Adrian Belew is one of one. The Northern Kentucky native’s 50-year musical odyssey gained momentum in the late ’70s as a guitar guru for a who’s who of rock royalty — from Frank Zappa, who “discovered” him, to David Bowie, who once called him a “promising young Kentuckian.” Then there is his eclectic, creatively restless solo work beginning with 1982’s Lone Rhino through his recently released 28th effort, A Toe in the Ocean.
And don’t forget his involvement in various other projects over the last four decades, including his long stint with prog icons King Crimson, his on-and-off runs with power pop masters The Bears (which also included members of local heroes The Raisins and psychodots) and his session work with everyone from Paul Simon to Nine Inch Nails. The constant in each of these musical guises is Belew’s otherworldly guitar playing, a versatile, unpredictable and endlessly inventive approach that can move from heavy riffing to light-as-air atmospheric at a moment’s notice.
Now, as if he hasn’t done enough, he’s resurrected a version of King Crimson, dubbed BEAT, to deliver a “creative reinterpretation” of the band’s beloved early-’80s trilogy of albums (Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair) with Tony Levin returning on bass, stick and backing vocals, the ever-dexterous Steve Vai replacing band founder and leader Robert Fripp on guitar and Tool’s Danny Carey taking over the drum kit for his idol, Bill Bruford. Belew recently spoke with CityBeat by phone from a tour stop in Florida to discuss a project that has generated a rabid response from fans — several of the tour’s early stops sold out quickly, prompting the addition of 25 more.
CityBeat: You’ve now played a handful of BEAT shows. How are things going so far?
Adrian Belew: Oh, unbelievable. So good. It’s about the best tour I’ve had since maybe the David Bowie tour of 1990. The audience turnouts are fabulous, and everybody is super excited. The band is unbelievably good. It’s a professional crew. We have buses. It’s a different level than I’m usually able to tour at. The band is really on fire, and also it’s such a great bunch of people — Tony (Levin) and Danny (Carey) and Steve (Vai) are no drama, highly professional, nice people.
CB: Between this tour, the recent Talking Heads and David Bowie tribute shows and your own solo shows, you’ve been playing live as much as you ever have. Where do you get the energy? You’re 74! I think Tony is 78.
AB: I don’t know how it happens. I take good care of myself these days. I try to eat well. I exercise. But I really think it comes from the energy of creativity and music itself. That’s what I really think it’s about. I love doing this, I love playing the music. I know Tony is the same. We’re driven to do it and driven to make new records. He has a new record out. I recently put a new record out, my 28th solo record. I believe we keep going because it’s what we do. This is our life. As long as you don’t do stupid things, you can maintain your health better than you think. But there is something about music that keeps you feeling young. I’ve never ever felt a certain age. I’ve never even felt 30, to be honest. It’s weird, I think of my father — who died at age 50, unfortunately — now that’s an adult, responsible male, and I think of myself still as a happy little kid. So, I guess it’s all those things together.
CB: You had been playing as a side guitarist for several years before Robert (Fripp) asked you to front a band that eventually became a new version of King Crimson. What was it like for you to transition into that kind of role at that time?
AB: That was the change I had been waiting for. I never saw myself as side man. Those were fortunate things, like going through the back door instead of coming in the front. You play with David Bowie or Frank Zappa or Talking Heads, and you think, “Wow, this is great, but this is not really what I want to be doing.” My plan always was to be in a band or as a solo artist making my own music. Then Robert Fripp handed me the keys to being the songwriter, lyricist, singer, frontman and co-guitarist in the band that was, in my younger days, second only to The Beatles. It was the surprise of my life to wake up and be in King Crimson.
CB: What was it like collaborating with Robert given his particular personality and creative vision?
AB: My god, it was the hardest thing to do. You can’t imagine it. We worked endlessly on how to create something with the members of the band that we had and the new instruments. We had a lot of things that no one had tried out yet: electronic drums and guitar synths and bass stick. It was quite a thing to embark upon, especially trying to be the songwriter with the material that we were generating. Robert’s tendency was to play those dual guitar lines — “Frame by Frame” and those kinds of things. He wanted me to take that premise and turn it into songs. That was the hardest thing for me. I learned how to play how he needed me to play to be his guitar partner. That was hard enough, because that is not my style at all. I have a free, crazy style. His style is extremely precise, a concentration sit-down kind of thing.
It took me a while to get the guitar aspect of it together, and then all the sudden I realized, “Gee, I don’t have any of myself in this.” So one day I just started throwing in my own kind of ideas. I made an elephant noise and that turned into “Elephant Talk.” Before I knew it, I was writing and coming up with the words and the things necessary. But it was quite a breakthrough and very stressful. On the other hand, it was fabulous. In those three years and three albums, we toured Japan three times, we toured all over the world. The response was very similar to what it is now.
CB: What would the Adrian that played on those records in the early 1980s think if you told him he would be touring those same songs in 2024?
AB: (Laughs.) I would be happy to know that I’m still touring in 2024. Back then everybody thought there was some sort of shelf life that no one would make it past. I remember when The Rolling Stones came out people were saying, “Rock and roll with be dead in five years or whatever.” I think the idea that I’d be playing at this high level with such great musicians, that part wouldn’t shock me, but maybe that we’re playing King Crimson songs would shock me, because you wouldn’t think that music would last that long. I never thought The Beatles would last this long, and The Beatles are the greatest. I still sometimes think, “Wow, The Beatles and all the things since are still extremely viable and loved my millions of people.” That fascinates me because that’s not true of most music, and King Crimson is in that collection of music that no one else could make that people still enjoy today. It’s amazing.
Adrian Belew with BEAT plays Taft Theatre on Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. More info: tafttheatre.org.
This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.