Interview
Ian Anderson on
Jethro Tull
Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea
MON 18 MAY 2020
Ian Anderson on
Jethro Tull
Palace Theatre, Southend-on-Sea
MON 18 MAY 2020
Jethro Tull and the 2020 Prog Years Tour
Interview with Jacquee Storozynski-Toll
Jethro Tull is a British rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz, the band developed their sound to incorporate elements of hard rock and folk rock to progressive rock. Led by vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson, with various line-up changes, they first achieved commercial success in 1969, with the folk-tinged blues album Stand Up, which reached No. 1 in the UK, and the hit single Living in the Past. They’ve toured regularly in the UK, Europe and the US for over fifty years.
It’s now 2020 and Ian Anderson is starting another tour, Jethro Tull, The Prog Years. The tour will partly be an intimate evening of performance, accompanied by guitarist Joe Parrish, and the rest of the gigs will feature music termed Progressive Rock from the back catalogue and classic Jethro Tull albums.
Sparing some time out of his busy life as he prepares all the creative material, technical and video effects before the tour begins, Ian Anderson chatted to me about his work and the forthcoming gigs.
It’s now 2020 and Ian Anderson is starting another tour, Jethro Tull, The Prog Years. The tour will partly be an intimate evening of performance, accompanied by guitarist Joe Parrish, and the rest of the gigs will feature music termed Progressive Rock from the back catalogue and classic Jethro Tull albums.
Sparing some time out of his busy life as he prepares all the creative material, technical and video effects before the tour begins, Ian Anderson chatted to me about his work and the forthcoming gigs.
I asked him why he was so heavily involved with the technical side of the tour.
‘I could delegate it to others,’ he responds, ‘but I want to make sure it’s right and so it’s better to do it myself. My son is very into that side of things and he works with me. It takes a lot of time, but it’s better in the long run. I only recently finished the 50th Anniversary tour in 2018/19, but I’ve been touring for 51 years, and there is always something different in the presentation and the musical content. There are theatre concerts, open air performances that become more like rock concerts, and shows in cathedrals that raise money for the protection of these cultural landmarks. These are a completely different presentation as cathedrals are an acoustic environment.’
This time there will be some intimate gigs in smaller venues. There will be video content, songs and also a Q and A session which will hopefully provide some interesting and challenging questions. The focus on the Prog Rock part of the tour concentrates on the material that is termed ‘progressive rock’ from the past, leaving out all the folk and pop material. It will cover the period of 1969 -2020.
‘The title is really a description of the repertoire and not an historical window,’ says Ian. ‘There will be two hours of ‘Prog Rock,’ not acoustic. It is more evolved music, it will be songs from that era that some will recognise, some material that hasn’t been performed live before and also some new unrecorded music. All my work is across a broad genre and I am using the term ‘Prog Rock’ very much tongue in cheek. Also,’ he says wryly, ‘it takes up less space on the advertising material.’
I asked if the intimate gigs are only touring the UK and Ian explained, ‘In the past I tried them around European theatres, but as a translator is required everything slowed down, it wasn’t entertaining. In the UK I will play guitar, and talk about the music. It will be 60% music and 40% chat. I will explain how I write the songs, where I get my ideas from and then ask for questions. I hope I’ll be asked some really difficult things that will make me wriggle, a bit like Andrew Neil interviewing politicians. I want to be better than them, because they can only present embarrassed answers and replies. Bring back Brian Walden the interviewer who wouldn’t let the politicians off the hook.’
It was obvious that Ian has a strong social conscience, so I asked if he viewed himself as a political animal. He replied, ‘I suppose so, but it’s a personal thing. I don’t inflict my political affiliation on others; it’s private. I do read all the published manifestos at least twice and then make a decision. Sometimes it’s what lurks beneath that is the real manifesto and not the obvious blandishments.’
