Adrian Belew tour is all about power trio

A kicky melody befitting a late-1950s spy show launches the new Adrian Belew song, "a13."

It's from a new album, "Elevator," Belew wrote during COVID downtime, and is ready to weave into setlists on his summer tour visiting a venue near you.

"My feeling is that when we come through this, people will want to be uplifted, that's where the title, "Elevator," comes from," said Belew, a longtime King Crimson member and David Bowie and Frank Zappa guitarist, who describes his 25th solo album as "songs to make people feel better."

"For 'a13,' I had these visualizations of getting on a train and going anywhere just to get away,'' Belew said. "There's a line that says, 'If I never see a mask again, it'll be too soon.' I still feel that way."

"A13" isn't indicative of the album's whole sound, though, which he says features "three pretty deep" tracks, and the rest "is what I'm known for, pop songs done in an avant-garde way, some say."

Belew plans to play five of those new ones, and a batch of other songs he's never played on tour, as he headlines venues like The Oaks Theater in Oakmont on July 24; City Winery in Washington, D.C., on July 30; Rams Head in Annapolis on July 31; Newton Theater in Newton, N.J., on Aug. 6; and City Winery in Philadelphia on Aug. 16.

"The way we're contouring this particular show is starting out playing songs as a power trio, then me alone doing an acoustic set. That goes about 20 minutes, then a short break so people can buy 'Elevator' copies on CD," Belew said. "Then we finish with the power trio doing heavy-hitting ones. By then, we'll be burning the ceiling down on the place. That's how we end it, the show starts a little more gently.

"These days, I pretty much only do my own songs. Sometimes I've done Zappa or Bowie and things like that. I do include my 33 years of King Crimson when I wrote songs."

As someone so prolific, crafting a setlist involves a process.

"You start with, 'This is one we haven't played before much,' and then 'These ones we've played too much, so let's give it a rest,' and then, 'Here are some interesting ones we can do something new with,' and then, of course, add some 'Elevator' songs."

Rounding out his power trio is longtime bandmate Julie Slick on bass, and new drummer Johnnie Luca.

"He's a younger guy, 27," Belew said.

Luca cut his teeth playing in The Catskills band camp taught by Belew and King Crimson members Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto.

"That was a good chance to work (Johnnie) over and throw him in with the big boys," Belew said. "He's also a good singer. His voice will blend well with mine. That's one of the reasons I picked him. We're doing more songs on this tour."

Belew enjoys a power trio because "it can reinterpret material almost with more depth."

A fan of power trios like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and Rush, Belew explained, "In a power trio, everyone plays a lot. Me, with my Looper, I can also be like the fourth member of the band. It does allow musicians more freedom and space. Everyone takes on a larger role. It just sounds more fresh and exciting with a lot of notes. Good thing I don't pay my band by the notes, or I'd be a poor man."

A drummer, himself, on his solo records, Belew makes sure his drummers don't play too many notes. "I don't want a drummer going wild all the time, I just want a sense of that.," he said.

"I don't want some drummer who can't stop playing," adding with a laugh, "I don't work with those drummers."

Belew worked with a bevy of musical virtuosos in 1977 and '78 when he joined Zappa's band.

"Frank's band was the first major thing I did. I had been in cover bands playing songs off the radio before that. To be asked into his world was an amazing opportunity. As you know, his music is incredibly complex and I had three months to rehearse it. I'm self-taught, I don't read music like all the other guitarists. But I learned a lot from him, and not just guitar, but how to make records, about touring, about how to have your own business, how you master a record. Because we basically hung out all the time."

After that Zappa tour ended, Belew briefly joined the tour band of Bowie. A dozen years later, Bowie rehired Belew as music director on the British rock legend's "Sound + Vision'' greatest hits tour.

"So many things were life-changing for me about that tour. That's where I met my wife. We've been married since then, 32 years. It was just incredible to be a part of something on that big a level. I got to play in 27 countries. It was one of those tours where you were gone for so long when you got home you can't remember anyone's name. It was just go, go, go but it was amazing.

"We had a $12 million stage that had to be assembled each show and that took two whole days.'' he recalled. "I enjoyed all the places David and I got to see together, including a lot of museums. And the money was incredible as well, of course. I wish all the good musicians I know could have that experience."

Belew will help fans get a glimpse of the Bowie experience when he and Todd Rundgren spearhead a "Celebrating David Bowie'' tribute tour this autumn. The 15-date jaunt includes stops at the Rams Head in Annapolis, Maryland, on Halloween night, Town Ballroom in Buffalo, New York, on Nov. 5 and Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Belew's home of Nashville on Nov. 7.

Belew co-wrote a song for the next Rundgren album.

"Todd asked me if I had any songs that were unfinished, and I said, 'Yes, lots of them,'" Belew said. "He said, 'Send me one.' I sent him one that basically had verses but not a chorus. He wrote the chorus and I think it turned out really well."

That song, called "Puzzle," has been on delay as Rundgren's record label sorts out the vinyl supply chain.

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And there's no release date, and maybe never will be, for a King Crimson song Belew has finished from a 1983 rehearsal by the esteemed progressive rock band he played with between 1981 and 2009.

"No one knows this but I finished one of our old songs and sent it to them. I don't know if it will ever come out," he said.

King Crimson founder and leader Robert Fripp didn't bring aboard Belew for the band's most recent tours.

Does Belew hope to rejoin any future King Crimson projects?

"It's been 14 years, and I've lived almost a different life since then, with my own tours and records and 'Piper,' which won an Oscar (Belew wrote the score for the Pixar film that won the 2017 Academy Award for Best Animated Short)."

He said he wouldn't turn down an invitation to play with King Crimson again, "But I don't feel that's coming. It's Robert's band, and I don't feel he's preparing to do that. Though Robert and I remain on good terms."

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Talking about his July 24 show in suburban Pittsburgh brought back memories for Belew of a show at the former I.C. Light Amphitheater.

"It was an acoustic show, and I did 'The Rail Song,' off my second solo record, and lo and behold while I was playing it a train whooshed by at that exact time. Afterward, people asked me, 'How did you get that to happen?' They thought I paid the railroad.''

Belew said, "I have lots of memories of Pittsburgh. I got so lost once after going back to my room to take a shower. I was all mixed up, of course, this was before GPS, and I barely made it to the stage on time. I was sweating thinking I'd be late."

Sounds like a scene from "Spinal Tap.''

"Oh, I got to play with them once, in Phoenix," Belew said. "Their guitar player came up to me, and still speaking in British, asked do I want to join them?"

Belew admitted at that moment he wasn't very versed in Spinal Tap material, but the mockumentary band's guitarist Nigel Tufnel (comedian Christopher Guest) persisted.

"Do you know an E cord?" he asked Belew. "If so, then you're in."

"We encored with 'Break Like The Wind' and 'Big Bottom,' " Belew recalls. "Of course, we were turned up to 11."

So a fun and successful career for the 72-year-old Kentucky native, whose solo work only dented the Billboard charts once, for his 1989 novelty hit "Oh Daddy," where he converses with his young daughter who asks when he's ever going to write a hit tune.

"I was happy to do that song for two reasons," Belew said. "One, my 10-year-old daughter wanted to go into the studio with me and sing in a microphone. So that's what we did. I didn't think it was going to be on a record. But a record executive from Atlantic Records happened to walk by while we were in the studio and heard it and said we've got to sign that. That's the only song on the album that resonates like that, but I got a record deal out of it. It came with a fun little video. The video was more of a hit. The video channels back then were all playing it.

"But I'm glad it wasn't so big that I have to play it every night."

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Scott Tady is entertainment editor of The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.