Adrian Belew has been looking backwards down his path of late, something we all like to do on occasion. And when you’ve had a career like Belew’s, there’s plenty to reflect on. The guitarist/vocalist has solo records, of course, but his more well-known work came via stints with King Crimson, David Bowie, The Bears and Talking Heads. He revisited his time touring with Talking Heads via the Remain in Light Tour with Jerry Harrison—and Bowie before that—but what about prog legends King Crimson, with whom he did his most beloved work?
Enter BEAT, Belew’s new Frankenstein’s monster. And prepare for the band’s pending live debut this week (9/12/24). We talked to Belew via Zoom from his home in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in July about these developments.
King Crimson was driven for decades by guitar mastermind Robert Fripp. But Belew was his most frequent and—arguably—inspired collaborator. The Belew-fronted trio of Crimson albums of the early ‘80s remain a bit of an anomaly in the catalog, especially in contrast to the more bombastic Crimson of the ‘60s and ‘70s. The focus became more on minimalist rhythm with a post-punk sheen, with Belew’s lyrics—inspired by Beat-era poets—acting as the tour guide.
Belew wanted to bring the ‘80s Crimson back to the live stage. Fripp, who has retired, declined to participate but blessed the project. Original bassist Tony Levin returned to the fold. Original drummer Bill Bruford has also retired and politely declined Belew’s offer, so a replacement was needed. Tool’s Danny Carey answered the call and, by all reports, was reportedly overjoyed to do so.
“Tool’s manager has told me recently that Danny has a perpetual grin on his face now,” Belew said.
But who could replace Fripp? One name came to mind: Steve Vai. A virtuoso in his own right, Vai is largely known for idiosyncratic solo work but cut his teeth in Frank Zappa’s band as well as shredding in David Lee Roth’s underrated solo band of the late ‘80s.
“I started thinking, well, you have to have someone capable of doing Robert’s role, and someone who would love to do it,” Belew said. “And I remembered that Steve had done an interview years ago in which he said how much he loved Robert’s playing on those records, and how much those records changed his life.”
And, with Fripp’s approval on the personnel, things got rolling. We wanted to find out. How did it feel the first time all of these legends got in the same room together? The answer was… surprising.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was it that made you want to revisit some of your earlier works and eras?
Well, it started a few years back. Jerry Harrison and I, we used to see each other on a pretty frequent basis. He would come to my shows, or at one point, we even lived in the same area. We would always talk about how great the 1980 World Tour with the extended Talking Heads band was, and what we both loved about it so much was the joy of it, the audience loving it so much and just jumping up and dancing around. It was something you don’t see all the time, and that got us thinking that, in these days, it would be nice to have something like that again. It took us a long time to figure out how to put that together. The same is true with the Bowie thing. I really enjoyed that. I thought, well, now, since you’re doing these kinds of things, you have to celebrate that (King Crimson) music, because it’s been kind of lost in time for a long time, the ‘80s quartet music, those three records. And I first approached Robert, of course, that’s the place to start, and he gave me a long list of reasons why he couldn’t do it.
I’m assuming you guys have already been woodshedding. What has it felt like to play the material with all four of you guys in the room?
(Laughs) This is the amazing thing to me. There’s been so much press and so much interest in this, but we haven’t played a note together. We don’t start rehearsing until the end of August (three to four weeks before the first gig).
Talk about pressure.
Yeah. But I will say this. Steve Vai checks in with me all the time, and he’s been sending me videos of himself playing along with songs and making sure, you know, this is agreeable and what happens there and the sounds and so forth. And I think he is more than ready. Tony and I have talked back and forth about the challenge of it, but we’re really into it. Danny, I’m not worried about. Danny knows more about Bill’s playing than just about anyone.
Do you feel like you might have a playing connection with Steve due to your both having past associations with Frank Zappa? Is there some common DNA that you guys share?
Yes, we’ve talked about it many times already, and I’m sure the Zappa stories will flow through the bus every night. We both feel the same way, that going with Frank, and playing with him, and learning with him, and rehearsing with him, and touring with him, all of those things are like big life lessons and they really change you and they really set you up if you’re young, as both of us were.