As one of his intimate gigs will be at the Palace Theatre in Westcliff, I wondered if he’d performed there before. Ian thought he hadn’t, but explained, ‘I'm a fan of seaside towns which unfortunately have deteriorated over the decades. They always held a special place for me as I grew up in Blackpool, and revered their traditions and culture or nowadays their lack of it. I want to see their regeneration and give them back their dignity so that holiday makers want to return. This would help people who feel guilty about their carbon footprint to stay at home, just as the generations before them did, and not travel off to the Costa Brava. Blackpool was always full of people and had a charm of its own. I missed all that because when I was a teenager it had all changed. My parents met there in the 20s, it was a shame that by the 70s and 80s it had all gone. It had become all glitz to attract younger people, but it hasn’t worked. However, with all this talk of climate change, the weather might be too hot at the seaside,’ he laughed.
Explaining that he looked forward, trying to pull out the best things from the past and preserving them so they’re not lost. That’s why performing in cathedrals is his way of giving back, as many of them have financial problems.
He added, ‘I see myself in a Christian context. I have to draw it together. I’m not a true Christian, but have the culture and intent. I believe in Jesus as a prophet and a revolutionary, but I’ve no proper faith. I believe in possibilities not probabilities. From childhood, I paid attention to all things around me when others didn’t. I’ve used all this material for songs. I draw on social issues, homelessness, religion, politics and conservation. As early as the 70s I tried to put all those things in my lyrics.’
I pointed out that he was ahead of his time in thinking about those issues, and asked him if he was a spiritual person. He agreed that he was, that he wrote spiritual lyrics, but was also a pragmatist with both feet on the ground.
‘Some people have their head in the clouds and some are only rooted in the commercialism of life. Mine is the pragmatic way, if you live with your feet on the ground then you can have your head in the clouds. My rule of life is to pay my taxes, and then you can sleep easy. I even pay withholding tax abroad from the receipts of my concerts. As a result I’ve contributed to important things like the reunification of Germany with their regeneration tax. When I play in foreign countries, I’m always happy that I’ve contributed to them in some way by paying my taxes.’
‘I could delegate it to others,’ he responds, ‘but I want to make sure it’s right and so it’s better to do it myself. My son is very into that side of things and he works with me. It takes a lot of time, but it’s better in the long run. I only recently finished the 50th Anniversary tour in 2018/19, but I’ve been touring for 51 years, and there is always something different in the presentation and the musical content. There are theatre concerts, open air performances that become more like rock concerts, and shows in cathedrals that raise money for the protection of these cultural landmarks. These are a completely different presentation as cathedrals are an acoustic environment.’
This time there will be some intimate gigs in smaller venues. There will be video content, songs and also a Q and A session which will hopefully provide some interesting and challenging questions. The focus on the Prog Rock part of the tour concentrates on the material that is termed ‘progressive rock’ from the past, leaving out all the folk and pop material. It will cover the period of 1969 -2020.
‘The title is really a description of the repertoire and not an historical window,’ says Ian. ‘There will be two hours of ‘Prog Rock,’ not acoustic. It is more evolved music, it will be songs from that era that some will recognise, some material that hasn’t been performed live before and also some new unrecorded music. All my work is across a broad genre and I am using the term ‘Prog Rock’ very much tongue in cheek. Also,’ he says wryly, ‘it takes up less space on the advertising material.’
I asked if the intimate gigs are only touring the UK and Ian explained, ‘In the past I tried them around European theatres, but as a translator is required everything slowed down, it wasn’t entertaining. In the UK I will play guitar, and talk about the music. It will be 60% music and 40% chat. I will explain how I write the songs, where I get my ideas from and then ask for questions. I hope I’ll be asked some really difficult things that will make me wriggle, a bit like Andrew Neil interviewing politicians. I want to be better than them, because they can only present embarrassed answers and replies. Bring back Brian Walden the interviewer who wouldn’t let the politicians off the hook.’
