When BEAT – the supergroup tasked with performing King Crimson’s trilogy of ’80s albums – formed last year, it did so with the blessing of Robert Fripp, who even coined their name.
The touring project brought together Crimson alumni Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levin, Tool drummer Danny Carey, and electric guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, who was cast as the stand-in for Fripp.
In between that initial announcement and the tour’s opening night, Vai spoke of his troubles with nailing some of Fripp’s “relentless” parts, while Belew theorized about how the Fripp/Belew and Belew/Vai guitar partnerships would compare.
However, while Vai felt the pair had gotten off to a successful start, an email soon landed in his inbox from none other than Robert Fripp, which offered some additional advice on a rather tricky track.
“So this is a funny story,” Vai tells Sweetwater as part of a special mini-documentary of the tour. “We get to our second show and I get an email from Robert. He was commenting on some of the clips he saw, which was very nice and constructive. And then he said at the end, 'Can I make a suggestion for Frame By Frame?’”
Funnily enough, Fripp singled out the song that Vai had struggled with most in the run-up to the tour. Vai had previously cited his shoulder issues, which required surgery, as the reason why he struggled with its demanding endurance.
“‘Why don't you do your hammering with the notes, and then take it out? Improvise your hammering and move from one chord to the other,’” was Fripp's advice.
Vai has previously spoken about the advice he received from Fripp following those early shows, and recently discussed with Guitar World how his approach to tackling Frame By Frame completely changed after receiving that email.
“That was something I’d thought about doing initially, but it would take it far away from the original part,” he said. “But when it came from Robert as a suggestion, I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s my wheelhouse.’
“I did it that night at the show, and it worked beautifully. It’s unique to me – yet it was birthed by Robert and Adrian, you know?”
The talents behind BEAT have previously spoken about how it would be “disrespectful” to label the band as King Crimson, despite half of the group’s history with the iconic prog rock institution.
Yet they wanted to stay as true to the original songs as possible, so it’s surprising to hear Fripp wanted to push Vai into a more individualistic territory. Nevertheless, it showcases Fripp’s understanding that every player approaches the guitar a little differently.
Vai has another chance to put the advice into practice when the band plays Chile in June, with more tour dates expected to be announced in due course.
