20th and 21st of February – those dates will mark two shows of Adrian Belew Power Trio in Poland. In relation to this music feast for all the fans in Poland, I had an opportunity to talk to Mr. Belew – guitar and voice of King Crimson and contributor of David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Paul Simon, Talking Heads and Nine Inch Nails. It was a pleasure to get to know more about one the best and most innovative guitarists in rock (and not only rock) music history. Now you can read below what a man who could play sounds of a mouse and an elephant (all in one song) had to say in answer to my questions. But remember – it’s only talk…
Hello Adrian, it’s great to hear you and see you on tour again. I know that you started the tour recently and you’re probably in Italy right now. Do you have fun so far?
Oh yeah, very much (laugh). I always try to have fun, you know, especially on stage. The touring part is sometimes difficult – traveling and lots of early wake-ups and all those things, but the only thing that really matters to me is when we’re on stage and so far we’ve had great audiences, very happy people and we played really good shows.
You have to wait for the Polish audience, because it’s the best audience that you’ll see, I hope!
I know, I know, I’ve been there many times and that’s one thing I always said, you know, they’re great, very appreciative audience. I’m really excited to play for them again (laugh).
You’ll be playing two shows in Poland in almost two weeks – in Wrocław and Warsaw. Are they gonna be different or do you stick to the setlist that you make up before the tour?
We have basically one setlist, but it changes anyway, just in the way that it’s put together because some songs… we change them. The endings – we do something to them that causes them to go into the next song, surprisingly. Other songs, which we play – the full length songs, we have improvised sections in the middle of some of those so every night is a different show, no matter what.
How do you create your setlist? You have a lot of material to choose from. Do you run through your songs and choose or you have particular songs in mind all the time that you like to play?
It changes from tour to tour of course, you know. Some songs suddenly come more into favour and some songs you feel like you’ve played them long enough now and you want to give them a little bit of a rest. So I just keep trying to devise new, once this set has some things in it that we haven’t played for many years. So some of my earlier solo stuff starts the whole evening and then there’s of course nine King Crimson songs in there somewhere, so I take it into very good balance between older material, solo material, King Crimson material, improvised material and this new way of playing songs called „Flux”, where one song turns right into the next one.
Many of your songs are very delicate – like 'One Time’, 'Walking on Air’ – but with Crimson arrangement they get more complicated. I wonder how did you wrote them? With simple chords, and then you did this interlacing, two-guitar arrangement with Robert or it was already so complicated? Let’s take 'Frame by Frame’ for example.
’Frame By Frame’ was one where Robert and I sat down from the very beginning and created the very intricate guitar work, and then it was decided at some point that it should have vocals. So from that point on it changed from being just guitar motif into a song, because I made chord changes, and I made a melody and I wrote words. And that’s really how most of the song material would always happen with King Crimson. There are some exceptions – songs that I wrote by myself and brought in, like 'Heartbeat’ is one, for example, that I brought in to the band. But I realized early on, that it was better off as Robert and I initiated the ideas together. I think they had more of a Crimson feel about them that way, so I’d say probably 90% of what the songs are, are songs that started from the two of us starting an idea, and then me taking it away and turning it into a song.
Have you ever considered to play these songs just with simple chords and make them easier to listen for casual listeners? Just simple, stripped-down versions.
Well, yes, I’ve done a little of that. I did a record once called 'Belewprints’, that was all just me playing acoustic instruments and those arrangements were intentionally made the simplest that they could be. That’s why I called it 'Belewprints’, because to me it was like the blueprint of the song. And I would say somewhat in the Power Trio the songs of necessity are little simpler in their presentation, because you only have three players. But then on the other hand, the three players are playing more than three players would play so it’s hard to say… But in general, the music of King Crimson is not that simple to begin with, and it only can be simplified to a certain point. But if you hear me play 'One Time’ or 'Walking on Air’ or something just by myself – even 'Three of a Perfect Pair’ – I think you get the better idea of what the basic song format is before we add in all of the interesting time signatures and instrumentation and things. Underneath all those songs, underneath all the Crimson music there’s hopefully a well written and well-crafted song (laugh).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ758xfIK4I
You share your unbelievable stories from David Bowie era on your facebook, but you finished playing with him in the 90’s. Did you have any invitation to play with him after that – on 'The Next Day’ or 'Blackstar’? I’ve heard that David wanted Robert Fripp on 'The Next Day’, but he refused.
