THE (ECLECTIC) MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY Ian Anderson
Nov 10, 2010
On the difference between playing with Jethro Tull and going solo, and keeping out the 'riff-raff'...
BY ROBERT FULTON
The engine behind Jethro Tull has always been Ian Anderson. The flute-playing lead man, and only original member of the-rock-meets-jazz-meets-classical band best known for the 1971 hit "Aqualung," is the heart and soul of an outfit that has sold tens-of-millions of records during the last 40-some years.
After completing a Jethro Tull tour this past summer, Anderson has once again set out on a limited solo jaunt this fall. With a backing band, Anderson performs Jethro Tull hits, deeper tracks, solo cuts and classical songs.
With a few days between the October and November legs of his tour, Anderson took 15 minutes to speak by phone from his home in England.
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BLURT: What can or what do you do solo that you can't or don't do in Tull?
IAN ANDERSON: When Jethro Tull is on tour, the perception is of Jethro Tull the rock band. Consequently, it's more of an electric kind of performance, more of the louder, more up-tempo songs. But when I do Ian Anderson shows, it's really an opportunity to stretch out and examine the depth and the breadth of Jethro Tull's catalog, to play some stuff that perhaps wouldn't be really so in-keeping with Jethro Tull the rock band. It doesn't necessarily make it all acoustic. Some of it is electric music, but just not mainstream and the ones that more people are familiar with perhaps from radio play. So it's just really a chance to broaden and [go] deeper into things and to also introduce some new music, a couple of solo album tracks and a couple of pieces derived from the world of classical music.
All together it's more of an eclectic show than I would feel comfortable doing under the Jethro Tull banner. Because we know in America we have a lot of fans who are male, into rock music and would perhaps get a little testy at some of the more esoteric and acoustic moments and start shouting out and being abusive. Doing Ian Anderson shows is a way of keeping the riff-raff out, really. And you can quote me on that. For the most part I get really good audiences. Occasionally you'll get a couple of drunks who spend the evening shouting things in some irrelevant and confusing way. But most of the time it's a really good audience. I like to think that the audience enjoys the fact that they can hear the music without interruption from the rowdier members of the audience, which does happen at Jethro Tull shows.
How do you react to that, when that happens?
I try to bite my lip and carry on, unless it gets particularly annoying, in which case I have to have a word with them, and if it still persists, then I just skip the song and move on to the next one, which I've had to do a couple of times, and that makes me very sad, but that's the way it goes. It has happened, but not very often.
Is your fan base different here in the States than it is elsewhere in the world?
I think probably it's a little older in the U.S.A. In other countries in the world we have a lot of younger fans, particularly in places like Spain and Italy and Turkey and Russia and India, and certain places where I think there's an audience who didn't get to see Jethro Tull the first time around because we weren't able to travel to some of those places.
It depends on the time of year that you play. If you're playing outdoors in the summer in Europe, then there'll be a lot more young people in the audience, people around the age of 20. Then if you play the same city perhaps in the depths of winter at a nice cozy concert hall, that'll bring out the older folks.
I understand that your backing band includes a flamenco guitarist [Florian Opahle].
He played flamenco particularly when he was younger. He's been playing since he was a child. Like a lot of guitar players who grew up in the '80s, he's not missed any tricks as far as electric guitar is concerned. He's also a very good rock guitar player.
Tell me about the solo work. Will you be performing any new stuff?
There are four or five new songs, a couple that we've been playing for a few months, and then there are a couple of brand new ones that have been played on this tour. And there are a couple of pieces of Jethro Tull music which have never been played on stage before, so it's a first for them, even though they're pieces of music from 1972 and 1973. So amongst the Jethro Tull material there's some stuff which has either rarely been played or never played. We try to dig out some things from the bottom drawer that will surprise even the most ardent and knowledgeable of fans
What are a couple of these songs that you're referring to?
Well, it's kind of nice to have them as a surprise for the audience. I'd rather keep them as a surprise rather than talk about them in advance.
Your current writing: what influences or informs it? Where do you draw inspiration?
It's probably the same mixture of inputs as I've had all of my life, really. Some of it's from reading, some of it's from observation of people and places, some of it's from, I suppose, imagination and ruminating on airplane flights or long car journeys or whatever it is. It comes from a variety of sources.
With my trusty laptop computer on my knee, I'm able to be working in that kind of way while I'm on tour and on the road and able to quickly record anything I might want to record. It's a constant process, really. In the old days you didn't leave without a notebook and pencil. These days I leave behind the notebook and pencil but I take my iPod and laptop computer
Amazing how things have changed.
Well, they've changed, but in many ways for the better, because it gives us much more opportunity to be working on material and working on all kinds of things as we travel. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to carry my office around with me in my carry on language.
Can we expect another Jethro Tull album any time?
It's probably very unlikely that it would be Jethro Tull. We logistically have big problems in as much people don't live in the same place. It's not a priority when playing concerts is more fun.
I have a bunch of songs I look forward to recording during the early months of next year. At some point, we'll have some new music out, but whether it's Ian Anderson or Jethro Tull remains to be seen.
What drew you to music?
As an alternative to drawing and painting, which is my first love. I grew up interested in the visual arts. Music got the upper hand because it was so much more of an immediate and rewarding way of indulging in something creative and expressive.
Ian Anderson performs multiple dates in the eastern United States Nov. 11 through Nov. 24. Visit www.jethrotull.com for details.
More reading: see our review of the just-released 2CD/DVD collectors edition of Jethro Tull's 1969 classic Stand Up.
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