Interview with Ian Mc Donald,
03.22.2003

Ernesto De Pascale

E: How did the 21st Century Schizoid Band start existing?
I:Two or three years ago there was an idea of putting on something, perhaps in London or somewhere like that, with the ex members of King Crimson. So Peter Sinfield has decided. What eventually happened is that I came down to a small (…) and Michel Giles took up the role of putting a small band together, based on himself and myself and his brother Peter on bass, in order to play some of the music that hasn’t been heard for…maybe thirty years in some cases! you know. And also to get up playing and making new music. That’s how we realy started

E: But it happened that actually the band has people from the following line up of the band…
I:Well, that’s right. It was Mel Collins. He was invited because we liked the idea of having two saxophones, two flutes, two keyboards…… And I’d wanted to do that, I’ve never worked with Mel before. He followed me in one of the later King Crimson. So that’s working on really well. And of course now Michel Giles has left the group and we have Ian Wallace on drums, who is a next drummer in King Crimson. So, it’s all in the family, you know. It’s an evolving thing. This particular version of the band is working very well and looking forward to doing more shows, more new material…

E: About new material. Do you have the intention of writing, putting wew things together? You did many things in this last 30 years, your musical activities kept on…
I: I intended to write for the band, we are introducing new material all the time. It’s not just… “how old is it?” Already in the programme, in the set there are two songs from my solo album, from a couple of years ago. And also we’ve just introduced a brend new piece of music, written by Jakko Jakszyk, who is our lead guitar and our lead singer in the group, and he is also a very good writer

E: (talking about Auditorium Flog) - This is the local rock community. Believe me: you’re in the right place! And the concert was very much in the demand, everybody waited for this
I: We were very much looking forward to playing here. It seems like a very nice room, the sound was…

E: The guys are fantastic, sound engineers are grat guys…
I: And…For what I’ve experienced, Italian audience is fantastic. We played two nights and the audience has been terrific

E: Did you – it is a question I think that has to be done for those who read papers, magazines… - Did you keep an eye on what is actually doing Robert Frip? Or any relation to ?
I: You know, Robert and the rest of the musicians that have come and gone in King Crimson stay in touch with each other , we keep an eye on what they’re doing, but this is a separated thing from them. And I think Robert welcomes it, he supports it. We didn’t need these both, because we were going to go ahead with this anyway and I wrote a lot of material so I don’t have to ask his permission. But, nevertheless, it’s nice to have support

E: You sat down around a table few years ago all together. How it was?
I: For me it was wonderful because that was the first time the band, the originl King Crimson have been under the same roof. And it was really…it was a good moment for me. I was the one to live the group in the first place and it was very nice to be able to talk to every one. That was the occasion of the release of the Epitaph Box.



E: Your composing did a lot to help starting the band, you arrived with many many ideas, you worked with Pete Sinfiel. It was a strong couple of young guys warking together. How did it was? Are you still in touch with him? He knows about…
I: Yes. In fact, I would like Peter to get involved as a writer, lyric writer.We talk all the time…I don’t see him very frequently, because I live in America and he lives in England but recently we composed the song we’re doing in the show, it’s one of the songs from my solo album, Let there be light, which is the latest McDonald-Sinfield composition. I would love to have Peter involved in

E: I make you a question…I think about younger generation now, ok? Would it have been possible, in retrospect, for yourself, if you’d been in your early 20s now, for a band like the original one to get together in the same way? There is a kind of too many things from the outside now, you were a lot concentrating on yourselves. This is the impression
I: Well, it was a different time, you know. Nowadays there are so many young people who want to become musicians, who want to be part of a band, and there are so many bands out. In1969 there was more concentraction of musicians, and so you tended to have good players forming bands and making good music, becoming known. Nowadays it’s much more difficult you meet one really talented .. There’s so much competition now, you’re expected to be good immediately. It was a different time, we were fortunate, and it was also a time when musicians, groups and artists were given more artistic controll…We were lucky.

E: Do you feel it was like a small community of people just growing up together, those who were bands, those who were record men, those who were promoters… now everybody is something from the start
I: I think it was the same. It’s different in every case, I mean. Our band didn’t grow up with friends, we just met in different ways. It is more than business, now. It’s becoming a musician, with people feeling their way… There are many many indipendent groups making their own records and
selling them themselves . So it’s subdivided… It’s like anything else: it’s evolving and changing…

E: When did you get the feelig you were special? You were together for such a short period of time… when did you get this feeling?
I: Well, I didn’t get that until it was too late. Because I left the band. And twenty years later I said “Yeah, we were really good, you know. We were really good!” and I didn’t realize it at the time I thought “I want to do something else”. You know, you have to believe in yourself as a group. You have to believe you’re good. We didn’t know that we were good, because we just trusted each other as players and and that was the strengt of the band, we just had complete confidence in one onother. And that’s why the band improvisation was so good and exciting and interesting. So, it was good. I guess I knew it, but maybe I didn’t know quite how good.

E: You were smart enough to understand not to copy the orginal band when you left. That was…I think that Frip himself gave you a lot of respect. You even get back for the album Red. I mean, you were the only one. You were intelligent not to copy the band
I: You’re flattering me!

E: I’m not, thath’s what I think!
I: Thank you. Well, we all contributed but there was a lot of me in the first album. You know, I wrote a lot of material and produced… I guess one of the caracteristics of my writing is that I don’t get locked into one thing, I like all kinds of music

E: And “What about Giles?”, somebody will ask, I know
I: About Michael?
E: Michael
I: He had his own reasons for leaving. I think he has travelled with the touring and the business, he has difficult time with the music business and… I mean, you’d have to ask him. It became difficult for him and therefore it became difficult for us. He decided to leave

E: Now the band is just to make an album and you will do it by yourself. I mean, the idea is to be indipendent anyway… It’ s to get exactly what you have from yourselves
I: Well, I think we’re not lookin too far ahead, we are planning on recording an album as this band. We’d like to forge an identity…

E: And playing in the UK? You live in the US…
I: I live in New York, yes

E: So how was to get back to the UK?
I: Oh yes, that’s graet. I mean, I go back every once in a while. That’s good to get to a northern country again! And I very much enjoy being in Italy. I’ve never spent very much time here and I’ve never played here, and I’ve been looking forward to and that’s has been a plasure

Ernesto De Pascale