It was obvious that Ian has a strong social conscience, so I asked if he viewed himself as a political animal. He replied, ‘I suppose so, but it’s a personal thing. I don’t inflict my political affiliation on others; it’s private. I do read all the published manifestos at least twice and then make a decision. Sometimes it’s what lurks beneath that is the real manifesto and not the obvious blandishments.’
As one of his intimate gigs will be at the Palace Theatre in Westcliff, I wondered if he’d performed there before. Ian thought he hadn’t, but explained, ‘I'm a fan of seaside towns which unfortunately have deteriorated over the decades. They always held a special place for me as I grew up in Blackpool, and revered their traditions and culture or nowadays their lack of it. I want to see their regeneration and give them back their dignity so that holiday makers want to return. This would help people who feel guilty about their carbon footprint to stay at home, just as the generations before them did, and not travel off to the Costa Brava. Blackpool was always full of people and had a charm of its own. I missed all that because when I was a teenager it had all changed. My parents met there in the 20s, it was a shame that by the 70s and 80s it had all gone. It had become all glitz to attract younger people, but it hasn’t worked. However, with all this talk of climate change, the weather might be too hot at the seaside,’ he laughed.
Explaining that he looked forward, trying to pull out the best things from the past and preserving them so they’re not lost. That’s why performing in cathedrals is his way of giving back, as many of them have financial problems.
He added, ‘I see myself in a Christian context. I have to draw it together. I’m not a true Christian, but have the culture and intent. I believe in Jesus as a prophet and a revolutionary, but I’ve no proper faith. I believe in possibilities not probabilities. From childhood, I paid attention to all things around me when others didn’t. I’ve used all this material for songs. I draw on social issues, homelessness, religion, politics and conservation. As early as the 70s I tried to put all those things in my lyrics.’
I pointed out that he was ahead of his time in thinking about those issues, and asked him if he was a spiritual person. He agreed that he was, that he wrote spiritual lyrics, but was also a pragmatist with both feet on the ground.
‘Some people have their head in the clouds and some are only rooted in the commercialism of life. Mine is the pragmatic way, if you live with your feet on the ground then you can have your head in the clouds. My rule of life is to pay my taxes, and then you can sleep easy. I even pay withholding tax abroad from the receipts of my concerts. As a result I’ve contributed to important things like the reunification of Germany with their regeneration tax. When I play in foreign countries, I’m always happy that I’ve contributed to them in some way by paying my taxes.’
Changing the subject, I suggested that he must be tired of being asked why his band was named after the 18th Century inventor of the seed drill, Jethro Tull.
He laughed, ‘In January ‘68, we’d just started out and were trying to get gigs, so we needed a name. Our agent suggested Jethro Tull and we agreed although we didn’t have a clue who he was. By the time we found out that we’d been named after a dead person we had a residency at the Marquee Club in London, and it was too late to change it. I’ve always felt uncomfortable about it, and in later years decided to look into him. I was surprised to find there was an uncanny synchronicity. He was an agricultural innovator, and I am into farming innovation, he was also a musician as he played the organ and suffered from a chest complaint and I too have inherited a pulmonary disease.’
He added that was why he later produced a Rock Opera based on the historical Jethro Tull’s life.
‘I wanted the world to think about changing the way we produced food and think about the environment, polluted water and the use of pesticides. It’s important that we think about what we are doing to the world. Northern Europe has low fertility rates. However, places like Africa are increasing in population size, and it’s not sustainable. All this is going to lead to more and more migration and we need to wake up and deal with it. I wrote Locomotive Breath about population growth in the 70s. I feel strongly about these issues and have always read all the scientific journals and I'm interested in evolution.’
I mentioned that people think he’s Jethro Tull, but that it is the band, and his name is Ian Anderson and asked if he objected.
‘I don’t mind. I willingly sign autographs etc., but always ask people to call me Ian. My wife objects to being called Mrs Tull though.’ he chuckles.
We spent a few moments talking about how Ian composed his songs.
