Back in the early ’80s, versatile singer-guitarist Adrian Belew joined prog rockers King Crimson for three albums: Discipline, Beat and Three of a Perfect Pair. Those releases paired Crimson’s psychedelic musings with accessible harmonies and vocals. While that lineup of the band is no longer intact, Belew recently recruited guitar hero Steve Vai, bassist Tony Levin and Tool drummer Danny Carey (since replaced by Terry Bozzio) to play songs from those albums. The current 40-city tour comes to the Agora on Friday, Oct. 30.
“Adrian and I were both in King Crimson in the ’80s, and we recorded three albums that were very special,” says Levin via Zoom from Los Angeles, where the band was rehearsing. “Two years ago, Adrian said, ‘Let’s form a different band and pay homage to these compositions. He wanted me for the band, but he did not want other Crimson members. He landed on Steve Vai, who is tasked not just with playing really well but playing [guitarist] Robert Fripp’s very difficult parts. That said, Steve needs to still play like Steve Vai. We are not a cover band.”
Levin, who describes himself as a “Motown guy,” first went into the studio with King Crimson when it cut Discipline, arguably one of its best releases. Not a bad way to begin his tenure with the group.
“Working on that album was pretty amazing,” says Levin, who met Fripp while they were working with Peter Gabriel in 1976. “I walked into that session [for Peter Gabriel’s self-titled debut] not knowing Genesis, the band that Peter Gabriel had just left, and not knowing King Crimson, the band that Robert Fripp was in. [When I eventually joined King Crimson], Adrian and I were two Americans playing in a British band.”
To fit in with the proggy group, Levin adopted the Chapman Stick, a touch-style bass guitar with 12 strings, to play in Crimson with Fripp and Co.
“It has its own percussive sound, which I used on ‘Elephant Talk’ and a lot of other King Crimson songs,” says Levin of the Stick.
While Crimson had a cult following of British prog rock fans, Belew and Levin helped expand the band’s appeal, both in the studio and live.
“Adrian has a way of bringing complex music to people in a way that they can feel it and understand it, especially on stage,” says Levin. “He’s a wonderful performer who’s very happy, and everyone senses how much fun he’s having. It’s true. We’re not acting. We have a great deal of fun in the interplay with one another.”
While a version of King Crimson currently exists without Levin and Belew, Levin doesn’t take his exclusion from the ensemble personally.
“I’ve been in a few of the incarnations but not all of them,” he says. “It’s all up to Robert. In my opinion, King Crimson speaks to Robert. He’s the essence of what it is. He might not even understand that. When he decides there needs to be a new lineup, I think it’s King Crimson speaking to him. I respect his musicality, and I go along with it.”
Levin says he’s not sure how long the current lineup of BEAT will continue to tour but admits he was surprised when Vai recently announced it would be the group’s last tour, something he said band members have yet to discuss.
“I do know that Steve has commitments for the first nine months of next year, so we won’t be doing anything then,” says Levin. “Beyond that, I just don’t know. I wish I did. Being a freelance musician and in a band or two gets complicated. We do all of the above happily, and Crimson fans have been so wonderful. They like to be challenged, and we give them that. It’s great when the audience is willing to go where we are trying to go musically and can join you in that adventure.”
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