Ian Anderson interviews

[earsoftin]

May 10, 2014 12:57:40 GMT nonrabbit said:

I wonder if he thinks a Yes vote is on the cards if he's writing a song about the separation?

As an exiled Scot myself I was peeved that I wouldn't have a postal vote especially since I'm only MIA and will be returning home in the future - for good. I remember reading that Salmond said that the cost would have been phenomenal and I suppose it's only really relevant if you are actually living in the country that may be affected. Exiled Scots can have an opinion rather than a vote.

Not getting too personal but don't you think Ian already has a home in Scotland? I don't believe the Wiltshire gaff is his only home.

As another with a Scottish father and English mother I thought his comments were well judged. I can see why some in Scotland might favour independence, but there's lots of us down here who do not favour this. I love Scotland and write about its history a lot, but I have to say that I'm British - not sure what else I could say. I don't get a vote (rightly) but my mother, brother and sister will. I think that what is ironic is that Scotland is far more connected in many ways to the rest of the country than it was when I lived there from 1969 to 1976. Then the newspapers, the shops, even the music (Andy Stewart and Moira Anderson) were distinctively Scottish. What started to break this down, I'm convinced, was popular music, and then all the retail chains followed in behind. So when I moved from Dundee to Manchester in 1976 I could (obviously) get the Guardian newspaper anywhere, which had been an exotic item in Dundee. Now I can get the Guardian on Arran and the high streets look just the same as in English cities. There's lots that's still distinctive (and great) about Scotland, but I'm not sure that independence (as opposed to more devolution) is the way forward. Like to hear his new verse, though! (Just like I want to hear the new verse in APP!)

[nonrabbit]

May 13, 2014 19:07:18 GMT earsoftin said:

May 10, 2014 12:57:40 GMT nonrabbit said:

I wonder if he thinks a Yes vote is on the cards if he's writing a song about the separation?

As an exiled Scot myself I was peeved that I wouldn't have a postal vote especially since I'm only MIA and will be returning home in the future - for good. I remember reading that Salmond said that the cost would have been phenomenal and I suppose it's only really relevant if you are actually living in the country that may be affected. Exiled Scots can have an opinion rather than a vote.

Not getting too personal but don't you think Ian already has a home in Scotland? I don't believe the Wiltshire gaff is his only home.

As another with a Scottish father and English mother I thought his comments were well judged. I can see why some in Scotland might favour independence, but there's lots of us down here who do not favour this. I love Scotland and write about its history a lot, but I have to say that I'm British - not sure what else I could say. I don't get a vote (rightly) but my mother, brother and sister will. I think that what is ironic is that Scotland is far more connected in many ways to the rest of the country than it was when I lived there from 1969 to 1976. Then the newspapers, the shops, even the music (Andy Stewart and Moira Anderson) were distinctively Scottish. What started to break this down, I'm convinced, was popular music, and then all the retail chains followed in behind. So when I moved from Dundee to Manchester in 1976 I could (obviously) get the Guardian newspaper anywhere, which had been an exotic item in Dundee. Now I can get the Guardian on Arran and the high streets look just the same as in English cities. There's lots that's still distinctive (and great) about Scotland, but I'm not sure that independence (as opposed to more devolution) is the way forward. Like to hear his new verse, though! (Just like I want to hear the new verse in APP!)

The Scottish identity has always been very strong whether you believe in independence or not. The Scots have always felt separate from the rest of the UK and that's taught to us in history at school and is in our culture,language, dress and song.
If all the facts and figures add up for Scotland to be a successful independent country and it works in practice,I believe Scotland will grow closer to the Nordic countries and see them as an example and it will look less and less like the rest of the UK.

But facts and figures aside to vote Yes takes a percentage of a leap into the unknown and I don't think it will happen in September.

[maddogfagin]

www.thisismoney.co.uk/

I paid £500 for Rolex now worth £20,000':
Why watches are a timely investment 100 years after First World War
By TOBY WALNE, FINANCIAL MAIL ON SUNDAY
PUBLISHED: 22:00, 17 May 2014


Rhythm: Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull paid £500 for a Rolex Cosmograph now worth £20,000

A vintage wristwatch can be a timely investment - and this year is an important anniversary for timepiece investors.

The mechanical watch was traditionally attached to a chain fob, but in the First World War it began to be worn on the wrist as a practical necessity by soldiers fighting in the trenches.

Paul Maudsley, director of the watch department of auction house Bonhams, believes that this year’s First World War anniversary may herald renewed interest in some of the finest old watches.

He says: ‘Wristwatches were seen as effeminate until the First World War. They had previously mostly been worn by women on bracelets. But soldiers found them more practical than the fob watch in armed combat.’

Maudsley points out that few military watches of the era had a maker’s name on them, but unmarked examples made by Rolex can fetch £2,000. Others in top condition can sell for more than £700. Many were encased with grills to keep them from being damaged in trench bombardments and attacks.

He adds: ‘The classic era for collectable watches with investment appeal began in the 1950s.
‘Elegant rare examples with beautiful calendar and moon faces by Vacheron Constantin from this era can cost £10,000. It sounds a lot of money, but a comparable watch by top maker Patek Philippe might fetch £150,000, so values could rise.’

Mechanical watches are driven by internal movements rather than crystals, with mainspring, gears, levers, jewel-lined bearings and wheels working to keep time ticking. They may also include so-called ‘complications’ – showing days, dates and lunar calendar phases.

The introduction of quartz technology in the Seventies – with electronic pulses regulated by crystals – enabled more affordable and accurate timepieces to be made. This also marked the start of an investment market for the traditional watch.

Ian Anderson, 66, the flute playing frontman of Jethro Tull, has a collection of watches he started by accident in the 1970s.

Ian, who is enjoying something of a renaissance with his biggest UK hit for more than 40 years, the album Homo Erraticus, says: ‘I am not a magpie and don’t buy the big bling watches that scream out how hideously expensive they are – it is the understated and beautifully crafted pieces I like.’

The rock star bought a Rolex Cosmograph in 1975 for about £500 in the Swiss town of Montreux that is now worth up to £20,000.

A year later he bought a black-faced model of the same watch – a close cousin of the Rolex Daytona worn by actor Paul Newman – for a similar price in New York that has also soared in value thanks to its classical beauty.

Ian, who lives in Wiltshire, adds: ‘These watches are not to be confused with the modern-day chunky beasts. Craftsmanship has not improved and modern mechanical watches can lose a few seconds a day.

‘My watches must be regularly serviced – at least once every five years – which may cost £300.’

Though big names such as Rolex have given owners huge returns over the years, Ian says his favourite watches are made by JS Watch Company in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.

He recently received as a gift one with a 25-jewel internal Swiss mechanism worth more than £2,000. He says: ‘This watchmaker is an artist of exceptional talent and engineering skill. The watch is priceless.’

Maudsley says: ‘Although Rolex is the most collected brand there are also lots of other iconic watches. These include Jaeger-LeCoultre and its Reverso model.

Other collectable watchmakers include Breguet, Audemars Piguet, Cartier, Tissot, Breitling, TAG Heuer, Omega and Longines.’

He warns against buying online as the market is awash with fakes – many hard to spot as a true vintage watch has to have original and authentic interior as well as exterior parts. He urges buyers to use a reputable dealer or auction house.

Bonhams, Watches and Wristwatches auction, May 20 at 9am, with viewings today and tomorrow in Knightsbridge, London.
...and they are useful for unzipping dresses

James Bond started with a Rolex Submariner chosen by his creator Ian Fleming. A 1958 Oyster Perpetual Submariner can sell for up to £45,000.
In the 1970s he had a Seiko digital, but now wears an Omega Seamaster that might cost £3,500 new.

A 1972 Rolex Oyster 5513 used by Roger Moore to unzip dresses with a magnet in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die sold for £147,000 in 2011.

The world’s first commercial digital wristwatch was the Pulsar LED made by Hamilton Watch Company in 1970 and sold widely in 1972.

It was coated in 18-carat gold and had a red LED display inspired by a clock the company made for 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It cost £1,300 new but now fetches more than £7,000.

The world’s most expensive wristwatch is a 1944 Patek Philippe that fetched $5.7 million (£3.4 million) at Christie’s in 2010.

The Reference 1527 Perpetual Calendar in 18 carat gold was a one-off forerunner to a modern classic.

[nonrabbit]

May 9, 2014 9:23:26 GMT maddogfagin said:

Ian was born in Dunfermline and moved to Edinburgh with his family when he was five.

He will be returning to his childhood haunts on May 18 when his current live tour comes to Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre.

...............

Ian said: “I have one day off when I’m in Edinburgh.

“I’m going to see if there is still a hole in the wrought iron railings down in Roseburn where I can crawl through and walk along the side of the waters of Leith, which as a child I did.

“It was completely forbidden, of course, but there was a hole there.

“I might not fit through it now, though. It was a tight squeeze at the time.”

It will be the first time in many years that he’s been back to visit those streets he walked during his childhood.

rock or old rock musicians.

We covered this a while ago here - with pictures;

www.jethrotull.proboards.com/post/27800/thread

[nonrabbit]

Thought I'd post this interview again - December 2009. It's a bit hidden in the Tartan Tull thread and I think it deserves a place here too.

It's one of the most insightful interviews I think he's ever done and once again hats off to the interviewer as well.

It was Retrosellers magazine - really worth a click (keep scrolling down between the pics and adds)


www.retrosellers.com/features198.htm

[maddogfagin]

www.examiner.com/article/jethro-tull-leader-ian-anderson-discusses-new-homo-erraticus-album

JETHRO TULL LEADER IAN ANDERSON DISCUSSES NEW HOMO ERRATICUS ALBUM
May 19, 2014 BY ELLIOT STEPHEN COHEN

“I’m definitely not a sex, drugs and rock and roll guy,” admits the curmudgeonly 66-year-old Tull frontman, responding to whether he has plans of penning an autobiography like so many of his contemporaries. “I have no history at all in those areas. That was not the life I chose for myself.”

What has made Anderson one of rock’s most celebrated all-around performers since 1968, is the music.

Leading groups of hugely talented musicians (nearly 30 have performed as part of Jethro Tull), songs like “Aqualung,” “Bungle In The Jungle,” “Locomotive Breath,” “Living In The Past,” “Cross-Eyed-Mary,” “Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of The New Day)” and “Too Old Too Rock and Roll,” have remained Classic Rock Radio staples.

Having now retired the Jethro Tull name (at least for the moment), Anderson has just released his sixth solo album, “Homo Erraticus.” He is currently in the midst of a world-wide tour, performing the album in its entirety, along with many Jethro Tull classics.

Examiner: The new album retains the iconic Tull sound. What was the inspiration behind choosing such an esoteric concept for a rock album?

