Carl Palmer has been radically updating the music of Emerson Lake and Palmer for years now, inserting guitar arrangements into something that had always been keyboard based.
And he makes no apologies. “I am an original member of ELP,” Carl Palmer tells Northampton News, “and have every right to do what I want.”
Together with guitarist Paul Bielatowicz, ELP Legacy reformulates Emerson Lake and Palmer for an entirely new instrumental experience. There are no synths or vocals.
“When ELP were together we used no guitars just synthesizers and now I can use guitars which is much more a symbol of rock ‘n’ roll.” Palmer adds. “I can express the music of ELP to a new generation and make it completely different.”
ELP Legacy, whose 2015 European dates include the Sweden Rock Festival, is rounded out by bassist Simon Fitzpatrick. You’ll find Carl Palmer, however, right up front. “Many drummers like to take a back seat,” he says, “but I am more dynamic.”
Emerson Lake and Palmer last performed together some five years ago, an on-going work stoppage that Palmer admits he initiated.
The layover last time had been since 1998, as Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer gathered for a 40th anniversary concert in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival. And, as Palmer has previously argued, it showed. He says they just didn’t mesh together anymore.
From those ashes, ELP Legacy was born. Palmer also began working with Asia again, while Lake toured as a solo act and Emerson completed work on The Three Fates Project.
