like to have Eddie contact him directly and maybe stop down for the Bottom Line show the following night to jam. Alan said he would love that. The two made arrangements but I'm not sure if it ever happened. (Anyone out there know if it did?) Anyway, if a U.K. reunion is going to happen it looks like it's going to happen without Alan Holdsworth. Anyone hear anything else? Keith ....ITDON................... HERE..... THERE... .