Ian Anderson
Q: Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is our guest this afternoon on KGSR, and he has a new solo album called The Secret Language of Birds. Is the show tomorrow night at the Backyard with Jethro Tull the very first of the tour?
A: Yes, it’s the first of this North American tour. We just came from a tour of Eastern Europe, playing in Poland and the Czech Republic and former Yugoslavia and places like that. So now we’re over here, back in the land of sanity and hygiene.
Q: Well, in relative terms, are the places you just mentioned places that Jethro Tull has visited frequently?
A: Yeah, we’ve been to Poland a few times and the Czech Republic quite a lot of times. But the former Yugoslavian countries were out of bounds for a few years. When the road crew had to pass through Belgrade in their bus a couple of weeks ago it was a little bit — you know, a little bit nail biting. But the cops let them through. They’re obviously not people to bear a grudge.
Q: That would be nerve-wracking, I think. You’re opening your tour here in Austin, Texas. And I know you have an affinity for hot foods. I’m not sure if that extends to jalapeños and the like. Do you like hot Mexican food? Are you sampling while you’re here?
A: Well, a little old jalapeño is — you know, is kind of okay to perk up a salad, but I’m more your habanero man. But we’ll talk more about that later.
Q: Okay. We will. So I’m going to wait for that because I want to know the difference. The Secret Language of Birds is your new solo album. And you would do a song for that — from that for us?
A: Absolutely. That CD, The S.L.O.B., came out just a few weeks ago but was recorded back in 1998. It had to wait its turn in the queue because we had the Jethro Tull album to release last year. And so the solo album came out just the beginning of — oh, what was it? In March, I think it was, sometime. Just a couple of months ago. And this is the opening track, the title track as they call it, “The Secret Language of Birds”. And I don’t actually speak bird myself, so I have no idea what they’re singing about, but we’ll give it a go.
(Song: The Secret Language Of Birds)
A: Well, there was a crow in there, a pheasant, a magpie or two. I’ll be bound. That’s just me with my band in a box, you see. I have my band in a box and I’m singing and playing the flute live. And the other guys in my little box here are a whole lot cheaper than the real thing, apart from the fact that they’re not here.
Q: And I don’t know if we have room for them all.
A: No, they’re either sitting on an airplane or sunning themselves by a swimming pool somewhere so — no, just me and my band in a box.
Q: You’re a one-man band. Ian Anderson is our guest this afternoon on KGSR. The Secret Language of Birds is his new solo album. And you just heard the title track. And I believe this is the third time you’ve made a solo record. What’s the difference in your approach between making a Jethro Tull record and an Ian Anderson record?
A: Well, if I’m writing songs for a Jethro Tull album, I’m trying to make sure the drummer is happy. You know, the songs that I write are going to be inclusive of the kind of musical ingredients that give the drummer and the electric guitar and the electric bass, you know, good opportunities to integrate into the music. If I’m doing a solo album, writing solo stuff, then it doesn’t matter if there isn’t a part for drums or electric guitar because I’m just making me happy. I don’t have to worry about the other guys. And in fact, back in the ’70s when I used to do those sort of records — or those sort of tracks, just little acoustic songs on some of the earlier Jethro Tull songs, it probably left the other guys feeling, you know, a bit touchy, a bit sensitive because they didn’t get to play on all the tracks. So I didn’t do so much of that in the ’80s and ’90s. And then a couple of years ago, I thought, I’ll do an album of that acoustic sort of music because that’s what I do. I mean, I’m really the unplugged guy in a rock band. I play the acoustic guitar and the bouzoukis and the mandolins and various woodwind instruments and percussion. And on this album, also some acoustic bass, helped out by Andrew Giddings, our keyboard player, who plays acoustic keyboards and accordions and other percussion things. And so it’s really an album of the unplugged sort, overworked term that that may be.
Q: Well, you have done an unplugged album and tour with Jethro Tull. I believe, around 1992 there was A Little Light Music?
A: Yeah, that was — well, that was kind of halfway house, really. It was — as the name suggests, it was less than a full-blown rock ensemble. It was really designed to do a lot of the Jethro Tull material which had been the more laid-back, the more simply instrumentated and the more acoustic stuff. And so we did that, essentially, as a four-piece. We recorded a number of songs around various venues in Europe and did the live album of that rather more stripped-down musical approach. But it still featured some electric instruments. It wasn’t entirely acoustic.
Q: When Jethro Tull performs is there an acoustic section of the show?
