Adrian Belew Interview
Zut boF
The career of guitar visionary Adrian Belew has been an inventive
musical odyssey. He has mastered the ability to journey into the avant
garde while anchoring his compositions to the fundamental driving
forces of pop and rock, often playing along the outer edges of
contemporary music in ways that have been punky, new wave, comedic,
bizarre, and twisted.
His talent extends from guitar work with King Crimson to collaborations
with Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Nine Inch Nails, Jars of Clay, Mike
Oldfield, Laurie Anderson, the Jaguares, Robert Palmer, Peter Gabriel,
Crash Test Dummies, Paul Simon, and, another man who's gone where no
man has gone before, actor William Shatner.
While working with musical explorers like Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp,
David Bowie and David Byrne helped hone his music vocabulary, Belew's
solo recording career, beginning with the 1982 debut album, Lone Rhino,
has seen him add a host of words and phrases of his own.
In 1990, Belew won Guitar Player magazine's Experimental Guitarist
award for the fifth time in a row and in 2000, Adrian was honored by
the city of Cinncinati when Peter Frampton handed him a CAMMY lifetime
achievement award. In 2004, Adrian's "Man in the Moon" was selected as
one of the "Top 10 songs for Dads" by Better Homes and Gardens
magazine, along with John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.
Always artistically on the move, Adrian Belew has added his support to
the young musicians of Paul Green's School of Rock Music; started the
Adrian Belew Power Trio; continued to tour and record with King
Crimson; and, found time to record with his long time musician pals,
the Bears. Each of Adrian's latest three solo CDs, Side One, Side Two
and Side Three bear cover art created by...Adrian Belew.
>From his home studio, Adrian spoke with Modern Guitars about his
career, guitars, new projects, and Belew's other love - painting.
Before you met Frank Zappa was your guitar playing or concept of music
more pedestrian?
Adrian Belew: I suppose it was in a sense in that I hadn't discovered
how to play in odd time signatures. I have always liked interesting
music, especially modern classical music like Stravinsky and Vareze. I
even knew about Vareze before I met Frank. And I always liked
interesting percussion ensembles. So, I wouldn't say totally
pedestrian, but I have been caught up before in pop music - Steely Dan,
the Beatles, Hendrix - stuff like that.
Did your musical contributions influence Zappa?
Adrian Belew. Photo by Rick Malkin.
AB: I really don't know. [Laughs] I never had a chance to ask him
that. I'd probably say no. I was in a very early stage in my life.
Since then, I've probably led and mentored and taught rather than
impart things. But, apart from Frank, my work with David Bowie, Talking
Heads, and King Crimson may have inspired others.
The thing with Frank, he really wanted a vocalist-guitarist and so I
would say he was less interested in my guitar playing. That just
wasn't what he needed. He was the guitar player in the band and what
he needed was someone who could cover his guitar parts when he would
sing and who could be both a vocalist and guitarist. And secondly, and
more importantly perhaps, he wanted a front man who'd wear funny
costumes.
Did you start out as a guitar player?
AB: I started out as a singer and I sang all my life to relatives and
anyone else who would listen. I took up the drums at age 10 and joined
my first band when I was 14. I was the drummer, but I was a singing
drummer. It made me kind of special. My band, The Denems, was the
Cincinnati version of the Beatles in the sense that we played all the
classic Beatles stuff from the early '60s and the British Invasion
period before Sergeant Pepper's and Jimi Hendrix and that second round
of the British Invasion.
What are the highlights of working with Robert Fripp?
AB: He was in King Crimson from the git go. He was the founder, along
with Greg Lake, Ian McDonald and Michael Giles in 1969. King Crimson is
always on tour doing something new. You know, working with Robert has
the tendency to bring out things that you didn't know you had in you.
He shows you yourself and challenges you to challenge yourself. He's
a great reflector in that way. So, my years spent in King Crimson have
been really as a partner with Robert in discovering ourselves- what we
can do together and what music we can make that no one else will or can
make.
And David Byrne/Talking Heads?
