The veteran King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto had an earlier, first-hand glimpse of the coronavirus’ impact on the live touring business. In late February, his side group Stick Men were in Asia to play some dates in China (where the outbreak first happened) and Japan. When those shows were canceled, Mastelotto returned home to the United States. “I was little ahead of the curve,” he says, “because I’ve been following the virus since January. It was happening. I came right back and put myself in self-quarantine because I didn’t know who I was on the plane with.”
King Crimson, the legendary British-based progressive rock band founded by guitarist Robert Fripp, recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with a tour in 2019. This summer, the group – Fripp, Mastelotto, singer/guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, saxophonist Mel Collins, bassist Tony Levin, and drummers Gavin Harrison and Jeremy Stacey—had planned go back on the road with the Zappa Band. When the outbreak intensified in the United States, those tour dates were rescheduled for 2021.
“I realized some of the guys in the band are older than me,” Mastelotto, who’s in his mid-60s, says in a recent phone conversation. “We were in that age group. It worried me. Our management and agent stepped in and said, ‘Rather than wait, we’re going to postpone everything by one year.’ My finances are not that [impacted], because we get royalties that come from the preceding year. I’m going to be okay now. Next year won’t be so good if touring doesn’t come back. And I question how touring can come back. Can they really turn on a UV light and clean a whole auditorium overnight? I don’t know.”
While quarantining has been a major adjustment for many people during the pandemic, that type of lifestyle is not a drastic departure for Mastelotto. “I have a studio in the house. So in between tours, that’s what I do—I work on my own music or other music that people send me to work on, or practice or goof around.”
