King Crimson‘s Robert Fripp and wife Toyah Willcox have returned with a special Halloween edition of their Sunday Lunch series, taking on Black Sabbath’s ‘Children Of The Grave’.
In typical Sunday Lunch fashion, Fripp played lead guitar with a menacing expression on his face, while Willcox handled lead vocals and an interpretive dance routine. Both were clad in Halloween costumes, with Fripp dressed as a mummy with giant black spiders all over his body, and Willcox with a spider of her own clasped around her bust. In the background, they’ve strung up a giant web and a painting that reads “ALL BOW OZZY”.
It marks the second time the pair have paid tribute to Black Sabbath – one of their first Sunday Lunch videos, from all the way back in November of 2020, was a cover of their classic track ‘Paranoid’. Responding to their take on the 1970 single, Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi told Heavy Consequence: “I think they’ve gone mad, actually. I think this lockdown has drove them mental.”
Back in August, too, the couple put their uniquely off-kilter spin on Ozzy Osbourne’s 1980 solo hit ‘Crazy Train’.
Have a look at their ‘Children Of The Grave’ cover below:
The pair began their Sunday Lunch series back in 2020, and have since released new episodes weekly. They’ve covered a vast array of artists, with recent standouts including Pantera’s ‘5 Minutes Alone’, Lenny Kravitz’s ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ and Billy Idol‘s ‘Rebel Yell’, among many others. They also recently performed a rendition of David Bowie‘s ‘Heroes’ in dedication to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Last week’s Sunday Lunch saw Fripp and Willcox take on Korn’s 1994 hit ‘Blind’, rounding out something of a nu-metal trilogy: prior to it, they’d covered tracks by Slipknot (‘Psychosocial’) and Limp Bizkit (‘Nookie’). That edition also marked a return to the usual Sunday Lunch format, following a quartet of videos featuring Chesney Hawkes. With him, the pair covered ‘Summer Of 69’, ‘Mr Brightside’, ‘Stacy’s Mom’ and even Hawkes’ own song, ‘The One And Only’.
Next year, Fripp and Willcox will take Sunday Lunch on the road. They announced a joint 2023 tour back in June, but are yet to formally reveal when and where they’ll be performing.
Last Week, Fripp said the Sunday Lunch series had upset some King Crimson fans. He refused to pander to them, however, saying in a new interview: “We’re keenly aware of what people have experienced during lockdown. I mean, banged up in a small apartment while your mother’s dying and you can’t go to the funeral. My wife said to me, if all we’ve done in two years is help one person through their bad time, it’s all worth it.
“So I’m not sure if that meets a criteria of serving what is highest in music, but for me, it’s a real undertaking that I respect. And I am quite prepared to strap on a guitar and rock out to a classic riff in order to achieve it. At age 76, why should I give a fuck? This is my life.”