One brief glance at Adrian Belews discography should be enough to discourage anyone from playing six degrees with the guitarist extraordinaire. Belews career spans 14 solo albums, 4 albums with his band, The Bears, 10 full-fledged King Crimson albums, and too many session appearances to count. He has produced and performed on numerous legendary albums from such luminaries as Paul Simon, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, and David Bowie. As King Crimson prepares to launch their latest album, The Power to Believe and a world tour, Adrian graciously granted us the following interview. • • • Progressive Ears: Who were some of your influences when you started out playing guitar? Who made you want to play in the first place? Adrian Belew: The Beatles are the ones I started learning from in terms of how to write and how to play different chord sequences and interesting things like that. That was around 1966 or 67 and thats the time when Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck and guitar players like that began to make their mark and they were such intriguing, great guitar players that I moved into the idea of wanting to play guitar. See I originally started out just wanting to write songs. About the time I got interested in it, suddenly there are these great guitar players coming along and Id say between the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck, those were the guys I listened to the most. PE: Has anybody come along recently? Do you still feel like youre influenced by people you hear now? AB: Not really in the world of guitar players. There will be interesting pieces of music or something that Ill discover that will really perk my ears. I’m a believer that you have a certain point in your life when you’re most open to influence and for me that was when I was first beginning to play guitar. Now that Ive played for so long, you know there are lots of guitar players whose playing I admire. Ive played with several like Robert Fripp or Rob Fetters, for example, and Im always thrilled to hear a great guitar player -- nothing is better than that for me. But its not something that influences me as much as something that I derive enjoyment from. Just 2 weeks ago I did a promo tour of Europe for the next King Crimson record and I was in Warsaw, Poland, and after I finished my last interview of the night which was about 7:30 the interviewer said, hey by the way did you know that about a mile away Pat Metheny is playing? And he and I have tried to meet each other and get to know each other for about 20 years now (laughs). Pat came to one of my shows in Boston in the late 80s and he wasn’t able to stay for the entire show so he left me a really nice note saying how much he enjoyed the show, lets get together soon and now 20 years later in Warsaw we finally meet each other. PE: What are the chances, huh? AB: His show was excellent. I loved hearing him. Hes a great guitarist. I guess still my favorite overall guitar player in the world would be Jeff Beck. I think nobody plays more lyrically than he does and I really like that in a guitar player. PE: Yeah, hes my favorite too. AB: Hes everybodys favorite (laughs). Hes got his own unusual technique. The last time I saw Jeff was here in Nashville and I went backstage and we sat and played together for a while. He was very open about it. He was showing me how he manipulates his tremolo arm, basically with the palm of his hand and the bridge piece itself. Hes got a kind of a floating tremolo on there that you can bend up and down and a lot of times, because of that, youll think its slide guitar but its actually not. Its just the way hes bending the notes with the palm of his hand. But theres so much more to his technique. Theres only one Jeff Beck. PE: I hear you have a new box set. Is it out yet? When’s it going to be out? Whats on it? AB: Well the box set, which is called Dust, is not out. It probably won’t be out until next fall or so. The main holdup with it is the amount of biographical-type information that goes with it. I havent really found someone to put the timeline together correctly. Its a bit like doing a biography. What it really is, is a retrospective of my entire solo career. My preference would be that the artwork would include something of a map of the entire career so you could see, well while Adrian was doing this, next month he played with so-and-so and then he went on tour and so on. So any young person who has no idea who I am, could get that record and not only hear rare pieces that were never released, but they would have a thorough understanding of all the music Ive been involved in. I cant really put in this box set anything that I did with people other than collaborations in which I wrote things. So you know you’d be skipping a lot if you didnt get a map. You wouldnt understand all of the outside projects from Nine Inch Nails and Graceland, David Bowie, Frank Zappa -- none of those things will be on Dust. But right now the music is completed and there are over 100 tracks to choose from, Im sure we will pare it down to something like four CDs and maybe also offer a best-of singles CD for anyone who doesnt want to exhaust themselves on a box set. Putting the map together is a monumental task because we havent really archived my career in a way that some people do. It would take a lot of digging around through all the various interviews and things that have been done over the years to figure out the timing of everything. PE: Well I can see why youre saying next fall then. AB: Yeah, musically its done and I really have strong ideas on the artwork. It’s going to be a pretty interesting package. But the main thing is the text is missing so -- rather than try to do it myself, which I think is not