He didn’t asked me to play on any recent things. We still had good friendship, but I think he was trying to find new things that he never done before and, you know, I don’t know if Robert was really asked or not – there’s some controversy about that. He said that he was, but other people said that he wasn’t (laugh). I don’t really know, although all I do know is that David didn’t ask me. And that was fine with me, because I was already very involved in so many other things. And I feel like, you know, I’m proud of the work that we did together and the fact that we were able to do that much is enough for me.
Have you listened to David’s last album? It’s quite strange, but very beautiful music. The bass line in 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore’ reminds me of 'The Talking Drum’.
No, I have not listened to the record yet. I was very busy preparing for the tour and doing several other things at the same time when David died… and I just decided I’ll wait and save that moment for another time, when I’m not so busy, but at some point I will sit down and really enjoy it. And I’m sure it’s – like everything he did – it’s always unique, so I look forward to doing that, but I just wanna wait for a right time. I’ve not quite accepted everything.
You’re not ready to listen to it.
Yeah, I’m not ready, but I’m ready in other way, so I mean I have let go and I know that this is part of life, you know, that death is the most sure thing in life and sooner or later you have to accept that, and for myself I’m just really, really happy that we had the time we had. He was great, great person, I really loved him so much. Very nice, very funny, very smart, and I know that I’m fortunate person to have had as much time with him as I did.
Is there any new or young band that seems interesting to you and you would like to collaborate with? Or maybe some well-known artists?
You know, I say this in all my interviews and I always feel bad about saying it, but I really don’t listen too much any other music anymore and I haven’t for a long time. And there’s a real reason for it – and the reason is that I wake up everyday with my own ideas and my own music, and I’m working on it and I feel if I listen to too much other stuff it might filter into my music. So in order to try to keep focused on what I’m doing, I try not to listen too much of other music. I listen to a little bit of something that someone recommends to me that I trust, but I never turn on the radio or go on the internet or anything, searching for new music. I mean there’s a part of me that feels guilty about that, I know there’s probably some great musicians and great new music that I’m going to miss, but I feel it’s the best thing I should do for my own music.
I don’t know if you want to talk about the new King Crimson, but I suppose when you were in that band you always wanted to play classics from 70’s, but Robert always wanted new music. Now they’re playing old stuff and you’re not involved. Do you still feel sad or angry about it? Or you’ve just accepted it?
No, I just accepted it totally. I feel like my time in a band was great whatever we did. I really enjoyed it. I was absolutely one of the proponents to do the new stuff too, really, more than anything. Even though I love the old stuff I’m always more about “let’s find some new things and be creative and move forward”. It would have been nice to stay in the band longer, but if it’s not the right thing for the band, then I’m fine with that too. I have many, many outlets for my creativity and I enjoyed the 33 years I’ve had. I’ve never heard the band, I won’t probably listen to them, I’m not really that interested to hear what three drummers might do together or what they’re doing together and I don’t mean it in a bad way – I’m just not interested (laugh).
Yeah, it’s an unusual idea with those three drummers…
I’ll be honest – I don’t think I’d like it… I’m a drummer and I think that two drummers is plenty. When they do it right, that’s the most you should maybe ever had, but that’s just me. I just don’t care, one way or another. It’s all up to Robert what he’ll want to do with his life and the music that they make. Of course, I still have great relationship with Tony and Pat. We have a band when King Crimson is not working, we can tour with the Crimson ProjeKCt. But the whole thing is sort of: I’m done with it (laugh).
