Backstage with Ian Anderson

What is the nature of your creative impulse? Is it visceral or intellectual?

I think with anybody who is a polished, accomplished composer, they are going to try to balance those two instinctively. You’re trying to draw from experiences that are more visceral, whether they are your own experiences or you’ve observed those in other people. The emotion is at the heart of it. There are occasions where the intellectual bit comes first, when you start with a premise, like on TAAB 2.

There have been other such records, where the concept has come first but then when you start to write, it is an instinct of being driven by something emotional. Anger, jealousy, hatred, rage are strong emotions that are dangerous I human relationships, but without them we wouldn’t have Shakespeare, the Vietnam War, the Afghanistan War or Cassius Clay. We wouldn’t have have all those things, good and band, which are part of our planetary experience. I don’t see anything changing. It is the stuff we deal with. It’s a driving force; a burning reality. To give that some kind of a position and context, is the point of the intellect.

To try to balance the two is what produces a more interesting and multi-layered final product. For example, I’m just re-reading for the umpteenth time a John LeCarre novel called The Naïve and Sentimental Lover. Lots of it is off-the-cuff, emotional and quite visceral dialogue between people in a rather strange taut relationship, but it’s all presented with the masterly skill of a craftsman who really understands how to construct a sentence, a paragraph, a page, and entire novel and take you with him on that journey. You can argue the same thing about Beethoven’s Symphonies. They are a masterful blend of emotion and cool, calculating finesse. If you are going to go on an emotional journey with someone, it’s nice to know that they can actually fly the plane. They’re not just guys saying ”˜Hey, I can fly one of these!’ You want to be with somebody who has studied, trained meticulously and has an understanding of how to make this journey work. I would rather be on that emotional journey with Beethoven having four stripes on his sleeves.

How much does the critical or popular response to an album affect you?

Not a lot, but a bit. Of course it’s going to make you feel a bit uncomfortable if it’s something negative and unfriendly, and if it’s something filled with praise and adulation, you get the gist of it and then don’t read the rest. If you start believing what people say, then it’s very dangerous. I’ve had some professional involvement with people who have turned out to be huge fans and that’s been quite hard. They feel it’s important to tell you how much they love you. All they need to say is ”˜like your stuff”¦’ and that’s all I need. Beyond that, I find it very difficult to take to.

”˜Not a lot’ is a self-preservation thing- you don’t want to hear too much praise or too much damnation. Either way, a little whiff of it is perfectly OK, to give you a balanced view. I used to say to the record company, don’t send me the good reviews, just send me the bad ones. Because maybe once in a while, in a bad review, is some object lesson that I should take to heart. These days, though, not many people will waste effort and time on bad reviews. They will just ignore it rather than write a bad review, which is probably better.

In the old days, journalists would feel that, for credibility’s sake, once every couple of weeks do a really bad review just to show that they weren’t being owned by the record companies. I guess not many people can do that in an entertaining and interesting way. I can. I really think I could be a great reviewer because I would give bad reviews, but I would do it with a bit of tongue-in-cheek and I always try to find some nice things to say about anything. Just because I would like to be seen as critical but ultimately a kind elderly gentleman and I would try to make it upbeat and amusing.

There is a noticeable Indian influence on parts of TAAB 2”¦

Yes, well, we’ve been to India a few times. One of the pieces on TAAB 2, “A Change of Horses,” was written for Anoushka Shankar when we were on tour together a few years ago. I thought it would be very interesting to rewrite it and make it the pivotal piece of this new album. When the promoter suggested that Anoushka did something with Jethro Tull, I spoke to Anoushka, and did some research into the mechanics of the music. But I wasn’t setting out to write authentic regional Indian music. I was just trying to get a flavour if it and use elements that I thought would be immediately understood and reacted to by Anoushka and her other musicians. I played with Hari Prasad Chaurasia as well, and we played some music that he was more familiar with ”“ a raga that we had to learn very quickly. By which I mean overnight. So a lot of those elements were things that we picked up on that trip.

I never wanted to be a blues musician (I’m the wrong colour; I don’t have the right background) but it doesn’t mean that I can’t use the elements of that magnificent music form as one of the core musical genres that I can draw upon and use. Again, it’s coming back to the chef in the kitchen- it’s all these little spices and flavours and things you can put in. Indian music has been with me, to some degree, since 1969. It’s something that I like to think I can draw upon discreetly here and there.

Some of the melodies that are reused in different contexts through TAAB 2 are not unlike a raga; a particular scale on which you pin a melody. I like these ways of making music where you’re not bound by one single genre. To be eclectic and have open ears and open eyes is infinitely more satisfying than being a purist. And that is why I am what I am. Much as, on occasion, I would like to be a member of Status Quo, it would just be for one night. I’m keen on this idea of drawing on these resources. As you go through life, you have the opportunity to expand those resources, or let life just close in on you as you get older and become repetitive because of this darkening tunnel of a few options. I’m most anxious not to let that happen to me. It will, sooner or later, but hopefully later rather than sooner.