‘I don’t have a factory output. In the past I tended to write the music and then the lyrics round it, but these days it’s changed. I often write the lyrics first, and then build the music by a temporal division. It all builds together. I need a topic and build it up, it could be a title or a working title and then I use the ideas for a melody. It doesn’t always work.
My first big album Aqualung evolved because my first wife was studying photography, and took some photos of the homeless. In fact, my wife wrote some of the lyrics. We built up an image of one man that we saw, his life and his homeless community. I felt he needed a nickname, and in the 60s there was TV programme Sea Hunt on TV. In it an underwater diver would swim in an aqualung and it made a guttural, breathy sound. I thought this homeless man would have that rattling sound like my dad’s bronchitis so I gave him that name. I didn’t know the equipment was a copyrighted trade name in the US and the company challenged it. However, I persuaded them that it was good publicity and they backed down.
One of my other titles Thick as a Brick, came about because as a child, in post war Britain, all the comics and books for children taught us to be scared of the dreaded Hun or the greedy Japanese. It was all fiction and not based on reality. When I visited Germany and Japan, I realised that everyone is brainwashed. In the 50s and 60s boys growing up were taught to have prejudices and needed to unlearn them. If you’re open to it, you’re never too old to rock and roll; nothing is set in the past. It is only the era that you grew up and you can change. I was sneering at people who weren’t thinking about the reality because they were Thick as a Brick.’
I wondered if his audiences were usually people who’d followed his career through the years. Ian replied, ‘In the UK it’s mainly the older fans, or their families that have become interested in the music. In Germany they tend to be a little younger than UK, and of course when we do outdoor shows it is always a younger crowd. In Northern Europe they are always older but in the South, they’re younger. There are no national stereotypes. However, I’ve worked with people such as Marc Almond and the fans that follow him wouldn’t be the kind that would want to come to a Jethro Tull concert. Although, we have performed together in cathedrals and the Royal Festival Hall.’
As an aside I asked if he still had a copy of his early single Sunshine Day/Aeroplane which was released with a misprint on the label saying ‘Jethro Toe.’ It’s a valuable collector’s item now. Ian laughed, ‘I probably have a copy somewhere, but I don’t keep any memorabilia, I give it away. If I want to raise money for charity I can always buy some back from eBay and sell it at auction. Then I would feel that I'm doing some good with it.
He is currently working on an album that he was hoping to release last year but has been too busy. However, he hopes to finish it in February or March 2020. As yet, there’s no final decision on the title.
After an intensely engaging and lengthy chat with Ian, he finally quipped, ‘If anyone asks me why I haven’t finished my album it’s because I’ve been having an interesting chat with Jacquee.’
He laughed, ‘In January ‘68, we’d just started out and were trying to get gigs, so we needed a name. Our agent suggested Jethro Tull and we agreed although we didn’t have a clue who he was. By the time we found out that we’d been named after a dead person we had a residency at the Marquee Club in London, and it was too late to change it. I’ve always felt uncomfortable about it, and in later years decided to look into him. I was surprised to find there was an uncanny synchronicity. He was an agricultural innovator, and I am into farming innovation, he was also a musician as he played the organ and suffered from a chest complaint and I too have inherited a pulmonary disease.’
He added that was why he later produced a Rock Opera based on the historical Jethro Tull’s life.
‘I wanted the world to think about changing the way we produced food and think about the environment, polluted water and the use of pesticides. It’s important that we think about what we are doing to the world. Northern Europe has low fertility rates. However, places like Africa are increasing in population size, and it’s not sustainable. All this is going to lead to more and more migration and we need to wake up and deal with it. I wrote Locomotive Breath about population growth in the 70s. I feel strongly about these issues and have always read all the scientific journals and I'm interested in evolution.’
I mentioned that people think he’s Jethro Tull, but that it is the band, and his name is Ian Anderson and asked if he objected.
‘I don’t mind. I willingly sign autographs etc., but always ask people to call me Ian. My wife objects to being called Mrs Tull though.’ he chuckles.
We spent a few moments talking about how Ian composed his songs.