A: No, the acoustic stuff really just slips in and out of the thing as it goes along. You know, rather than risk a chunk of musically more somber and delicate music, I think, particularly when you’ve got an audience that’s outside, you know, with access to drink and food. You know, they’re a bit more up. They want a good time. So we tend to drop the acoustic pieces in the context of the loud stuff. And of course, some of the loud songs, traditionally Jethro Tull’s heavy songs, still have little passages of acoustic music in anyway. So it tends to be — it tends to be just dotted in here and there throughout the set.
Q: Jethro Tull, over the years, has had a revolving membership of sorts. And now you have a couple of guys, one — your bass player was born three months after Aqualung was released, I believe. How do you maintain the consistency under the Tull banner with so many different musicians moving in and out, besides Martin Barre?
A: I think all the musicians that have been in Jethro Tull have brought their own particular idiosyncratic stamp to bear on the music. And, you know, the guys who play in the band now have got to be able to listen to early Jethro music and try to recreate some of the nuances that were applicable to the approach that their predecessors took in playing the music. And therefore, it will be fair to say — and this is hopefully without being unfair to the original guys. But it would be fair to say that today’s Jethro Tull musicians have really got to be — they’ve got to be pretty much all-rounders. They’ve got to have a good understanding, historically, for musical styles and the musical genre that we began with, as well as, you know, having a little bit more of a contemporary part of Jethro Tull’s current music, because obviously they’ve played on the last few records. It’s pretty demanding, really, for anybody to go back and — not just to have to learn 20 songs to play on stage, but they have to know, you know, 120 songs because that’s how many we probably pick to choose from, you know, from time to time, to make up the set lists. So they really have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of Jethro Tull’s earlier work.
Q: Ian Anderson’s new solo album is The Secret Language of Birds. We heard the title track moments ago. And perhaps another from the solo record?
A: Yeah, as you asked me earlier, I’m quite a fan of hot, spicy food and particularly that that uses the, generally accepted, the hottest of all the chili family, habanero. And the habanero comes from Central America. And in the Caribbean, it’s known as the Scotch Bonnet or a close relative of it is. And it’s the chili that rates, you know, No. 10 on the Richter Scale. It’s the one that’s, you know, going to cause you pain and suffering if you don’t handle it with care and attention. And preferably, if you have been handling it, then don’t handle yourself with care and attention, because it can easily transmit the chemical that’s the hot in the hot chili to parts of the anatomy that you’d probably prefer it didn’t visit. Anyway, so I thought I would put this song to an Irish Reel. And so I decided to do this song as an ode to the habanero. It’s a piece called “The Habanero Reel”, curiously enough. And we’ll give it a go.
(Song: The Habanero Reel)
A: Never really know what to do when you get to the fade. You just have to conk out gracefully.
Q: Ian, it’s very rare that we get a fade when people perform live on air, so I’m thankful for it.
A: Yeah, fades are kind of hard to do live.
Q: Ian Anderson is our guest of Jethro Tull. And his new solo album is The Secret Language of Birds. You have 30 years of material to cull from. Do you have any time to play solo material at the gigs?
A: Yes, well, the other members of the group have been kind enough to learn to do a few of the tracks from the solo album, so we’re doing — we do three songs from The Secret Language of Birds. And not necessarily the same songs every night, because we have a few to choose from. So during the tour we’ll probably mix it up a little bit, you know, pick a different song different nights. And we do three songs from the most recent Jethro Tull album, JTull.com. Again, we’re, you know, a little bit flexible as to which ones we play. And for the rest of the time, it’s the big picture. It’s everything from Jethro Tull’s very first album through to the new stuff. And we try and cover all the different eras of Jethro Tull and make sure we slip in the — you know, the songs that really evoke particular parts of our musical history styles and influences and subject material. So we try and do the big picture.
Q: For a while there, there were several members of Fairport Convention who floated through your membership. And then during the days Eddie Jobson was in the band, you guys — as you say, the big picture swings from electronic rock to folk rock with hard music mixed in as well. You’re here today with your wife of about 25 years, Shona —
A: No, she’s actually a little older than that, but she just looks 25 years old.
Q: Rim shot, please. I was curious — I know you guys have been together a long time. Any tips on how to achieve longevity in a relationship, even for those of us who aren’t in the risky business of show-biz? And I don’t think Shona’s going to answer that.