Anderson: The title came into being about two or three days into the writing process. I started with an empty head, a laptop computer, a guitar and a flute. Then, the whole conceptual idea started coming into play. The title, “Homo Erraticus,” the wandering man, is in essence the whole spirit of the album. It’s the story of all of us; the hunter-gatherer, which is our species, always looking for where the grass is greener. I make constant references along the way to the present day, and even the immediate future, because we are so connected to that history. So, it’s really a very prog-rock excess of cramming thousands of years of history into 52 minutes of real time, but that’s prog-rock for you.

Examiner: On this album you didn’t use Martin Barre, who has been playing guitar for you since 1969. Why did you decide to record this as a solo album, as opposed to using your regular Jethro Tull members?

Anderson: I just felt that after all these years, I’d rather leave the name Jethro Tull in the annals of rock music history, where it belongs. The band hasn’t performed together since 2011. It was time for me to leave that all behind. You know, when you’re working on a new album, you want to pick some of the guys you like, the ones who have been key important members of Jethro Tull, but then it’s difficult to decide where to start and where to finish. If I’d asked Martin to play on the album, but not Dave Perry who was a Jethro Tull drummer for 25 years, he would have probably been upset. Now when I go on tour, it’s Ian Anderson and bunch of guys, but they’re an important group of colleagues, and I try to give them their proper time to shine onstage.

Examiner: Why did you choose such an unusual moniker as Jethro Tull for a rock band?

Anderson: It came from an agent we had back in 1968. Since up to that point we hadn't done terribly well with past names, we decided to keep it after our first glimmer of success. Unfortunately, I was someone who didn't pay much attention in my history classes, or I would have realized that we'd been named after a dead guy who had invented the seed drill. He apparently is reasonably well represented in the history books. I'm very proud now to be associated with his name, but I still can't help but feel a bit guilty stealing someone's identity. So, let me publicly apologize now for the umpteenth time!

Examiner: What memories do you have of performing on "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus?” (Filmed in 1968 for British television, although not shown for decades. Ed). Jethro Tull was still largely unknown by the general public.

Anderson: Well, (Rolling Stones) Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman had heard of us through the grapevine as an up-and-coming young blues band. I they think they were the architects of our appearance. I don't think Mick Jagger knew much about us. He just kind-of went along with their suggestions. So, yes, as you said, we were definitely the rookies amongst a bit of a kaleidoscope of oddball stars on the bill…Eric Clapton, The Who, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Examiner: Now, Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath actually had to fill in for your regular guitarist who had just left.

Anderson: Yes. The Stones probably didn't realize they would be booking a band that was only 75 per cent complete. Tony was kind enough to make himself available to mime a pre-recorded backing track. I actually think Tony was quite embarrassed, because he really was not familiar with our music, and had to pretend he was playing slide guitar. He actually had his hat pulled down over his face so no one could see him. (Laughs.)

Examiner: You once said you gave up playing guitar for the flute, because you realized you could never be as good as Eric Clapton.

Anderson: That's very true. It wasn't just Eric Clapton, but all of us had heard rumors of people like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore. I knew they were the real "gunslingers" in town, and I wouldn’t do well in a “shootout.” I thought I should do something else to help me stand out from the crowd. That's why I decided on the flute, which would be a unique instrument in the worlds of blues and rock music. After all these years, there still aren't many other flute players in rock music. So, I must have picked the right instrument. It’s the flute that most people think of when they hear the name Jethro Tull, and also the logo of the “one-legged flute player.”

Examiner: One of your most famous songs that has stood the test of time is "Too Old To Rock and Roll.” When you composed it, did you have in mind saying the opposite of Pete Townshend, who wrote, “Hope I die before I get old…”

Anderson: No. I can’t say that particularly occurred to me. The song title actually came to me around 1974 on a very scary airline flight across America. I remember going through this terribly turbulent, awful thunderstorm. I was literally gripping the side of my seat, and the words, “Too old to rock and roll, too young to die,” came into my head.

Examiner: So, you decided to expand that idea with a fictional musical character.

Anderson: Yes. When it came time to write the song, I thought, “Let me invent a character who’s caught up in that type of nostalgia, and the cozy blue blanket security need for hanging on to things from his past.” It’s something we all do, to some extent, sometimes too obsessively; perhaps not always in a very healthy way. I never thought too much about the song’s implications, other than it seemed to be a good title for a Jethro Tull album. You know, whenever you come up with something like that, you’re throwing down the gauntlet for journalists to have a little fun analyzing it.

Examiner: You were very prophetic because, here you are at 66, still out there creating and playing live rock music. Paul McCartney, Mick, Charlie and Keith of The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan are all in their 70s. However, back in the 1960s and 70s, the idea of someone that age playing rock music would have seemed unimaginable. Am I correct?

Anderson: I don’t think you are. I’m pretty damn sure Charlie and Keith would have said, “Our heroes are all old guys. There’s no reason why we won’t be able to get up there (on stage) in our 70s and 80s and still do it.” You know, music is not something you do for a couple of years. It’s something you do for life. All of the signs were that, if you were good at what you did, you could become an old man and still be able to perform.

Examiner: Well, certainly very few people would have expected Keith Richards to be around at 70, let along still doing two-hour high-energy shows.

Anderson: Yes, it’s more than a little bit strange that Keith is still here because of the life of excess that he’s lived and has survived to tell the tale. We love guys like Keith Richards who are the archetypal heroes who survived the odds and have that credibility of the romantic bohemian manifestations of arts and entertainment about them. Of course, there are also far too many others who played with the same dangerous toys and are not around to tell the tale.

Examiner: In the Stones documentary “Shine A Light,” there’s a clip of Mick Jagger in 1972, at age 29, talking with American TV host Dick Cavett, who asks, “Can you see yourself doing this at age 60?” Jagger replies, “Oh, easily,” and the audience bursts out laughing. Cavett then adds, with a smirk, “You mean coming onstage with a cane!” but he’s still here doing it at as well as ever, at 70.

Anderson: You have to give Mick Jagger his proper credit. He’s exemplary in his ability to prepare for a tour and perform with the gusto of a man one quarter of his age, but we don’t love Mick in the same way we do Keith. We don’t quite love Bono or Sting, either. We may love their music and as entertainers, but we don’t really like them so much in terms of people. People just don’t like Sting. There’s something about him. He doesn’t smell right. He maybe comes across as being a bit smug, a big too self satisfied or too clever. Elton John now has become increasingly grumpy and volatile. He’s not loveable anymore. There’s a whole bunch of guys that (people) don’t really warm up to, the way we warm up to a Keith Richards, who seems very genuine and just sails through life having a good time. I’ve met him a few times and found him to be a lovely guy, genuinely endearing; a little wrinkly old man; quite scurrilous and ill-disposed towards his lead singer, (Mick Jagger). (Laughs).

Examiner: How do you think most Jethro Tull fans feel about you, Ian?

Anderson: I’m pretty sure that I fall into the category of, “We don’t really like him that much.” It doesn’t particularly bother me. There are a lot of us out there who are used to being met with a certain kind of disapproval from people, even though they may like our music and buy our records. I really feel I’m in that tribe, but I’m in pretty good company.

Examiner: How surprised were you when Jethro Tull beat out Metallica in 1988 for the Grammy, “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance”, when that is really not an apt description of your music?

Anderson: We were really getting it because we were a bunch of nice guys who hadn’t won one before. Since there was no category for “best one-legged flute player,” they gave it to us for the odd quickie new category they created.

Examiner: Why, though, hasn’t a great band like Jethro Tull been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, when so many lesser talents are put in every year. It’s now twenty years since the band first became eligible.

Anderson: Well, number one we’re not American.

Examiner: But neither are many of the inductees.

Anderson: I’m well aware of that, but most of the artists who are in there, regardless of their nationality, have something in common in what they play is essentially American music. By our second album, we had shaken off being a sort of “Not very good little blues band,” and started working with more of a European and world music influence. I don’t think Jethro Tull is really an exponent of American music, and don’t think we really merit a place in the hall.

Examiner: Do you think there’s a prejudice from (Hall executive) Jann Wenner against a whole list of established British prog rock bands like The Moody Blues, Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Deep Purple and others.

Anderson: I recall him having a fairly profound dislike for Jethro Tull, so I imagine any attempt to get us in would not meet with his approval. There’s a whole bunch of people I would put in before Jethro Tull.

Examiner: For example…

Anderson: Someone like J.B. Lenoir, who sang about the realities of being black, which was a very brave thing to do (in the ‘60s) Sadly, he died young before he could make his mark. I first saw him when I was about 17. It was around ’64 or ’65; one of the first blues compilation tours that came to Europe. It was really the first time British audiences got to see black American musicians that filled us with wonder and awe. We were treated to some of the finest music from another land. I’m sure John Mayall, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page must have been at some of those shows.

Examiner: Certainly, there were also many British artists who came of age in the ‘60s who owe a great deal of gratitude to the great American blues artists who preceded them.

Anderson: Definitely, but one of the reasons I stopped being a blues musician is because one day I just thought, “This is ridiculous. I’m a pale, white, middle class kid from England. What am I doing, singing in a fake American accent? I wasn’t in any way validating the culture and experience of black Americans that I’m not a part of and have great respect for.” So, I immediately decided I’d better find some other inspirations elsewhere. That let me to look at my own roots in church music and classical, as my primary forces.

Examiner: However, the blues was a valuable starting point for you.

Anderson: Yes. I do owe a lot of indebtedness to black American music. The reality is that, if it hadn’t been for the blues boom in England, particularly in the South during the late ‘60s, there would have been no Jethro Tull ... and no Ian Anderson talking to you right now.

[maddogfagin]

Tull's Ian Anderson is not living in the past
Forres Gazette, published: 21/05/2014 12:20

link

There was a time, as the laird of Strathaird estate on Skye and founder of Strathaird Salmon, that Ian Anderson was a regular visitor to the Highlands.

Not any more.

"I don’t even go much to the Lowlands these days," the Fife born frontman of Jethro Tull admitted.

"As the hourglass starts to trickle and I realise I don’t have much time left as a working musician, my trips over the border have become less frequent and increasingly to do with work."

Fortunately Anderson’s itinerary planning takes him back to Aberdeen and Inverness next week for a show that will be divided between Anderson’s personal pick of Tull favourites and new album Homo Erraticus played live in its entirety — just as Anderson always intended it to be.

"Audiences don’t want old bands to make new albums," he said.

"They want them to remake old albums — there’s a reluctance against new product. The last time the Rolling Stones made a new album, it under performed, but it achieved its aim of drawing attention to their tour and back catalogue.

"Making a new album today will not make me rich or sell a ton of copies, but it will allow me to hold up my head with a sense of dignity that I can still do things and tackle bigger subjects and make it entertaining enough to keep an audience glued to their seats for an hour. And by using video and a more theatrical presentation, I hope that I can do that."

Homo Erraticus is that familiar staple of prog rock, the concept album, and Anderson happily, if with tongue slightly in cheek sums it up as "folk-prog-metal".

"I was asked to define what prog rock was and I just said: ‘It’s music for people who get bored easily.’ So much of contemporary pop and rock music is so formulated and instant in its appeal and limited in its longevity. It doesn’t tick the boxes for a lot of folk who want something a bit more challenging," he suggested.

