Gavin Harrison’s juggling act between Porcupine Tree, King Crimson and The Pineapple Thief hasn’t always been easy – but the drummer has found a way to make it work.
He joined Steven Wilson’s band in 2002 before signing up with Robert Fripp six years later, then becoming part of Bruce Soord’s group in 2016.
“Being in three bands at the same time is tricky,” he admits to Music Radar. “There was a quite a lot of time where I was in King Crimson and The Pineapple Thief at the same time, and I don’t like to come off one tour and then the next day go out on another tour. I need time to recover and to change my mental hard drive.”
But Fripp’s flexible approach to touring came in handy. “These tours are planned so far ahead, a good 18 months in advance,” Harrison says. “So I’d carefully select time periods. I’d say to The Pineapple Thief, ‘We could do something in this period – I know King Crimson aren’t gonna be busy.’ I already know that because we’re talking about shows booked long in advance.”
He adds: “There might be times where Robert would have suggested, ‘Can we do a tour next fall?’ And maybe Tony would say, I’m touring with Peter Gabriel.’ Or I would say, ‘I’ve already got a tour planned.’ And Robert would say, ‘Fine, okay, we’ll move it to the following spring.’ All these things had to slot together.”
Porcupine Tree’s 11-year hiatus until 2021 helped too. “By the time Porcupine Tree came back , King Crimson had stopped. Plus, we went through the whole COVID thing, so I didn’t really have to juggle Porcupine Tree and The Pineapple Thief too much.”
Asked about the future of Fripp’s band, who last performed in 2021, he says: “Well, King Crimson is completely inactive. I haven't left it, I haven't joined it. There’s no news in the King Crimson world at the moment.”
Harrison, who’s previously named the titled track from Discipline as the most challenging Crimson song to play, says the Porcupine Tree equivalent is Anesthetize. “That a song is incredibly hard if you play the whole thing – 17 minutes. Your heart rate probably gets up to maximum in the middle.
“You play the first five or six minutes all on the toms. The muscles in your arms really start aching. If you haven’t paced yourself carefully, your arms are really, really tired by the time you get to the heavy section in the middle – the bit where you really need them.”
But he can’t choose a Pineapple Thief song out of those he’s helped create. “At the moment I’m concentrating on the songs from the new album; we’re now rehearsing them. But I’ve always liked Our Mire and White Mist. And the first song I ever recorded with them is called In Exile. We still play that song a lot, and it always goes down well.”