A: No, she wants to keep out of this. Well, it really does help, I think, if you both have a job to do. And we met when she was working at Chrysalis Records, back in the mid-’70s. And so at that time, she was doing press and promotion. And so she worked for Jethro Tull for a couple of years in a generally administrative capacity, doing all sorts of things, both on tour and back home when we were off the tour making records. So it seemed natural that — I mean, having got married along the way and had two children and a few cats and dogs as well, it seemed fairly natural that one’s children were sufficiently old to be not requiring our day-to-day attention anymore that Shona would carry on working with the band. And so she’s, once again, out on tour, pretty much all the time. I mean, in the USA she’s here all the time with us. There’s a lot more to do in terms of press and promotion daily, as well as all the tour accounting and all the other administrative stuff, travel and so on. Sometimes in Europe, she doesn’t come to all the shows because sometimes there’s not so much to do, frankly. So, you know, if we have a quiet week, she flies home and looks after the garden, answers the mail. Well, you see, if you had your own mic, Sho, you better answer this for yourself or that can be dirty looks across the street here.
Q: Those weren’t dirty, they were questioning of you.
A: Oh, questioning look.
Q: Shona, I can swing that around to you. But it is a pleasure to have you hear today. And Ian, I know —
A: Remaining conspicuously mute. She has a nice speaking voice, as well.
Q: Well, we’re looking for some extra DJs. So if you have a — no, she’s not into that either. Well, Ian, I know that you live southwest of England, but in the Scottish Highlands you have what is called an aquaculture and fish processing. Aquaculture sort of sounds like “aqualung” to begin with. But it’s a salmon farm, isn’t it?
A: Well, that’s right. We started farming salmon about 1978. And so after 22 years of actual commercial activity, it’s been really quite a long time. In the early days it was a little more exciting, a little bit more adventurous because the rule books hadn’t been written. It was a new industry and the technology and the husbandry were little understood. So it was quite pioneering stuff. These days, you know, some 20-odd years later, it is by the book. You know, people know how to do it. So it’s not quite as exciting, quite as hairy and as — not quite as rock and roll as it used to be. So yes, we still have our fish farms a couple of processing factories, but, you know, in terms of what we do, I guess we try and limit our involvement with the companies to a few hours a month, rather than overdoing it because we like eating fish. We don’t necessarily see ourselves as fish salesmen.
Q: Well, I mean, there’s hundreds of employees at your farm, I believe.
A: Yeah.
Q: And you mentioned that you like cats. I’d imagine your cats are well-fed.
A: Well, the cats have, luckily, quite a taste for different kinds of fish, including, some of them like smoked salmon and some of them aren’t wild on it. Some of the cats, I would have to say, you know, say, you know, when the smoked salmon sample comes in every week, you know, and we sort of taste it and make sure we’re happy with what’s coming out of the factory, the cats kind of look, oh, God, do we have to eat this again? Can’t we just have some of that regular cat food stuff that comes out of the can.
Q: It’s going to be a long time before my cats are making any kind of noise like that when we get near some fresh fish. They’re like, you know, that is manna from heaven for them. We’re talking with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. I guess it’s been a while since you had to give up the codpiece and tights, right?
A: Well, I didn’t actually have to give them up. I was advised by my mother-in-law that it might be a good idea. Yeah, codpiece and tights was fun for a while, but, you know, back in the early part of the ’70s everybody else wasn’t doing that stuff so it was amusing for a while. But I think by the mid-’70s there were a lot of other bands getting on to this more theatrical approach, you know, getting a little bit more silly about dressing up and the stage presentation and the whole production thing. So it started to become a little passe. And by the time Michael Jackson appeared in a codpiece sometime in the ’80s I thought, that is it. You know, I mean, we really can’t go back to that stuff. It got very silly. So, you know, it’s nice to do that kind of thing in the rock and roll context for the first time. But once everybody else jumps on that particular bandwagon, then, you know, time to let it go and let somebody else have a go.
Q: Jethro Tull has been together for more than 30 years. Made more than 30 albums. I guess everyone has their slice of Tull that they relate to. Is there a period that you think — that you consider the classic Jethro Tull?