right -- I dont think its right for me to write my own biography, we’re going to have to wait until I find the right person. PE: Fair enough. I got the new King Crimson EP (Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With) and I really love it. I’m excited about the new Crimson album coming up. Tell us a little about that. AB: Well as I say, I just came back from two weeks across Europe and I think I did something like 75 or 76 interviews and some TV shows and things like that. Every single one of the journalists I talked to already had advanced copies of the new record, The Power to Believe. What they told me -- pretty much universally -- they felt it was the best King Crimson record since the Discipline record of 1981, the first record I was involved in. If you liked the EP I think youll probably really like the record, because for the record we saved all the major pieces we had worked two and a half years on. The only one of those pieces that appears on the EP record is Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With. But on The Power to Believe you have a lot of other pieces that I consider to be major pieces. Theres one called Level Five, one called The Facts of Life, one called Elektrik, and theres another version of Eyes Wide Open, which is more of an electric version of it. So the effect of The Power to Believe record so far on the people who have heard it has been pretty impressive. PE: I feel like I’ve watched this music grow up. I had the pleasure of seeing the current Crimson lineup debut at 12th and Porter in Nashville a couple of years back and got to see you in the same venue a year later. I remember you played some of these numbers like Level Five in instrumental form last year. AB: Thats right. We played them on two tours while we were trying to write and finish them. And I think all of them were played mostly in their instrumental version. I formulate the melodies I write almost at the exact same time that we’re starting the piece, but the lyrics always take about two years (laughs). So the lyrics are the hold-up there, the thing that makes me the last guy on the painting. PE: While we’re on the subject of lyrics, what inspires you lyrically? AB: You know the music is what inspires me. My method for lyric writing is the reason it takes so long and the reason why lyrics are always the last ingredients. It’s because I listen over and over and over to the music piece until something occurs to me. And I like to think that the music is kind of telling me what it wants to be about. But eventually a catchphrase, a title, you know, a phrase here and there, or at least an emotional viewpoint or an intellectual viewpoint will come to me and then Ill take that thread and start expounding on it. PE: The current King Crimson lineup has been together a few years now. AB: This lineup -- Pat, Trey, Robert, and I -- were in the six-piece lineup that started in 1993 or ‘94. That lineup did one record and a few tours and then from ‘97 or ‘98 we have been the quartet that we are now. The Power to Believe would officially be our second record with this same lineup, so weve broken the Crimson record of been the only lineup that has done more than one record (laughs). We did three records with the 1981 through ‘84 band, but that’s the only other Crimson lineup to do more than one record. PE: Well it seems like this one is really gelling. It was excellent the first time I saw King Crimson in Nashville, but a year later I could tell that everything was really grooving a lot tighter. AB: To my ears the thing that’s made The Power to Believe and the EP, in a lesser way, so successful is the fact that we took so long to write it. Robert and I actually sat down pencilling these things together quietly with two guitars somewhere about 2 1/2 years ago. And then, as I say, we took this material several times to various stages of rehearsals and twice on tour with us. I mean we even played some of this new material when we were on tour with Tool. So, of all the Crimson records I have been involved in, this one had the longest gestation period. PE: What are some of your favorite songs to play live these days? AB: I always like the epic pieces like Larks Tongue’s in Aspic Part IV and The ConstruKction of Light. I guess I prefer the ones that are more taxing, more difficult. Its challenging for me as a singer and player to try to get it right and I like to get it to the point where I can play the guitar parts without necessarily having to look at the guitar. That’s when I know that Im being successful, when it becomes a little bit more second nature. PE: Yeah, the fingers remember it... AB: Youve got the muscle memory going and somehow its become second nature, as I say, and then you can really concentrate on performing it correctly and looking at the audience and trying to make contact in live performance. My view is that one part of my role in King Crimson is to be the friendly go-between between the monstrous, scary band and the audience (laughs). I offer my hand out to the audience and say, its OK, you can come on in and like this band. PE: Ive always been amazed at how you can play all these instruments and sing at the same time. Its like patting your head and rubbing your belly. AB: Its very much like that. In musical terms, its like a jazz pianist who is playing a bass line with his left hand and soloing with his right hand. And what you have to do is split your concentration somewhat in an independent way. What works best for me is if I get the guitar playing to become something Im not thinking about. Then I can concentrate on singing. It is hard to sing correctly over that massive sound pouring out (laughs). PE: Can you cite some specific vocal influences? AB: Well you know there