I mean, I always say Frank taught me more about the real life of a of a world traveling musician than music, because, you know, he showed me the ropes on everything. We always joke that we graduated from the Zappa School of Rock. The one main thing that I took from working with Frank—and he would say this—is that “I want you to play this consistently and correctly.” And if you take that a little further, it means, well, you don’t get drunk the night before. You really are 24/7 Frank Zappa. And it makes you so disciplined. Before then, I was just playing in cover bands and playing pop tunes on the radio. I had no discipline, no idea of what to do about anything. I didn’t really know the ropes. I had never even flown on a plane until I went out to audition for Frank. That’s how green I was. But, you know, in one year of working with him, it changed my whole life. And it made me ready for all the other things that happened. Especially when I finally got the reins to the ship, so to speak, and was the songwriter and singer and lyricist and frontman guitar player for King Crimson, which was everything I had been waiting for. I don’t think I could have done that without what I learned in Frank’s band. You know, I got very comfortable with playing in odd time signatures.
Speaking of band leaders, I’m curious if you would say that Fripp was the band leader even though you were the frontman? And, if so, are you the band leader now that he’s not participating in this project?
Oh, I always thought that Robert should be the band leader once it was called King Crimson. Well, to me, that’s that. And Robert did have a vision, the kind of gamelan guitar playing things and stuff like that. I always said with Robert, it was like it was if you had a box of 24 crayons, you would take out six and that’s all you’re allowed to use. So, it placed some real limitations, but good in a good way. And I thought Robert was a very good leader, although the only downside for me is everything had to be his way if it worked. That’s OK. I don’t have problems with that now at all. I don’t feel like I’m a good leader, to be honest. I’m an easygoing person, easy to sort of walk right over. You know, I want to make other people happy, and I think leaders have to be hard asses to a certain degree, although you can do it in different ways. So, with this band, everyone says “yeah, you know, it’s up to you. This is yours.” But I don’t like that role for myself. I’m just going to guide things, but I’m always going to make sure that everyone is in total agreement. Anytime someone says “I’m not sure about that,” it’s “OK, fine. Next, let’s go on,” because that’s how I lead.
I know in the in the ‘80s, the Discipline lineup did some older Crimson cuts. Will this band be revisiting some Crimson stuff from before you entered the band?
Well, first of all, when we started with the Discipline record and we went out and did a little bit of touring just to break in the material before we finalized it, we quickly realized we didn’t have enough material, because we got booed.
Always fun.
(Laughs) In one place, maybe it was Germany or somewhere, we had to come out and play the same couple of songs again just to please people. At that point, Robert was very hesitant to play any of the old stuff. And it was an inside joke that he would never play “21st Century Schizoid Man” again. But he did let us play “Lark’s Tongue in Aspic, Pt. II” and “Red”, and those became a staple of the ‘80s band. I don’t think we played “Schizoid Man” until maybe the double trio even, because Robert was dead set against it. In this particular instance, I talked to the guys in the group and said “what do you think of those two?” And Steve said “I don’t want to play ‘Lark’s Tongue,’ but I’d like to play ‘Red.’” And everyone agreed. So that will be the only one.
You’ve mentioned how these records impacted Steve Vai and Danny Carey. But what about other bands? Forty years later, how do you hear the legacy of of those three records, especially now that you are revisiting them?
I’ve often heard from musicians I don’t even know—many, many times—that those were life-changing. That’s the phrase I always hear. And it always appears to me like, well, that’s what happened to me with The Beatles. So that happened to this younger generation of certain kinds of musicians. And when that does happen, it’s indelible. You know, it’s in your DNA from then on. I’ve worked with people like Danny, and I know the guys in Tool. That’s a band heavily influenced by the Crimson music of the ‘80s. And then I would say Primus as well. They’re friends of mine. And Les Claypool grilled me the last time we worked together. He sat me down after one of the shows and said “OK, now tell me how the hell you did that.”
There’s a video on YouTube of Les’s version of your Crimson tune “Thela Hun Ginjeet,” and you’re playing with him. And you have this shit-eating grin on your face. What is it about his version that fits so well in his set and that clearly worked so well for you?
I’m always pretty happy when I’m on stage. I really get lost in it and I really love it. Sometimes it just flashes right by. I’m having such a great time, but I’ve known Les for a long time and he’s just really fun. I love him.
For a complete list of dates on the massive BEAT tour, check out https://beat-tour.com/