AB: I came into the Talking Heads in the period when they were on their
rise to fame. It was quite evident. You couldn't walk into a
restaurant without Talking Heads being played in the background. Their
music was custom made for what I was doing. It was really wide open for
colorful and wacky guitar sounds and things. Most of their music was in
one key, very few key changes. And very funky. So, for a guitar player
it was just like a field day. I liked them very much as people - I got
on with them really well. And I felt that they were starting something
new and fresh. I was happy to be a part of it.
It seems you've always been out there on the edge of guitar playing
yet close enough to the mainstream to hold an audience - very edgy and
interesting. Do you have some allegiance to basic rock in your work?
AB: Yeah, I always had in my background kind of an interest in pop
music - well crafted songs, great melodies, succinct guitar solos - and
on other the side, an interest in experimental sounds - the wild stuff
that maybe drives you to the edge a little bit more. I've forever
been trying to combine those two elements. Not many people are
interested in doing that so it's given me my own little audience, as
you say.
I think that it's something that I'll never stop doing because I
think there are always fresh ways to interpret what is called pop
music. And I've never been mainstream, per se. I never had a hit
because I realized what I like to do isn't palatable to the average
listener. I stopped trying. It's more for the musos [Australian term
for musicians] of the world, the ones who like to sit around and really
think about it and be invigorated by it, not the ones who want to watch
American Idol.
How have things have changed for you in the recording arena from your
first solo CD, "The Lone Rhino", to your most recent releases?
Adrian Belew. Photo by Rick Malkin.
AB: Well, for the last 12 years I've had my own recording studio in
at home. I was one of the first people to really embrace the idea of
putting in your own studio when the digital revolution came along and
something like that became more affordable. I stopped spending my
record budgets on large expensive studios which were very impressive
and fun, but nonetheless too expensive. Instead, I built my own studio.
That's the main thing that's happened in my life. I would say that
one of the most important things that's happened to me musically is
the fact that every day I work in my own studio. I have an employee, a
full-time engineer, who comes in every day.
And so, five days a week I'm here. I'm in my studio right now, in
fact. It's a constant generating of ideas even if you only get a
little something done each day. The kind of accumulation that occurs
allows you to put together three studio albums in 18 months.
Well, number four is slated to be a live record. I've never actually
made for my solo work a proper live recording. I think I have got a
very hot band, the Power Trio, and the material is very well suited to
this kind of thing. What I'm covering right now in my live shows is a
little bit of retrospective mixed in with some very new stuff and a
good deal of King Crimson done in a trio format for the first time. So,
I think overall that would make a very good opportunity for a live
record from Adrian Belew.
Your website is ten years old - you caught on to the Internet pretty
early as far as leveraging that technology. Was this your idea?
AB: That was totally the idea of Rob Murphree, who's still the
webmaster today. He's done it faithfully and incredibly well for ten
years, for nothing really. That's incredible because people now
charge thousands of dollars for the privilege. He's kept the website
so well tuned that people like to come back to it. We've recently
gone from about 30,000 hits per month to 250,000. It's an incredible
amount and it says a lot for how good a job Rob Murphree does.
I'm personally not as good with computers as people might imagine.
Well, I don't know what they imagine but I think a lot of people
assume that I'm a real nerd and do a lot of magical things and stuff
with electronics. I actually have trouble plugging in! [Laughs]
I think that's one of the things that keeps a lot of people coming
back to the website. There are a lot of things going on all the time,
little things and big things, and he keeps it completely updated. I
sent him a quick update just yesterday and a few days before that I
sent him a synopsis of our one-month tour of Australia. That's why
people go to websites.
I see a future in it, where it becomes part of your daily ritual. You
visit the site and there might be new visuals or some other new piece
of material. Something's always going on that can keep people
interested. I'm lucky I have Rob.
When did you discover painting and begin to develop that talent?
Side One
AB: Well, it was, I suppose, a little over two years ago. I keep saying
two years, but it's probably closer to three years by now. It was an
accidental occurrence that caused me to want to paint. I always had
thought that when I was a very old person, like 75 or something, that
I'd have time to paint. I'm so entirely overwhelmed and busy all
the time now. I just never thought about doing it.
But as it turns out painting was a great thing to get into. I love to
paint and I approach it the same way I approached music when I first
started learning music. I'm self-taught at everything I've ever
done. And the same is true with my painting. So, I'm constantly
discovering things. And it's so much like music in that you're
dealing with depth and dimension and the colors are just like tone, you
know?