have been lots of people. I love the human voice. Currently I listen as often as I can to Indian singers. You know, all the Indian pop music that’s pouring out of India. I just love how those guys bend their voice and move it around. But historically I suppose, singers I loved the most were people who either had a lot of character or a lot of ability or both. Im talking about singers like the Beatles. Lennon and McCartney are great singers I think, each in their own way. I was always a big fan of Roy Orison because I felt like he just had a stunning sound to his voice and was so emotional. I even like more traditional or conventional singers like Sinatra or Tony Bennett. I also like singers who don’t really have astounding ability, but just have enormous amounts of character, like Bob Dylan for example. There are a lot of female singers I really like. I love Björk’s voice for example or Fiona Apple. I think shes got a unique character to her voice. I was really intrigued when I worked with Tori Amos. I think she has a great voice. The voice is an instrument, and it just depends on how you utilize it. There have been a lot of other singers, like the guy in the Zombies when I was a kid. I loved his voice. There was Hendrix, who always gets awarded and applauded for his guitar playing, but I think he had a really interesting voice, like a bluesman. Theres people like Tom Waits. Even Frank Zappa. I always thought Frank Zappa was a unique character singer. And naturally Ive got to mention David Bowie because he inspired a lot of singers over his career. PE: Let’s talk about the Bears for a minute. We feature a different album every day at Progressive Ears and today we have the live one from the Bears featured. I saw the last tour when you guys were here in Atlanta. The live album was taken from that tour. Whats up with the Bears at the moment? Any plans? AB: Right now the Bears, of necessity, are kind of stopped. We had the opportunity to finish our first studio record in 13 years and follow it with two tours which resulted in the live record that you have now. I think that’s a great raw version of what you hear when you come to see the Bears. But right now everyones doing other things. Im trying to work on solo material which I’ve put aside for two years. In February Ill be working with King Crimson again when we start touring. The Crimson tour is looking to be pretty extensive starting in the United States and then going to Japan and then Europe and then back to the United States over the course of next year. So this has placed the Bears in a position we knew we would get to. At some point we have to stop for a while. It doesnt mean stop for good; it just means until theres a break in time that makes sense for everyone. I look at the Bears is being kind of my own private fun band that I can go out and play great songs with. I love the other players. Theyre old friends of mine. Theres a special chemistry, musically and otherwise, between us thats always existed since the 70s when we met each other and I think everyone in the Bears has the same attitude toward the music. So its a great band and its a fun band. I think its an exciting live band, but it isnt a band that can go out and be a band full-time. So you have to take it in spurts. PE: Well its great, Im really glad you guys were able to come around recently. What are some of the more memorable sessions youve been called to do? Any recent ones youve been called in on? AB: Some recent ones that Ive enjoyed are Tori Amos and the last two Nine Inch Nails records. Both of those were great experiences for me in the sense that I know so much more about producing and recording than I used to and I own a studio and I do this every day of my life. It was interesting to me to see how other people work now. When I first started out on records like The Lodger. with David Bowie, he had Brian Eno in the producer’s seat. That was an interesting record the way it was being made, but I didnt have an appreciation of it in the same way I would if I were doing it now. Now I know so much more about how to make records. Still that was a memorable record for me. For one thing, it was my first actual studio record. Naturally I had played the year before with Frank Zappa and we made his most popular record ever called Sheik Yerbouti, but that was all live. I never actually went in a recording studio with Frank, sadly. But at least I had a great year with him. Another one that I think sticks out in my mind is Graceland. I think its a monumental record that really had an effect on music. I walked into that record when it was still in its unfinished stages. Paul Simon had not written all the vocals yet so he was just sort of whispering them into my ear while the tracks played. That was a... not only was it chilling but it was a great feeling having the inside of where this music was heading before it went there. And then getting the record and hearing the end result and seeing just how wonderful it turned out. That was another very impressive record to be a part of. PE: Beautiful record. Well you know I am interviewing you for a progressive rock web site. What comes to mind when you hear the phrase progressive rock? AB: Im sorry to say that it sounds antiquated to me. The bands that I truly think of as being progressive rock were bands like the early King Crimson, the early Yes, the Italian band called PFM, Gentle Giant, early Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer. I know there is still alive and kicking the genre of progressive rock, which now includes bands like Dream Theater and Marillion and bands like that but I dont really know their music as well. During the period when progressive rock was being invented by the various bands that I just mentioned, I