Ian Anderson interviews

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More than likely a cut 'n' paste but interesting none the less

www.wr.de/kultur/ian-anderson-ist-zum-50-bestehen-von-jethro-tull-auf-tour-id215016595.html

Ian Anderson is on tour for the 50th anniversary of "Jethro Tull"
05.08.2018 - 17:42 o'clock

He is 70, but certainly not tired. Ian Anderson goes on tour with the band that would not exist without him: "Jethro Tull": An interview.

Ian Anderson taught the rock the transverse flute tones. The squeamish Scot has been on stage for 50 years with "Jethro Tull" as a blender of rock, blues, jazz, folk and classical music. In an interview with Olaf Neumann , 70-year-old Grammy Award winner Anderson talks about age, colleagues and the anniversary tour.

Is a tour just as exciting for you today as in the 70s, 80s and 90s?

Ian Anderson: If I were a British jumbo jet pilot, I would have had to retire five years ago and would probably play golf or fish today. I can not imagine anything more boring! Lucky for me, that I'm still allowed to live my teen dream at 70!

How do you celebrate the 50th anniversary of your band on stage?

Not only do I perform the repertoire of Jethro Tull that I wrote 40 years ago; I also pay homage to the 36 musicians who played in this band over time. Many of them do not make music anymore today. Some are already dead.

Are you expecting visits from former members on the tour?

Would you invite your ex-girlfriend to your wedding? The musicians I am currently working with have a very good feeling of being in this band. If people from earlier days came to play a few songs, they would probably feel a little uncomfortable.

Do you sometimes compare your old records to the things you do today?

Yes, I do. I test my perception and my senses. I have to do that because I'm an old man and I do not hear as well as I did at 25. The music I'm writing today may have some similarities, but I'm not trying to restore anything in particular. I make new music because I want to create something new.

The game of golf comes for Ian Anderson of "Jethro Tull" only with the infirmities of old age
Have you become calmer?

In the world of art and entertainment, one can happily work into old age. Suffering, weakness, mental illness, dementia - all these things will happen. When it's time for me, I hope someone whispers in my ear, "Learn to play golf!"

Are there things you can do better at 70 than at 25?

Every artist will answer this question with yes, because it is important to believe that you have not written your best song yet. Of course, this is not always the case in reality. Although Beethoven wrote his best symphony very late in his life, he was only 54 years old at the time. John Lee Hooker got another Grammy at 83. But those are exceptions. The excessive lifestyle in the world of rock'n'roll and jazz takes its toll. Poor Pavarotti, for example, has eaten himself to death. At last he could not sing anymore. Having to watch such physical deterioration is very sad. For me, every new, healthy day is like a present!

Are you so fit because you've never tasted the sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll life?

Well, I've always had a pretty orderly life because I'm a thoroughly professional. When I'm not on tour I go to sleep at 7 pm and get up the next morning at six. Life is easier if you are punctual and follow the rules. We have never missed a plane or a train.

[JTull 007]

                                  Sometimes it feels like 1988 ...

                                 Recording by Gerald Bostock

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www.thequint.com/entertainment/music/ian-anderson-exclusive-interview-jethro-tull



Rockstar Ian Anderson Loves Prawn Jalfrezi As Much as Whiskey
NARENDRA KUSNUR23H 41M AGO

Ian Anderson, the frontman of iconic British rock band Jethro Tull, fantastic flautist, guitarist, composer and singer, has been connected with me in some eccentric manner over the years. The first time was, when Anderson signed an autograph on the Thick As A Brick cassette back in March 1993, a day before he leaped from his bed at his Oberoi Hotel room, to see the Air India building blast in Mumbai.

The man has a hilarious sense of humour. An over-confident journalist once asked him what it took him to move on as someone with long hair and a flowing beard, to becoming someone with a bald and receding hairline. Ian shot back, "At least I am not like Elton John who wears a dead cat on his head."

Anderson turns 71 on Friday, 10 August. Simultaneously, he is doing a tour to celebrate 50 years of Jethro Tull. A few months ago, Anderson released an album 50 For 50, where he shortlisted 50 songs by his band over those years.

We have stayed connected, after three phone conversations and two personal meetings, besides two press conferences. He won't remember my face but that's the 'Ian charm'. Anderson is a legend in his own right. Many of us know that. But he is prompter than the pigeon, crow or sparrow on the window. He always responds to questions in his own witty way.

CONTINUATION OF ARTICLE AND Q&A HERE

[JTull 007]

Yesterday a great interview with Ian Anderson in the Aachen newspaper.   LINK 
On Friday, he opens our festival with Jethro Tull. We're looking forward to the start.
     
                    

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www.sentinelandenterprise.com/lifestyle/ci_32080581/celebrating-tull-but-no-mawkish-sentimentality

Celebrating Tull, but no 'mawkish sentimentality'
Sentinel & Enterprise
UPDATED: 08/19/2018 06:31:44 AM EDT

By Jim Harrington

Bay Area New Group

Jethro Tull made its live debut at the legendary Marquee Club in London on Feb. 2, 1968. That was the start of one of the most successful -- and most unusual -- music careers of the era, as flute-playing rocker Ian Anderson led his band (named after an 18th-century agriculturist) to worldwide album sales of more than 60 million.

Anderson is out on the road celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jethro Tull with a tour that touches down at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston on Sunday, Sept. 9. He'll be accompanied by bassist David Goodier and keyboardist John O'Hara, both former Jethro Tull members, as well as guitarist Florian Opahle, drummer Scott Hammond and "surprise virtual guests," whatever that might mean.

It's always fun to talk with Anderson, who never fails to entertain and enlighten in conversation. Thus, I was able happy to catch up with him again in preview of the tour.

Q: Hi, Ian. Thanks for once again taking the time to talk with me. I'm curious to know your feelings about celebrating a half century of Jethro Tull.

A: Fifty years ago, as a schoolboy, I grew up with an interest in music. And it mostly had to do with the music played by old men. It was blues. It was jazz. My whole teenage period of growing awareness and involvement in music was based on this idea that somehow the things I liked, they weren't being played by people of my age or a few years older. It was stuff by old guys.

That was a given in my life, that music was a career.

It was something that, hopefully, if you had any success, you would want to continue with and you'd go on until you were 50, 60, 70, 80 years old.
Q: That's certainly the case these days.

A: We do live in an age now where it's not unusual for bands to celebrate, or artists to celebrate, their 50th anniversary. For perhaps that reason, I wasn't overly enamored by the idea of doing some nostalgic celebration or 50th anniversary touring or concerts or record releases or whatever this time last year.

But shortly afterwards, when I started thinking about what I am going to be doing in 2018 ... I had to weigh up what was the best way of doing it. So I came up with a few ideas. The record companies came up with a few ideas. I listened to some of the ideas that were coming back from the media and fans. Then I began to get more enthusiastic about it, because it was a bit of a challenge to try and find a way to celebrate the 50th anniversary without it becoming mawkish sentimentality, which I'm not very good at.

Q: What can you tell me about the show? Does it take a retrospective approach? Is it straight up greatest hits?

A: It follows a temporal, logical sense. We start off with two or three pieces from the very first Jethro Tull album, from our very earliest days of playing together in 1968, from January 1968.

The show, as a whole, focuses mainly on the first 10 years of Jethro Tull, because, particularly in the U.K. and the USA, our audiences are fairly mature. We don't have that many young fans, compared to some other countries. For that reason, I suppose most of the people who are familiar with Jethro Tull will have come to know about Jethro Tull during, broadly speaking, the '70s. That's the time that, for them, I suppose, is the greatest significance of (our songbook). And there's plenty of material to choose from to make up a two-hour show. It's not exclusively the '70s, but most of it is.

Q: Sounds like a fun way to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

A: The nature of playing that music isn't about turning the clock back for me as a musician, because many of those songs, of course, I perform regularly anyway. It's not about some little nostalgic (feeling). It's hard to be nostalgic about something you just played 24 hours before, the last time you were onstage. Most of the music in the show, I'm so familiar with playing over the years that it doesn't feel like I'm revisiting times gone by. It's the repertoire that I delve into and out of in picking set lists for any tour, anytime, anywhere.

But there are several songs in this show that I haven't played for a long time -- and one or two that I have never played live onstage at all.

Q: That's cool. Should be a good mix.

A: Some of the songs, people will be quite familiar with and there will be quite a few where they will scratch their heads and say, "What album was that from? I don't remember that one?"

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thezebra.org/2018/08/29/ian-andersons-50-year-woodwind-whirlwind-playing-wolftrap-sept-7/

IAN ANDERSON’S 50-YEAR WOODWIND WHIRLWIND — PLAYING WOLFTRAP SEPT 7
By Mary Wadland - August 29, 2018087


By Steve Houk

Here’s one for ya:

Q: Why was the flutist arrested? A: Because he was in treble.

I know, kinda poor, sorry. But that aside, if you sit down and ponder who truly pioneered the flute as a rock and roll instrument, and hey just maybe you have, you can forget that bad joke and some classic songs easily come to mind as prime early examples.

There’s early ones like The Association‘s “Along Comes Mary,” or Traffic‘s “John Barleycorn Must Die,” and don’t forget “Undun” by The Guess Who, or even Canned Heat‘s “Going Up The Country” and Boz Scagg‘s “Lowdown,” oh, and the open of Marshall Tucker Band‘s “Can’t You See” and a gaggle of others. Go ahead, call one or two of ’em up on You Tube and you’ll hear that unimistakable extra flutish sparkle. There are a host of revered tunes that had the flute as a true and memorable enhancement of their rock sound.

But clearly no one artist has threaded their band’s needle with the flute’s breathy tones more profoundly than Ian Anderson, one of rock’s most unique and longest lasting legends who is celebrating his fiftieth anniversary as leader of rock legends Jethro Tull this year with a worldwide tour that stops at Wolf Trap on September 7th.