"Prog rock was always designed to be a very broad category and one that looked outside the confines of rock, so it drew on classical music and folk music. It was always designed to sound eclectic and if I had to sum up my work over the years, it would be that of an eclectic rock musician."

Like David Bowie, true Brit Ian Anderson does not want to see Scotland go.

Co-credited to the fictional Gerald Bostock, the supposed poet child prodigy who created Tull’s 1972 concept album Thick As a Brick and more recent follow up Thick As A Brick 2, Homo Erraticus takes a sweeping view over British history from the Stone Age to the future, but as Anderson explained, its subject is not history, but migration.

"It’s the story of all of us. We are all from somewhere else," he said.

Born in Dunfermline to a Scottish father and English mother, he grew up talking about himself as a Scot, but always felt things were a bit more complicated than that.

"I remember as a child thinking that was a bit weird because if there is going to be any decency about us all, we should accord nationality to our mothers rather than our fathers. It’s women who do all the work," Anderson said.

"I always felt that little bit of embarrassment when I talk about myself as a Scot. I’m still inclined to do that, but I try to remember to be the archetypal Brit and stress that I am of mixed parentage.

"That Union, whether the 300 year old one between England and Scotland or the one between my English mother and Scottish father, is a union I’m quite proud of. I would be very sorry if I had to remove any blue from the flag that I fly in my heart.

"I don’t think it would be good for any of us to have the degree of independence nationally that Alex Salmond wants. I’m someone who would be filled with sadness if Scotland decides to go it’s own way."

Anderson revealed that he had recorded a song, Deoch an Dorus — the Gaelic parting "drink at the door" — for an album that will be released after September’s independence vote and has re-written the second verse to reflect the possible dissolution of the union.

"Personally, I just hate to think I will have to carry a passport to visit the country of my birth," he added.

"However, if it is the deaoch an dorus and we have to say goodbye, then I’ll be the first to buy Mr Salmond a dram of whisky — but I didn’t say it would be a single malt. It may well be the cheapest brand in the supermarket!"

• Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson will be atEden Court Theatre, Inverness, on Wednesday 21st May.

[nonrabbit]

He's a bit wandered as to his roots.. ah well... "all across the Pennines...."

[JTull 007]

May 21, 2014 13:41:58 GMT maddogfagin said:

Tull's Ian Anderson is not living in the past
Forres Gazette, published: 21/05/2014 12:20

link

"Audiences don’t want old bands to make new albums," he said.

"They want them to remake old albums — there’s a reluctance against new product.
The last time the Rolling Stones made a new album, it under performed,
but it achieved its aim of drawing attention to their tour and back catalogue.

"Making a new album today will not make me rich or sell a ton of copies,
but it will allow me to hold up my head with a sense of dignity that I can still do things and tackle
bigger subjects and make it entertaining enough to keep an audience glued to their seats for an hour.
And by using video and a more theatrical presentation, I hope that I can do that."

• Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson will be at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, on Wednesday 21st May.

That says it all to a Tull Fan like me. God Bless the creativity of Ian Anderson in 2014.

When I go to a concert, I always want to hear as many new songs as possible.   Since 2012 Ian delivers!
There is more good music to come and I won't be sitting at home waiting for the 70's to return.

Thanks for posting this excellent interview Graham.

[steelmonkey]

Preferring latest to greatest is a no brainer for devoted Tull fans....but we have to accept the financial reality of needing the greatest hit or nostalgia driven fans to keep the band on the road...hey, I have an idea...how about a concert in two halves...first half all new stuff...and second half mostly greatest hits but with a deep catalogue or two highlight....someone write this down and forward it to Ian .

[maddogfagin]

Would IAN ANDERSON Collaborate With METALLICA? - "Yes, But Don't Expect Me To Come To America To Do It"

Hot Flashes

Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2014 at 14:42:27 EST

In new interview with RockMusicStar.com's Thomas S. Orwat Jr., Jethro Tull legend Ian Anderson is asked about possibly collaborating with Metallica on a song.



Q: You collaborated with many brilliant musicians over your career. But, in light of your controversial Grammy Award for "Best Hard Rock Recording" over Metallica in 1989, would you ever consider doing a track with them and perhaps create the greatest "Metal/Rock" song of all time?

A: "If Metallica got on the phone or sent me an email asking me to play on a track, I would say, 'Yes, but don't expect me to come to America to do it.' I would tell them to send me a rough mix and tell me where you want me to play and give me some vague verbal description of what you are looking for, and let me loose. I'll do it and send it back to you. If you like it, use it, and if you don't, just delete the file. No charge, no expectation, no damage done if you feel that it doesn't fit. Those are the terms that I always use when playing with other people. I never accepted a fee or a royalty from anyone in which I played on their record. It's something that I only do because I want to do it, because it is a challenge and I'm pleased and honored to be asked by musicians whether they are famous or not. But, I can also say no too. I'm not prostituting myself. I'm not a musical hooker doing it for the cash. I don't give flute blowjobs."

The full interview will be available soon at www.rockmusicstar.com/

[maddogfagin]

‘Actually passionate about doing new things’: Ian Anderson ends speculation on future of Jethro Tull
MAY 31, 2014 BY NICK DERISO

somethingelsereviews.com/

It would seem, with two consecutive solo releases focusing on a legendary Jethro Tull character, that Ian Anderson is done with his old band. But then, truth be told, Martin Barre — who’d been on every Tull recording dating back to their sophomore 1968 release — is all that was left of the group, anyway.

Jethro Tull’s most recent non-holiday release dates back to 1999. For all intents and purposes, the group has become nothing more than these two collaborators, and it seems Anderson is ready to free himself from even that long-term collaborative relationship.

Anderson tells us, in an exclusive SER Sitdown, that he and Barre discussed beginning separate projects back in 2010. Since, Barre has released 2013′s Away with Words while Anderson has issued 2012′s Thick as a Brick 2 and 2014′s Homo Erraticus — the latter of which both focus on the fictional figure of Gerald Bostock.

And that, apparently, is the way it will be for a while. Apparently, actually, forever.

“I don’t have any plans right now to be recording another studio album with Martin Barre,” Anderson firmly tells us. “He’s busy, and so am I, doing other stuff. We’ve been playing together for so many years that I think both of us probably feel — I would hope, understandably — that there are some things that you’ve got to sort out and do, while you still can. The worst possible scenario, really, is to sort of carry on doing repertoire, going out and doing that sort of repetitive thing until you die. It works for some folks, and they probably enjoy it, but some of us have the conviction that there is still unfinished business — while we still have our marbles and our musical expertise to go with it.”

There have, of course, been a number of long-term members of Jethro Tull, beyond Barre. They included Barriemore Barlow (1971-1980); John Evan (1971-80); Dave Pegg (1979-1995); and Andrew Giddings (1991-2007). Pegg, in fact, returned as a guest musician on 2003′s The Jethro Tull Christmas Album, which apparently will stand as the group’s studio finale. But it’s Barre who has appeared, until now, to be Anderson’s principal partner in musical crime. Anderson bristles at the thought that they are that interconnected.

“I think fans will understand that it’s good that we are actually passionate about doing new things, and reinterpreting some old things — whatever it might be,” he tells us. “The idea that you are sort of an old married couple that has to go on display? Martin feels the same as I do: It’s nice to have a bit of a life of your own, and be recognized as an individual, rather than just as that bloke who plays guitar in Jethro Tull. It’s important to me, let alone him, that he’s recognized as an individual by name for his work over the years and his contributions to the sound of Jethro Tull.”

[maddogfagin]

Ian Anderson, a Space Nut?
Posted: 06/17/2014 5:55 pm EDT Updated: 06/17/2014 5:59 pm EDT
www.huffingtonpost.com/

Who knew Ian Anderson, front-man for the seminal rock group Jethro Tull, is a space aficionado?

The singer and flautist, who grew during the Cold War, was impacted as much by events in the America-Russia space race as his fellow baby boomers and, over the years, has even written space references into his tunes.

Anderson also performed a live flute duet with NASA astronaut Catherine (Cady) Coleman at the International Space Station in 2011 on Yuri Gagarin's 50-year flight anniversary. The song covered, of course, was "Bouree," based on Bach's "Suite in E minor for Lute" and cemented in pop culture by Jethro Tull.

Anderson and I chatted about many things music, but the topic that really got his blood pumping was space. Following are excerpts from a fascinating conversation.

Jim Clash: You celebrated Gagarin's half-century flight anniversary performing a flute duet with Cady Coleman who was aboard ISS. What inspired that?

Ian Anderson: I did that night, yes, from Perm, Russia. I'm a child of the age of space exploration. I was born in 1947 at a time when Werner von Braun was in America helping develop rocket technology, and his counterparts from those Nazi years of innovative engineering were in Russia helping the Russians do the same. Before the age of puberty, I already was in a world where we knew about rockets and the dream of sending a man into space and to the moon. By the time I was 10, in fact, Sputnik took to the skies and that first 'beep, beep, beep' sound was played over the airwaves. For me growing up then, it was almost an emblem of something that was a dream coming true. When Gagarin went into space in '61, ahead of the Americans, those of us in the west who feared the Russians and what they represented were a little disappointed that Alan Shepard and some others managed to get up there in a less sensational way.

Clash: But, over the long haul, the west did prevail.

Anderson: The almighty dollar and promises and guarantees by JFK of getting a man on the moon all came true, and America had its day in July 1969. I think I was on tour in America at the time Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon.

Clash: That's right. You even wrote the song "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" on the "Benefit" album.

Anderson: Yes, for the guy who didn't get to step on the moon, which I find poignant in a rather sobering kind of reality. To have been part of all of that yet having in a way drawn the short straw and not get covered in glory, since he didn't get to do what [Buzz] Aldrin and Armstrong did, seemed a little unfair. I felt a moment of sympathy and sensitivity about that. Ironically, 40-odd years later my son-in-law, an actor, played Michael Collins in a docudrama about the first moon landing. By pure coincidence, he got to play the guy who didn't go to the moon, although he did get to kill a lot of zombies in his role in "The Walking Dead."

Clash: Do you have any interest in visiting ISS yourself?

Anderson: I do have an interest, but I'm not physiologically or mentally equipped. I'm 66, and it would take a year of my time and tens of millions of dollars to visit. I know from frequent e-mails with my friend, the lady astronaut, that it is not something at all I would feel comfortable to do. But she loved it! She was desperately unhappy to come back to Earth. To me, it's just insane; I wouldn't last 10 minutes. I'd be stir crazy. I'm claustrophobic and would not be a happy bunny up there. It's bad enough flying--when I have to get on an airplane to Australia, for example, I'm scared sh*tless. Even when I was very young, I knew I was not going to be a guy who was going into space. But my flute has been there and came back on one of the last Space Shuttle missions.

Coleman, by the way, is scheduled to perform with her flute at the world-famous Explorers Club on Oct. 25 as part of "Space Stories" where the likes of Apollo 16 moonwalker Charles Duke will be presenting. Wouldn't it be something if Anderson showed up with his own flute for another duet - this time on terra firma?