was a very big fan of all of it. I had probably all of those records at one time or another. My very favorite always was Crimson, strangely enough. I thought King Crimson brought a unique intensity that no one else really had. Other bands had the same kind of ornate complexities that I think earmark progressive rock, but King Crimson had a dark intensity about it, much the way I think that kids probably feel about a band like Nine Inch Nails these days. 0PE: I suppose a lot of people do equate the term progressive rock with the bands of the 70s. AB: Yes, thats what I’m saying. Thats what first comes to mind for me when I think of progressive rock -- thats what it was called then. But what is it now? I wouldnt be able to say. People are always asking me if King Crimson these days is progressive rock and I have to say that I dont feel thats a fitting term. I think of progressive rock as being more epic somehow. I think of longer pieces of music that evolve and take a lot of turns and things. Of course King Crimson does a little bit of that now, but I think since the time I joined a band in 1981, the lineup, the technology, and therefore the emphasis of the band became something else. We went much more towards world music and African rhythms and just a whole lot of other things that I dont think of as being part of progressive rock. PE: But what about the word progressive itself? There is progressive rock and progressive music -- thats almost two different things, dont you think? AB: Yeah, I agree with you. Progressive rock is what I think of as being the 70s, but if you said to me, progressive, that is, music that is forward-looking, I would say that Ive been doing that all my life (laughs). And I would say you can apply that term to everyone from David Bowie to Peter Gabriel and everyone in between. Unfortunately I dont think thats what people really think of when they hear the term progressive music. I think they think of the ‘70s. PE: But I think if you look at the progressive music audience of today you will find it composed mostly of people who are well over the ‘70s; people who are looking for new things to excite them. It seems that most of our members want to hear new music that excites them as much as the first time they put on, say, In The Court of the Crimson King. Not that it should sound like that, but that it should be innovative in the same way. AB: Well Im glad to hear that theres an existing audience for that because I suppose I’m on that side myself. Whatever brand you put on music, if it’s truly unique and doing something exciting to you, thats what I want to hear. I dont care what you call it. Like I said, I like a lot of the 70s progressive rock but I dont live there, if you know what Im saying. I’m a big fan of the Beatles too but I wouldn’t want everyone today to sound like the Beatles. And I’m a firm believer that if they were all alive and got back together, they wouldn’t sound like the Beatles either (laughs). You know, its a time period. Like the Discipline album is so different than anything weve done since, because it was a period piece. It was a time when our minds and our spirits and our music all came together in a certain way and if we tried to do that record again now with the same lineup, I’m sure it would not be the same record. PE: And that’s great because Crimson is pretty much the only progressive band from the ‘70s that continues to progress in the true sense. AB: Thats another constant that I heard through all the European interviews I did on the promo tour that I just mentioned, from all the journalists. They said that Crimson is the one band from the ‘70s that actually seems to progress. I think King Crimson is noted for the fact that we refuse to just go and do the same thing. Its always been the backbone of King Crimson music to me that you always reinvent it. It may have threads that go throughout it that sound similar because we do have preferences and those preferences are probably threaded through all the Crimson records, but I think the challenge with Crimson has always been that we take those preferences and reinvent them. PE: I dont know how you keep doing it. Has there been more of an emphasis on groove this time around? It seems the new music really grooves and is not as technical as on The ConstruKction of Light, from what Ive heard so far. AB: I agree with what youre saying. Its for two reasons to my way of thinking. First of all, when Robert and I began writing this record we had an idea of how the band had changed personnel-wise. We had played with Pat and Trey for some time as the rhythm section for King Crimson and had come to the realization that they are more of a rock band rhythm section. Just to give you an example, if you compare the drumming, say, between Pat Mostellotto and Bill Bruford, both are great drummers but they have very different approaches. When Bill was the drummer for King Crimson, it was more skittering, everything BUT the beat (laughs), with a lighter touch to it. Now with Pat in the drummer’s seat youve got someone who plays the beat more often, who plays ON the beat and is a much heavier handed drummer, so its a rock band again. So I think the first thing is that Robert and I realized this and started writing material that was based on simpler guitar riffs. And I think the second thing is the simple fact that Pat and Trey have had some time now to get comfortable in their roles in the band. Filling the shoes of Tony Levin and Bill Bruford isn’t easy, and I think they’ve finally found themselves in the music a bit more. PE: I think that in the long run thats what makes it fresher, that the rhythm section is different now than it was then. AB: Sure. I totally agree. That was the idea for shaking the band