If you ask the wry and engaging Anderson about his legacy, his storied history, all as enters his fifth decade as a performer, he’ll tell you among other fascinating tales and even stunning family news (yes, his son-in-law is Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln, aka Rick Grimes) that he didn’t pick up the flute as a child, never, no, quite to the contrary. He picked up the flute almost randomly in his late teens, simply because he wasn’t going to compete with some of the truly spectacular guitarists that were hitting the British music scene at the time, and really just needed to find another way to make his mark.

“I decided when I was just 19 that I really was never going to cut it as a guitar player,” Anderson told me a few days after his 71st birthday, and in the midst of Tull’s celebratory 50th anniversary tour. “You know at that point, I’d heard Eric Clapton and then Jeff Beck, and I realized that these guys were so far ahead of the rest of us, especially Eric Clapton. In ’67 I think, I tried playing some of Eric’s pieces when he was with the John Mayall blues band … the Bluesbreakers. I realized that I could understand what he was playing, but it was so fluid and so melodic and so rounded, his guitar playing. I just thought, I’m never going to be able to do this, and I don’t want to be a second or third rater. So I decided at that point to sell my guitar, and find a guitar player to join the band who would be more capable than I was.”

OK, I get it, you don’t want to compete with guaranteed future Hall Of Famers on the axe, but you find a new path, you go rogue, and you pick up…the flute? Wait, what? Well, Anderson’s tale sounds almost too simple considering the massive fame he’s achieved, but it was really just because the flute was there; gleaming in that music store on that fateful day that would change his life, when he went to trade in his guitar, or Lemmy’s guitar, really.

“So I partly exchanged my Fender Stratocaster, which had previously belonged to, believe it or not, Lemmy (Kilmister) of Motorhead,”Anderson recalled. “I had inherited that guitar and then I partly exchanged it, I just looked around the shop and I picked a Shure Unidyne three microphone, and for no particularly good reason, glinting in the sunlight off the wall, there was this shiny flute. And just being spontaneous, I said, ‘Well how much for the flute?’ And he said, ‘Well 30 quid,’ and the Shure microphone was 30 quid. And he was only going to give me 60 pounds exchange on the guitar, which of course would be worth about $30,000 today. So, I ended up with 60 pounds worth of part exchange, and I got a flute and a microphone, and the microphone I started using straight away, the flute I didn’t get a note out of for another four months, until I actually managed to coax a note out of it in December of 1967.”

Anderson then taught himself to play the shiny silver woodwind based largely on his guitar knowledge, taking an insightful, analytical and sensibly simple approach to playing an instrument that would become his trademark.

“Once I had the blues scale, you see, I could start playing the kind of solos and rifts and things that I’d done on the guitar. So I just translated my not very good guitar playing into even worse flute playing. I suppose two or three weeks later I was playing it at the Marquee Club in London in January of 1968 when Jethro Tull became Jethro Tull. And that was our point of difference that made us sound not quite the same as Savoy Brown and John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac, who began at that time as well. Yes, it turned out that I wasn’t the only flute player, there were a couple of other bands that did have a flute, but not full time, notably, King Crimson and Traffic. I realized that I wasn’t the only flute player in town. But then I think I’d become the loudest. So, that qualified me for some notoriety.”

Anderson’s (and thus Tull’s) fame grew by leaps and bounds from those experimental days mainly thanks to not only honing together a killer band that rocked hard and also highlighted this new instrument he’d picked up that fateful day, but also largely because Anderson had no preconceptions of what he was supposed to sound like, or be like, or play like. So he was really able to craft his own persona, as well as his own sound.

“In some ways, I suppose the fact that I didn’t have any flute lessons, I had no preconceptions, I had nobody telling me do this, don’t do that,” the eloquent Anderson said. “And so I just played, well, in the traditions that founded so much folk music and later on skiffle music in the UK, where most of my generation began their with affiliation with music with homemade skiffle, kind of a joining together elements of Dixieland jazz with country music and bluegrass music. And that was something that we kind of all heard when we were about 10, 11 years old and we all fancied trying to do that because it was just three or four chords and you could learn to do that.”

As do that he did, creating a sound that was unlike most of what was coming out of music at that time, parlaying his flute sound and vibe with hard rock riffs and excellent songwriting. And as for his trademark playing style? Sure, it’s a question he’s answered a million times, but Anderson obligingly says it’s really in many ways the same kind of theatrics other rockers of his era did to make their mark, nothing more, nothing less.

“They noticed two things about the early Jethro Tull in the first couple of weeks, one that they’ve got a flute player, and two, the flute player stands on one leg. Those two things really got put together by the very first journalist who wrote about Jethro Tull. I didn’t do those two things at the same time until I read the newspapers, and then I thought, well I better learn to play the flute standing on one leg now. So it just kind of became a little bit of a trademark. You know a bit of fun, it’s just something that I’ve always done here and there in the show. Chuck Berry had his duck walk, Joe Cocker did the windmill sort of waving his arms around like a demented scarecrow, and Pete Townsend had the sort of, that was the windmill kind of arm thing, where he did these big things with his guitar. And Mick Jagger did his sort of very a feminine sort of wiggling of his hips and clapping his hands together in front of his face. People have these little things that they did that suddenly set them apart, and if you’re lucky enough to have one of those, then flog it to death.”

But rock star gimmicks and schtick aren’t always easy, especially when you combine superb flute acumen with acrobatics during a three hour show, it remained a challenge that as rock history can attest, he finally mastered.

“Is it easier to play the flute standing on one leg? Say the winds blowing, or there’s a slippery stage, then trust me, it’s not that easy to do. But there were also times when I’m playing and I’m standing on one leg and it just feels very kind of natural and willowy and rather seductive and rather balanced. And there’ve been times when I’ve been challenged by someone in authority asking, demanding to see some ID. And I’ve just stood on one leg and mimed playing the flute, and said ‘Will that do?’ Sometimes it’s worked, otherwise I have to say, ‘Okay, you don’t know who I am, so go to JethroTull.com.’ ”

Anderson knows more than anyone that being able to do anything for 50 years is a minor miracle, and he is just thankful that he is still tial, toutinf, recording, playting the music he loves, clearly not too old to rock and roll. He has some new music he wants to get out next year, he’d like to do some things he hasn’t done before, so yes, Ian Anderson has endured, he’s come a helluva long way since he was sitting on that park bench. Or at least that guy with the bad intent was.

“I think the feeling of being productive, the feeling about still engaging with the world around you is a very, very fortunate place to be in older age. And we should relish that when it comes, knowing that sooner or later, of course the game will be up. And old age senility, ill health, will take it’s final toll. Well, certainly not in the next few months because I have contractually obligated engagements to fulfill. No, I got to go hang in there for a while.”

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www2.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/jethro-tull-ian-anderson-tour-philadelphia-mann-center-20180904.html

Jethro Tull at 50: Leader Ian Anderson says skipping Woodstock was the best decision of his career
by Chuck Darrow, For the Inquirer, Posted: 20 hours ago

In 1968, the Beatles had existed in the American public consciousness for just four years. Even Elvis Presley, who launched a major comeback that year, had been a national presence for just 12 years.

As such, that a mere rock 'n' roll band could exist — albeit in a greatly altered state, personnel-wise — for 50 years was simply inconceivable. After all, the musical genre that defined a generation was still, to some degree, in the "it's just a fad" stage.

But here we are in 2018 and Jethro Tull, which was named for the 18th-century inventor of farming implements, remains in business. Of course, it exists today primarily as the vehicle by which composer/lead singer/flautist/acoustic guitarist Ian Anderson — the groundbreaking group's sole remaining original member still touring under the Tull banner — recreates the band's singular music, which blends classic hard rock with everything from classical, jazz, and blues to pastoral British folk and third world motifs.

It's a blueprint that has yielded such classic-rock staples as the 1972 progressive-rock touchstone Thick as A Brick, "Bouree" (an adaptation of a J.S. Bach piece that Anderson has characterized as "cheesy cocktail jazz"), and two songs from the band's 1971 best-selling album, Aqualung, "Locomotive Breath" and the title track.

Despite his oft-professed distaste for the marking of milestones, Anderson, 71, is devoting this year to celebrating Jethro Tull's half-century of music-making, with the three-CD 50 for 50 boxed set, and a victory lap around North America that on Saturday, Sept. 8, brings his program, "Ian Anderson Presents Jethro Tull, the 50th Anniversary Tour" to the Mann Center for the Performing Arts.

During a recent phone call, Anderson, who is seldom — if ever — at a loss for words, covered such topics as Tull's earliest days, the absence of flute in his most famous song, and why Tull didn't play Woodstock.

Take us back to the first time the original quartet — you, guitarist Mick Abrahams, bassist Glenn Cornick, and drummer Clive Bunker — got together.

It was in December of 1967, and we were in a school … somewhere in [the British towns of] Luton or Dunstable. Essentially, there was a little bit of common ground over 12-bar blues, and so we thought … the logical starting point was to play blues covers.

When did original songs enter the picture?
In those first few weeks, I started to [co-write with the band members] some songs in that style. Glenn and Clive had played together in a previous band or two, and Glenn and I had played up in the north of England with the John Evan Band [keyboardist Evan joined Tull in 1971]. So, it was kind of "two-plus-two," a fusion, essentially, of parts of two different bands.

You are universally acknowledged as the man who made the flute a rock ’n’roll instrument. Yet, “Aqualung,” the song for which the band is arguably best-known, doesn’t have a flute in it. Do you find that ironic?
It certainly is. I remember writing the song sitting in a hotel room somewhere with Glenn Cornick and coming up with the riff and chord sequences — at that point there were no lyrics. I was just playing it on an acoustic guitar, and then had to convey the essence of it to [second Tull lead guitarist Martin Barre]. I always intended it to be a loud electric guitar riff.

