Ex-Jethro Tull guitarist keeps the Aqualung alive
When the subject comes up — and it inevitably does every interview — Martin Barre has this to say about Jethro Tull: “There is no Jethro Tull.”
Sure, singer Ian Anderson may still have a band by that name, but guitarist Barre believes neither has a claim to it. Both of them were essential to Tull’s classic prog-rock sound, and fans aren’t seeing the real band if they aren’t on stage together.
“I can call myself Jethro Tull, and you might buy a ticket and you’ll turn up and say, ‘Hey, where’s the flute? I want my money back!’ Equally, Ian can call himself Jethro Tull and the audience will turn up and go ‘Where’s Martin? We want our money back!’
“There will never be a band that is Jethro Tull. It might be the name, but it won’t be the essence.”
Which is Barre’s way of saying no, he isn’t part of the current Jethro Tull 50th anniversary tour. Despite being the band’s influential guitarist since 1969, part of classic albums such as “Aqualung” and “Thick as a Brick,” Barre was not invited back to the lineup when the band reunited last year.
Instead, Barre is touring in support of his latest guitar-driven solo disc “Road Less Traveled,” heading to This Ain’t Hollywood Friday.
“It didn’t end nicely,” he says of his Tull tenure. “It was messy and it was unpleasant and I had nothing to do with it. But out of all that mess and negativity came certainly two bands. I don’t know what Ian’s doing, and I’m too focused to want to know.
“If I’m checking on what he’s doing, what songs he’s doing, it’s going to affect me. Nothing’s
going to affect me, I’m going to do exactly what I want, exactly what I think is right. I have a totally open book as to what I can do and the band can do.”
There’s plenty of Tull in Barre’s set list, seeing as how he was essential to their sound. Originally a psychedelic blues band in the late ’60s, Barre’s addition in 1969 transitioned the band into more folk and prog-rock, which paid off with the spacey, musically diverse “Aqualung” in
1971. It set the template that made the band heavy touring favourites throughout the ’70s.
Barre doesn’t back down from the songs, even with Anderson playing them under the Jethro Tull moniker.
“I’ve got a great band who play Tull’s music better than any Tull lineup in the past,” he says. “We have a lot of fun and we have a great time playing.
“(Fans) definitely know what they’re going to get with me,
because it’s the Martin Barre Band. That means, I’m in the band and I’ve got a band with me. There’s no misrepresentation. I don’t want to talk about the other side, but I hear a lot of people who go to see other shows and they feel like they’re not getting what they paid for.”
Now 72, Barre says his hands are still up to the challenge of any Tull tune. In fact, he’s adding guitars to some of them, making them rock harder than they ever
have.
“It’s a blank canvas in my world, and if I can play “Fat Man” (from 1969’s “Stand Up”) and make it a rock song, and it works, then that’s how we’re going to do it,” he says. “I’m not bound by rules, but I have respect for the music and the songs. I don’t make fun of them, and I don’t think I do anything detrimental to them.”
He has one other ace to fall back on — outside of Jethro Tull cover bands, there simply aren’t any bands that sound like Jethro Tull any more.
It’s a genre Barre is rightly proud of. While people sneer at the term ‘classic rock,’ he sees a generation of musicians playing a style of music that simply isn’t on pop culture’s radar any more. Whereas Jethro Tull used to sell millions of albums, now Barre is “amazed and grateful” to simply see his new songs get some airplay.
“It’s a whole niche, and it’s a big niche,” he says. “It goes all the way from Led Zeppelin to Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eagles. There’s a lot of guys out there still hitting the road and playing good music, playing great concerts.
“That’s power. The people are empowering us by buying tickets. Long may it go on.”