Martin Barre: Says Jethro Tull on ice, Ian Anderson talks Thick As a Brick 2!!

Jeb: Before we get to Thick as a Brick 2, I talked to Martin Barre recently and he told me that Jethro Tull was currently on ice.

Ian: That depends on what your definition of ‘on ice’ is. Last June, Martin, Doane [Perry] and I had talks about what was going to happen in the following year. I explained that, as I have been doing over the last ten years, I have been doing more shows under my own name, as opposed to playing shows under the name Jethro Tull.

Martin also has many projects that he has been wanting to do. I told him last summer, as I have done on many occasions in the past, “Don’t let this time slip by. You should really be grasping this opportunity.”

Life is too short. If you miss that chance then you will say, “One day I will get around to doing another album. I will get around to working with some other musicians.” Suddenly, you realize that time has gone on and you can’t play any more because you’re too old and cranky. The opportunity is then gone. I think it is really important that at certain times in their lives people start to explore other alternatives.

I’ve been doing that for a while and Martin has, to some extent, but I think this year, from what I’m hearing, he has a bunch of projects underway. I think this will be really good for him as an individual. It will be good for the psyche and the soul to strike out on his own.

The term ‘on ice’ is probably a fair enough description. We put a fine wine on ice that we will enjoy drinking at a later time. We put strawberries or lobster on ice because we look forward to enjoying them at some point in time, in the not so distant future. If by ‘on ice’ you mean a corpse in a mortuary, then that is not a good description.

Jeb: But there are no Jethro Tull shows scheduled.

Ian: I don’t have any Jethro Tull shows lined up – they are not a feature of the moment. All of the shows I have lined up in 2012 are Ian Anderson shows but I said to Martin that if we receive an offer, and it is really interesting, then I would give him a call. We are not going to go out and just cram in some Jethro Tull dates just so we can play the repertoire. For a lot of people, though, it does tend to be the music that they want to hear. full extensive interview


Ian Anderson and Lucia Micarelli; Thick As A Brick

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