up, the fact that the six-piece band was almost too much of a good thing. It was almost compromising for the players, you know, two drummers instead of one. Its like sooner or later someones not going to play as much as they’d like to. And logistically it was a nightmare. It was very difficult to get the schedules of six people who were living in six different places in the world to match up. It was very expensive to travel and so on. The quartet has always been my favorite format for King Crimson. Ive always preferred quartets because everyone has a more clear role in the band and more clear responsibilities. You just have to work harder in that context I think. So when we pared back down to being a quartet, I believe it became a little easier to move forward. PE: Easier to move forward with four instead of six. AB: Plus its pretty common knowledge now I think that Robert and Bill parted ways musically-speaking probably a long time before it actually happened. Bill has definitely put his emphasis more on the world of jazz and Robert has tried to reinvent King Crimson again. Still, knowing that those two were really not on the same page musically, it made for difficulties and now it seems Robert’s happier because hes playing with a drummer that he feels more comfortable with. PE: I’m sure Bill’s happier now too. AB: Yeah, Im sure Bill is too. I think he’d had enough of it (laughs). King Crimson is one of those kinds of bands I wouldn’t want to do full-time. I dont think any of us would because of the fact that its pretty difficult to do. Naturally were all grown man and very civilized people -- we dont have any arguments or things like that -- but I think there are a lot of points of contention as you’re doing records and things and youre creating this monster. Everybodys got their own take on things. But you know basically what I do is, I arm-wrestle Robert if it comes right down to it. I win! (laughs) PE: So tell us a little about how you ended up playing with Les Claypool and the Frog Brigade recently. AB: It came about through a friend of ours, Whit Hubner, who works with the Bonnaroo festivals. He started working with my wife and I on some of our business affairs and made some suggestions. One suggestion was that I should get out and play with some other players more often. Les Claypool is someone that I’ve spoken with in the past about working together and hes playing in Columbus, Ohio, which is not that far from me, so why dont we just go up and sit in with him? And you know, it was really fun. Before I went, I checked out some of the music and looked at some of their shows on the web site and realized... well you have to dress a certain way (laughs). PE: Ive seen the pics... AB: So I went out that very day and went to several stores in the hopes of finding some interesting pajamas and finally, in the boys department of target in an extra-large size, I found some footie pajamas with little dinosaurs all over them. I thought these would be absolutely perfect. As it turned out, Whit must have been thinking the same way because he brought a pith helmet and my daughter, Iris, attached a rhino horn to it, so there you go. When I walked out on stage the members of the band had not seen my outfit (laughs) and I think it caused some consternation at first. But as it turns out I fit right in because I didnt realize a lot of them do wear pajamas, two or three guys in the band had pajamas, so there you go. PE: So you weren’t the only one. AB: No, I felt really right at home with them. Musically speaking it was a lot of fun because Les’s music is kind of jam music you know? You dont have to do a lot of chord changes and things, so you can just wail away. I had a lot of fun with him. The saxophone player, Derek, and I got on the same wavelength immediately and started playing off of one another. And I have spoken to Les now about doing something in the future, some future project, but he broke his arm just this weekend. PE: So hes going to be out of commission for a while. AB: Yeah. PE: Well thats too bad. You know, it seems like a really inspired pairing, you and Les. AB: As I say, Les and I have talked about this over the past few years. I know that when he was in Primus he was a big Crimson fan, probably still is, so it seems very natural to me too. PE: I hope to see you do something together in the future. AB: I think we will when his arm heals (laughs). PE: Do you think we’ll ever see another solo tour from you, maybe with a small band backing you? You did one of those about ten years ago. AB: Yes I’ve done a few solo tours and I always enjoyed them a lot. What has happened in the last two years is that Ive tried to re-establish the identity of King Crimson, and the Bears to a lesser extent. I’ve put a lot of time into King Crimson. I think now, in between the touring schedule I have next year, Im going to start re-establishing my solo works again. One clear way of doing that is to play for people and I love performing as you can probably tell when you see me. So its a matter of finding the right format, finishing a record or two, taking it out live and I think all these things will come out in a pretty quick explosion. Im working on two different approaches to solo records and I have in the works probably 20 to 24 tracks. I have the Dust record, which we discussed, and I kind of think that at some point itll be time for me to do my thing again. Not leaving King Crimson naturally, or the Bears, but just itll be space for solo Adrian again. I would like to take out a certain kind of band and play at festivals and things like that, at some of the better clubs around. It would be a lot of fun. PE: Are there any artists you would like to work with that you haven’t previously? AB: Its a question I get