Episode 031 : Pat Mastelotto's Traps and Buttons

Mr. Mister and King Crimson. If this were 1987, you might wonder what those two seemingly different rock bands would ever have in common. If this were 1995, you'd know that, as strange as it may seem from an outside perspective, the drummer of the former would join the latter. Pat Mastelotto has had a long and varied career in many more projects than the two listed here (XTC, the Rembrandts, and more recently Stick Men), and along the way he's impressed at every turn. While King Crimson has morphed into the Crimson ProjecKt, Pat is still very much active in the prog scene among his many other session-musician and touring duties, and host Mark Ashby spoke with him about his years in the business, his integration into Crim's double-trio lineup of the mid-90s, how he tried to lobby Robert Fripp to fill in for a missing guitarist during a UK tour with Chrysta Bell, why collaborating with lesser-known musicians can be better creatively than working with more-famous types, and much more. Find Pat online at http://patmastelotto.com.

Featured tracks/excerpts:
"Smudge" (Stick Men)
"No Words to Say" (Mr. Mister)
"B'Boom/THRAK" (Crimson ProjecKt)
"Kataklazm" (Ktu)
"On/Off" (Stick Men)
"Melrose Ave." (California Guitar Trio)

You can also listen to the Progtopia podcasts featuring Mastelotto's Stick Men bandmate Markus Reuter at the following links: http://progtopia.podomatic.com/entry/2012-10-12T13_07_57-07_00 and http://progtopia.podomatic.com/entry/2013-04-05T06_53_27-07_00

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Originally posted 22 May 2013