And there are so many things about it that relate to music. It's
really another side of the same creative valve. But it's really blown
open something for me - something in my mind and in my heart. I can
spend hours and lose myself in painting now.
Is the artwork on your latest CDs your own?
AB: Yeah, all the art work on those were painted by me and put together
by me. It was my idea to tie all the three record album covers together
thematically by using similar kinds of looks and layouts. We used a
tri-color system throughout all the records but they change a little
bit from one to another. And we included five or six paintings per
record. I don't know how much interest that generates, but to me
it's one way for people to say to themselves that maybe they should
buy the disc instead of downloading it. Many people are like that.
I'm like that. I like to have the physical elements, especially if
something is unique about it.
What was it like when you and your high school band got back together
for your high school reunion in 1997?
AB: It was incredible! There was something about it that was
unexplainable. I don't know if you'd call it spiritual or what, but
it's like we all turned into teenagers again. And all the people felt
it. The 600 or 800 people all seemed to be transported back to that
earlier time. We played 30 Beatles songs from their early catalog and
it sounded like we had just played together the day before! And apart
from a few added pounds and a little loss of hair here and there, you
could almost imagine being back in 1965. Even some of the girls we'd
grown up with in high school stood in front of the band and screamed
after each song!
Adrian Belew surrounded by his artwork. Photo by Rick Malkin.
"Better Homes and Gardens" named your "Man in the Moon" as one of
its Top 10 Songs for Dads. As a father, how did that make you feel?
AB: Oh, it made me feel incredible! More than just being a father, it
made me feel incredibly sentimental about my father. The song is
written about his death, which happened when I was 19.
I've had a lot of people tell me over the years that it kind of
breaks them up a bit. They're still there in your life. They sit in
your memory and they're still in your mind. My father comes to me in
my dreams a lot. And it's not a bad memory. He comes and goes and we
hang out. It's a good thing. It's a wonderful thing. It's an
honor, period, especially because I'm not the kind of artist that I
think of in terms of being in Better Homes and Gardens. [Laughs]
You're incredibly busy. Are you able to keep a balance among your
various roles with respect to family, friends, and work, and still give
yourself a little space to breathe?
AB: Well, unfortunately, I don't have that many friends these days. I
have to say, my friends are people I've worked with and they're
spread across the universe. Very few of them live here in Nashville
where I live, so that's always been a problem with me. Friendship has
been a problem. I work with people intensely and travel around the
world with them and then don't see them for a year. I'm not much of
a phone person or an emailer. I'm a one-on-one kind of person. I like
to sit and have dinner with you and look at you and tell stories and
laugh.
So, friendship doesn't play that much of a role in my life right now.
My family plays a big part in my life. That's why I have my studio in
my home. My wife and I are home schooling our two little girls. So,
it's a 24-7 thing and if you put all those things together, I
probably spend more time with my family than the average person, even
though there's a lot of traveling in the things I do. I've been
keeping journals for the past 10 years and it turns out that I travel
less than a 100 days a year. So, most of the time, I'm home.
Not bad for a touring musician.
AB: It's really not. We're very strategic. My wife and I manage me.
She takes care of all the contractual business and money stuff and we
make all the decisions together. So, we can be very selective and say,
"This is how much travel we want to do and these are the days that
make sense and these are the ones that don't."
But your question was really about how I juggle or balance things. I
think I do well because I simply allot slots for things. Now I'm
doing this and then the next week I focus on the next thing. It keeps a
lot of things on the back burner and when they get to the boiling
point...[pauses]...I'm using a lot of cooking metaphors
here!...[Laughs]...I focus on the, "We need to finish this now!" It
keeps me changing all the time and forever interested in all the things
I might be trying. One thing is, when you have an employee, he comes,
he shows up every day. You can't decide to say, "I'm going to
take a nap."
You're playing and endorsing Parker Guitars - tell us about how that
came about and the gear you're using.
Side Two
AB: Well, Parker guitars I've loved for 10 or 12 years, since they
first came out. I went to Japan and they gave me one when I was there.