Sure, I could have made it a flute riff, but it seemed to fit the electric guitar. So I never added any flute parts because, of course, elsewhere in the song, I'm strumming the acoustic guitar, at least in all the quieter passages.

That is, indeed, the best-known Jethro Tull song, and it doesn't include the flute. So, yes, it is a quirky one. But I've more than made up for it. I came off stage in Florence, Italy a couple of nights ago and said, 'My God, these poor people, having to sit there for nearly two hours of penetrating, excruciating loud flute. It must drive them mad. I couldn't cope with it.'

Are there Tull songs you thought should have achieved the status of “Aqualung” but didn’t?

There are certainly lots and lots of songs that would be amongst my personal favorites from a musical standpoint that may not necessarily be those that have set the world alight elsewhere. For instance, on the Aqualung album, the song "My God" is one that I think is one of the important songs that I've written. On the Crest of a Knave album, the song "Budapest" is, I think, a very encompassing piece of music that does give a lot of the nuances of Jethro Tull in its eclectic stylings over the years.

Speaking of 50th anniversaries, next year will mark that of the Woodstock festival. Jethro Tull won’t be part of any celebration because the band declined the invitation to play there. Why?

It was I, not the band's management, that declined the invitation.

It was relatively short notice, and we were on our second American tour at the time, and our second album, Stand Up, had just gone to No. 1 on the charts in the U.K., and I was very much aware that this album was the more eclectic beginnings of Jethro Tull in a more creative sense.

It really needed time to establish us, and I really felt at that point, in the middle of 1969, we were not really fully formed, we were learning our craft, we were learning our skills as performers and I was learning my job as a songwriter and performer, so it was just too early to be putting a stamp on something that was set to become a huge, epic festival.

Our early label-mates on Chrysalis Records was a band called Ten Years After. Ten Years After went to play Woodstock and were one of the hits of the festival. It took them from almost obscurity to being a household name throughout the world.

Ten Years After were playing at some German festival a few years back and I went over to Leo Lyons, who was still in the band at that time. And I noticed stuck on to the edge of his bass guitar there was a set list. I said, 'What songs were you doing?' And he said, 'Oh, the usual ones.' I said, 'That set list looks like it's been there a long time.' He said, 'This is the set list from Woodstock.' So that's what they were still playing some 40 years later.

I would find that somewhat limiting, to be known just for these very few pieces of music and for a very definitive style of music. In a way, that was a curse. They were never really able to move on from forever being associated with Woodstock.

It was certainly one of my best career decisions not to do Woodstock.

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wwdbam.com/episodes/thats-show-biz-interview-ian-anderson-jethro-tull/

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018
That's Show Biz: Interview with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Audio interview with IA at about 20 minutes into the audio blog.

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www.thevinyldistrict.com/

Ian Anderson, The TVD Interview
BY JENNIFER CARNEY | JUNE 26, 2014

      Link

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www.jutarnji.hr/

IAN ANDERSON 'When I was a young man, I said I wanted to be someone in the old days listening to many generations. And, well, I think I managed to '
AUTHOR: Matija Boltižar PUBLISHED: 10/4/2018. at 13:09


Ian Anderson 2004 at the Sports Hall Dragan Matić / CROPIX


When I was a young man, I said I wanted to be someone in the old days listening to many generations. And, well, I think I did

Jethro Tull, a cult British progressive rock band, performs on October 13 at the Zagreb's House of Sports as part of a tour that fights 50 years after the release of the first album.

The British band was best known at the end of the '70s when they celebrated the special voice of their frontman Ian Anderson and the frula they used in almost every song. During their career, they sold more than 60 million records and recorded 21 studio albums, including the latest "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album" released in 2003.

As part of the 50 year-old glamorous tour, they performed more than 50 concerts throughout the US and Europe, and this will be the fourth time they perform in Zagreb. We talked with their singer Ian Anderson who told us what fans can expect at the Zagreb Concert and how much their style of playing has changed over the last 50 years.

How is the tour going?

- We've been through the USA and a good part of Europe. As a rule, they were solo concerts, but here and there we also performed at festivals. Still, we are now following Zagreb and it will be a real show, just like we want. We will play our earlier works from the first ten years of our existence. It was a time when the world learned of Jethro Tull and our eldest fans remember us just in that period from the 70s.

This will be your fourth time to perform in Croatia. Why did you choose Zagreb for this tour?

- We did not pick it up, it's all an agreement between our publishers and local promoters. To ask me, we would not travel so much, but I would be in my warm bed. I'm not so young and I have no strength to spend the whole week on the tour. After all, I came to the stage of life when I wanted to dedicate myself more to the family. If I could choose, then I would have concerts every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the rest of the week would be at home. And so until I die.

Do you remember previous performances in Zagreb?

- Well, not really. I remember only appearing in 1974, but then it was all Yugoslavia. It was another time, another culture, another situation. As far as I know, today is better in all these countries. As for my arrival in Croatia, in Zagreb I will be only one day. I will come early in the morning, sit in the hotel, see the city, hold a concert and fly back to Belgrade the next morning.

So you're not the rocker from the beginning of your career?

- I've been watching a day of old video from the beginning of my career. I was 20 years old and at every show there was so much energy and life. I remember when we performed as a Led Zeppelin front end so I could run two hours from one end of the stage to the other. But that band missed something. One sophistication and sensibility, a special kind of music interpretation. That is why I insist today on concerts where people sit and listen. I'm no longer for stadiums and sports halls, that time has passed. I want people to sit and enjoy music.

What is the secret to staying on the scene for 50 years?

- I have one advantage, and that is, I'm a musician. If I was a tennis player, I would have to retire at age 35. As a musician I can play and play until I die. That's the first thing. Second, when I was a young man, I listened to the old people playing. I did not like this pop music, but listened to jazz, blues and folk, music that can be eternal. I said then that one day I want to be this old man, someone who will still be listening to many generations in ancient days. And, well, I think I did.

[JTull 007]

                 Special thanks to    Remy (TULL50)  for this treat !!!

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www.larazon.es/cultura/ian-anderson-lo-ultimo-que-necesita-el-mundo-es-otra-cancion-de-amor-MH20363942

Ian Anderson: "The last thing the world needs is another love song"
The flautist rocker celebrates 50 years of the historical band in Madrid and talks about God, Israel, the Brexit and why he chose the flute in the first place

November 2, 2018. 01: 02h



His band has known multiple stages throughout half a century of trajectory. But surely none like his first decade, marked by the two masterpieces of Jethro Tull: "Thick As a Brick" and "Aqualung", two albums of uncomfortable lyric and aesthetic bet as recognizable as the flute of its leader, Ian Anderson. 36 musicians later, the British group has completed half a century of history with the only constant of its leader, the man who plays like a flamenco (the bird, we mean), with his foot resting on the opposite leg. The only date in Spain to hear the emblematic songs of the group will be tomorrow, in Madrid.

-How do you feel?

-If you want to reach my age, it is better to keep busy. I have plans until 2020 that include a new album, tours and the official book of Jethro Tull's story. Things that I want to do before I die and that keep you pedaling until sunset without falling off the bike.

-You do not do it for money anymore.

-Do not. Next week I will be in Israel and I will donate everything to an NGO that acts in favor of the relations of the ethnic groups. I decided to continue acting in the country but not for personal benefit. Because if I had a kind of political position on that, I could also apply it to acting in the US, right? Because of political disagreement, Russia would also leave and in the end she would not leave the house. I support charities and I also seek funds for the British Church. But look, most of the time I charge for my work although theoretically I will not need money for years to come.

- Is he a religious person?

-That is a delicate question. I support the Christian church and also gay marriage and, as far as I know, I am not homosexual. I support it because I think they are a part of our history and culture but that does not make me a Christian. I can be very critical of them, but I feel an obligation to support them to preserve the beautiful historical buildings they have.

-But do you believe in God?

-I am not a member of the Church but I believe in Jesus of Nazareth, because there is overwhelming evidence that he existed as a prophet, and he became a model of behavior for half the world. But do I believe in Jesus Christ in terms of biblical prophecy and the son of God? I am afraid that I have more difficulties, although I consider it a very good story. I totally support Christianity and the myths and legends of Jesus, to the point that I scratch my pocket. But to believe in Jesus of Nazareth is not the same as to believe in Jesus Christ.

-On beliefs, as a Scot, what do you think about Brexit?

"I thought you were going to ask me about the independence of Scotland. And no, I do not support it, I am the product of a union that goes back 300 years, that of Scotland and England. But also the union of my two parents, my Scottish father and and English mother. I have lived part of my life in both places and I believe that the best future for both countries is better together. In the context of Brexit, I believe that England would play a better role as a force for change, because the EU is 50 years old and a model that must change. I believe that England can propose more modern and flexible solutions and that we would be better in Europe if we can be a force for change.

-Perdone that we are talking about God and politics ...

-Don't apologize, that's the content of my lyrics. I have written a lot about both issues, about real things. My lyrics are content of CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera. I write about what is around me, the story, and aspects that have a meaning. I'm not talking about romantic fantasy, that's why I have credibility as a lyricist.

- Are you proud of the lyrics you have written?

-I am capable of making a living with my principles. People like easy things even if they've heard them a million times. But the last thing the world needs is another romantic song, much less one that I write. We do not need another singer of personal anguish.

"Would he write" Too old for rock and roll, too young to die "?

-The song comes from a feeling of terror in a flight during a tour. It was the year 75 and I felt that we were all going to die. Those words came to my mind and I decided to apply them to a fictional character whose life is anchored in the past and feels nostalgic for his youth. It is not an autobiographical song.

-Suele write characters.