Cady, are you up for it? Ian, are you listening?

[nonrabbit]

Wonder if they're heading over to NZ when they go down under?


"....I have been utterly bored witless and at great length by two crashing dullards whose music I never really much liked anyway: Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and Scottish-born singer-songwriter Al (Year of the Cat) Stewart...."


"....I will never forget the pleasant night in 93 when, just before Tull came to play a gig in New Plymouth organised by Shagger of the Magogs biker club.."


"...I couldn't get a word in..."


www.elsewhere.co.nz/mybackpages/771/jethro-tull-al-stewart-hanging-on-the-telephone/

[JTull 007]

Jun 18, 2014 16:48:44 GMT nonrabbit said:

Wonder if they're heading over to NZ when they go down under?


"....I have been utterly bored witless and at great length by two crashing dullards whose music I never really much liked anyway: Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and Scottish-born singer-songwriter Al (Year of the Cat) Stewart...."


"....I will never forget the pleasant night in 93 when, just before Tull came to play a gig in New Plymouth organised by Shagger of the Magogs biker club.."


"...I couldn't get a word in..."
www.elsewhere.co.nz/mybackpages/771/jethro-tull-al-stewart-hanging-on-the-telephone/

Yes. December 18th, 19th, and 20th. Then back home by Christmas Tully Ho, Ho, Ho

[bunkerfan]

I loved this Tull era.

[bunkerfan]

I loved this Tull era.



Uploaded by John Bivens

[maddogfagin]

Jun 20, 2014 7:31:18 GMT bunkerfan said:

I loved this Tull era.



Uploaded by John Bivens

Good call.   I think a lot of it had to do with the wit and wisdom of Dave Pegg. He is possibly one of the last "characters" to have been part of the Tull ensemble and still leaves many fond memories of his time with the band.

[maddogfagin]

www.staythirstymedia.com/201407-085/html/201407-ian-anderson.html


By Kent Brown
Entertainment Editor
Atlanta, GA, USA

When thinking of flute-playing rock legends, there's really only two names that come to mind: Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull. After over forty-five years of redefining prog-rock in the late 1960's, Ian Anderson is still going strong with his current world tour and release of his newest album, Homo Erraticus. THIRSTY sat down with Ian to discuss a myriad of topics ranging from his current tour, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the influence of American blues, an awkward Grammy moment, Jimmy Page's studio visit and even why he picked up the flute in the first place.

THIRSTY: Ian, thank for joining us today. It's a pleasure. Tell me about the new album, Homo Erraticus, and how the current tour is going?

IAN ANDERSON: Well, we just finished doing a lengthy UK tour, which I think went – artistically for the band and for the audience too – pretty well. We're doing several shows this summer in various parts of Europe, many of which are not the production tour Homo Erraticus, but more of "Best Of" summer shows. We start up in the U.S.A. in September and work our way through a couple of tours there, then to Europe and then throw in New Zealand – and then it's Christmas! So things are going fine and we're keeping very busy. It increases as the year wears on, the more shows, I suppose, the more I am mentally and physically focused and in better shape as a result of doing this sort of thing at my age than I would be if I sat at home and went fishing.

THIRSTY: I have to ask you – how does it feel to step out of the "alter-ego", as you put it, and present Ian Anderson to the masses?

IAN ANDERSON: It's something increasingly that has been the case over the last ten or fifteen years. I have chosen more and more frequently using my own name but I suppose in these years now I feel that it is just a question of branding…but I really would rather use my own name. Of course the Jethro Tull records were to be distinct from Jethro Tull the historical character who invented the seed drill in the 18th century. Jethro Tull records remain, obviously, a big part of what I do, what I love, and what I stand for. But I think I want my own name out there as often as possible just to remind people that Jethro Tull is primarily two things: if you Google it, it's the name of the band and the music associated with forty-odd years of recording and touring, but it, perhaps more importantly, belongs to somebody else who in his own way was a very important historical character and contributed tremendously around the world with the development of farming technology that we know today.

THIRSTY: Do you feel like you may get some backlash from the 18th century agricultural revolution and its fans?

IAN ANDERSON: Well if I was going to get it, it would have happened – I would think – back in 1968. So, no, I think one of Jethro Tull's original family didn't take too kindly to the use of the name back then, but it faded away, along with the Aqualung Corporation of North America who were all upset when the name of the album was revealed and they felt it was a misuse of their trade name. But they quietly sort of relaxed to that and we never had any sort of incident over the ensuing years and they accepted that it is a name of something that is an artistic endeavor, and you get away with it. As long as we don't abuse it too much to cripple it.

THIRSTY: To me, the music of Jethro Tull has a unique place – almost a transportive sound. It's hard for me to imagine that kind of eloquence coming from a hodgepodge of guys who simply loved playing the blues in local London pubs. Can you reflect on the evolution of Jethro Tull's humble beginnings to the production of masterful works like Aqualung, Thick as a Brick – and now Homo Erraticus – and becoming a Grammy Award-winning band?

IAN ANDERSON: The early days – indeed we were a little blues band who were probably not really going to go anywhere except for the fact I suppose that we stood out from the crowd because of the flute, which with all respect to the other guys, it was the thing that got us noticed and the thing that made us different. I think that that was an important part of the initial impression that the band gave. However, after relatively few months – by the summer of 1968 in fact – just a mere six months after we started – I had begun the music which was to become the Stand Up album the following year. And that album wasn't going to work for our existing guitar player who didn't really, I suppose, find it that easy to understand or contribute to what I was writing, so inevitably there was a parting of the ways. The band evolved in '69 with a much more eclectic set of influences that, I suppose, came with the music I was writing, which maybe stretched it a little bit for a couple of the guys in the band who found those musical ideas more difficult to find a way to express. But I think overall it's a pretty good album. We certainly broadened out and were amply rewarded in Europe and the UK and later in the U.S.A. when we did have quite a difference from some of the other bands. I think the folky, the world music, the eclectic elements that appeared in Stand Up were an important part of that development. That was a coming of age – more so, perhaps, with the Aqualung album, which was the "singer/songwriter" approach, that brought more of my acoustic guitar playing into the mix. I think the dynamic range of Aqualung, together with the light and the shade and the emotion to it – some was rather dark and serious, some was uplifting and whimsical – so I think that probably was the album that really brought about a period of maturity. And the albums that followed were progressive "prog-rock" style. I became more detailed in arrangements and performance terms, but its just part of the evolution. Not all of it, necessarily, announced experiments that bore particularly exotic fruit. They didn't all succeed – everything didn't work out just fine. You learn from your mistakes as much as from your successes.



THIRSTY: What did winning a Grammy Award mean to Jethro Tull as a band and to you personally?

IAN ANDERSON: Well, I suppose it was a difficult one because we weren't there to share in joy of the ceremony of the Grammy Awards. I think we told by our record company back then that we were unlikely recipients of the nomination. We were almost certainly not going to win because Metallica was the hot ticket and the band that would take that new category. And so, nobody expected Jethro Tull to actually receive the Grammy. We weren't invited to go to the ceremony. We were busy recording in the UK – we weren't going to fly 5,000 miles to gently applaud Metallica. It didn't seem like a wise course of action or expenditure on the part of our record company, so we didn't go. And when we did win, it wasn't really for a heavy metal, hard rock Grammy; we were getting awarded a Grammy by our success and the voting members of the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences because we were a bunch of nice guys who had never won a Grammy before. That was what we got the Grammy for. And since they didn't really have a category then – and to my knowledge still don't have to this day – a category for best one-legged flute player, then I guess I should be content with what I have: an accolade from our peer group, musicians, writers, producers, record company folks – so nice to win it. But if it would have been, I think, a more appropriate category it would have made it easier for everybody.

THIRSTY: I know that blues music had an important impact on you and on the band in its early days. What about the blues movement spoke to you as an artist?

IAN ANDERSON: That began not as the blues movement, so much, as my awareness of black American folk – to a little extent urban blues – when I was a teenager. When I first heard Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee, John Lee Hooker – these were guys that made very powerful music which resonated to me, not from a social or cultural point of view, but from purely a visceral – rather strange and exotic music. It was something that fired up a lot of people in my country at that time. But I don't think we knew for one minute, really, what the black experience was that spawned that music. We were very unaware of the historical, and the continuing, struggle of black people and their music in a predominantly white, and quite racist, society. One of my personal favorites of that era was a guy called J.B. Lenoir, who unusually amongst black blues musicians, actually sang in their music about the racial troubles and the riots that took place in the '60's. That was, I guess, a brave and quite unusual thing to do – to dwell upon issues and accuse racism that was still occurring in the '60's. So that began to impact upon me at a time when I really had to decide that this music wasn't my music – it was the passionate heart and soul music of a very different culture and society that I could never join or be a part of. I found it for my own personal point of view disagreeable to be imitating that music because I had such growing respect for what it stood for. I didn't really want to be a middle-class white boy pretending to sing the blues, so I started looking for other influences around the time I was 21, 22-years-old.

THIRSTY: When most kids decide they want to be in a rock n' roll band, their first inclination is not go grab a flute and start jamming away. I'm interested to know how that process began for you – and how it was received by rock n' roll "traditionalists."

IAN ANDERSON: I think the answer to that is fairly straightforward because I was not a terribly good guitar player in my mid-to-later teen years and so finding the flute was a chance encounter with an alternative instrument that I could make my own voice. Instead of being a second-rate guitar player and very much in the shadow of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Peter Green – those guys who were the hotshot guitarists in London. So, coming to London, and being a very rough and un-tutored flute player, made me stand about above the crowd and resulted in something that was surprisingly well received by the audience. I think one of our managers at the time, Chris Wright, was convinced that it was the wrong move and wanted me to learn to play background keyboards, stand at the back of the stage, and let our guitarist Mick Abrahams do the singing be the front man. But I kind of knew better. I had a feeling I was onto something with the flute and a few weeks later I think that Chris Wright realized that the flute was indeed an unlikely asset…it was a difference that we should maintain. The audience made it clear that this was something they found amusing, interesting, different – and it is of course a "girly" instrument. It's very popular for young girls to play the flute. But it is, of course, a phallic instrument; one that gets its origins from the seductive techniques of Lord Krishna, various North and South American Indian Gods, and indeed, even the Pied Piper of Hamelin. And these days we prefer to think of him seducing the rats with his flute during the time of Hamelin with the rodent infestation rather more than we like to think of his seduction of the young children of the neighborhood when they were lured off into a cave never to be seen again in an act of retaliation for the lack of gratitude of the townspeople for leaving the town without rats. However, today, he probably would have gone down for twenty years for some rampant act of pedophilia. So we care not to think about those things these days. Sadly to say, I am very conscious when I am active with young flute students – and teachers across the world, let alone people like me – have to be bloody careful these days not to get in any way cozy with youngsters. We live in a weird world. I can't even go with my grandchildren to a public place and take photographs of them without probably getting arrested these days. It's a rather sad reality of the world we live in – particularly in these internet years – the fascination with child pornography seems to have not only destroyed the souls of those engaged, but also destroyed, unfortunately, those innocent relationships that we have with our children and our grandchildren. Funny our world that we live in nowadays. That's why I make sure my grandchildren refer to me politely as Mr. Anderson. We keep our distance.


