Here we are again, in England, rehearsing for the upcoming Summer tour. (Picture above is taken by our tour mgr, Dave Salt.)

This is a band that does extensive preparing for each tour, so the drummers have already rehearsed by themselves, and we’ll have a few weeks of full group rehearsing in England, then more later, in the U.S, before our Summer tour there.

Lots to adjust to… new material, new lineup, new approaches… But first I should present some pics of who’s here at the rehearsals.

Jason Birnie

John Armitage

Russ Wilson

Dave Taylor ("SatNav")

Chris Porter

Dave Salt

And in the band, as announced, we have Bill Rieflin back after a year’s hiatus… giving us eight players - including four drummers!!

But… this tour Bill will be playing keyboards, so he’s joining us in the ‘back row’ onstage, placed between Jakko and me.

Bill Rieflin

Robert Fripp

Jakko Jakszyk

Mel Collins

Pat Mastelotto

Jeremy Stacey (who seems here to be listening to some of my experimental bass ideas!)

Gavin Harrison

Lots of drumming going on, as usual…. But we’re doing some things where the drummers just listen…

This is the time to try some new sounds and techniques. For me, that’s led to experimenting with wrapping my funk fingers a bit, to soften the attack, make them more “thump fingers”

Why not try gym socks

playback time

It's not all work though

A little perm for the moustache!

That’s it for now… not many big events to photograph with rehearsals that go the same each day.

I’ll post more from here if it’s warrented… otherwise it’ll be early June rehearsals in the U.S. when I next update. And, of course, lots from the shows once they’ve begun.