-It's easier, because singing about yourself is a bit boring. Rock is full of boring people. You know? Artists who earn a lot of money and whose only interest is to party. And so it is difficult to have an entertaining life. Musicians, soccer players ... we are not known as intellectuals or interesting people. We do not live in the real world, but in a bubble in which we are fortunate and sometimes someone breaks it and does something different, but it does not usually happen. Lewis Hamilton wants to be a musician and an actor, and well, having dreams is fine, but Lewis, your options are much less than zero. Nobody is going to take you seriously no matter how much your ability is to drive cars faster than imagined and those that are designed to run. I do not think I have much conversation, either.

- He has not had other dreams?

-Well, I spent 20 years in the world of fish farms and processing, and I have done other things that have interested me, but I am convinced that my work is very good.

-Hey, and why the flute?

-When I saw Eric Clapton in 1966 playing with John Mayall, I knew that he would never be a great guitarist. I sold my guitar for a microphone and I do not know, the flute seemed like a brilliant object. It was August and I was not able to get a note until December. And after a week I was already five and I could play the blues. In a couple of weeks he was at the Marquee. It was a stroke of luck.

- What will the concert be like?

-We will focus on what people want to hear. And I will try to make it visually interesting. I just hope that people do not waste time making stupid photos and I would like to remind the audience one thing: "they have a brain, eyes and ears. Look, listen and remember ». It's much more satisfying than recording a few f**king videos.

[maddogfagin]

[Catqualung]

In the last video (Ian Andesron of Jethro Tull talks with Sounds of the Time) from minute 2:30 onward there is very cool music JT or JT-like, that I can't recognize. Shazam doesn't help. Anyone can help?

[JTull 007]

                           JETHRO TULL: 50th Anniversary Chat   
              with Ian Anderson on Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
    By TOM LOUNGES • AUG 31, 2018   LINK      71 minutes   13 seconds

Tom Lounges interviews IAN ANDERSON of JETHRO TULL about the group's 50th Anniversary Tour
             and its newly released career-encompassing 3 LP or 3 CD collection of music.

[maddogfagin]

www.lr-online.de/lausitz/cottbus/kultur/jethro-tull-in-cottbus_aid-34441109

November 13, 2018| 07:17 clock
Interview with Ian Anderson
The best song is still out


Ian Anderson as many remember him. For 50 years now he has combined rock, blues, jazz, folk and classical elements with his band Jethro Tull to create a very British sound. On Thursday the legend is to be experienced in Cottbus. PHOTO: Warner Music

Cottbus. The founder of rock band Jethro Tull talks about the tour, which leads her to Cottbus.
On the 15th of November Jethro Tull will be performing live in the Cottbus Stadthalle. Its founder Ian Anderson taught rock music the flute tones. The RUNDSCHAU spoke to the cranky 71-year-old Scotsman, who usually plays only one leg in flute playing, about the current triple album "50 For 50", about illness and the anniversary tour of his legendary group.

Is a tour as exciting for you today as it was in the 70s, 80s and 90s?

Anderson If I were a British jumbo jet pilot, I would have had to retire five years ago. From the age of 65 you are not allowed to drive any more aircraft with us. Fortunately, I have a job where nobody can tell me when to stop. Lucky for me to be able to live my teenage room at the age of 70! As a 16-year-old I was into the music of older men: blues, jazz and folk. I grew up with the idea that good music is done exclusively by older adults. I could never do anything with young pop stars. An American astronaut once sent me an e-mail from the ISS: "I live my dream!" I know what he meant by that.

How do you celebrate the 50th anniversary of your band on stage?

Anderson We focus on the first ten years of Jethro Tull. Because the late 60s and 70s were the period in which most of our fans met us. Not only do I perform the repertoire of Jethro Tull that I wrote 50 or 40 years ago; I pay tribute to this tour also the total of 36 musicians who played in this band over time. Had you asked me that question a year ago, I would have said that I would not celebrate anything because this anniversary scares me. Too much nostalgia! But in the summer I thought that I would like to celebrate it - and not for me, but for the fans. And also for all musicians who have ever worked with us. Many of them do not make music anymore today. Some are already dead.

Are you expecting a visit from former Jethro-Tull members on this tour?

Anderson That would be very difficult and very expensive! Would you invite your ex-girlfriend to your wedding? The musicians I work with currently have a very good feeling of being in this band. If people from earlier days came to play a few songs with them, they would probably feel a little uncomfortable. I think that would not work. And certainly not logistically. But we have a few virtual guests with us.

They put together a career-spanning triple album. Title: "50 For 50". Looking back on your career and the many incredible things you have done in your life?

Anderson Professional review is part of my job. I have to set up set-lists, remixing older albums or compiling samplers. I originally had a list of 60 songs, which I then cut to 50. No song should be the same on the album.

Do you sometimes compare your old records to the things you do today?

Anderson Yes, I do. I compare less the quality of the music, but I test my perception and my senses. The music I am writing today may have some similarities with my previous things, but I am not trying to restore anything in particular. I make new music because I want to create something new.

Will you take it easy?

Anderson As I said earlier, there are people who do their job longer than others. In the world of art and entertainment you can be lucky enough to work into old age. Age, suffering, weakness, mental illness, dementia - all these things will happen. When I'm ready, I really hope someone whispers in my ear in time: "Learn to play golf!"

Are there things you can do better at 70 than at 25?

Anderson Every artist will answer this question with yes, because it is important to believe that you have not written your best song yet. Of course, this is not always the case in reality. Although Beethoven wrote his best symphony very late in his life, he was only 54 years old at the time. Mozart was much younger when his life came to an end. On the other hand, John Lee Hooker got another Grammy at 83. But those are exceptions. The excessive lifestyle in the world of rock'n'roll and jazz takes its toll. For me, every new, healthy day is like a present!

Are you still fit today because you have never tasted the sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll life?

Anderson Well, I've always had a pretty orderly life because I'm a thoroughly professional. When I'm not on tour I go to sleep at 7 pm and get up the next morning at six. On tour I go to bed a little later, but I still wake up at six because we have to travel to the next town. Life is easier if you are punctual and follow the rules.

Olaf Neumann spoke with Ian Anderson

[nonrabbit]

Go grab a whisky or a cup of tea and settle down to read this great interview Ian gave to Paul McLaney, a NZ musician and life long Tull fan in 2017.
It may have been posted here last year but it's worth another look.

I love finding these gems where the questions are intelligent and thought out and more importantly, Ian's in the mood to share!


"As a lifelong fan it is my hopeful endeavor to provide you with some questions you haven’t had to answer before"




Q. Is this Rob who was involved with The Scottish Ballet?

No this was Alistair, he was an engineer. And the sense of that being quite a family wrench because Alistair had been the younger of my 2 older brothers, he was the one that tended to involve me as a 6 or 7 year old in things; boats, canoes. It was quite a wrench for me, the loss of that fraternity was something that I didn’t take terribly well. A felt a bit abandoned really, not that I wanted to go to Canada. And at that age I didn’t really have many other friends. I had to come to term with the fact that people do what they have to do and in his case it was to try and find meaningful work and a future where he could start a new life, a family. And I suppose that made me think about these things as a child and therefore it seemed to me as I grew up kind of obvious that was probably going to happen to me too. My older of the 2 brothers had also left home and gone to London when we moved down to Blackpool, he was working in Edinburgh and Glasgow and so the sense of family being split up; my mothers family are from Manchester my Fathers family were from the Scottish border, the lowlands and I suppose I grew up with a sense of us being scattered to the winds.


FULL INTERVIEW

[maddogfagin]

www.suedkurier.de/ueberregional/kultur/Jethro-Tull-Saenger-Ian-Anderson-Fuer-das-Publikum-geht-es-bei-unseren-Konzerten-um-Nostalgie;art10399,9974105

Jethro Tull singer Ian Anderson: "For the audience, our concerts are about nostalgia"
The British singer and flutist Ian Anderson has written a piece of rock history with Jethro Tull. Now the 71-year-old is performing with his band in Zurich - on December 8, 2018, the musicians can be experienced in the Samsung Hall. We talked to Anderson before the concert.



BY REINHOLD HÖNLE

Mr. Anderson, how crazy was it to change from a guitar to a flute 52 years ago?

I stopped playing the guitar because we already had a guitarist in the band and I wanted to focus on my role as a singer. I traded my Thunder Stratocaster for a 30-pound flute. Spontaneously, without a plan. It just looked pretty and I thought, "Wow, I'll take it!" (Laughs) When I tried to play on it, I did not get a single sound out - until a few months later someone told me it would work if you did like blowing over a glass bottle. Soon I could play five different sounds - and the blues.

How did you become Jethro Tull?

When we got a gig at the legendary London Marquee Club, we needed a name, and our booker called us Jethro Tull. We later found out that the 18th century was an agricultural pioneer. But it was already too late to change the name.

Why?

Since we had caused quite a stir as Jethro Tull. We were now the band with the crazy who plays flute. Of course, that was a great marketing feature compared to the many guitar-heavy blues bands like Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack and their names.

How good were you then?

My game was still very raw. I also did not attend instrumental lessons. I was definitely not the best flute player in London, but probably the loudest!

What did the critics say?

Well, since the journalists got something to write about because Jethro Tull was so different, their reactions to my flute playing were pretty positive. The fans also seemed to like it, only our manager did not. He thought the flute was not part of a blues band, and that guitarist Mick Abrahams was a much better singer. That's why he wanted me to play keyboards only in the background ... I thanked him for his advice and ignored him. The doubters that existed, however, have motivated me to accept the challenges of the flute.

What are you thinking about?

As an acoustic instrument it was difficult to integrate live into rock music because she forced me to stand at the microphone. The technology was only so far in the 80s that I was able to move the flute freely on stage.

For many of your fans it is a journey through time when they hear hits like "Locomotive Breath" at concerts - and for you?

