Ian Anderson tells the tale of Jethro Tull

Ever an inventor and interpreter, Ian Anderson has re-envisioned the life and times of the 18th century English agriculturalist Jethro Tull, the man from whom Anderson’s musical project over the last forty-eight years takes its name. Anderson has created a show which will tell the story of the original Mr. Tull’s life in a quasi-operatic structure illustrated through carefully curated songs culled from the band Jethro Tull’s catalog. Interestingly enough, Anderson decided to place the story in the not-too-distant future and investigate our modern day issues in agricultural development including climate change, population growth, cloning, and other hot topics, rather turning it into a “quaint period drama with costumes and wigs to match.” The self proclaimed “eternal optimist” explains that though the program will deal with heavy subjects of the human condition, it will ultimately be “presented in an up-beat and whimsical way for your entertainment, curiosity, and devilment.” The incredibly eloquent Anderson recently took a few minutes out to talk about the upcoming tour, songwriting, stage volume, and the magic of the stage.

When writing songs, do you start with a melody or riff first, or with a lyric? Is there a general guideline?

Well I try to avoid doing things the same way all the time, as a rule. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes it’s lyrics, sometimes it’s something that’s rhythmic, or maybe it’s a sound in my head, some particular tonality. But you know, I never really liked the idea of having a Modus Operandi, something that would be, “the way I do it.” I try not to be repetitive in the way in which I build musical ideas and get to a complete song. But having said that, there are times, particularly with things that are conceptual when you’re working on a project where there is an overall concept of it, an album or a very long song, then maybe for me it would make more sense to have some lyrical ideas either right at the beginning or very very quickly. Because the biggest mistake I think I’ve made over the years is writing lots of music and then not having any lyrics. That’s a mountain to climb to try then to find the words that fit the tune. If it’s going to be a song as opposed to be an instrumental piece of music, then I like to feel that I’ve got the lyrics pretty much at the beginning, sometimes even to the extent of writing the lyrics first. Because lyrics, to me, have a cadence. If you just speak them they’re already becoming a song. Just the rise and fall of the way you would read it on the page is beginning to suggest elements of a melody. The way in which you write the words, the way in which they connect will start to imply rhythm. So, in a way, sometimes writing the lyrics first, the music comes very easily afterwards. But to me it’s harder the other way around.

Oh, really?

Well, there’s lots of times when I have written the music first, or at least the essence of the music. Maybe it’s hinging around a riff, or a repeating motif, a pattern, or an introductory phrase, and I know that can get me into trouble as a songwriter, to go too far with the music and not have a lyrical idea. So I prefer the security of at least having some song lyrics more or less in the beginning rather than leaving it til the end.

And then, often times those lyrics begin to suggest a melody to you, it sounds like you’re saying?

Yes, that’s just the nature of the way you write lyrics, isn’t it? I think you’re beginning to imply a melody. The rise and fall of the human voice and the spoken word begin to suggest something where a melody may go up here and down there, and the way in which you connect it all together will imply some rhythm which you can build upon. So for me, lyrics are a good starting point. But, if I write two lines of music, I want to feel I’ve got at least one line of lyrics to go with it (laughs).

Is writing a constant process for you? Do you wait for ideas to come to you, or do you make an effort to sit down and say “I’m going to work on something?”

I always try to set aside time to write things. I think that once in awhile you get an idea without really consciously thinking about it. Something will come to mind and suggest itself as a melody or a title for a song. But most often, I try in a more disciplined way, I sit down and say, “Today’s the day I start working on something,” and I get on with it. Hopefully by lunchtime, I’ve got something to show for my efforts.

How did you go about selecting the songs for the Jethro Tull story?

Well, I made a list of songs that in some way, seemed to me, to relate to the story of the original Jethro Tull, the agricultural inventor in the 18th century. And I found that I had quite a list of songs that just seemed to fit the details of his life story such as we know it. We don’t really know that much about Jethro Tull. But such as there is known, I thought, “Wow, I’ve got a song that kind of fits that” and thought I could tell the story of Jethro Tull the agricultural inventor with the songs that I have written as Jethro Tull in the rock music context. It seemed like a fun way of doing essentially a best of Jethro Tull tour, but putting those songs into a narrative context where I’m telling a story. I took a little artistic license by resetting it in the present day and near future which is what the show is about. And all of that you can find by going to jethrotull.com/synopsis. You’ll see the list of songs and the outline of the story that they’re telling.