Ian Anderson, Southampton UK, 2014
(credit: Martin Webb)

THIRSTY: To me, you are a real storyteller, (which continues today in your new album which seems an apt commentary on human quest and evolution through "the wandering man" theme). I feel that true storytelling is a bit of a lost art today – your thoughts?

IAN ANDERSON: Well, I'm not so much a storyteller in the sequential sense. I'm more of an observer. I'm more of a landscape painter. I like to create a scene – and to populate it with people. I think that I probably have more of a theatrical view of the world. I see incidents, people – I see them in almost a theatrical context. I see them set within the proscenium arch of a theatre stage. And so, they have a theatre set around them. They have them in an environment – reacting with each other, doing things, saying things, producing. It's less to do with sequential storytelling and more to do with creating scenes and painting a picture. I'm an observer rather than a storyteller. I don't very often sing of my own emotions or my own true reactions or beliefs. I don't "never" do it, but I don't very often do it. More often, when I create a character for a song, I'm endowing that character with a personality with attributes or failings that are very different from my own. I often will inhabit a character in terms of performance, but we mustn't imagine that as me any more than we imagine a skilled actor is the character he plays in a Shakespeare play or in The Walking Dead. Actors get away with it. They're allowed to be somebody different. We respect that. But somehow, we think that pop stars and rock stars have to actually be themselves, otherwise they lose credibility. I don't see the distinction. To me, that is about creating characters that are rich, and perhaps, quite different than "us" – the writers, the orchestrators, the directors. I think in a way, we need to mature our attitude towards the heart and soul of rock music and songs and be aware that in opera, in theatrical musicals – people write characters, performers perform the character and you don't have to be that person. You are taking the character from somebody else when you perform it – or even as a writer when you create those characters and write words for them to say.

THIRSTY: You must have known what my next question was going to be because I was going to say that Jethro Tull has always had a theatrical element to its sound and performance. In the Homo Erraticus notes, there is a reference to "Shakespeare rocks." Are you a lover of the Bard?

IAN ANDERSON: There are things that I find…where I have to be filled with respect, though I don't necessarily know a huge amount of the work or the characters. Of course, Shakespeare is a national asset – he's an international asset really – someone who was the consummate real storyteller. I suppose even though I'm not really a "fan" of the work, I enjoy elements of it that I have seen. Of course, I hugely admire those actors from all walks of acting life who take on Shakespeare because it's a tough nut to crack. Rarely do artists and actors get great reviews. It is an area in which harsh criticism abounds, when you decide to do Shakespeare, especially if you're a Yank, because with rare exceptions – it ends in tears. Kevin Spacey is probably one of those guys who can kind of get away with it because he's sort of been adopted as a cultural asset of our country – where he has spent most of his time and very active in serious theatre. Actually, I enjoy Kevin Spacey when he is doing perhaps more accessible parts. I was watching Kevin Spacey in a movie last night on the television called A Time to Kill. And, as usual, he was great – he doesn't overact – he can let the words and his expression and context tell the story. He's a great actor. And I am not! It's not my job to do that sort of stuff.

THIRSTY: I am curious to know what your thoughts are on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

IAN ANDERSON: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is essentially an American institution. It's one that I think should serve, primarily, those great American artists – many of whom have failed to make it, in terms of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. I think they deserve their place in the Hall of Fame long before you start going to the dregs of the British Rock Invasion and present them in such hallowed company. I think it's an American institution meant to serve American music. For the most part, those British artists who've made it into the Hall of Fame tend to draw more on American influences in their music, so arguably, what I do doesn't really have more than a passing reference in that context. It's not something that I am in any way bent out of shape in regard to. I mean, since the Hall of Fame opened – it's been there for a long time – but when it did open, they had a couple of exhibits of stuff of mine…my clothing, flutes, albums, whatever. They had stuff in there that acknowledged the presence of Jethro Tull. If, at this stage we were to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, I would feel really embarrassed about it because I would be getting the impression that it's kind of a little late in the day to be asked to participate in that degree. I think I can think of other people – like J.B. Lenoir – he should be in there. I can't say for sure that he's not, but he ought to be as one of the unsung heroes of black American music.


Ian Anderson, Southampton 2014
(credit: Martin Webb)

THIRSTY: One question that I have always wanted to ask you: Who is Aqualung? I know the song was partially inspired by the homeless, but how did this story unfold for you as you conceptualized it?

IAN ANDERSON: The name – it's one of those rare occasions where I collaborated with somebody, my first wife. We were briefly married and we made an attempt to try to do something creative together on one occasion. As a result, she had some photographs that she had taken – she had studied photography in college – and she wanted to see if one of those characters in the photos could be brought alive in song. I asked her to write down words to describe this person, just to try to involve the songwriting process – I just said to scribble your thoughts out on paper. We made the lyrics of the song out of her descriptive words and I had to make those scan and work as a song piece of music. I think the name Aqualung was something that came to me as an idea as a nickname for this character; this emphysema-ridden condition that was given by his peers the name Aqualung. It's kind of a strange thing because Robin Williams – almost independently I suppose – created that character in The Fisher King. I often wonder if Robin Williams had ever seen the album cover or heard the album or knew the character, because it certainly resonated for me as a depiction of someone falling into that homelessness with all of the contradictory emotions that go along with it for other people; a mixture of pity, fear, loathing, mistrust. It's a complex issue. In fact The Fisher King was, indeed, on television last night. I didn't record it – I haven't watched it since it first came out. But it's the evolution of that attempt to write a song together – probably the only – one of two times when I have actually collaborated with somebody to a fifty percent level. Not something I would normally do. There are some little snippets of music that the other band guys contributed here and there, but for the most part, I am a loner. When it comes to writing music, I just have to, kind of, do it. I hated working with other people or trying to accommodate or feeling self-conscious enough to do that. I am a loner. To me, writing songs – writing music – in collaboration seems as absurd as two artists trying to paint the same picture. Of course, that is not entirely unusual because of processes that were commonly used, even by the great masters, who would have their apprentices kind of "finish off" or add little bits of background to paintings on their behalf, and they would just sign it off as their own work and that process is still carried out today in some corners of contemporary art. But for the most part, artists sit alone in their galleys, with a north facing room, and work alone in tortured silence.

THIRSTY: When you recorded Aqualung – that was when Island Records first opened their London studio. You were reportedly recording at the same time as Led Zeppelin when they were recording their fourth untitled album. You guys got the big studio and Zeppelin got the small one? How did that dichotomy work?

IAN ANDERSON: The Zeps they were in the smaller, more boutique studio. We were in a cavernous church main body, which was a big, empty, horrible, cold, echoey room. It was a dreadful place to work in. The controller room was even worse. We occasionally managed to slip in to do an over-dub or listen to our track in the smaller studio when Zeppelin wasn't there. But they were busy downstairs doing their thing. I remember Jimmy Page popped into our session, actually at the time Martin Barre was over-dubbing the guitar solo for the song "Aqualung". He was in the room, being encouraging, sort of chugging along to the music. Quite intimidating, as you can imagine, from our view, having Jimmy Page watch you try to record! But we really didn't see much of Led Zeppelin because, like us, they were heads-down, trying to get an album finished. We didn't really see them or socialize with them. I don't remember how many days we coincided being there, but I do remember that they were the principle reason you couldn't get into the smaller studio!


Ian Anderson, Southampton UK, 2014
(credit: Martin Webb)

THIRSTY: I was checking out some to of the tour photos – and you can still nail that minstrel leg-kick. What's your secret?

IAN ANDERSON: It's not something that requires much in the way of secrets or physical prowess or dexterity. It's just a natural thing – like riding a bicycle. I was out riding around the farm yesterday and came across a competition-style motorcycle that I haven't ridden in quite a while, but once you've spent thirty seconds in the saddle, or rather, standing because you run trials by standing up most of the time, your sense of balance, the throttle control, the slipping of the clutch, the "slip-slidey" back wheel if you're going through something wet – it kind of comes back to you quickly. It's just as well, otherwise you'd fall over, which is exactly what would happen to me if I didn't retain that physical and mental memory of standing on one leg. I would fall over, and you would all laugh because I would be doing it live onstage!

THIRSTY: Congrats on continuing to produce such wonderful work and your newest success story, Homo Erraticus. Can't wait to hear what's next for you.

IAN ANDERSON: Perfect. Nice to talk with you.

[Deleted]

Ian Anderson,
The TVD Interview
By Jennifer Carney | June 26, 2014
www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2014/06/ian-anderson-tvd-interview/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ian-anderson-tvd-interview




“That’s vinyl. That’s what it’s all about—trying to get the best of a bad job.”

It’s a fine thing to draw the rancor of one of rock music’s innovators. I mean that sincerely. While it is difficult to know if Ian Anderson was simply being cantankerous or if he truly feels that vinyl is the purview of right-wing political extremists… it doesn’t much matter. And it is unlikely that his fans will notice or care. It’s never been about opinion with Anderson—it’s always been about the music first and foremost. Vinyl as a format is as much about knowing your limitations as it is about enjoying them. Anderson enjoys neither limitations nor conventions, which should come as no surprise to…well, everyone.

Ian Anderson’s agnosticism towards vinyl is consistent for a musician who thought nothing of treating rock music as bizarre pantomime/symphony. Nobody thought of playing the flute with the gusto of electric guitar until Ian Anderson came along; never formally trained, Anderson was just as ragged and brilliant with the flute as any of his contemporary “guitar gods” were with their instruments. With Jethro Tull, Anderson did everything he could to exorcise the fey from the flute, making it something fairly menacing and, even, metal. (Don’t let any Metallica fans know I said that.) He continues the tradition in 2014 with his latest opus, Homo Erraticus.

To his well-deserved credit, Ian Anderson has done little in past years to rest on his laurels. His feelings about the world in which we live and the people who inhabit it are evident in this TVD interview as they are in his new album, Homo Erraticus—the “wandering man”—a pre-and-post-apocalyptic musical tome that, like its creator, dwells somewhat obsessively on the present (and ongoing) conundrums of immigration, climate change, and mindless conflict.

Yet it’s the past that is the vehicle for the story. The sound of Homo Erraticus is almost startlingly Tull in its instrumentation and in its Biblical overtones. “It’s not Thick as a Brick 3,” Anderson proclaims. Yet the concept album marks the third coming of the character of Gerald Bostock, who first appeared in Jethro Tull’s 1972 opus, Thick as a Brick and, in 2012, Thick as a Brick 2. Today, Bostock has a blog and a Facebook account and a Twitter handle, so it could be said that Anderson’s characters and stories—while rooted in the past—have not resisted the future.