Let’s talk about The Crimson ProjeKCt for a while. I saw you in Warsaw on last tour with that band two years ago, and it was a great show. But you played here many times, even with King Crimson. Do you have any memories, funny or strange stories from this city or from Poland?
I don’t have any strange stories or particular things, I just remember all of those things very well and clearly. I remember how excited the audiences are, I remember how much I enjoyed being there. You know, I’m a big history fan, so I know a lot about the history of Europe and it’s always curious to me to end up in the places that I’ve read so much about. And I guess what it really comes down to is fans everywhere, they accept the music and respond in a different ways and I always really enjoyed the way that people in Poland know the music so well and show respect and really respond to it. It’s a nice feeling. I don’t have any particular moments, I mean, little flashes that happen. When you tour around the world for so long you can’t remember every single thing that happens every single day, but you do have flashes. I remember coming out of a very large building that we played in that was donated to Poland by Stalin (laugh).
Yes, it’s called The Palace of Culture.
Yes, the big ugly, horrible gift that he gave you guys! I just remember that building so well, I remember being in it and I remember how Russian it felt to me in a way and I thought It was very odd knowing so much of the history of that two cultures and so on. And I just remember coming out of there and being surrounded by a really nice fans when we crossed the street. Just across the street there was a lovely little bar over there and everyone from the show was there. And I was waiting for getting on the bus, we had to wait for everyone to arrive to get on the bus and leave. I just thought – this is such a wonderful time, you know, the fans being so nice to me and then we got on the bus and we left. You know, I just have a little flashes of things like that, that come back to me, that make it really more special.
I don’t know if you remember that you also played in a music tv-show when you were in Poland almost 15 years ago. It was called 'Hołdys Guru Limited’ and you played 'Three of a Perfect Pair’ there and everyone recalls it to this day that it was such a magical moment.
Yes, I do remember!
I wonder which song was most difficult to write, record or perform on stage?
Well, you know, a lot of the ones the most difficult to write have been the King Crimson songs, because I always feel when I’m writing for King Crimson I’m sort of responsible to other people. Whereas, when I’m writing my solo things I kind of let my mind flow and do whatever appeals to me. So some of the harder ones are the ones that started out with Robert and I just playing basically guitar riffs that are very difficult to play. That would be songs like 'Frame by Frame’ or 'Three of a Perfect Pair’ – those kinds of songs where there’s this interlocking guitar. Those were difficult things to turn into songs, because they really were just guitar pieces – difficult guitar pieces, complexed. So to figure out how to move those shapes in different ways to create the right kind of tension and expression and the melody, and then how to actually sing something in a different time signature with that so to make it even more interesting. Those are some of the earliest things that I had to struggle with when I first got into King Crimson and I think later the more difficult things became some of the actual instrumental pieces like 'Elektrik’ or things like that, that were really complexed pieces of music. But at first the hardest thing for me to do was to figure out how to be the songwriter over the top of that complicated musical ideas.
I wonder which of these musical pieces from all your career are you the most proud of? Some era or maybe just some song? You’ve released 20 solo albums, which are not very known to the audience, more to your fans. Now there’s 'Flux – music that’s never the same twice’ which is a new experiment for you for sure.
The thing you work hardest on is your own music. The thing that’s the closest to your heart is your own music. The thing that I put most time into is my solo works. On my solo records, many of them, I play all of the instruments. And so I try to make it complete statement of myself personally without even filtering it through the other people’s hands and minds. So I have to say, I think for me the most gratifying thing has always been when I write my solo music and it turns the way I want it to be I’m very proud of it. You’re right, it’s not the most well-known thing and that’s unfortunate, because I think some of my best songs people who might really love the thing I did with David Bowie or King Crimson, might really love those songs even more if they heard them, but they haven’t. That’s OK though, I mean it’s just the way the life is and I’ve had all kinds of great experiences, all of them equally important to me.