‘I don’t have a factory output. In the past I tended to write the music and then the lyrics round it, but these days it’s changed. I often write the lyrics first, and then build the music by a temporal division. It all builds together. I need a topic and build it up, it could be a title or a working title and then I use the ideas for a melody. It doesn’t always work.
My first big album Aqualung evolved because my first wife was studying photography, and took some photos of the homeless. In fact, my wife wrote some of the lyrics. We built up an image of one man that we saw, his life and his homeless community. I felt he needed a nickname, and in the 60s there was TV programme Sea Hunt on TV. In it an underwater diver would swim in an aqualung and it made a guttural, breathy sound. I thought this homeless man would have that rattling sound like my dad’s bronchitis so I gave him that name. I didn’t know the equipment was a copyrighted trade name in the US and the company challenged it. However, I persuaded them that it was good publicity and they backed down.
One of my other titles Thick as a Brick, came about because as a child, in post war Britain, all the comics and books for children taught us to be scared of the dreaded Hun or the greedy Japanese. It was all fiction and not based on reality. When I visited Germany and Japan, I realised that everyone is brainwashed. In the 50s and 60s boys growing up were taught to have prejudices and needed to unlearn them. If you’re open to it, you’re never too old to rock and roll; nothing is set in the past. It is only the era that you grew up and you can change. I was sneering at people who weren’t thinking about the reality because they were Thick as a Brick.’
I wondered if his audiences were usually people who’d followed his career through the years. Ian replied, ‘In the UK it’s mainly the older fans, or their families that have become interested in the music. In Germany they tend to be a little younger than UK, and of course when we do outdoor shows it is always a younger crowd. In Northern Europe they are always older but in the South, they’re younger. There are no national stereotypes. However, I’ve worked with people such as Marc Almond and the fans that follow him wouldn’t be the kind that would want to come to a Jethro Tull concert. Although, we have performed together in cathedrals and the Royal Festival Hall.’
As an aside I asked if he still had a copy of his early single Sunshine Day/Aeroplane which was released with a misprint on the label saying ‘Jethro Toe.’ It’s a valuable collector’s item now. Ian laughed, ‘I probably have a copy somewhere, but I don’t keep any memorabilia, I give it away. If I want to raise money for charity I can always buy some back from eBay and sell it at auction. Then I would feel that I'm doing some good with it.
He is currently working on an album that he was hoping to release last year but has been too busy. However, he hopes to finish it in February or March 2020. As yet, there’s no final decision on the title.
After an intensely engaging and lengthy chat with Ian, he finally quipped, ‘If anyone asks me why I haven’t finished my album it’s because I’ve been having an interesting chat with Jacquee.’
The Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull Tour dates are:
Mon 20 April Yeovil Westlands Tues 21 April Bristol St George’s Wed 22 April Cheltenham Town Hall Sun 3 May Lincoln Drill Hall Mo 4 May Leeds City Varieties Tues 5 May Buxton Opera House Sun17 May London Blackheath Halls Mon 18 May Southend on Sea Palace Theatre Tues 19 May Guildford G Live |
The Prog Years Tour 2020 dates are:
Wednesday 30 September Aylesbury The Waterside Thursday 1 October Leicester De Montfort Hall Saturday 3 October Blackburn St George’s Hall Sunday 4 October Perth Concert Hall Monday 5 October Glasgow Pavilion Theatre Tuesday 6 October Stoke-On-Trent Victoria Hall Thursday 8 October London Shepherd’s Bush Empire Friday 9 October Brighton Dome Saturday 10 October Poole Lighthouse Monday 12 October Reading Hexagon Tuesday 13 October Bath The Forum |
For tickets and further details about both tours visit www.jethrotull.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialjethrotull/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jethrotull
Tickets for Southend Palace Theatre - www.southendtheatres.org.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialjethrotull/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jethrotull
Tickets for Southend Palace Theatre - www.southendtheatres.org.uk