Anderson is about to embark on a yet another world tour in Europe this summer and the US in the fall. We were lucky to chat with him as he was preparing to bring his music, both new and old, to audiences worldwide.

One of the things that is so interesting to me about British composers of your era is that once conscription ended, so many of you went to art school. I’m curious to know how your particular art school experience shaped how you approached music.

Well, I think it’s definitely the case that a lot of people, certainly back then during the mid-‘60s who found their way through the art school rituals as it was for many folks who were looking for direction in life that was outside the normal prescribed career options at school. There were many of us, and we all seemed to find our way into music. I can’t think of many people who’d been a success in pop and rock music whose education was music college, whereas if you look at the art college… of the folks who made it, it’s almost hard to think of people who weren’t at art college. It seems to have been a breeding ground in Britain at that time for the world of pop and rock music. I think that went on through the ‘70s and ‘80s as well, since there was certainly a number of other bands I’m aware of who began their musical meanderings whilst studying the painterly arts.

So, it was a common practice. For me, I was already playing music in a school band with some school mates; during the time I was at art school, music became the more realistic option for me rather than ending up becoming and art teacher since I was studying fine art, not commercial art. Being a rock musician definitely had its attractions rather than ending up a middle-aged art school teacher at some seedy boys school in the middle of England.

That appreciation for art and, certainly, literature bled into your music, as you’re known for your very cerebral songwriting. Even now, in between touring relentlessly, you manage to write complex works like Thick as a Brick 2 and Homo Erraticus. Did you ever imagine you’d be writing music like this for so long?

Well, the people who I listened to as a teenager were not usually the contemporary pop and rock bands of the time. They were more blues and jazz musicians that I listened to in my mid teens. I was used to the idea of my musical heroes being men of my father’s age. I was used to the idea if I became a musician, that is what I’d be. I just made a natural assumption that I’d end up an old guy playing music, so there’s nothing strange about that for me! And nothing strange about the idea that musical heroes should be as old as your dad, and usually black instead of pale pink as my father was, coming from the wild and wooly north of Scotland.

I think that’s a common theme as well, that we all aspire to be as good as what once was. Is that what compels you to eschew exclusively “best of” touring like so many of your peers?

Well, I have done lots of tours for many, many years where the set list is basically repertoire from over the years. But if I’m doing something that’s more project-related, like some orchestral string quartet concert, or an acoustic concert, or a concert with a major concept album involved—like Thick as a Brick or Homo Erraticus—of course, that takes up the bulk of the performance. Although, there are always some elements of the favorites that are stuck in as well; the tours that we’re playing in the USA later this year are, in fact, 40% Homo Erraticus and 60% is the “best of Jethro Tull,” a selection of music covering many years.

So, I don’t leave that out, it’s just that this is an opportunity for me to try to interest an old audience in new music, and we all know that’s very, very difficult to do. Generally speaking, audiences do not want to hear new material from old, established bands—they just want to hear the hits. We know that, we’ve always known that. Nothing wrong with it; it’s sentimental, it’s a little bit comfort/blanket treatment for folks who like to delve into their past and reassure themselves of what it is they know they like.

But, it’s good if you can use that opportunity to entertain them—and that’s the key element—you’ve got to entertain people by playing new music. It’s much easier to entertain them if you make it theatrical and you present it in a fairly big and colorful way… they’ll stay entertained, at least for an hour. That’s important to me—to make it entertaining. That’s my job to figure out how to make it entertaining, because new music is a little beyond the comfort zone of most of the older fans.

And yet, the works that you’ve released in recent years—especially Homo Erraticus—is sort of a comment on that. It takes the listener through post-Ice Age Britain, through past lives, and into a “reborn” future. What interested me is that two of the songs of “Revelations” comment on 2013 and 2014 and essentially skip over 1970 until then. I’m curious about this gap and about your particular focus on the present.

Well, we all know about the recent history about ourselves or even our parents’ generation, so there doesn’t seem a lot of point in dwelling too much on that, so I’m jumping ahead to scenarios that are, perhaps, a result of information that started to become apparent and be analyzed of scientists of various disciplines since the ‘70s. So, climate change as we know it today is a scenario borne out of work done—much of it, anyway—in the ‘70s and then into the ‘80s once ice core samples were being analyzed and scientists realized that we were talking about global heating rather than global cooling. In the ‘70s, the consensus seemed to be that we were probably headed towards another ice age.

But, the scientists then got it right in the sense that ice ages have been many, and the idea that there will never be another one is really preposterous, isn’t it? Something will happen in terms of Earth’s climate that will produce another ice age to some extent, and that may come before the effects of global heating get as bad as we might expect a hundred or two hundred years from now. We might be plunged into another mini-ice age if that big magma chamber in the central part of Iceland goes up; we could be looking at blackening out the skies for some period of maybe months or years to come. Climate change may not be one hundred percent what we think it’s going to be. But we are one hundred percent sure that if you’re a climate change denier, it’s possibly because you don’t like the idea of giving up your air conditioning or two motorcars, or your use of finite resources to which you have become so dependent on.

So, I think no one can really seriously think that nothing is happening out there. Of course it is happening, and it would be happening even if there weren’t man-made involvement. Climate change would, sooner or later, be driving human migration and the future of humanity, indeed. We must remember that 65,000 years ago, when our ancestors came out of Africa, it was climate change that drove homo sapiens out into the northwest and the northeast. Climate change is, essentially, what shaped our species of surviving hominids and human evolution.

The other guys weren’t so adept at handling climate change, and they died out, the Neanderthals being the last ones to go… we were born out of climate change, and the changing of geopolitical boundaries, will change apace in years to come as people are forced from areas that are not sustainable to find some sort of opportunity to survive elsewhere. Whether you have the Mexicans and South Americans knocking on your door in even bigger numbers; or, in the event of global cooling, those awfully nice Canadian neighbors may come knocking instead. We can be pretty sure things are not going to remain cozy and convenient in the terms of geopolitics.

Again, we have these pretty good ideas that there are going to be some climate changing geological events that are going to occur, whether it’s in the next fifty, hundred, or five thousand years… it’s difficult to know when, but it’s not going to be that long in terms of human lifespans. Somewhere in the next two or three or four generations, I think there’s quite a likelihood for what seems to be the ongoing rumbles, whether in Yellowstone or in central Iceland. Of course, there are other areas of the world to worry about, too.

In trying to work out the overall theme of Homo Erraticus, I got the apocalyptic themes. But is it simply a way to discuss your feelings about climate change with your audience?

Well, they are indeed my concerns, but I’m not really trying to alarm people or worry people. I just want to make sure that people are aware of the degree to which change will affect their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren… it’s a good idea to prepare for that, in the same ways that you think about what you’re going to leave them when you die—like granddad’s old watch, or that nice old hunting rifle sitting in the barn. Whatever it might be, it’s a good idea to think about this stuff.

What are we going to leave to the generations who succeed us, and I don’t think we want to leave them with a nasty surprise. I think it’s much better that people grow up with an awareness that things are going to change. It doesn’t mean having a survivalist mentality and digging a hole in the Midwest and filling it with firearms and ammunition or cans of Campbell’s soup. It does mean, however, that you’ve got to think of some basics in regards to morality in regard to fertility and in regard to how much you impinge upon the sustainability of people in your area, given finite resources that we know exist.

I think that people should be thinking and talking—in a cheerful way, not a bad way—whether or not they should have another child, whether they should buy another car or install air conditioning out there in the garden shed. I think these are things that have to do with personal ethics, morality and stuff we should talk about and think about. Some people say, “Well, sod it, I’m going to have ten children because I just want them.” Other people are going to say, “You know what, I think we’ve got one or two and who could possibly want more?” I personally sit on that side of the fence having two children, a boy and a girl, and it seems to me that was as much as anyone has a right to hope and pray for, and if you get lucky, that’s fine. But we come from a part of the world where the average fertility rate in northwest Europe is 1.5; it’s a little higher in the UK and France, but that’s for very specific reasons of cultural changes in our society in the last fifty or sixty years.

Because of these over-arching themes in Homo Erraticus, it’s obvious to me that you mean for it to be listened to as a complete work. Given that I write for a magazine that has a focus on the album format, I have to ask: do you prefer the seamless digital format for your longer works or do you still sequence and write for vinyl?

I’ve never had any liking for vinyl; it was the only option there was when I started recording. As you can imagine, during the early ‘70s, we had the option to listen to music on eight-tracks and cassettes. Then in the ‘80s, it was CDs and cassettes and vinyl records fell away by huge numbers. But at least people had an option.

First of all, the option in the ‘60s was vinyl. The option in the ‘70s was vinyl or cassette—you could make a choice. In the ‘80s it was, arguably, vinyl, cassette or CD. At the end of the ‘90s, we started to see the advent of the MP3. These days, when we release this new record, we have to think of five different formats we have to release in. Yes, vinyl is still an important thing to a few people who love to have that physical reality; I’m not sure that they ever play them, but they like to hold it and cuddle it and look at it. So, vinyl is an option and obviously the simple, straightforward CD; then there’s the CD/DVD package where you present them with 5.1 surround sound and 24-bit stereo masters; then, of course, there’s the downloadable formats which are, essentially, MP3; and then for those audiophiles that still want to digitally download our product, we make that available in 16- or 24-bit audio files for folks who want to download that.

We’re talking five different formats, and it’s all about giving the consumer choice. It has nothing to do with my preferences for listening to music, because I know what they are, and they will probably surprise you because for convenience’s sake, most of what I listen to is in an MP3 format. Although, of course, when I’m working professionally then I’m dealing with 24-bit audio whether at 48k or 96k sample rates, then that’s what I do for a living. But if I just want to listen to something to learn a piece of music, or should I feel in the unlikely mood where I just want to listen to music recreationally, then it’s certainly going to be an MP3 file. I can pretty much say that’s been the case since the advent of iTunes, for example. I’ve probably bought and re-bought everything I was ever interested in musically in MP3 format. I have much of that sitting on my old iPod.

I was just curious with you having been in the studio as much as you’ve been, and working with that super-high quality audio, if the analog format had any value for you, and it sounds like perhaps…

Not at all. It’s utterly, totally impossible to get a perfect vinyl cut. You are always going to have—however pristine the equipment, however careful you are—there’s always gonna be that little bit of dirt that gets in there—that speck you can’t even see—that gets into the grooves as you’re recording or stamped and pressed… getting a perfect vinyl cut is an illusion. And you are going to have to make compromises when you cut vinyl—that’s always going to be the case. Compromises in terms of the final master mix are going to have to be made if you’re going to cut vinyl; you’re going to have to be very careful with a number of factors that will, to some extent, compromise the audio quality. That’s vinyl. That’s what it’s all about—trying to get the best of a bad job.

But you don’t have to worry about that if you’re presenting the format for CD, then you don’t have to worry about too much at all, so long as it fits onto the eighty-four minutes or thereabouts that a CD can take. If you’re doing digital downloads, you don’t have to worry about doing too much of anything other than accepting that a compressed file like an MP3 is going to be lacking some dynamic range, it’s going to be lacking some frequencies, it’s going to be suffering to some extent from that inevitable compression. But it’s a very small compromise to make compared to the compromise of listening to vinyl.