I think of course being in King Crimson was the best collaboration I ever had, because it lasted for 33 years and it was very high-quality group of musicians and ideas and concepts, and music was very powerful and I really enjoyed the challenge of all of it. So somewhere between solo works and the King Crimson works I think is really the answer to your question.
You know, all the things you do with the other people like David Bowie or Trent Reznor or Paul Simon or someone, they generally only last a little while. I mean I go on the studio with Trent for four days maybe and make a record, so my investment in it is different, and time and effort. As oppose to say making 'Flux’ which is I worked on for six years now. So when I think of 'Flux’, I think it really represents everything that I musically know and want to say and can do, and it represents the whole of me. Whereas when I think of myself as playing on someone else’s records I think it just represents a small part of what I can do.
So will 'Flux’ be developed like you will deliver another parts to it?
Yes, there’s already been one additional 30-minutes pack that you can add and there’s another one that’s finished that I will release as soon as I get home. Plus I’m releasing now all of the content of 'Flux’. It will be coming out on separate CD’s. The very first one is out now, it’s called 'Flux Volume One’ and at this point right now it’s gonna take probably about 4 or 5 records to cover what’s already in 'Flux’. Meanwhile, I’ve created so much new music even since then. You know, it never stops. When I’m in my home I live in my studio, so as long as I have the time to create I’ll just keep creating for 'Flux’ in particular, because as an artistic platform for me it works best, because any little idea or any big idea can work. Usually, when you’re making a record they all have to be songs, they’ all have to be at certain length, you have to have certain amount of time, etc. But with 'Flux’ all of that stuff is changed. You can do anything that appeals to you and that means that I’m way more productive, so yes, I intend to keep doing it for as long as I can.
That sounds great. Now, I’d like you to tell me something about your band. It’s your 10th anniversary this year, right? It must have been very brave to start playing with such young people, but as I’ve said I saw you perform in 2014 and they’re doing great.
Julie Slick, my bass player – I found her when she was 20 years old. She was just graduating from the School of Rock in Philadelphia and I went to do a seminar for the school and we ended up playing together. We played Frank Zappa song, in fact. And of course her brother as well was with her then and that’s how we came about forming the very first power trio. I flew them both to my studio in Nashville for a weekend and by the end of that weekend I was absolutely certain that they were the right people for me to work with. The fact that they were young – I really enjoyed it, because there was so much of an energy and I didn’t even think about the fact that it might make me look old (laugh).
Well, I just loved their joy and the fact that they were so joyful about playing music. It wasn’t about the music business for them, it wasn’t about money or fame. They were just happy to get to play some great music and they were really thrilled and it was really great for me because it put a new life in some of my older material I was able to go back and now give it a whole new life.
Probably as you know, Eric left the band after 5 years, so for the last 5 years we had Tobias Ralph, who is phenomenal drummer and has fit the band perfectly. ‘Til now you have this power trio for 5 years has done really just about everything a band can do. We’ve played for a 150.000 people and we’ve played for 40 people (laugh) and we’ve played everything in between. And more importantly I think we’ve had such a wonderful shared kind of relationship where, you know, there’s just a three of us, pretty much when we travel maybe one or two people with us at most. We’ve been all over the world many times – Japan, Australia, Europe, Russia, Eastern Europe, South America – everywhere. So when you have a band that’s been together and fight together that much on stage there’s something really magical that happens, you can read each other minds almost. So I think it’s a perfect band for me.
I love the format of being in the power trio, because it means you have only three people to try to create the sound of records or something that was usually made by a lot more people. So each person in the band has to take a larger role, more responsibility musically speaking and I think it works out beautifully. Then, I also think when you have a trio it’s a little easier to improvise together because you can kind of follow each other. So it’s beautiful, I love the power trio, I’m really happy to bring it to Europe. I hope people will come out, because I don’t know how often we can come back to Europe. It’s usually a pretty hard thing to do. But I think the show is what I want it to be, so I’m really proud.