I just loved the way that guitar played! It made playing so much
smoother and fluid and I just loved everything about that guitar. But,
I could never play one live because I had, in a sense, kind of painted
myself in to a corner. Mainly because of all the gimmicks I used,
especially with all the MIDI devices, the Sustainiac, and things like
that, I couldn't imagine turning myself back in time playing guitar
without those things. About two years ago, I finally had a conversation
with Ken Parker and asked him, "Is there any way we can do something
about this?" and he said that he would build some custom guitars for
me.
That is what started the ball rolling that had me switching to Parker
Guitars. It's been something that's completely changed my life
around. It's made me so interested in guitar again because now I can
play what I consider the very best guitar there is. It plays like no
other guitar. It makes me play and makes me want to play better. I play
guitar now more than I ever did because of the Parker Fly, and I'm
not just saying that.
We designed a prototype guitar for me which incorporates all the custom
electronic changes I wanted and that's going to be available at some
point. They're trying to figure out who's going to build it because
it's so complicated. They have everything including a vacuum cleaner
attachment [laughs] built into the guitar. Right now, I'm playing a
Parker Deluxe and loving every minute of it.
I think if you're really interested in why I'm saying about the
Parker Fly, you should go to parkerguitars.com and read about the
evolution of the guitar and you'll learn why, in my opinion, the only
really revolutionary thing that's happened since the invention of the
Stratocasters, Telecasters and Les Pauls of the '50s are these guitars.
You now have a guitar that stays in perfect tune and has no dead spots.
The neck is carbon fiber and can withstand 10,000 pounds of pressure
and it has no dead spots, every note is even, no dead notes and the
tremolo goes all the way up a major third and dive bombs without going
out of tune. And it looks like it has a custom car finish. It's
incredible!
Some Parkers I've seen have very deep, rich finishes.
AB: I was told when I went through the factory that when they're done
painting them they then spin them dry. That's one reason they're so
beautiful. The three colors I chose for my guitars are all chosen from
custom car color books that I have and they're twelve-stage paint
jobs. That means that there are six stages of silver paint and then the
color you put on top of it. So, when you put them under light,
they're incredible. And they change according to the way the light
hits them. They're very modern guitars. It's like a Ferrari versus
a Chevy. No offense to anyone who owns a Chevy. [Laughs]
What other instruments do you play?
AB: I play everything on my records - piano, flute, upright bass,
electric bass, cello, and I have one record where I listed 52
instruments.
Mandolin or banjo?
AB: I do play mandolin, I haven't played banjo. I don't own one. I
play anything I can get my hands on. I have a Japanese koto, for
example, and on Side Two it's a koto all the way through instead of
guitar. I used that as my main instrument. So, just really anything I
can make music with. I'll study it and work with it until I get
something acceptable. It keeps me fresh and keeps me moving forward.
A while back I saw that you were on the road with Paul Green's School
of Rock. How did that come about and what do you do for the school?
Adrian Belew. Photo by Rick Malkin.
AB: It came about through Paul Green just reaching us and saying he was
interested in "doing something with Adrian". I participated in a
master's series, where they get someone to meet with their All-Stars.
There are fifteen schools and the All-Stars are the top forty students.
They have an Alpha Team and an Omega Team with twenty students each out
of 1,500 students. The twenty I worked with learned my music and King
Crimson music and it turned out quite well. The school wants its
students to learn and be intrigued by two things: Frank Zappa and King
Crimson music. They consider those influences to have the advanced
elements that they want their students to gravitate towards.
So we learned. Twenty students and I learned a full show's worth of
my material and King Crimson material. The idea was to rehearse with
them for a couple of days and then go out and play. I mean real shows,
like the Knitting Factory in L.A. and the World Café in Philadelphia.
The students run the whole show, including set up and merchandising.
Their music assignment might be to learn five songs or three songs
because the band is not a full-time band. It's a floating band. We
also put in a couple of seminars. When we were in New York we went to
the New Jersey branch of the school and I did a two-hour seminar.
Any inspiring or touching stories about the kids?
AB: Two of their earliest graduates and most applauded graduate
students are a brother and sister team, Eric and Julie Slick. Eric
plays drums and Julie plays bass. I met them at a show and they did
"City of Lights" and they're just astoundingly bright kids and
eager to do stuff. I thought that this would be an opportunity for them
and for me. I like to have people in my band who are fresh and eager to
play and malleable in the sense that I want to direct the proceedings,
like a teacher, as I'm doing this.
