Interviews -Adrian Belew-

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I heard you shaved your head too.

Adrian：Yes I did, during the making of this record. Often times, the things that are in the songs are taken from real life, of course. It's a reflection of little things that are going on around you. What I try to do as a lyricist for King Crimson is to represent the whole band, not just my own personal views. I save my personal moments for solo albums. But in that case, "Prozakc Blues", I think everybody got a kick out of the idea that I shaved my head during the making of the record, so I thought it would be interesting to throw that in (laughs).

So, the song came after you shaved your head?

Adrian：The song came after.

Are you planning any solo activities after this tour with King Crimson?

Adrian：I have a solo record in the making. And I also have a record with my band from the 80's called The Bears. We have 12 songs finished. And I also have a compilation album that has at this point 90 tracks. It's called "Dust," and it's a compilation of rarities. It'll be a box set. In fact, it's getting to be such a big box set, it'll be a box set with wheels on it, I think. So anyway, there are many other things I'm doing, but at this point, I'm focusing on King Crimson. And I think it will be a little while before the next solo album, because I'm doing so many things with Crimson. But always, there will be more.

Can you give us a glimpse of what the box set will be like?

Adrian：There is at least 30 songs on it that were never released. There are live cuts, there are outtakes, remixes, and versions of songs that sound very different from the original versions. A lot of very interesting things. And it's all stuff that I was the writer in. So it's solo stuff, King Crimson stuff, The Bears stuff. That's restricted to just that, because I can't use things from people that I worked with that I wasn't the writer in. It's got a lot of great things on it. It's gonna be a history of the last 20 years of music making that I've been involved in. Kind of a retrospect look back from the first solo album on.

You worked with Nine Inch Nails on "The Fragile" album.I heard that while recording, you didn't know how your part was to be used. How did you like the outcome of your contribution?

Adrian：Oh, I like it. I never can tell when I play on Trent's record (laughs), because he takes the sounds that I give him and manipulates them. That's one of the reasons why I like working with him, because he has a very unusual way of making records. It's not the way I normally make records. So, we have a good relationship. I like working with him. I've worked with him on his last two records. When he's making his records, everything is in a loop. So I play guitar, and if I feel like it, I can play for an hour (laughs). And keep playing things, and it just keeps getting added into the loop. So, we had all these things on the floor, and Trent would come over and keep plugging in all these different pedals while I played (laughs). And he'd change sounds, and I'd play some more. So it's a pretty exciting way to make records.

"Loop" meaning the whole album?

Adrian：It's always in a loop, yeah. And then they go back and they can take whatever little segments they liked of my playing, and mix it into the record. It's a pretty different way of making a record.

Not one song at a time?

Adrian：Well, it is one song at a time, but as you're recording it, you can play as long as you like. In other words, in a normal song, you would have 16 bars where you play a guitar solo, but in Trent's song, you can play forever, as long as you want. They have it all looped, they're recording all of it. And they go back and find the parts that they like and make a solo out of that.

Are there any other players in recent bands that interest you?

Adrian：I think there are many great players. I'm always interested in meeting new players, and seeing what chemistry can happen between us. I don't have a lot of time to listen to all the new music. So, I'm very selective about what I can choose to spend my time on. Most of the time I'm making music. So I can't say that I know that many new players, but I think that there are some new great ones out there.

What have you been listening to recently?

Adrian：In terms of pop records, the last thing I was listening to was the latest XTC record. But I usually don't listen to pop music that much. Mostly I listen to classical music -- modern classical. I listened recently to the last batch of material from Frank Zappa's classical works, which was called "Civilization Phaze III". I also like world musics. I like Indian music, Japanese music... And so, if I have enough time to put on music for a while, I'll probably play something like that, a modern classical piece or something. I don't really keep in touch with what's going on in current music.

So far, you've worked with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, David Burne, and Robert Fripp. They are all known for being distinctive characters. What's the secret to getting along with these kind of people?

Adrian：Yes. That's a good question. They are very different kinds of people. And they all have, as you said, very innovative styles and ideas. I think there are some common ground in their musics, but not a lot, actually. Because, I also worked with people like Paul Simon, Cindy Lauper, and other people who have no real common ground with Frank Zappa or David Bowie. I think it's because, first of all, musically, I'm flexible. I can play and hear a lot of different styles and things. So if you ask me what I would do on this song, I can probably give you 5 different options. And then I think on a personal level, it's because I'm an easy person to get along with. I make friends easily, and I try to have a sense of humor about everything, and not take it all too seriously. And, you know, people like David Bowie, they like to have somebody in their life that's not so star-struck, or maybe overly serious.

I would think a normal person would die of stress if he worked with all these people.

Adrian：(Laughs) There are times when I get a little nervous for a minute. But it goes away fast. I sort of base everything on the presumption that I belong there. So, maybe I'm one of them! (Laughs) Also, no matter what you think of someone, because they're so famous, they are just people. Everyone is people, and eventually you can find something that's human enough to connect with. I never met anyone famous yet that really didn't have any normal life in some ways. They get up, and they eat, and they drink, and they have fun, and they talk, and they party, and -- all the things that everyone else does. They just do them under a microscope.

Finally, what do you think was the benefit of being part of the revived King Crimson of the 90's?

Adrian：King Crimson always has provided me with a challenging brand of music to work in, where I can collaborate with other musicians who are like-minded. Throughout my career it seems as though I've had three areas that I work in. Do my own music as solo music, be part of the band King Crimson, and work with assorted artists on their music. And I think all three things must be essential to what I do. If I just had just any one of them, maybe I wouldn't be able to progress as much. So I'm quite happy to be in such a great band, and then I'm quite happy to go out and make my own music. So it's a great combination for me. A good counterbalance. The nice thing about King Crimson is that the idea of the band is to keep changing, renew things, and even though there is a tradition that goes underneath it all, there's a music that we make that only King Crimson makes, but we keep trying to make it a different way. And so that's what's so challenging. That's why I'm glad to stay in the band and continueon. And that's why I'm glad that this band has changed now to a four-piece band, because I think it gives us a new life, a new chemistry again, which is what the band needs to do.

Is there any chance that you might play "People" or "Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream" in Japan?

Adrian：We haven't learned "People" yet, but we have learned "Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream", and we're gonna play it tomorrow night. We're now at the point where we can change our set around every night and not play exactly the same songs. We havent played "Sex..." for any of the Japanese audiences we played to yet, so, it's gonna be fun. I'd like to learn "People" though. I think that would be fun for this band. I'll take your recommendation and tell the band!

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