A: Well, I think there are probably three periods. There’s the period back in the early part of the ’70s when band consisted of Barrie Barlow on drums, John Evans on piano, Jeffrey Hammond on the bass, Martin Barre on guitar and me. And that was a lineup that made quite a few classic albums, Thick as a Brick through Songs from the Wood, Heavy Horses, that kind of stuff. You know, that was an important part. But there is a little period before that, which really began in 1969 when Martin Barre first joined the band. I think there was a certain classic thing happened back then because we were still fairly fresh and just writing songs for the first time. And I think for my second album, Stand Up, through to the Aqualung album, probably was quite important. It was — you know, those were formative years. By the time ’72 came a long, musically speaking, we were a bit more experienced and a bit more capable of tackling bigger ideas. But I think the first period was quite important. And the album Stand Up, for me, still brings a lot of very useful material when it comes to doing live concerts. I still thoroughly enjoy the songs that we play live from Stand Up. And then, of course, later on into the ’80s and ’90s, you know, there was a degree of sophistication necessarily that comes into the music because you got older and you’ve got a slightly broader perspective on music and how to go about it. So, you know, for me, some of the most enjoyable pieces have come out of the last ten years, during which time I’ve also made a couple of solo albums, which I’ve enjoyed doing, too. Although they’ve been quite different from the sort of thing Jethro Tull does.
Q: Well, I would like to ask you to play a Jethro Tull song, but I’ll leave it to you as to which period you’d like to draw from this afternoon.
A: Oh, right. Well, okay. Well, let’s pick something from — well, we’ll do a couple ofthings spun together as a medley here. This one is actually from the Bouree album and then it moves on slightly sideways to one of our early and very, very few hit singles which we had back in the early — actually, I think it was the late ’60s. This is “Bouree”
(Songs: Bouree/Living In The Past.)
A: There we go. Living In The Past. Jethro Tull. Well, except, it wasn’t really. It was just me. If that was just a different arrangement me just playing the acoustic guitar and stuff on to which I add my flute, live in the mix.
Q: Also, we began with —
A: With “Bouree”, yes, from the Stand Up album, which was a piece that was taken from JS Bach, who originally wrote that — I’m not sure in what context it was written, whether it was an orchestral piece or for solo instruments. I really don’t know. I actually heard it because the guy who lived in the apartment underneath me back in North London when I was 20 years old, was learning to play classical guitar and kept playing this piece of music over and over again. And I could hear it coming through the floorboards. It’s indelibly ingrained itself upon my mind.
Q: Well, and then you did that to the millions of the rest of us. So thank you for that.
A: That was a pleasure.
Q: There’s been several compilations over the years. Is there one that you — if there’s someone listening out there who’s a novice to Jethro Tull, is there one of the compilations that you feel is the most definitive?
A: Well, that’s an interesting question because I just was talking to EMI Records a few weeks ago about doing a new definitive Jethro Tull best of, which we’re going to be compiling this year for release early next year. And it’s interesting because it marks the start of the real remastering process of all the Jethro Tull catalogue because, as you now know, through DVD, the new format for digital and audio — I mean, for video and audio, there is the prospect for elevating quality of sound way beyond that dreadful, edgy, nasty CD, which, you know, operates at 16-bits dynamics. And the — and a 44.1 khz sampling rate. So with DVD it’s going to be possible to have 24-bit sampling with a 96 k band width, which is going to make things just a whole lot more like the old analogue recordings, but with all the benefits and convenience of digital. So we start the remastering process of all the Jethro Tull catalogue later this year, so that’s going to keep me busy for a few months to come.
Q: And my discs may be from the dawn of the CD age, but, you know, last night I wanted to play for my wife some things since we’re going to the concert tomorrow and I wanted to play her Thick as a Brick and Ministry on the Gallery. And the lyrics do not exist on my CDs.
A: What a bummer.
Q: When you’re doing that, maybe you could put in a good word for us that we need the lyrics inside, too.
A: Well, there’s a point. Yes, I mean, the later albums all had lyrics on. But there were a few missing in the earliest ones, so I guess that’s something we must address. Until then, you’ll just have to content yourself by going to jtull.com and, of course, through that you can find your way to links of various lyrics and all the rest of it. Our website is a good place to go, by the way, if you’re looking for any information about Jethro Tull. It’s [jtull.com]. And that’s where you’ll find us.
Q: And I did visit there. And you are correct, it was a wellspring of information. We talked a little bit about this, but you play approximately 20 songs during the course of a show. Over a tour, the band may draw from 100. Is that one of the more creative things, besides what goes on on stage, what goes on when you’re compiling the set lists and kind of juggling it up to keep yourself amused and entertained?