I think for the audience on our current 50 years Jethro Tull tour it's all about nostalgia. It feels like going back in time when you heard this music for the first time. When I play "Locomotive Breath", which I interpreted 24 hours ago the last time, I'm not thinking of 1971. I see this song as a metaphor for migration, expansion and globalization that made me look very worried about the future.

What do you mean?

You're on a driverless train you can not get off the ground, and that's what happens now with this explosion of world population. It has tripled during my lifetime alone, and according to recent estimates, it will nearly double by the end of this century. Added to this is climate change and its impact on global food production. The desperation will drive people from countries with famine, drought and turbulent weather to us.

What do your evergreens mean to you?

I am very happy to have written some songs in my life, which will also endure in content. I'd rather be the guy who wrote "Locomotive Breath" than the guy who wrote "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" - one of the songs I love the most hate!

Why?

It has nothing to do with Scott McKenzie, but with the emotional state that has stopped completely in time and is not even really true. The song is about a "Summer of Love", but actually it was three or four summers of love that ended in chaos. If you look at the Isle of Wight festival, you can see well how the hippie ideal of greed, aggression, anger and politics has been torn to pieces. I think it was one of the best decisions in my life not to be in Woodstock.

[JTull 007]

Eli Lapid Interviews Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull 56 minutes 29 seconds

[maddogfagin]

Liberated off the web, from 2012

Ian Anderson 'would never say that it is the end of Jethro Tull'
Nancy Dunham 5 March 2012

Fans of Jethro Tull are looking forward to Ian Anderson bringing them up to date on the fate of Gerald Bostock, fictional star of the band's seminal 1972 album 'Thick as a Brick.' Tull frontman and founder Anderson has not only updated the story but also put together a sequel album, 'Thick as a Brick 2,' and a concert tour which will include performances of both 'Brick' albums.



Although Anderson has been doing most of his talking via a series of self-interviews on the internet, he recently spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock from his home in England, where he talked about the inspiration for this new chronicle of Gerald's later life, the new tour and the future of Jethro Tull.

It must have been odd to revisit something you originally wrote when you were in your 20s, to put yourself back in that mindset.


I didn't have to put myself in any mindset regarding 'Thick as a Brick.'



It was a purely intellectual proposition...after considering the sequel to 'Thick as a Brick' during the last few years and...coming up with the answer as to what had befallen [the album's fictional character] Gerald Bostock. And, of course, the implication of what could befall any of us 40 years down the line. Shifts in luck and intervention along the way might have changed our lives completely. As I look back on my own life imagine my fortunes might have turned out completely different. Maybe it's some kind of personal karma or some sense of fate or outcomes, maybe life's conclusion is that it brings you back to the inescapable place that you were going to get to anyway– so that as a notion became the concept of the album.



I didn't, obviously, want to just restrict it to one possible course of life for the young school boy so I made him a preacher, a soldier, an ordinary man who runs a little corner shop and plays with his toy trains...a despicable fat-cat investment banker, and so we had a few different possibilities. In fact, on the album cover I chose he would be represented as a retired politician.



Is any of that biographical?

There are lots of things all of us might have done, and I know that applies to me so I try to put in a little background, but not in too biographical of a way, just for little ideas and little examples. I think that is what the listener will get from it, [being able to] relate some of these things perhaps to passages in their own lives.



And of course younger fans -- a growing body teens and early 20s [especially in Latin cultures] are following progressive rock even though they weren't alive at the time [it began] -- early on in their lives [they face] thought provoking choices ahead of them even when they are not deliberate choices that they have to react to. I try to put a little thought here [to make this] unashamedly a conception and intellectual proposition offered in a pop or rock record. That's an ugly word but somebody has to use it!



The latest edition of the [mock] newspaper that goes with the project is certainly funny, though. What is this fascination with proctologists?

Oh, thank you for reading it. A lot of it is really school boy humor. I wanted to make it a little light, whimsical, humorous. Some of the album is dark; it's not all fun and laughter. It is quite serious and a little bleak here and there.



When do we get to hear some of it?

You'll have to wait a little longer, 'til April. The record company wanted to go public with the idea of it sooner rather than later. We had our arms twisted to make it apparent it is a new record and what it is about but in terms offering up the music that is a few weeks away on our web site.



The big question is always, how do you write? What was the process of writing this?

One piece of music I wrote a few years ago was rewritten and reworked to have a function on this album. It's called 'A Change of Horses,' an instrumental piece [originally] written for flute and sitar. It's a tune I thought would be nice to bring into play and I wrote words to apply in this particular context, pressed it into service for this record. Another piece I prepared also early last year which we performed in concerts last year. We were trying to out on stage to see how the audience took to it without telling them it's a track for a new album or anything about it.



The writing took place in February last year, once I had the conceptual side of it written out on a sheet of paper -- write songs, sequence of events, not songs, but sections of music... in a continuous flow, where I could reiterate musical ideas, develop ideas, reprise ideas. There are a number of themes on the record, which appear a few times at different times. As for the actual writing of the lyrics, the starting point for it all was pretty much in a couple week period, perhaps even less than that, perhaps 10 days, when I wrote all the lyrics. As I wrote the lyrics ideas for melodies and chord sequences. It began as words on pages and was quickly followed by musical reality. After a couple week it was plotted musically and lyrically.



We recorded it pretty much live; there is just one electric guitar track on whole album, not lots and lots of overdubs. A lot of it is quite live. Every day, I'd come in with a few changes and amendments, some were quite big ones – we would change and fix and subtract a few ideas along the way. It was quite exciting.



It keeps you alert, keeps you feeling engaged with the project, not just playing what's written on the score. It keeps you thinking on your feet as you're going through the process.



The musicians [who played on the project and were interviewed for a promotional DVD] said they had a good time doing it, they enjoyed the work. They were full days but everyone got a kick out of those days. It was consistent work, six days a week...



I am pleased the musicians are pleased because you don't want to just be a harsh task master who beats them into submission. I am happy that they all had a good time and are looking forward to playing it on stage, too.



How did you choose the musicians for this project?

They are the ones in my address book. They have all played concerts as Jethro Tull and are familiar with lots of the repertoire of Jethro Tull through the years. Also, they're the guys that played with me on my frequent solo concert tours -- acoustic, string quartet, orchestral, rock shows. I do more shows these years as Ian Anderson than as Jethro Tull. These are guys that I have worked with, well most of them, for 10 years.



So tell me about the show?

It would be great if you could tell me something about the show! I am just having a lot of conversations about it with advisors. I have a pretty have a good idea how it is all going to be in terms of screens, content and video but there's a lot of work we have to do in the next month. We have a busy pre-production period coming up [to work through] audio specifications, lighting specifications, video specifications. I have written a bit of that but I have a lot of work ahead of me to finish it. It's quite a big, big piece of work.



I'm sure you're not surprised to hear that many fans are wondering if this is the end of Jethro Tull. I've read different people's comments about what defines Jethro Tull. How do you define it?

I don't define it. When I get on the stage I have to remind myself 'What am I today?' What does it say on the ticket? When I am on stage, nothing changes. I am on stage doing my music. For me it feels the same whether it is billed as Ian Anderson or Jethro Tull. For the audience the reaction will be determined by the musicians on the stage.



There are certain countries in the world when I got out as Ian Anderson that I can expect more consistently attentive audiences. There are some places in the world where Jethro Tull will bring out of the woodwork a few hard drinking [men] who have to whistle and shout out "ROCK AND ROLL!" So that can be a bit of hazard.



I resolved many, many months ago that going out to do 'Thick as a Brick,' I would not go out under the name Jethro Tull. The experience I had [with Jethro Tull] doing 'Thick as a Brick' in 1972 was sufficiently depressing that I don't want to risk that again.



I am afraid this one, from the word go, was always primarily billed as Ian Anderson or Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson. I don’t think it would be appropriate if I went out under the name Ian Anderson to expect [long-time lead guitarist] Martin Barre to just be one of the musicians.



Do you see a future for Jethro Tull?

Martin, Doane [drummer Doane Perry who joined the group in 1984, replacing Gerry Conway] and I had a long talk last summer. We decided it'd be a good time for me to pursue a couple of my projects this year. I have a couple other projects I'm working on this year as well. And Martin Barre, for example, is engaged in a bunch of other musical projects, playing with some other people, some other line ups and with a new band he has put together [Martin Barre's New Day] to play some of the early Jethro Tull repertoire that he feels may have been neglected over the years.

I certainly would never say that it is the end of Jethro Tull. In fact, I spoke to Martin about getting together some dates actually with him and me for an acoustic venture at some point.



But in terms of the near future, we don't have any Jethro Tull shows scheduled in 2012 so far. If something came up and looked right and I wanted to do it under the name Jethro Tull, I'd call the other guys and see if they wanted to do it, too. Sometimes they say yes and sometimes they say no. I can understand that. It happens sometimes things I want to do other people don't want to do. There have been some occasions in past [when I played] Jethro Tull concerts without Martin Barre and without Doane, because he lives in L.A. and it doesn't make sense for him to fly to Helsinki for one show.



For more information about Ian Anderson, 'Thick as a Brick,' and, of course, Jethro Tull, check the band's website.

[bassackwards]

Here's an Interview from 95, one I never heard. Nice one!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YbpkvZr1_s

[JTull 007]

Jan 22, 2019 21:04:26 GMT bassackwards said:

               Here's an Interview from 95, one I never heard.        Nice one!

                                        Excelente video    by   Sir Remy 
     I tend to use my own interpretation on many TULL tunes and albums. This one ROCKS !!!