Vinyl, to me, doesn’t do anything in terms of listening quality. It will just irritate me with turntable rumble or the odd scratch and crunch and click that’s going to be in there—and there’s nothing you can do about it; it’s going to happen. However, if you’ve got a good vinyl cut it’s satisfying, I suppose, to know that you were able to technically do it. But as a medium for listening, there’s nothing that is has to offer whatsoever except a rather, to my mind, a more obvious compromise than presenting people with an MP3 file—especially the MP3s of relatively higher quality. That MP3 is going to sound better than the vinyl any day of the week.

But there are those people who love vinyl. They’re probably all climate change deniers—it’s the same group of people! Probably if you examined the home record collections of any member of the Tea Party, that curious element within the Republican party of the USA, I bet they all listen to vinyl. [Laughs]


Ian Anderson’s Homo Erraticus is available now. On vinyl.
Ian Anderson: Official | Facebook | Twitter

[maddogfagin]

www.pollstar.com/

Advice From Ian Anderson
05:01 PM Monday 6/30/14

We don’t usually ask for “call backs” for interviews but we did just that for Ian Anderson. A few years ago the Jethro Tull frontman talked to Pollstar about how he’s figured out how to have profitable tours, while some artists can’t seem to make money on the road.

We mentioned that we’d love to hear more about that someday and he was kind enough to chat with us again, this time while touring Homo Erraticus – which, just like 1972’s Thick As A Brick and its 2012 sequel – is penned by the fictional lyricist Gerald Bostock. The 2014 LP is an impressive piece of music with intimidating lyrics (“I came to woo you at behest of Uncle Leo, did my best to charm and flatter, sooth, lay thoughts of scheming Saxon Prince to rest,” etc.)
Although we talked about the album, Anderson definitely had a lot to say about tour management and he’s really passionate about paying taxes.

Complete interview here link

[maddogfagin]

blogs.houstonpress.com/

Classic Rock Corner
The Fast-Moving Mind (and Mouth) of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson
By Bob Ruggiero Wed., Jul. 2 2014 at 5:00 AM [/font]

It seems that, Gerald Bostock, the noted writer and lyricist, is at it again.
Bostock first came to fame in the early '70s when, as an 8-year-old boy genius, his award-winning epic poem Thick as a Brick was adapted into a concept album by English rockers Jethro Tull. However, his prize was revoked in a scandal; it's all there detailed in a tabloid shocker on the record cover.

His subsequent life was chronicled in Tull's 2012 effort Thick as a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock? Divergent theories ran rampant that he possibly ended up as a greedy investment banker, homosexual homeless man, soldier, evangelical preacher or simple English storekeeper.
Now, Bostock and Anderson have collaborated again on Anderson's highly ambitious solo record Homo Erraticus (Calliandra Records). Bostock's lyrics are based on the writings of historian and seer Ernest T. Parritt, found in a rare 1920s book.

The 15 songs, divided into "Chronicles," "Prophecies" and "Revelations," tackle a narrative that takes in the historical, social and cultural impact of 9,044 years of the British Empire. And...let's just say things don't look too hot for the human race in the future yet to come.

"The important part is that it's all summed up in one word: migration," the fast-talking Anderson says. "The physical migration of humans, but also of science and technology. Of commerce and industry. Of arts and entertainment and culture. These are all the things that have shaped our increasingly global society. And I've tried to make it upbeat. I'm not out to give a university lecture."
No, no songs that name-check Playboy magazine, Elvis, "The Walking Dead," John Le Carré and Neil Armstrong can be that stuffy. Especially with the well-known sardonic humor of Anderson. Who also uses the pen name of...Gerald Bostock.

"It is an absurdity, the concept here -- and that's what prog-rock is, to complete such lofty ideals," Anderson offers wryly, before delving deeper into another big theme of the record: invasion. With an American slant.

"Invasion of our friendly neighborhood, welcomes given to the men bearing gifts of beads and mirrors to original inhabitants in exchange for a few million acres of land for the ultimately dubious asset of getting to build a casino on it."

And, he says that sturm und drang about migration -- regardless of what country you call home -- will not go away soon, as the world's population continues to explode.

"[Britons] could be speaking Spanish or German if things had turned out differently. But our wooden ships beat the Armada, and our Spitfires and Lancaster Bombers kept us free of the Germans," he says.

"But not without the absolutely vital help of the USA," Anderson continues. "Talking up the USA is not something you find many people are doing these days, but I give credit where credit is due. Thank the Yank and thank the Lord!"


Anderson with Jethro Tull in London, 1978

"Apart from the odd Mexican banging at the door, [migration] is not something that people are losing sleep over on a daily basis," he says. "But it's not over, and the geopolitical boundaries of the earth will change in the days to come."

"You know, [the television network] AMC is more effective at invading small countries than all of the American military put together over the last 50, 60, 70 years," he sums up.

"The Walking Dead is sold to 150 different countries in the world, and that has more of a positive effect about people learning about America and Americans than anything," explains Anderson. "People see more vulnerability than empire-building and resource-gathering."

As to the sound of Homo Erracticus, it is very much in line with what fans of Jethro Tull and prog-rock might expect. Not unexpected, as each and every member of Anderson's backing group are also...listed on the official Tull Web site, though it notes the last "Jethro Tull" lineup ended in 2011. But Jethro Tull is not ended as a group. Or maybe it is.

The current tour features Anderson and the band performing Homo Erraticus in its entirety, plus a larger helping of "The Best of Tull" along with some deep cuts for hardcore fans. It makes a local stop September 28 at the Stafford Centre.

[nonrabbit]

Jul 1, 2014 10:05:42 GMT maddogfagin said:

www.pollstar.com/

Advice From Ian Anderson
05:01 PM Monday 6/30/14

We don’t usually ask for “call backs” for interviews but we did just that for Ian Anderson. A few years ago the Jethro Tull frontman talked to Pollstar about how he’s figured out how to have profitable tours, while some artists can’t seem to make money on the road.

We mentioned that we’d love to hear more about that someday and he was kind enough to chat with us again, this time while touring Homo Erraticus – which, just like 1972’s Thick As A Brick and its 2012 sequel – is penned by the fictional lyricist Gerald Bostock. The 2014 LP is an impressive piece of music with intimidating lyrics (“I came to woo you at behest of Uncle Leo, did my best to charm and flatter, sooth, lay thoughts of scheming Saxon Prince to rest,” etc.)
Although we talked about the album, Anderson definitely had a lot to say about tour management and he’s really passionate about paying taxes.

Complete interview here link

Very interesting interview. We should really interview him on financial matters instead of music.
or when (if) he retires he could have a regular advice column here.

[Deleted]

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (INTERVIEW)
July 7, 2014 by Leslie Michele Derrough
www.glidemagazine.com/120726/ian-anderson-jethro-tull-interview/
When Ian Anderson called to talk with Glide about his latest solo album, he was in the middle of playing, as he called it, “little tour events” in the UK. A few days off and then he’d be back performing in Romania and Switzerland. Although our conversation was brief, we kept the primary focus on his latest opus, Homo Erraticus, while leaving the Jethro Tull history lesson for me to fill in. So for those who think “Aqualung” is the only pearl of Ian Anderson’s oyster, it’s really only the tip of a nice plump iceberg. Anderson’s band The Blades eventually turned into Jethro Tull in late 1967. Their first album came out in 1968. Tony Iommi, who would eventually become the iconic guitar player for Black Sabbath, was in Tull for a nano-second. Tull played the Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus and the Isle Of Wight Festival. Songs such as “Thick As A Brick” and “Locomotive Breath” became classics. And they won the first Grammy award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 1988. If all that tweaks your interest, then by all means dig into their older albums and deeper cuts where the music can be insanely more interesting.

But for today, it’s all about Anderson and Homo Erraticus. His latest music and words are spot on the pulse of the world. Check out “Cold Dead Reckoning,” which ends this three-part journey through history: “We placed our trust in sad self-doubting leaders who have led, led us through the dark to slip amongst the ranks and files of walking dead.” The “Puer Ferox Adventus” chorus repeats: “There’s a wild child coming. There’s an angry man. There’s a new age dawning here, to an old age plan.” And in “Enter The Uninvited,” he gives a sly nod to his son-in-law Andrew Lincoln’s heroic AMC character: “Officer Rick will turn the trick and banish zombies – from our heads.” It is typical Anderson in so many ways: the exploration of humans, the idiosyncrasies of nature and how one small action can change the perspective of mankind, all inflected with an ingenious sense of dry humor. Anderson calls this particular adventure a story of migration and he has been playing the majority of it on special dates.

Homo Erraticus seems to be past-present-future. Was that the concept you started with or did it come with the birth of a song?

The concept behind it is very simple. It’s about migration. It’s the migration of our species since the end of the last ice age and focusing specifically, I suppose, on the waves of people from different periods that came into what became the British Isles after the last ice age and left their mark; the invading forces of Angles and Saxons and Danes and Normans and even the Germans and the Spanish had a couple of tries. And then we had to wait until the late forties/early fifties before our next invasion, which was that of America. But America invaded us after it’s enormous life-saving help in the second World War and invaded us with it’s culture, with it’s movies, with it’s TV programs. Since then, the Brits and the Americans have been unsurpassable in world history. It’s invading of other countries around the world with our arts and entertainment. We’re not very good at sending men with boots and guns to invade other countries, as recent events will testify, but we certainly do a good job with our entertainment and our music. So I talk about the invasion of not only the physical movement of people but the invasion of the movements and the migration of culture and of ideas, of engineering, of commerce, of industry, of scientific inventions, of spirituality, religion. So all of these things feature past-present and even into the future a little bit in this album. But that’s what you get if you’re a follower of Prog Rock. You’ve got to expect big ideas.

Do you see it basically as a story of hope?

I try and present all of these notions with a little cynical humor because you can’t lecture people in history unless you do so with a smile on your face. So I try to present the big stories and you’ve really got to do it in an upbeat way, I think, if you’re going to have an audience who want to listen. So I try and keep smiling and try and be positive about it and, yes, I think there’s an element of hope but we’ve had a lot of rocky rides in the past and I’m sure we will again in the future.

Do you think this story best sums up how you see the world today?

Well, the world today is a world of change, of imminent change, and geopolitical boundaries. Climate change will force it’s effects on people around the world who are less fortunate perhaps than we are in northwestern Europe and they will have to seek survival by moving. That’s already happening and has happened in the past. But I think we’ll see that’s becoming ever more the story of the future. People need to leave their place of birth and try their luck somewhere else, which is the continuing story of us hunter-gatherers. We are in some ways still the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers that we were 8000 years ago.

Are you still performing the whole album in its entirety?