asked a lot -- who I would like to work with that I havent already. There are so many artists that I admire, its a hard question to answer. Strictly from them being part of my life, I would be interesting to work with either of the two remaining Beatles. Im not even sure that I should be arrogant enough to say that (laughs). Its rather presumptuous of me. I usually kid and say John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix but Im not in a hurry. But more seriously I do speak with and keep an e-mail correspondence with David Bowie. I think that he and I are due to work together again sometime and weve talked about it and theres no hurry, but I think that it’s something that will happen at some point. Ive had great relationships a lot of people I’ve worked with, Trent Reznor or Laurie Anderson come to mind. I could see continuing my relationship with any of those people. A brand new artist that I listened to recently, in fact on my way to Europe, is Amon Tobin. Hes Brazilian but lives in Montreal and I like what hes doing. It’s samples and it’s drum loops and its a pretty interesting way of treating that brand of music. I think that he and I, if we put our heads together, we could come up with something pretty cool sometime. I’ve always loved the Kronos String Quartet. I’ve always thought, boy that would be fun to just play some waling guitar over an intense string quartet. I might try my hand at writing that someday. Its things like that. I dont know, as I said at the beginning of this question there are a lot of musicians I admire so Im probably leaving out lots. PE: I asked Terry Bozzio recently who he wanted to work with again and you were one of the two people he mentioned. AB: Well you know I had dinner with Terry maybe nine months ago. I think it probably comes from that conversation. That was the first time Id seen him in about ten years. I’m a huge fan of his playing. I think he’s just absolutely amazing. We spent an entire day at that restaurant, me and him and Patrick OHearn, going over all the old times with Frank Zappa and all the things that have happened since. All three of us said we have got to play together. Its something I see doing in the future whenever the stars align in a certain way. I have a lot of ideas of things that Terry and I could do together that I think would be wonderful. Hes been inspirational to me because I watched Terry from the Frank Zappa days through his whole career now and all the different things that hes been able to do. He kind of reinvents his playing too a bit like I try to do. I think thats what makes it so interesting about him. Hes been able to do a lot of different types of things and his dedication and his techniques are just astounding. PE: I heard you are doing your own custom spray paint jobs on your guitars. AB: Yes, I did on the three Strats that I have. I just get to the point where I feel like, OK I want to change the look of these and I dont want to have to buy a new guitar. So my engineer, Ken Latchney, took them apart and I had some ideas and worked on them every day a little at a time, It was fun for me. Since then I’ve started actually painting on canvases with acrylic paints for the first time in my life, so now Im really starting to build up a head of steam (laughs) in the world of paints. PE: So is that actually spray paint on your guitars? AB: Its spray painted, all the different stuff thats on there. I tried a lot of different techniques and funny things. I would spray paint things on and then put paint remover over that and then rub that off and then put some sparkles on it (laughs). When I finished them I sent them back to Fender and they put a nice clearcoat over them so they look a bit more professional. Right now Im having three new guitars built by Fernandez and Im real excited about these guitars. Were going to call them Silver Arrows and they’re going to be an updated version of my Strats. They’re going to be painted silver and theyre going to have all the stuff on them that I like -- Roland GK2A pickups and all that stuff. If it works out maybe well even put them into production or something. I havent spoken to the company about it yet. I tried for years to get Fender to be interested in a signature guitar. It seems like they’ve done signature guitars for Joe Blow and everybody else but they havent done one for me and I’ve finally gotten tired of waiting. Fender’s a great company and I think it would be a lovely match if they’d want to do that, but every time Ive approached them about it theyve been less than optimistic. I think Fernandez is a great company too and if they wanted to do this with me I think that would be fun. PE: I’ll look for those Silver Arrows then. AB: Im hoping that by the time I go into my next bit of touring with King Crimson, which starts in March in the United States, Ill be playing the Silver arrows. PE: What is your take on the Internet and home production? Do you think these have been helpful or harmful to the industry? AB: I think its been helpful to the industry. I know its not all settled. Theres a lot of problems with intellectual properties and who gets paid what for doing what. I think thats very important because I know in my life, people may think whatever they want, but it takes money to do what we do and were certainly not rich so, even though Ive been doing this for all my life I feel like you need the support of people buying your records, supporting your concerts, buying your T-shirts. If people are going to download everything for free, were going to be out of business. And thats an absolute fact. But I think overall the Internet has really spurred on a lot of great things information-wise. Its been able to allow you to learn a lot more about the artists, and