[maddogfagin]

madhousemagazine.com



Link to article

[JTull 007]

     This was recorded in 2012...     Total time 52 minutes 45 seconds 
                             FREE Download        LINK     
   GROWING BOLDER:   IAN ANDERSON   segment is 13 minutes total 

[maddogfagin]

www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/ian-anderson-we-will-see-poverty-like-it-s-never/article_7390f2dc-3c73-11e9-bd66-cf693bc49126.html

Ian Anderson: ‘We will see poverty like it's never been seen before’
By Hanan Daqqa / Fairfax County Times Mar 1, 2019 Updated 8 hrs ago


Ian Anderson: “Give me another 10, 20 years; the impact of climate change will only really be getting to the point where even Donald Trump will have to admit that it really is happening.”
PHOTO BY NICK HARRISON

Sean, my colleague, was jealous when I told him that I spoke with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, but he felt better when I explained that we only talked over the phone, not in person.

No wonder Sean was jealous; Jethro Tull is one of the most successful and enduring bands of their era, selling over 60 million albums worldwide and entering the cultural collective consciousness along the way, playing their first concerts in North America in November and December 1969! The group’s immense and diverse catalog of work encompasses folk, blues, classical and heavy rock stylings.

Ian Anderson, the founder, frontman and flutist of the band, is rightly credited with introducing the flute to rock as a front line instrument.

Sean has been a fan of Jethro Tull since childhood. His older brother introduced him to his favorite Jethro Tull album, “Aqualung.” He thinks “their song lyrics are poetic, and loves the artwork, the message and the diversity of their music.” By artwork, he doesn’t only mean the imagery in their song lyrics, but also their album covers, which inspire him to read all of their lyrics to understand their songs; “they resonate with the mentality of children,” he believes. By diversity, he means that Jethro Tull’s albums carry “heavy songs like ‘Aqualung,’ and ‘Locomotive Breath,’ but they also have quiet, acoustic songs” that his mother can listen to.

Jethro Tull is coming to MGM National Harbor on March 11 to continue celebrating their 50th anniversary. Their concert will feature a broad mix of material, some of it focusing on the earlier formative period through to the heavy hitters of the Tull catalog from the albums: “This Was,” “Stand Up,” “Benefit,” “Aqualung,” “Thick As A Brick,” “Too Old To Rock And Roll: Too Young To Die,” “Songs From The Wood,” “Heavy Horses,” “Crest Of A Knave” and even a touch of “TAAB2” from 2012.


Ian Anderson: “the first things I ever listened to when I was a child were
Scottish folk music and church music, and I suppose there is some influence
that's carried on through my life with both of those.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO

My first question is, how has being from Scotland influenced your music?

ANDERSON: Well, the first things I ever listened to when I was a child were Scottish folk music and church music, and I suppose there is some influence that's carried on through my life with both of those music forms. But I think, in the first two years of being a professional musician, that ... those influences didn't feature in what I was doing. I was really most influenced by blues and jazz, so it took two or three years before I started to go back and look at some of my earlier influences in addition to the blues and jazz stuff.

Is the imagery in your songs inspired by the environment in Scotland?

ANDERSON: Well, some of it is, but not until really in the mid to late '70s. It became more prominent in my efforts.

How did that happen?

ANDERSON: It happens organically. When you're working with a certain kind of set of ideas, you're always looking to expand and find new influences and, in my case, I've always been an eclectic musician who draws upon musical influences from other places, not just necessarily the world in which I grew up. … It happens without me really trying. It's just a natural inclination.

Could you share the moment when you decided to bring the flute into your music?

ANDERSON: Well, I was originally a guitar player back in the mid to late '60s and then discovered that Eric Clapton was the hotshot guitar player down in London. So, I realized I was never going to be of that caliber of musician and that maybe I should find another instrument to play that wasn't so commonplace as the guitar was. So, for no particularly good reason, I just chanced upon the flute. Didn't know how to play it, never held one in my hands before, just seemed like it might be a fun idea. A few months later, I managed to get some noises out of it, and a couple of weeks later, I was playing it onstage.

Interesting. I understood that you don't like The Beatles. Is that true?

ANDERSON: That's not right. No, I have great admiration for the songwriting skills of The Beatles; I wasn't a Beatles fan when they first appeared. I thought they were very good at what they did, but it didn't really appeal to me musically. But around the time of the Revolver album, I became more interested in what they were doing because they, too, were drawing upon other influences and embracing elements of classical music and folk music, and by the time they got to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” of course, they had become, I suppose, one of the first progressive pop bands. They weren't a rock band, but we saw them developing musically with great ideas, working with George Martin. It was a very creative period of time. It had its impact on me, and I hugely enjoyed what they did. I have great admiration for them, but I wasn't a fan of The Beatles' early pop music.

There is a focus on poor people in your songs, so I wonder; did you grow up in poverty?

ANDERSON: Well, I would describe my parents as lower middle-class. They were professional people, but they didn't have a lot of money. We weren't poor. We didn't go hungry. We lived in a reasonably OK house, but we certainly weren't well-off. During my teenage years, I just remember having really no money at all. I had to go and do a little bit of work in my spare time when I was at school to try and put some money into the household. Later, when I was at art college, I did the same thing, working during the holidays to try and earn some money and gave some to my parents to cover the cost of my being fed and having a roof over my head. So, we certainly weren't well-off, but by the same token, we weren't poor.

Can you tell us something about poverty?

ANDERSON: Can I tell you something about poverty? Well, goodness me. Yeah. Poverty is all around us. We live in a world that's sharply divided between those who have and those who have not, and we, in the more affluent West, are busy consuming most of the world's resources while those who have not are struggling to have anything to eat. But, on the other hand, they have usually a pretty low impact on the environment and are certainly not to blame for climate change, whereas my parents' generation and my generation are the ones who have to shoulder the blame for the world we live in, the over-exploitation of resources, the changes that are well afoot, now, in terms of the increase in the Earth's temperature and the impact that's going to have in terms of food production in the future. We will see poverty ... my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will see poverty like it's never been seen before. It won't just be in the slums of Mumbai or in the poorer parts of downtown London; it'll be everywhere. We're all going to experience poverty in years to come.

So, this-

ANDERSON: That's my-

This is how you-

ANDERSON: Feel about that.

Wow. So, this is how you see the future as an artist?

ANDERSON: No, I see the future as being dead; I won't be around at that time. Give me another 10, 20 years; the impact of climate change will only really be getting to the point where even Donald Trump will have to admit that it really is happening. But he'll be dead and gone, at least in terms of political power, so I think we're not the important ones. It's the children and grandchildren we leave behind us who are going to be those who have to cope with a very radically changing world in the next 50 to 100 years.

Let's talk about education. In one of your interviews, you mentioned that you chose to be expelled from high school to avoid being caned (as physical punishment was allowed in British schools at the time), so how do you see the education system these days?

ANDERSON: Well, my advice to anybody would be to work as hard as you can to get a good education and do all the things that parents and teachers tell you to do because--

Hanan: Really?

ANDERSON: I mean, I certainly don't advocate that people do what I did. You should stay in school, do your best and see if you can get qualifications and go to university and get a proper career. But if you're a little bit crazy, maybe you'll decide to be a rockstar or a movie star or do something, and then no one is going to stop you if you have that determination. But it would be very bad to start off by telling people, "Hey, run away from school and do what you like and don't worry about having an education. It's not important.” Of course it is. For most people, it's imperative. It's not just important, but it's vital that they stay at school and do their very best and get qualifications.

So, do you think the education system could be better?

ANDERSON: Well, it wouldn't have made a big amount of difference to me. It would've just cost me another three to five years of my life before I could be a musician, and I was in a bit of a rush. So, I really wanted to get on and try and get to some level of being a professional musician before I was 20. I couldn't afford to stay and decide to have a go at it after I left university, which would've been a little bit late to be starting in the world of music.

Are you still experimenting with music?

ANDERSON: It's hard not to experiment with music because whenever you sit down to work on a new idea, or even, perhaps, you're working with an old idea, then experimentation, for me, comes naturally because improvisation and developing ideas, it's something that is ... it's what I do. Experimenting means sometimes ... in fact, it means, a lot of the time, that you have to learn to deal with failure because not everything you try to do works out. But that's part of the creative process, to ... try different things. Some, maybe a few, may turn out to be good, and the majority probably won't. But that's experimentation; whether you're working in a science lab or sending a man to the moon, you're going to have some failures.

What should we expect from your coming performance at MGM National Harbor?

ANDERSON: Well, you can expect what you like. So, it's a mixture of music, mainly taken from the first 10 years of Jethro Tull getting noticed internationally. Most people who got to know about Jethro Tull back then, it was that first period of 10 years, end of the '60s through to the end of the '70s, when Jethro Tull became well-known in many countries around the world. So, we're focusing on ... mostly, that era of our music and we are trying to stay pretty close to the original arrangements of the songs, present them with a lot of video material and a few special guests who pop up on the screen behind me.

What is your favorite thing to do in the DMV area?

ANDERSON: Well, my favorite thing to do, really, is go to bed and wake up early the next day because I've never been there with any free time to go and explore. On one occasion, I think ... on one occasion, a friend of mine invited me to the White House ... He was the press secretary for George Bush, and he was a great friend who also played the flute, which is how I got to know him. So, he invited us to the White House, and I sat in one of the press briefings and then went back with him to his office to hang out for a while in the White House. It was a very educational moment, seeing and feeling the heart of the American administration. I didn't get to meet the president. He was busy and heading off somewhere else on some business, but he didn't do the press briefing.

[steelmonkey]

Wait...the last interviewer really knows the set list? Banker Bets, Banker Wins?

[maddogfagin]

From last year perhaps ?



A NOSTALGIC TOUR 50 YEARS IN THE MAKING
A CONVERSATION WITH IAN ANDERSON OF JETHRO TULL
Jethro Tull debuted as a band on, Feb. 2, 1968 at the Marquee Club in London, England. The central figure of the band was, and still is, Ian Anderson. They formed in 1967 and began performing under various names in the clubs in London, but by 1968 they settled on Jethro Tull, taking their name from an 18th Century agriculturist, famous for inventing the seed drill. By October, they were signed to Island records (Reprise in North America) and they issued their debut album, This Was.

