Hell’s Belles plays this Friday (10/10/2025) at The State Room in Salt Lake City. The band is thankfully no strangers to our city, and it’s great to have them back. I was able to catch lead guitarist Adrian Conner at her home in San Antonio last week, and she was an open book, sharing what playing in the band for over two decades has meant, why she won’t go see other AC/DC tribute bands play, and how performing as Angus Young night after night has been empowering for her. (And if you haven’t seen them play yet, just know you need to.)
Are you part of Hell’s Belles’ origin story?
I didn’t start it. I tried out and didn’t get in the band, not at first. It was the summer of 1999, and I didn’t know what a tribute band was. I knew they existed, but I didn’t know that we were going to be the people. I thought, ‘Oh, we’re gonna be in a dark bar playing covers.’
So I showed up knowing some solos, and that wasn’t the right move. When I started playing in the band in 2000, though, the first show was a huge deal, right away.
I was able to grow and really ham it up, not be so self-conscious. It really brought me out of my shell. I was an extremely shy person with low self-esteem, and this path has taken me to a place where I’ve been empowered. And it’s not just because I’m stepping on stage as Angus. I’ve been changed by the whole journey of trying to have a musical career as my main source of income, working with people, and having to wear different hats.
Has it helped you become a better musician?
Oh my God, yeah. It taught me that simplicity is better in songwriting. I have an album that I wrote and put out before I was in Hell’s Belles, and the music is so complicated. By learning about what’s so fascinating about AC/DC to so many people, I started to understand that mystery and then applied that to my songwriting.
Were you already an AC/DC fan coming into this, or did that come later?
I only knew “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “Back in Black,” just the popular ones. I listened to the classic rock station. As a budding young guitarist, after the whole grunge thing moved on, that music is really what got me. When I discovered it, I fell out of liking anything that was popular, because I loved these songs. I could learn how to play guitar because I fell in love with Led Zeppelin, and then AC/DC was there, too, playing on the radio. I started teaching myself guitar chords from Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, even Stevie Ray Vaughn.
When you learn how to play songs, you realize the genius of them in a whole different way than just liking them because they’re playing on the radio. It touches you and allows you to grow as a fan.
Tell me more about how this experience has helped empower you.
The act we do requires me to be outgoing. There are points of the show that AC/DC has created, like with the strip and the duck walk and just how active a guitarist that Angus is, always facing and going out into the crowd.
And I’ve worn a lot of hats, sometimes doing the booking. Our old booking agent/manager trained me on that back in 2011. Every once in a while, something will go wrong, and we’ll switch. I’ll have to start booking. That’s a big thing to deal with.
When you’re in a band this long, people come and go. When they leave, about 90% of the time, they aren’t doing so in good spirits. Running a band and being the one in charge means endless challenges, trying to learn how to cooperate, but having boundaries.
Have you lasted longer than anyone else in the band?
I’m the longest. When the pandemic happened, everything just broke. My business partner said this was going to be their last year just before that happened. When the pandemic hit, the band completely disintegrated. And I was not ready to end it. I wanted to see if I could find some other people to play with. I did, and here we are.
Did you stop playing as a band during the pandemic, then?
Oh, we played. It was rough. It’s the least amount of shows we’ve ever played. At the same time, the whole world was shutting down, and I was on my way to Salt Lake City to do a show. Venues were still deciding if we were doing this or not. And the day before our Salt Lake City show, everything closed.
That’s a nice memory to have as a city: You were here the day the music died. What’s kept you going longer than all the others?
The need to perform. I’ve been doing this for so long, and I’ve had so many successful shows, that it feels really good. I feel free in a way I don’t when I’m doing my own music. Those shows are really stressful, because I’m trying to win people over. Being with Hell’s Belles is more like a party. It’s carefree. I play in this band, Fea, a punk band, and I’m not the star, so I want to be really careful and stay within some limits. I don’t want to outshine anybody. But if the crowd’s not pumping, sometimes I just want to jump out into the crowd.
How many songs are you up to now in AC/DC’s catalog?
I don’t know. They have so many damn songs, and they keep coming out with albums! They’re still going. There are about five songs in the set that we can change, but the rest of them, we gotta play. There are about 14 songs we absolutely have to play, no matter what.
Do you ever go out and see other tribute bands?
Not AC/DC tribute bands. It would feel like work for me. That doesn’t sound fun. If somebody took me to one, it’d be a little uncomfortable.
Like they’re up there doing what you should be doing.
I’d be taking notes the whole time rather than letting loose.
Ever had any contact with AC/DC?
I met Angus, Malcolm and Brian on the Black Ice tour in 2009 and they were really nice. We had more contact with them in the earlier years. We had a fan named Roger, and he somehow got Brian Johnson to call Mandy (my business partner) on her birthday. I still don’t know how that happened.
What’s the future look like for the band?
You never know when it’s all gonna be over. You might want to buy a ticket to make sure you see it if you haven’t yet. But we have a good team. We have a good thing going. Let’s cross our fingers that it’s not as ephemeral as some bands can be.
Read more of our Music coverage and get the latest on the Arts and Culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.