I'm really excited about it and I'm sure they are too. Eric has
been playing with Project Object that is a New York-based Frank Zappa
tribute band that has some of the players from Frank Zappa's band.
Ike Willis and Napoleon Brock are sometimes with them. It's an
incredibly accurate version of Frank Zappa's music and Eric's the
drummer.
For a 19-year-old kid to be able fill the shoes of people like Ainsley
Dunsbar and Terry Bozzio, you can imagine what he's like. But at the
same time, he's a very solid person and a very unaffected young kid who
just wants to work. It's so great being around that kind of
enthusiasm. It's a little bit like the Denems' reunion for me,
because it's putting me back into that frame of mind where I want to
work harder and harder to achieve.
I also like being back into that power trio thing because it causes
everyone in the band to work harder, you have a lot of room to fill.
And if you're the guitarist in that band and you don't have another
guitar player to rely on, you really have to be thinking on your feet.
It gives you a lot of freedom but it also puts a lot of responsibility
on you as well.
What projects do you have percolating?
Side Three
AB: This week I have rehearsals with Eric and Julie and I'm finishing
up the Bears' new record. It's our fifth record together. Beyond
that, I'm working quietly with Robert Fripp on something called
Project Fix that will be all improvised music. We do want to play some
shows, but the long term idea is that by doing things together we can
generate the building blocks to pull something together for the next
King Crimson record, even though I'm on drums.
I feel a little funny being on drums, but Robert says that he needs it
to be me so he can loosen up enough so he can create something. He's
playing brilliant guitar stuff and I'm struggling playing drums. With
the v-drums, I have my bass drum and cymbals and things and I sequence
the bass lines. So, I'm the drummer and the bass player. We're a
trio of two! [Laughs]!
Related Links
Adrian Belew
The Adrian Belew Power Trio
King Crimson
Charles Ulrich
"Zut boF" <zut...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/002393.html
>
> Adrian Belew. Photo by Rick Malkin.
Any relation to Butzis?
--Charles
Bill
Charles Ulrich <ulr...@sfu.ca> wrote:
Well, you can contact him through rickmalkin.com .... ;)
TODD TAMANEND CLARK
http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/002393.html
> MG: You're playing and endorsing Parker Guitars - tell
> us about how that came about and the gear you're using.
>
> AB: Well, Parker guitars I've loved for 10 or 12 years,
> since they first came out. I went to Japan, and they
> gave me one when I was there.
Parker Guitars are made in Massachusetts, so I'm not
sure what the connection to Japan is here.
> I just loved the way that guitar played! It made playing
> so much smoother and fluid and I just loved everything
> about that guitar. But, I could never play one live
> because I had, in a sense, kind of painted myself in to
> a corner. Mainly because of all the gimmicks I used,
> especially with all the MIDI devices, the Sustainiac,
> and things like that, I couldn't imagine turning myself
> back in time playing guitar without those things. About
> two years ago, I finally had a conversation with Ken
> Parker and asked him, "Is there any way we can do
> something about this?" and he said that he would build
> some custom guitars for me.
>
> That is what started the ball rolling that had me switching
> to Parker Guitars. It's been something that's completely
> changed my life around. It's made me so interested in
> guitar again because now I can play what I consider the
> very best guitar there is. It plays like no other guitar. It
> makes me play and makes me want to play better. I play
> guitar now more than I ever did because of the Parker
> Fly, and I'm not just saying that.
>
> We designed a prototype guitar for me which incorporates
> all the customelectronic changes I wanted and that's going
> to be available at some point. They're trying to figure out
> who's going to build it because it's so complicated. They
> have everything including a vacuum cleaner attachment
> [laughs] built into the guitar. Right now, I'm playing a
> Parker Deluxe and loving every minute of it.
I've used a 1997 Parker Fly Deluxe Vibrato for nearly nine
years now.
> I think if you're really interested in why I'm saying about
> the Parker Fly, you should go to parkerguitars.com...
> ... and read about the evolution of the guitar and you'll
> learn why, in my opinion, the only really revolutionary
> thing that's happened since the invention of the
> Stratocasters, Telecasters, and Les Pauls of the '50s
> are these guitars.