I dont really mind someone downloading something just to see if they like me as long as after that they go buy the record (laughs). In fact sometimes I put free songs on the Web site just to keep traffic and to keep people coming back and being interested. I think its a very helpful tool of the future. To me as a recording artist, it’s probably the future of a lot of my business. Its a learning process right now more than anything. I see it right alongside all the technologies I’ve just purchased and put into my studio. It has a lot of possibilities. By the way, you can buy directly from me at adrianbelew.net (laughs). I think I should mention that since you’re a web site. And by the way, I think the most exciting news that has happened to me in a while is that King Crimson signed a deal in Japan with Universal Records, just in the Asian territories, and because of that, Universal Records in Japan are re-releasing special collectors editions of my first three solo albums, Lone Rhino, Desire Caught by the Tail, and Twang Bar King. Lone Rhino and Twang Bar King have never been on CD and Desire Caught by the Tail is pretty hard to find on CD. But now all of those will be available from Christmas day forward and they will be available from me on my web site. You dont have to go through the Japanese imports to get these so you get a better price and so forth. A lot of people over the years have asked me about those records and now they’re going to be available. We’re working hard on making the Adrian Belew web site be the store for anything Adrian Belew now. But the most exciting thing is that weve got these records because even if we don’t make a penny on them, thats not the point to me. Those were records that were really important to my career and to my life, I mean Lone Rhino is the first time I ever got to make my own record and its 20 years old and you cant buy it until now and so its really exciting to me. PE: We have a lot of unsigned bands at Progressive Ears. What advice could you give them about the road ahead? AB: That’s a hard question because usually an artist is one of the last people who can help you. (laughs) But advice? I still think the one thing that separates a great band from other bands is your ability to play live. I believe that in all of this swirl of technology that we’re all grappling with and trying to figure out, the one place that you can still depend on is seeing someone play live. You can download albums, you can copy albums, you can get the music for free but you cant know a band unless you go see them live. I believe that when youre starting out as a young band the main thing you need to do is play and get a lot of exposure because the word starts spreading. For example Id never heard of the band Drums and Tuba until they came to Nashville. I heard them play, I sat in with them. Now theyre a band I continue to enjoy and Ill look for their records. I think there are some really intriguing things that everyone can do within the structure of the Internet and I think those things will come to light over the next five years. But meanwhile I would say that the best thing you can do is play in front of audiences and try to utilize the free support system that exists for you. Now if youre going for the mainstream area, boy that is really rough. If anyone out there wants to be the next Justin whatever his name is... [Timberlake] I dont know what to tell you (laughs). Because that is so much to do with money and fashion, its almost nothing to do with music. PE: But for serious musicians it really is an uphill battle. AB: Thats where I’ve lived all my life. Its not been easy, even though Ive had a lot of great breaks and Ive played with a lot of great people, its never been easy because its not where the money is. Lets face it, thats always the problem at the bottom line. But the good news is this, I feel people are finally getting tired of being fed so much shit and I really do believe that people are finally starting to look around and say, you know I’d really like to hear some interesting music for once. The Internet has made it a little easier for people to do that. As I traveled through Europe this time I got the complete sense that theres maybe a little bit of a quiet revolution going on. That maybe interesting music or music that you really want to sit and listen to, not just dance to, is starting to become fashionable. PE: These things run in cycles, dont they? AB: They do run in cycles and its always intrigued me that when I was 19 you could hear I Am the Walrus on the radio. Try to find something that interesting on the radio now. PE: Have you ever met any of the Beatles? AB: Oh yes, Ive met Ringo and I had tea with Paul McCartney. For 45 minutes David Bowie and I sat in Paul McCartneys presidential suite at the four seasons hotel in Philadelphia in 1990. We were all staying in the same hotel, and we just had a fantastic time. And what was so funny about it was Paul would tell stories and I would do the punch lines (laughs). I know the Beatle lore so well and we just had a great time. It was so much fun talking to him. Hes just like you would think he would be, just a very upbeat person, charming, very funny and it was a most memorable day. PE: Have you heard the new album George was working on before he passed away? AB: I havent heard it yet but I have heard comments about it from other people who say its really worth getting and I always loved Georges stuff. I think, to be quite honest, Georges stuff, sometimes its great sometimes its not, but when its great its SO great. If nothing else, George Harrison is the man who turned us all onto Indian music which, as I said earlier, is one of my very favorites. I still think that no one has done what he did in finding