That depends on where we are. Where I’m going this week, we’re just performing our Best Of Jethro Tull set. But we will be in the USA, for example, playing the whole theatrical video production of Homo Erraticus followed by the 60% of the show in running time, which is actually the Best Of Jethro Tull and it has something there I would hope for everyone, for old fans and new fans. But of course it keeps us on our toes having to come up with new music and make it entertaining for an audience because when they don’t know the music you’ve got to make it extra entertaining at first listening and first watching. You’ve got to keep them enthralled so that’s what we have to do.

How are you doing this segment of your show?

There’s a pretty constant presence of video material behind us. Some of it is more abstract, some of it is more literal, some of it depicts elements of the song, some of it is more visual without necessarily being, you know, just literal representations of lyrics. I try and keep it varied in content. Some of it is quite busy, some of it is a bit more relaxing. But whatever it is there’s usually something to look at as well as the aging faces of me and my musicians.

Are you noticing many younger fans out there?

Well, the answer is not a lot of younger fans out there but there’s certainly a constant replacement factor of people, I suppose, coming to see us for the first time. Some of them definitely are a younger age group than they were and of course the older end of the scale, some of our older fans no longer can be trusted out of their house late at night. And many of them don’t like to go too far from the safety of home and the nearest lavatory. We lose some folks at the older end and we gain a few in the younger end.

It depends on where we’re playing. If we’re outdoors in the summer in some outdoor amphitheatre, then it can be a lot more young people. Yesterday I came back from the Czech Republic, so for a couple of nights on tour there we were being greeted on stage by people predominately in their late teens/early twenties. But there were a few older ones there as well. So very much depends on what time of year it is and whether you are indoors or outdoors and the constraints of the venue. I suppose, generally speaking, we find younger people if we play outdoors. And if it’s a nice cozy theater then probably more older people are conspicuous. I think when we play outdoors in the summer, there’re probably some of the older fans there but they tend to be more towards the back of the venue because that’s usually closer to the portable toilets.

You’ve talked about having a writing room.

That’s right. I have a forty foot indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium, a spa. But that’s just because the sound is kind of nice and echo-y and it makes my flute sound better and the temperature is usually warmer and consistent in terms of humidity. So it’s a comfortable place to sit. It’s also not too far away from the kitchen where the nearest coffee machine is. And only a little further to go to where my office is so it’s convenient whilst not actually being in the center of the house. I mean, it’s private because I don’t get cleaning ladies and gardeners coming in there.

Basically, how long did it take you to put this album together?

I started writing it at 9:00 am on the first of January in 2013 with an empty head. By lunchtime I had the introductory piece of music. By the end of the afternoon, I had a few lyrics and the title. So the next morning I decided, Where am I going to go with this? What’s the next step? Where will this title take me? What’s the organic sort of next move? So I hit upon the idea of it being a continued story of migration, which was the topic of that first song. So I thought I’d explore a few snapshots in history so I started to write down all the key elements that I thought I could cover in song and made a musical roots map. Then over the next few days I embarked upon redefining that in more detail as I did some research and started to flesh out the details a little bit. And I carried on working through that plan, writing another three or four minutes of music every day, and at the end of January, I pretty much had all the album laid out. In March, I made some demos, when I was on holiday with my wife for a week, and sent them back to England to the band members, along with all the chord charts and the lyrics. In the following December, we started recording it, because we were busy all the way through, on tour. Although it was finished really very early in the year, it was the end of the year before we had the time to work and rehearse it and record it. We finished it around the middle of January.

What do you have planned for the rest of the year?

We have two tours in the USA over September and October and November. Then we spend some time in later November and into January doing a European tour, which takes us through Switzerland and Germany and other places. We head off to Australia and New Zealand in December and return home just in time for Christmas. During the summer between now and September, we have a number of concerts in different parts of Europe, most of which are, not all, but most of which are outdoor shows. Some of them are festivals, some of them are concerts taking place outdoors with just us. We visit lots of places. Romania this week and then Switzerland the week after and then we go off to Poland and Spain and briefly into Germany, then Italy, then a couple more German dates, then we go to the Slovak Republic and Hungary and a couple more dates in Switzerland and then it’s America.

[maddogfagin]

Audio interview from Classic Rock Radio link

"In 1973 Jethro Tull released the highly contentious album. Contentious not for the contents which was the musical follow up to the hugely successful Thick As A Brick" album It was the furore that surrounded the band after a series of reviews of the album and a London Concert caused the famous "Tull To Quit" story.

Ian Anderson talks to Jon Kirkman about the new "A Passion Play An Extended Performance" package that has just hit the shelves"

[maddogfagin]

Jul 7, 2014 16:36:42 GMT @tootull said:

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (INTERVIEW)
July 7, 2014 by Leslie Michele Derrough
www.glidemagazine.com/120726/ian-anderson-jethro-tull-interview/

Nice one TT - thanks.

[nonrabbit]

Jul 8, 2014 13:50:39 GMT maddogfagin said:

Jul 7, 2014 16:36:42 GMT @tootull said:

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (INTERVIEW)
July 7, 2014 by Leslie Michele Derrough
www.glidemagazine.com/120726/ian-anderson-jethro-tull-interview/

Nice one TT - thanks.

Leslie sent us this interview via Twitter as well

Interesting online magazine - Glide.

www.glidemagazine.com/

[steelmonkey]

Work computer won't allow 'Glide' magazine so i have to wait till i get home to find out if it is a magazine about airplanes without engines or products to help prostate exams.

[nonrabbit]

I like reading old interviews to see if anything's pertinent to the present. Not that I'm looking to trip him up

Here's one from 2006 with a Canadian rock journalist - Dmitry M. Epstein, who at times doesn't quite 'get' Ian.He does ask in-depth questions though.

"Now, temporarily away from TULL, could you imagine anybody else fronting the group? Thijs Van Leer, perhaps? Ian McDonald? Or Martin Barre who also plays a flute? I mean if you allow it..."

" Talking the guitarists, could you imagine JETHRO TULL without Martin?"

My favourite bit is Ian describing how lyrics come to him and how he writes.

Your lyrics are as important as your melodies. Many of them, such as “gory glory seekers”, are great phonetically and are still relevant. Are there particular lyrics you’re proud of?

There are songs where I think I’ve managed to string things together in a way that is satisfying to me, and there are songs that I don’t really enjoy, and it’s usually because of little lyrics that I don’t enjoy it listening to it later. In later years, I feel a little more embarrassed than I do when it’s music that’s annoying me. I think the lyrics tend to be… The worst thing I can do is to actually sit down and try to contrive lyrics when I don’t really feel I have something special to say, when maybe I have a tune, a melody and I’m trying to find some lyrics to fit it. And usually I can’t! And if I do and listen to it year or two later, it really isn’t very good because it’s rather like creating a song when there wasn’t a need for one. The words should really have a real good reason to be born. Most of the best lyrics are the ones that just make up in me. If you think of a set of lyrics you don’t know where it came from, it pops into your head and then the rest of the song follows on pretty quickly.

But I always remember writing a song called “Budapest” – strangely, in the city of Budapest after we played a show there: I wake up the next morning and had my coffee before heading to the airport to fly back to the UK, and the song lyrically and musically just suddenly presented itself in me. So in these early hours of the morning I had my guitar out and I had the bones of the song written by the time I got into the cab and went to the airport. That’s very satisfying when you get something right, it’s just seems very natural and comes very easily.

It’s like catching a butterfly – you have to grasp it, and if you don’t it’ll fly away and you’ll never see it again; but when you grasp it you have to be very careful not to damage it, not to mangle it in your hand. So you have to be very delicately trying to capture this notion, it’s a fragile moment.


And when it happens, you feel quite happy. I enjoy writing music, especially when I get these little moments. Some people might call it inspiration, while I think it’s just a chance association of words that’s stimulated by some recent event or a person you’ve seen or something you heard or something you saw on TV. Whatever it is, it’s an exciting and very instantaneous and creative moment. And that’s the best way to write songs. But, of course, it doesn’t happen like that all the time. The only way to do this kind of songs is to probably write two or three a year, and that wouldn’t be enough.


dmme.net/interviews/ia.html

[jackinthegreen]

Jul 12, 2014 17:29:41 GMT nonrabbit said:

I like reading old interviews to see if anything's pertinent to the present. Not that I'm looking to trip him up

Here's one from 2006 with a Canadian rock journalist - Dmitry M. Epstein, who at times doesn't quite 'get' Ian.He does ask in-depth questions though.


"Now, temporarily away from TULL, could you imagine anybody else fronting the group? Thijs Van Leer, perhaps? Ian McDonald? Or Martin Barre who also plays a flute? I mean if you allow it..."


" Talking the guitarists, could you imagine JETHRO TULL without Martin?"


My favourite bit is Ian describing how lyrics come to him and how he writes.


Your lyrics are as important as your melodies. Many of them, such as “gory glory seekers”, are great phonetically and are still relevant. Are there particular lyrics you’re proud of?


There are songs where I think I’ve managed to string things together in a way that is satisfying to me, and there are songs that I don’t really enjoy, and it’s usually because of little lyrics that I don’t enjoy it listening to it later. In later years, I feel a little more embarrassed than I do when it’s music that’s annoying me. I think the lyrics tend to be… The worst thing I can do is to actually sit down and try to contrive lyrics when I don’t really feel I have something special to say, when maybe I have a tune, a melody and I’m trying to find some lyrics to fit it. And usually I can’t! And if I do and listen to it year or two later, it really isn’t very good because it’s rather like creating a song when there wasn’t a need for one. The words should really have a real good reason to be born. Most of the best lyrics are the ones that just make up in me. If you think of a set of lyrics you don’t know where it came from, it pops into your head and then the rest of the song follows on pretty quickly.

But I always remember writing a song called “Budapest” – strangely, in the city of Budapest after we played a show there: I wake up the next morning and had my coffee before heading to the airport to fly back to the UK, and the song lyrically and musically just suddenly presented itself in me. So in these early hours of the morning I had my guitar out and I had the bones of the song written by the time I got into the cab and went to the airport. That’s very satisfying when you get something right, it’s just seems very natural and comes very easily.

It’s like catching a butterfly – you have to grasp it, and if you don’t it’ll fly away and you’ll never see it again; but when you grasp it you have to be very careful not to damage it, not to mangle it in your hand. So you have to be very delicately trying to capture this notion, it’s a fragile moment.


And when it happens, you feel quite happy. I enjoy writing music, especially when I get these little moments. Some people might call it inspiration, while I think it’s just a chance association of words that’s stimulated by some recent event or a person you’ve seen or something you heard or something you saw on TV. Whatever it is, it’s an exciting and very instantaneous and creative moment. And that’s the best way to write songs. But, of course, it doesn’t happen like that all the time. The only way to do this kind of songs is to probably write two or three a year, and that wouldn’t be enough.


dmme.net/interviews/ia.html

Good read that non-rabbit...it is something of a gift to my mind, what he is describing......a gift that some are blessed with.

Sometimes, luckily not that often, Ian can make me cringe at some things he says......not that time though......