A: Yes. And it is necessarily compromise because you know that there are going to be some people going home from the concert every night who say, oh, you know, they didn’t play my favorite song. But given so many records and so many tracks, that’s got — you know, statistically is going to happen. Someone goes away disappointed. You can only try to please most of the people most of the time. And we start by trying to please ourselves. You know, I think that we, the musicians, we have to be excited and challenged by what it is we have to play on stage. And so we take a pretty selfish view. We go out there every night to have a good time. Have as good a time as possible. And we think — you know, if we make us happy, there’s more chance that will convey itself to the audience and they, too, will have a good time.
Q: An opening night always has a certain bit of an edge, I think.
A: It has a certain bit of an edge, provided, of course, the bass player doesn’t fall asleep because he’s not arriving until about midnight tonight. So he’ll be one tired little boy tomorrow.
Q: He’s a young man. He can handle it. And speaking of young men, I just want to ask you one final question. I mean, I grew up with a lot of these records. And if I was going to meet Ian Anderson backstage, I would want to discuss the philosophical meanings of “Thick as a Brick” or “Passion Play” or “Minstrel in the Gallery.” How do you deal with oddballs like me who bum-rush you after the show and want to know exactly what this meant or that meant?
A: Politely, I hope. But after the show is never a good time because after the show, by the time we’ve actually packed up bits and pieces and done the obligatory hellos and, you know, cuddled people for autographs and photographs and whatever else they want to take home a piece of you every night, you know, they — by the time all that’s over, we head for bed. And so — because we travel, you see, the next morning. And usually that means getting up around 7:00 in the morning and getting on our way. So we don’t hang around afterwards partying or, you know, meeting people and indulging in esoteric conversations if we can possibly get away with it.
Q: But at other times, I’d imagine you would engage someone — I mean, there’s a lot of Tull fanatics out there who find a lot of meaning in this music and would like to get you and sit you down and ask you about it. I’m sure you encounter it all the time, if not even after shows, at another time. Do you find that interesting at some point or is it just —
A: Well, I always think that what the music and what the lyrics mean to other people is very important to them. And sometimes, to tell them, hey, this is what this really means might be quite different from, you know, the meaning that they have extracted from listening to the songs. I think that actually could be counterproductive. I rather like the idea that, you know, I spend a lot of time trying to convey my own thoughts and images in my own way because I write very much from visual images. I try then to convey those things in words and music to somebody who may then sit back in their armchair, close their eyes, listen to the music and make their own pictures in their head from the songs that I’ve written. But the fact is, their pictures could be quite different to mine, the ones where it started off. And I think that that’s part of the fascination, you know, that people will put their own spin on it. And it’s very valuable to them. You know, it’s there. They have ownership of the meaning, of the imagery that they draw down from the songs. And I think that’s every bit as important as the image that I start off with. So I would hate to disillusion them by saying, no, don’t be an idiot, you got that completely wrong. It’s not about that at all.
Q: Well, I think that’s well said. And I appreciate the answer. We’ve been spending time today with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. And it’s up to you, might you give us one more song that we can make images in our heads from?
A: Oh, wow.
Q: Are we ready for that?
A: Yeah, I’m sure I can. I wasn’t expecting it quite at this minute. But let me just dial in something. Well, let’s do one of these tracks from — there’s a piece, in fact, from a solo album based on what happens when you’re on holiday and you realize you’ve forgotten to send any postcards home. This is called “Postcard Day.”
(Song: Postcard Day)
Q: Very nicely done.
A: Thank you.
Q: Ian Anderson, “Postcard Day.” It can be found on his new album, The Secret Language of Birds. And that was Ian live in our studio playing flute live, singing live and with his —
A: Band in a box.
Q: — band in a box.
A: Very cheap. Just by them a beer in the bar every night. They’re happy as hell.
Q: Well, I wish I could buy you a beer tomorrow night, but I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding one if you desire one. We look forward to the concert tomorrow night at the Backyard with Jethro Tull.
A: Thanks very much. And thanks for having me. And we look forward to seeing all you folks there tomorrow if you have nothing else to do. And if you have something better to do, then give me a call, tell me what it is, because I might want to do that as well.
Q: And so the jalapenos, they don’t hold very much interest for you because the chilis are so hot, is what you’re saying?
A: No, the jalapeño is kind of okay as a little diversion.
Q: It’s nothing.
A: Hot is not necessarily great. Subtlety is everything in eating. So there are some things that the hots work well with and some things you just don’t want to put hot stuff with. So, you know, it’s a matter of choice.
Q: Well, I hope you find a good meal while you’re here in Austin on your day off.
A: I’m sure we will. Thank you.