a way to combine Western pop music with Indian music. You have those three songs that they did within the Beatles, Within You Without You, The Inner Light, and Love You To that are just awesome to me. I cant understand why theres not a band that sounds like THAT (laughs). Its a band I always wanted to be in. PE: What’s a normal day like for you? AB: I get up early, I like to be up early. Normally I get up at 6:30. I like to have my coffee, talk with my wife, Martha, about everything that’s going on and then, when it quiets down in the morning, I like that time to reflect on what I might want to do. Ill generally go in the studio by 9:30 or 10:00 and start working on ideas. Ken [Latchney] shows up at 11:00 and we jump into whenever it is I have in mind to work on. That is, if its my time which is what we have right now. If it’s King Crimson time then usually Robert will be here, he stays in my house, and well start around noon and go for four or five hours a day. Its a little shorter work day with King Crimson, probably because the work is so tiring (laughs). I mean its an exhausting kind of music to play and to try to create. But if I’m here on my own like I am now, Ken and I will probably work from 11:00 to 6:00 and any number of things will happen during that time. Weve got so much stuff going on. But I find that even if you get in a few hours every day, its a cumulative effect and then one day you wake up and find you have 100 tracks that have not been released (laughs). PE: What’s your family life like? Do you find that you have to spend a lot of time away? AB: When I average it out, I am only away from home about 60 days a year. That means that 300 days of the year pretty much I’m left to my own devices here to work in the studio. I love performing and I think that its a very important part of what I do. I don’t like the traveling that much, especially these days -- it just seems more and more dangerous all the time. But I guess my real favorite thing is to be able to be in the studio because thats where all the real creative things happen for me. You know when youre performing, creative things happen but youre also trying to replicate, reproduce things that you’ve already done. I like to be in the studio when theres a clear, clean palette and you start something and you work on it -- I love the point where it finally comes into focus and you say ahh, I can see it now, its not there yet but Im getting it. PE: When you’re on the road does the family come with you? AB: No, very seldom. Its so hard to take young kids with you. You know my wife, Martha, will come out and join me for a week in Europe are something like that if were traveling extensively. The kids dont come out so much. Its OK though because the kind of touring Ive been involved in for so many years now has been pretty, for lack of a better term, strategic. We dont stay gone for months and months, we stay gone for maybe six weeks and then you’re home again for a certain period of time. Thats just the way King Crimson and the Bears have always worked because otherwise I think you go to a certain point with touring and then things start falling apart. PE: Im sure early on it was really exciting. AB: Well it still is actually. Even with this promo tour I just did, I only played once on MTV in Poland so I was just talking all the time, but it was still fun because you know when youre in Paris or youre in Milan those are amazing cities. Even touring through the states I have a lot of favorite places I go, a lot of restaurants I like and bookstores. Naturally I have friends scattered across the world and you get to see those people. You dont see them otherwise. There are a lot of pluses too, the main one being the performance itself. So I think for myself over the last five years Ive gotten a lot more comfortable with traveling and touring. I still think its dangerous in the sense that you’re traveling on airplanes or by bus or by car and anything can happen, but actually Im not as nervous as I used to be. Ive gotten more comfortable with touring. Its strange. It was more exciting at the very beginning for the first few years. Now its different, a different kind of excitement. You know a bit more what to expect and youre prepared for it and I think that I’m able to travel and tour and perform at a higher level than I ever was. PE: Well I just hope you keep doing it. Every time you come to Atlanta its great to see you. I wish you could make it here more often. AB: Oh I really enjoy Atlanta. I like coming and playing there. We’ve always had a good audience and there are some great venues there. Its all a matter of what the booking agent comes up with and that has to do with date availability, routing and so many other variables. I know, for example, that we hardly ever play in Florida and I know there are people there who would love for us to come and I would love to go there. Its a fun place to be, but tours don’t seem to get down there very often. If you take the East Coast, for example, everything is kind of drivable. You can go from New York to Boston in two hours and up to Vermont and you can drive back to Philly and over to Cleveland and Detroit, you know the dots connect a little better. The same is true if youre going out west. You do California and you go up into Seattle and Portland and Vancouver. But it doesnt seem to be so easy to route in the Southwestern and Southeastern parts of the United States. PE: Adrian, we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. I’m really looking forward to The Power to Believe and to seeing King Crimson on tour in 2003. AB: I’m looking forward to it too. • • •
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 22:42:55 +0000
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