“They can steal pretty much everything. They haven’t figured out a way of stealing the live experience. And they still have to pay for that!” Adrian Belew on survival, orchestra music and Frank Zappa

Adrian Belew has added his distinctive guitar to a diverse and stellar cast including Frank Zappa, King Crimson, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Laurie Anderson, Herbie Hancock, Paul Simon, Porcupine Tree, Trent Reznor and even William Shatner. In 2011 – long before he hit the road with Crimson offshoot Beat – he told Prog that musicians’ survival lay in performing live.

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In 1977 you joined Frank Zappa’s band. What, if push came to shove, are your favourite Zappa tracks?

Zoot Allures [from Zoot Allures, 1976]. The soaring feedback guitar lines over modal chord changes make this one of his most direct, even accessible musical pieces of Frank’s vast catalogue, and the effect is hauntingly beautiful.

With all the skills Frank had people sometimes overlook his voice. On Po-Jama People [One Size Fits All, 1975] I love the way he sings like a cartoon character might. I’ve sung it to each of my children growing up and they’ve all adored it.

One of the tracks Frank gave me to learn as an audition piece was Andy [One Size Fits All]. Another stunning piece of music which happens to be a song as well – and it certainly gave me pause to wonder what I was getting into!

Peaches en Regalia [Hot Rats, 1969] will always remain dear to me. It was often the first song of our performances together. Frank and I played the guitar parts in unison. What an honour that was.

You clearly love working in your power trio, featuring Julie Slick on bass, and Marco Minnemann on drums. What does it allow you to do that you can’t do in King Crimson?

First of all, it’s my vehicle more than Crimson. Obviously when when it’s you and Robert Fripp, you share ideas, and you can’t play all the time. Secondly, the trio gives me a different platform to work from. When you’re the only guitarist you have to fill in and really shine. I think it makes me a better player and gives me room to move around.

The trio have played all over the world. Any stand-out moments for you?

Chile was truly mind-blowing – all of South America was, but the first show in Chile was absolutely amazing. They turned away hundreds of people. The traffic was stopped and everything! I’d only played there once before with David Bowie in 1990; that’s a long time ago and I wasn’t expecting there to be much of an audience!

The coolest thing was that before we started playing they were pounding on the floor, a thousand people strong – incredible. We came out and we were like, “It can only go downhill now!”

You recently performed your 43-minute composition, e, on guitar with the Metropole Orchestra in the Netherlands. How did that come about?

I always dreamed of doing it, but I never thought I would because it’s a huge, very expensive undertaking, and I live in the US where they don’t fund these kinds of things! It took three years of writing on and off, and although it was definitely as a showcase for the power trio, in the back of my mind I kept thinking I’d like to have an orchestra play it.

I’d mentioned that in the press when the e album was released in 2009, and it just so happens that the guy who directs the Metropole Orchestra is a big fan. He called me out of the blue and said, ‘We’d love to do your orchestral piece!’

I don’t see myself stopping playing live right now… it’s the one thing left, and I’d like to continue it

“They’re funded partly by the government and partly by the largest broadcasting company in the Netherlands. So, in February 2010, I played guitar by myself, in front of the orchestra; and that was like a dream come true.

Where did your interest in working with an orchestra come from?

I joined the school marching band playing the drums. They’d take us over to Cincinnati Music Hall four times a year to hear great symphony orchestras playing all this really great, heavy duty music.

Before I had a pop ear – and all the things that followed from that – I really liked orchestral music first; it was the thing that really awed me. If you’re 12 years old and you hear a 70-piece orchestra in a perfect acoustic hall, it’ll do that!

In a culture of increasing expectations that music should be free, are you optimistic about being able to survive?

The glass is definitely half-full for me. The story has not been fully written on what’s going to happen with intellectual property; I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. But the thing that I realised is that although they can steal pretty much everything else, they haven’t yet figured out a way of stealing the live experience. If they want to see you play live, they’ve got to come along and see you – and they still have to pay for that!

Your King Crimson ex-colleague Bill Bruford has retired from live work [he changed his mind and returned in 2023]. Do you think you’ll be following him soon?

No! No way. I don’t see myself stopping playing live right now because, as I said, it’s the one thing left, and I’d like to continue it. I don’t know what else I would do if I weren’t doing this.

Sid’s feature articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications including Prog, Classic Rock, Record Collector, Q, Mojo and Uncut. A full-time freelance writer with hundreds of sleevenotes and essays for both indie and major record labels to his credit, his book, In The Court Of King Crimson, an acclaimed biography of King Crimson, was substantially revised and expanded in 2019 to coincide with the band’s 50th Anniversary. Alongside appearances on radio and TV, he has lectured on jazz and progressive music in the UK and Europe.  

A resident of Whitley Bay in north-east England, he spends far too much time posting photographs of LPs he’s listening to on Twitter and Facebook.