Fifty years later, Ian Anderson, the creative force and central figure of Jethro Tull, is still performing and this year, and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band, he is setting out on an extensive North American tour, Jethro Tull by Ian Anderson 50th Anniversary Tour, to be followed by a tour of the U.K. I had the opportunity to speak to Ian Anderson recently about the tour and many other topics. I was curious as to what fans could expect from this tour.

“Well, they could expect me to look the way I did in 1972, with tights, a codpiece, and wild hair, prancing about the stage with my flute. If they are expecting that, they may be disappointed. However, if they expect to hear a variety of songs that go back a long way to the first album they may get what they expect. For this tour, we are concentrating on the first ten years of Jethro Tull, 1968 to 1978, which seems to be the period most fans have come to know as Jethro Tull. Fans seem to be drawn to that era, and hopefully by doing that we will fulfill their expectations.”

The tour is being billed as featuring ‘virtual guests’. An intriguing statement, it makes one wonder what it means, without wanting him to give too much away.“We will have a few people popping up on the screen behind us. You know, there have been 36 members of this band over the years, and you can’t wheel them out, especially since some are dead and others are not feeling well. It is just not feasible. So we use technology.”

For Anderson, touring today is much easier than touring in the early to mid 1970’s. “It is a lot easier to tour today, because of the internet. The logistics of touring is easier, easier to pull it together by myself, rather than relying on tour managers. I have now booked all plane flights, except one. It is much less stressful. The actual performance of touring is easier than it was too, fewer things can go wrong. Performing is the easy part, getting around can be tricky.”

For Anderson, this tour is not about nostalgia. “I don’t even celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, just the kind of guy I am. For me, it is not nostalgic,” he says. “I do these songs all the time, so for me, it is hard to feel nostalgic since I just played the song last year. There are a couple of songs on this tour we have not done before and I have to learn them again, so maybe some part of a song may take me back to where I was when I wrote it and what I was doing, but it is more nostalgic for the fans, I would imagine.

“In some ways I go into a character when I am on stage. An actor friend of mine who does Shakespeare said “It is not nostalgic to act in a Shakespeare play, he is doing a job and obviously the play predates everyone seeing it, and same with these songs, some of the audience was not around the first time, so they become nostalgic about how they came to the music.”

Anderson has been issuing some extremely well received box sets of Jethro Tull’s classic albums, the most recent being Heavy Horses. Listening to those albums must take him back? “Actually I am very objective when I listen to the new masters or mixes. I have always been part of the mastering of the original vinyl or the cassettes, or CDs, remasters or whatever. Steve Wilson, he has done the remixes and we talk quite a lot. But when I listen to new mixes, I am not hearing me, I am hearing a human voice. If I listen to the sound of me then I go back to where I was and what was going on, so I stay objective.”

Preparing for the tour and getting the band ready has taken a great deal of time for Anderson, but that does not mean he is not making new music, quite the opposite. “It is really a time question. But to be honest, new music from old bands is not what fans want, and right now, with the 50th Anniversary tour and the reissues, it does not make sense issuing a new album. And now the tour has been extended to April or May of 2019. But I have begun the album and later this year I will finish it off, and hope to release it in 2019. I don’t like putting something to one side, it is like a having a dinner and you get interrupted by an important telephone call or something. The food goes cold and you pop it in the microwave. I don’t relish that being the case. So two songs have been completely recorded and I have five songs that have yet to be recorded. So I will set those aside and turn my attention to them later, so it is more fresh. I will go into the studio, listen to the demos and record them.”

Anderson is looking forward to the tour, and for him tours provide a reason to leave his home. “These shows are a little adventure for a 70-year-old man who doesn’t get out of the house, just small modest adventures.”

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is not “Living In The Past”, nor is he “Too Old To Rock And Roll”. He is enjoying the touring, and providing the fans with an opportunity to hear and see the man who wrote and originally performed these classic songs. For Anderson, touring has become a bit easier and he is not looking for any complications that he may have encountered in the past (his son is his agent and “he knows from the inside what makes sense”). For Anderson, touring should not be complicated.

Link

[maddogfagin]

Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull celebrate golden anniversary at Ocean Resort
By RAY SCHWEIBERT 11 hrs ago

The twists and turns, influences and instruments leading up to what is today's rock 'n' roll make gauging its precise evolution a tricky business.

It is safe to say, though, that at no point in the process was the flute the centerpiece of rock history, nor did it even take much of a secondary roll.

The one enormous exception to that is the British rock band Jethro Tull.

Like the 17th century English agricultural pioneer after whom the band was named, Jethro Tull pioneered a new sound in rock music when it burst onto the American scene in the latter stages of what would be called the 1960s British Invasion. The band's first studio album is called “This Was” and its first North American tour was in 1969.

Fifty years, 30 albums, and more than 60 million record sales later, Tull and its founding frontman, flautist and lead vocalist Ian Anderson still persevere — and thrive.

A flash-in-the-pan novelty band this was not.

Anderson, 71, is the lone original, but brings with him the longest enduring lineup since the band's creation, including bassist David Goodier, keyboardist John O'Hara, guitarist Florian Opahle and drummer Scott Hammond. Jethro Tull visits Ocean Casino Resort's Ovation Hall 8 p.m. Saturday, March 9.

Tull's cache of songs to crack the mainstream of music consciousness is extensive, as one might guess with a catalog spanning five decades. Most of the numbers rock fans will likely recognize — or at least those who were alive when Jimmy Carter was in the Oval Office — were hits during the first 10 years of the Grammy award-winning band's existence. Among them are “Aqualung,” “Locomotive Breath,” “Skating Away,” “Thick as a Brick,” “Too Old to Rock and Roll: Too Young to Die,” “Living in the Past,” “Bungle in the Jungle,” “Cross-Eyed Mary,” and “Teacher.”

Atlantic City Weekly spoke with the extroverted Anderson before the first leg of Tull's North American tour.

ACW: This tour takes you from A.C. to the California coast, but you're also doing gigs this year in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. How strong has Tull's following been in those countries over the years?

Anderson: Well, we started off in Europe in the UK in 1968, and graduated from playing clubs to theaters. By about 1970 we were playing Royal Albert Hall and other iconic venues in the UK. That kind of went on until we started building up quite a following in Germany and Italy and Spain, which all kind of paralleled what we were doing in the U.S.A.

We've visited Japan, and I suppose all that time there was considerable interest in Western rock music from the countries that were under the yolk of the Soviet empire, which dominated all of Eastern Europe, and perhaps also affected other countries that flirted with communism. All the time they'd be listening to Jethro Tull and other Western rock bands on copied cassettes and illegal imports, and we were quite surprised, in the early days, to learn that people in Russia even knew who Jethro Tull was. We had quite a following that we only later realized existed, although we didn't go (to the Soviet nations) until the 1990s.

We had offers to go there early on, but it was to play for the party officials. I didn't want to go to Russia to be made a fuss over by high-ranking officials of the Communist party, many of whom were given freebie tickets and had no knowledge of who we were and no interest in the band. The regular folks who did know who we were could not attend the shows, and I took a decision back then to wait until, hopefully, things would free up and regular folks could buy a ticket in a free market, which of course is how it is today, although in many parts of Russia the level of income is so low they can't really afford tickets, which is kind of sad.

ACW: One has to assume that with all the success over the years, you're doing this out of love for the music and lifestyle than anything else.

Anderson: Well, I've been fortunate enough to be doing this for a long time and make, by most people's standards, a ton of money, so I'm in a position to be able to afford to play sometimes in places where we substantially reduce our fee because of local economic factors. And every year I do some Christmas cathedral shows to raise money for our great cathedrals and European churches. And in those cases it's not just that I'm not being paid, it's that I have to fund the concerts myself — pay for the cost of sound, lights, transport, hotels and whatever out of my own pocket in order that we can give 100 percent of the income to our great medieval cathedrals, some of which are over 1,000 years old and are supported only by public collection, not by the state. It's very rare to be able to play in Roman Catholic churches, but we do get special dispensation to do that, plus we raise money for very old buildings that really do need support.

It's something I enjoy doing, but more than that it's nice to be able to do something musically where you're giving back to the community, even if you're not a practicing person of faith, and I am not. I do it because I have a love of the architecture and traditions and the culture, not because I'm a fully paid-up Christian. And it does not matter what your practicing faith might be if you are religious. All are welcome.

ACW: Have you been with this five-person lineup long?

Anderson: It's the longest-running lineup of Jethro Tull over our 50-year period. I've been working with these guys for about the last 12 or 13 years and so, as a continuous lineup of the same people, it certainly has the record, given that we have had 36 musicians, apart from me, in Jethro Tull over the years. There's been some coming and going, and at this point in my life it's nice to be playing with the same guys.

We all know each other very well and have a comfortable relationship, which extends to always having a little glass of wine or a beer together after the show as a gesture of friendship. It's always nice to be able to share those things with the people you work with and like.

ACW: How do you devise your set lists for shows, and are you working on new material?

Anderson: Of the tours that we're doing, at least in the U.S.A, 80 percent of the music is based on the first 10 years of Jethro Tull — during that decade or so when the band became well known to audiences all over the world. So that's the focus or premise of this anniversary series of concerts.

But, having said that, there's usually some shows where we'll change the set list but still focus on the 50th anniversary. And new music is always something that's bubbling up underneath. I'm currently working on songs, some of which I've already recorded for an album that will hopefully be released some time later this year. And all of this has to fit into to the mind frame that I don't want to be doing this and nothing else, as I have two or three different projects that I'm working on. I do like to take a few days off here and there, travel around a bit, see things I've never seen, spend time at home with family. You try to find the right balance. But yes, working on new material and sometimes playing on other people's music three or four times per year fits into all that.