Let's not forget Steinberger guitars, which were a
revolutiuonary design prior to Parker guitars.
> You now have a guitar that stays in perfect tune and
> has no dead spots. The neck is carbon fiber and can
> withstand 10,000 pounds of pressure, and it has no
> dead spots, every note is even, no dead notes, and the
> tremolo goes all the way up a major third and dive
> bombs without going out of tune. And it looks like it has
> a custom car finish. It's incredible!
>
> MG: Some Parkers I've seen have very deep, rich finishes.
>
> AB: I was told when I went through the factory that when
> they're done painting them they then spin them dry.
> That's one reason they're so beautiful. The three colors
> I chose for my guitars are all chosen from custom car
> color books that I have, and they're twelve-stage paint
> jobs. That means that there are six stages of silver paint
> and then the color you put on top of it. So, when you
> put them under light, they're incredible. And they change
> according to the way the light hits them. They're very
> modern guitars. It's like a Ferrari versus a Chevy. No
> offense to anyone who owns a Chevy. [Laughs]
In spite of my love for my Parker guitar, I still use my
Steinbergers frequently, as well as my Paul Reed Smith
and my BC Rich seven-string. Adrian Belew and I also
both use Johnson Millennium Stereo One-Fifty amplifiers.
- - - - - -
TODD TAMANEND CLARK
Poet / Composer / Multi-Instrumentalist / Cultural Historian
The Monongahela River, Turtle Island
http://cdbaby.com/all/primalpulse
http://myspace.com/toddtamanendclark
http://rateyourmusic.com/~Todd_Clark
Billy's Daddy
The new Billy Cmelak "Tribute" Photo Site is up at
http://www.buccaneerpublishing.com/Cmelak.htm
William Cmelak
N9340 Pickerel Creek Rd
Pearson, WI 54462-8140
(715) 484-3029
William A. "Bill" Cmelak is the infamous troll who posts as
Hoo...@Spamcop.net. Cmelak, or "Little Willie" as his ex-wife Lori
used to call him when discussing his sexual abilities, is an
unattractive, overweight 54-year old man (think in terms of Haystacks
Calhoun with bad teeth) living in the small town of Antigo, Wisconsin.
Harboring a desire to flee to warmer climates, poor finances have
constrained Cmelak to a life in various rural parts of Wisconsin. A
wannabe outdoorsman and "frugal living" enthusiast, Cmelak's
cheap lifestyle has been encouraged by a series of debts and resulting
lawsuits that he incurred in recent years (go to
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/ and search for "William Cmelak" for a
portion of his legal problems). Were it not for a piece of property
that Cmelak inherited from an elderly relative in Antigo he would
undoubtedly be homeless today.
Variously listing his occupation as "foole" and as "self-made
nobody" Cmelak suffers from extremely low self esteem. His current
occupation is unknown but is believed to be clerk at a convenience
store. Cmelak has a strong jealously of those that he feels are more
successful than himself and his standard trolls include distortion of
the facts (he will make up financial records of his victims while not
mentioning that he is a debtor, for instance). Falsification of
newsgroup posts and email correspondence, are known tactics of Cmelak.
GENERALLY SPEAKING, IF CMELAK WRITES IT, ASSUME THAT IT IS A LIE.
Cmelak has been known to work in conjunction with other trolls,
including the equally infamous Karen Anderson troll (Karen Anderson
becomes infatuated with men that she has never met. To date, she has
stalked between 5 and 7 men that she has meet, often under platonic
circumstances, online). Cmelak has also been know to work in
conjunction with anti-Mexican racists, an unsavory group that he feels
that he can draw support from.
Cmelak is a voracious reader, particularly of fiction, as would be
typical of a loner living a frugal lifestyle in a cold climate. Cmelak
is described by neighbors as being a loner, "weird," and generally
antisocial. There is no evidence that he dates or has shown any
interest in women since his wife left him circa 1995. Small children
and barnyard animals may be at risk if left alone with Cmelak.
Cmelak is a model airplane enthusiast and actively involved in the
geocaching community, where he can often be found hiding "treasure
troves" for GPS equipped enthusiasts. Think in terms of hide and
seek for near-adults.
William Cmelak
N9340 Pickerel Creek Rd
Pearson, WI 54462-8140