In 1967 , drummer Michael Giles and his brother , Peter , a bass guitar player , started a band with Robert Fripp . They recorded one album called The Cheerful Insanity of Giles , Giles and Fripp . Although Peter Giles would later sardonically describe this as one of Fripp 's `` cute political moves '' , he himself had become disillusioned with Giles , Giles and Fripp 's failure to break through , and stepped down to be replaced by Lake as the band 's bass player , singer and frontman .