Your current touring band is very dynamic and you play at a very respectable volume on stage. Is that something that has developed over the years?

We’ve never really been a very loud band compared to most rock bands. I think perhaps maybe in the very first couple of years of Jethro Tull we were. I think when young musicians are able to acquire loud amplification, they think that’s the way forward, but we learned pretty early on. I think by the time we made the Aqualung album, for example, there was quite an acoustic component to that album, and therefore the need to keep volumes relatively modest onstage seemed to be an awareness that we all had. And so, making too much noise onstage never really seemed very helpful. It makes life so much harder for the sound engineer there in the front, because you know, you spend a lot of money on a big PA system to do that for you in a balanced context. And if you produce too much noise onstage, you get all sorts of issues that occur. You know, phasing, delay, all kinds of problems, it becomes quite difficult. I think the quieter you are onstage, I mean volume terms, I don’t mean in dynamic terms, the physicality, you can play in a dynamic and very strong and purposeful way without necessarily making a lot of noise. Unless maybe you’re a drummer, and even then you have some option in regard to the kind of drums you use and the size of your sticks. But certainly, if you’ve got an amplifier then, as we’ve all known for many many years, you can make a very loud sound out of a very small amplifier.

It’s not brute force, it’s the quality of sound. The symphony orchestra can sound huge, and big, and dynamic but the actual volume in decibel terms is relatively low. And so, these are things we learned pretty early on, there’s no point in making a huge row. And there are other bands that I’ve been amazed at how loud they are onstage when I’ve sometimes got up to play with other people. I’m just staggered at the volume at which they play onstage, it just becomes, to me, excruciating, because I’m an acoustic musician. If I’m playing the flute or the acoustic guitar, I’m not very grateful for people playing at enormous levels behind me because I have no way to turn up, even if I wanted to, which I don’t. I have a musical comfort zone in regard to volume, and it’s probably set quite a bit lower than the majority of rock musicians.

To paraphrase early interviews, you stated that you didn’t want to be a third rate electric guitar player so you picked up the flute. But listening to albums like Benefit and Aqualung, your acoustic guitar playing is very well developed. Had you been playing in that style before the band began or was that something that happened later?

I tried to learn a little bit about playing the acoustic guitar after Jethro Tull began because I only used it as a way of writing songs to begin with. Probably around the time of the Aqualung album I was beginning to try to evolve some kind of style as an acoustic guitar player that would not only work in terms of the songs that I was singing, but also gave me some increased skill, which helped me with the next lot of songs. So around 1970-71, I became more evolved in the acoustic guitar and tried to evolve some technique that I didn’t have before. The same thing applies today, I enjoy playing the acoustic guitar, but as you rightly point out, to be a third rate electric guitarist would have not been a great future for me. Much better to be a second rate flute player, at least I was in with a chance.

What is it about the physical stage that transforms you into a performer where you’re pushing your limits?

Maybe it’s just something that’s in your blood, the theatrical context of being in a magic place where you step out onto a concert stage, or theatre stage and there’s something. It’s a gladiatorial thing as well. It’s like walking out there into the arena and facing another armed Centurion who wants to kill you. You feel that sense of having to go out there and put yourself on the line, that’s what it’s about. Whether you’re a Shakespearean actor, or whether you’re a tennis player, a Formula One racing driver, or whatever it might be, you’re putting yourself out there, you’ve got to do the job. The atmosphere of the theatrical stage is something that reaches out to you and draws something from you, perhaps that you wouldn’t find in yourself if you spent all your time sitting at home making coffee or writing songs. There’s something about going out there and walking onto that public stage. It draws from you the best you can do.

Jethro Tull: Written and performed by Ian Anderson. $26-$96. 8 p.m. Sat., April 16. 660 Peachtree Street N.E. 404-881-2100. www.foxtheatre.org.