With Touch Guitarist Markus Reuter And Drummer Zach Alford

After last year’s successful sessions with Stick Men produced Toomey’s bold prog EP Perseus Calling the songwriter was excited to continue the trend. Unfortunately, scheduling conflicts prevented Bassist Tony Levin and drummer Pat Mastelotto from participating, so drummer extraordinaire Zach Alford (Bowie/NIN, B52’s, Psychedelic Furs & many more) stepped into the breach with Stick Men touch guitarist Markus Reuter and a plan was laid.

Due to the somewhat last-minute nature of the sessions the decision was taken to do virtually no prep work and write in the studio. Toomey says “This is something I’ve always wanted to do, but also WAY outside my comfort zone. Professional music production costs being what they are, coming in cold is an even more risky venture than usual. Thankfully, Markus is a consummate improviser, and his encouragement gave me the confidence to go with it. I’m so very glad I did!”

For most musicians, getting to record with members of the legendary King Crimson would be intimidating enough. For Jacksonville, Florida-based guitarist/singer Andy Toomey, it raised a dilemma that was even more daunting: figuring out something for them to actually play.

That’s the scenario that transpired early last year, when Toomey happened to notice that Crimson über-bassist Tony Levin and his offshoot project, Stick Men, were going to be playing a concert in Toomey’s native Jacksonville. On little more than a whim, he reached out to Levin and asked if he and his crew would be interested in doing a session together when the band hit town. The answer was an enthusiastic yes—leading to an immediate freakout when Toomey realized he had no idea what they’d be playing.

“Like the dog who caught the car, I panicked,” he recalls. “How could I write music that would be worthy of these amazing players in a few short weeks?”