ACW: Many Tull songs are still played extensively on classic-rock radio stations, but others that used to get considerable airplay seem to have grown a bit more obscure over time. Would you agree?

Anderson: That's true. There was a time back in the '70s when AOR (album-oriented rock) radio, as it was referred to back then, had very free playlists. That began to change some time in the '80, when I suppose a lot of research began to go into what people wanted to hear. And so playlists got much, much slimmer and focused more on, I suppose, lead tracks from each artist.

That process continues to this day, and of course now you've got all the music that has happened since that has to fit in. So these days, if you hear Jethro Tull on the radio, it is likely to be the same old two or three songs rather than the much broader exposure we, and other bands, used to get back in the '70s.

That's just the nature of rock radio. It has become a very, very narrow-focus playlist. Now they do have Sirius and satellite radio that goes deeper into tracks, but still you've got thousands of artists getting radio play now where back in the '70s it might have been just hundreds. And there's only so much airtime and so much space to be allotted to so many artists, and so much great music.

ACW: I read that it was less the popular music of your generation, and more the music of your father's generation, that influenced your start as a musician. How accurate is that?

Anderson: Yes, it was wartime Big Band jazz and swing music. It was really the first thing I ever listened to. I mean I was aware of church music and some folk music growing up in Scotland, but the first thing I listened to was Big Band jazz.

By the time I was 8 or 9 I started to become aware of the beginnings of rock-and-roll — Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, the stuff that went on from there. So from the popularizing of blues-based music, or R&B, we heard Chuck Berry and Little Richard and Bo Diddley — material that had perhaps a little more credentials because it was being performed by black Americans who were the real deal. It wasn't white kids impersonating them. So the tendency was to investigate and discover who was behind that music and who were the originators. I personally had great affection for acoustic blues or folk blues — people like Sonny Terry or Brownie McGhee for example, who I really enjoyed hearing, and the acoustic work of Muddy Waters, who, like many of his heirs, traveled to Europe to be celebrated, particularly in Britain and Germany, as consummate artists.

It was a real revelation not just for white folks growing up with a fascination for blues and jazz, but a revelation for those musicians who were making $50 if they were lucky playing in a bar on the south side of Chicago to getting on a plane and performing in the finest classical concert halls of Europe, and being treated with the utmost respect and decorum that came with those concert venues. It must have been a real weird thing to them to perform on a stage to an audience that was completely rapt — no one was drinking or hooting and hollering — they sat quietly and listened, which might have been a little unnerving for those guys.

I got to see Buddy Guy and J.B. Linoir and a bunch of folks who were brought together in one of these package blues tours in Europe. And many of them lasted quite a few years and were a huge influence not just to me, but to people all over England who went to see these shows and incorporated that sound into their own repertoires — Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton — they all went to these shows to see their heroes perform. It was what helped shape British music, particularly when Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton (as the band Cream) started playing some loud, heavy, crazy music, and that was the beginning of the British blues boom.

ACW: You originally took up guitar but conceded that you'd never get as good as the likes of Eric Clapton, so you switched to flute. Is that how it happened?

Anderson: Yes, and more specifically when I heard Clapton play with John Mayall's band (the Bluebreakers), I realized he was just far ahead of the rest of us. To me it did not seem reasonable that I could catch up, so I stop playing guitar on stage. I still used guitar to help me write songs but I left electric guitar behind and almost by default found the flute.

I traded in my 1960 Fender Stratocaster — which would probably be worth about 30 to 40 grand today — for a $50 flute and a Shure Unidyne microphone, which I thought was a pretty reasonable exchange. As it turned out, it was a very good exchange. I still use Shure microphones and the flute, once I learned how to play it reasonably well, became the beginnings of Jethro Tull.

ACW: I knew the band was named after a real person, but did not know specifically who Jethro Tull was until I looked him up.

Anderson: Well, I wasn't schooled in that era of history when I was a schoolboy, so I didn't know who Jethro Tull was either. When our manager, a history afficionado, suggested the name, we all said 'Well, OK' without really knowing what he was about.

It was not until a couple of weeks later when I realized that, hang on, this is someone from the history books. It was a bit embarrassing at times in the early going, having this vague idea of who he was. And by then we had already received our first couple of positive responses from the media, and were a resident band of the Marquee Club (a famous and now-defunct London club where the Rolling Stones and The Who got early recognition), so to change our name at that point would not have been a good career move. We had to stick with it, and I have since read up extensively about Jethro Tull and know exactly what he did and didn't do.

Curiously, he was also an amateur musician who wanted to be a serious musician, but he parents packed him off to law school instead.

Link

[maddogfagin]

www.theaquarian.com/2019/03/06/aq-interview-ian-anderson-of-jethro-tull/



AQ Interview: Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull
Arts Weekly March 6, 2019 Buzz

Marking half a century since first touring North America, Jethro Tull returns to New Jersey on March 9 at the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, and March 12 at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. Fronted by founder and master flautist Ian Anderson, Tull remains one of the biggest selling progressive rock artists of all time. Their anniversary concerts will feature a broad mix of material, much of it from the band’s formative period. Recently, AQ spoke with Anderson about the group’s long and storied career.

The recent theatre shows are a far cry from the extravaganzas of the 1970s. I recall seeing Jethro Tull at Shea Stadium in 1976, where the screens were as large as the stages you’re now appearing on.

Jethro Tull has always been a theatre band. We started off in the clubs, playing in rather dark, smelly, windowless places with all of the claustrophobic conditions that that imposed backstage as well as onstage. You call them “performing arts centers”—we just call them theatres. But that’s always been my preferred place to perform. I like a proper backstage with a working toilet; I like the theatrical entrance of walking onto a stage and being able to run away again when I feel so inclined. It’s much more enjoyable. In places like Madison Square Garden, you feel cornered. There’s never a moment of contemplation during a concert. I remember watching Led Zeppelin—we were supporting them at Madison Square Garden, and I was standing in the back watching these tiny little matchstick men. They were just so far away. People remember it fondly because that was the stage of the art of the day—not very good sound systems, not really impressive lights, and apart from glitzy stage costumes, you really couldn’t make out anything. I don’t really enjoy doing that. It’s not really theatrical. I was so disenchanted by the end of 1972, when the Thick As A Brick tour was over, that I said to our manager when I got back to England, “I’m done. I just don’t want to do this anymore. It’s not music. It’s just a spectacle.” I came close to quitting. But, of course, we continued to get booked in the bigger venues for years to come.

You once said, “Jethro Tull is a concert band and the albums are just souvenirs.” Maybe you were just being glib. But now the entire way of delivering music has changed.

I had the first MP3 player that was produced, and I thought it was definitely a step up from cassettes. It was certainly a whole lot better than the world that we had in the ‘70s when people were listening to music largely on cassettes or vinyl. Music came into its own in the digital age. But Spotify and Apple Music and the like have really spelled the death knell for the major record companies who are holding on by a thread, as well as for most musicians today who might hope to make a living from recording. There’s always going to be somebody who becomes an enormous success and for whom the cumulative effect of hundreds of millions of downloads around the world will grace his or her bank balance, but I rather think that the rank and file of artists are lucky to sell a few thousand records these days. Things don’t favor the young recording artist in these last 10 years or so. It’s a tough, tough job. You’re better off studying to be a check-out person at a supermarket, I think.

Authors have been profoundly impacted by similar changes in publishing. The once vaunted mid-list has all but disappeared and it’s no longer feasible for publishers to take a chance on new writers.

Even worse for music writers, I imagine. Anyone can now be a music critic because everyone has a blog. I get these requests from people all the time—people claiming to be this and that—just people trying to bluff their way into an interview. Perhaps they have a website and post it, but how many people actually read it? The rock magazines of the ‘70s had colossal readerships. In fact, I’m working with one of the writers from that era on a Jethro Tull book. There are still people around doing it—people with that passion for music—but most don’t have the vehicles anymore to be able to publish their work.

We lived in an era where we were blessed with an economy that placed value on creativity. You paid money to buy a movie ticket and to go to concerts and to buy records and to buy books. But entertainment now has become relatively cheap. In 1976, a copy of Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young To Die was retailing for $6.98. If you go online today, it’s $6.95—almost exactly the same figure, but after inflation of perhaps 400% or 500%. Not only that, Amazon will deliver it to your door. So, for a lot of people, this is good news—music and entertainment are cheaper than they’ve ever been… unless you want to go to actually see your favorite musicians perform. You’re paying hundreds now for a ticket, and not necessarily a very good ticket. But you can’t actually do a show cheaper. I think if bands could sell a $10 or $20 ticket, a lot of us would do that. We agree that tickets are way too expensive. In the UK, the cost is about the equivalent of $45 for a top ticket, but that’s less than half of what it will cost in the USA, where people are used to paying more. Why? Because we have to work with commercial promoters, agents… everybody wants their piece of the action, and we pay much more in the way of costs than when we control the economics by producing our own concert tours in the UK. But I can’t do that in the USA. The unions would kill me.

[bunkerfan]

"I think if bands could sell a $10 or $20 ticket, a lot of us would do that. We agree that tickets are way too expensive. In the UK, the cost is about the equivalent of $45 for a top ticket, but that’s less than half of what it will cost in the USA, where people are used to paying more. Why? Because we have to work with commercial promoters, agents… everybody wants their piece of the action, and we pay much more in the way of costs than when we control the economics by producing our own concert tours in the UK. But I can’t do that in the USA. The unions would kill me."

If only we could get rid of all those agents etc. it would be so much cheaper to buy a concert ticket and also have more choice of choosing a decent seat. More should be done to give Joe public a better deal.