Elvis, Bowie, Lennon, Hendrix and me ... by the prince of prog rockers
WITH his long hair, wild eyes and flamboyant minstrel costume complete with codpiece, Ian Anderson loved to keep his audiences mesmerised as he stood on one leg playing the flute amid a sea of dry ice and bathed in psychedelic lighting. In the heady 1970s, the Scot and his band Jethro Tull, with their own unique brand of progressive rock, were every bit as successful internationally as Led Zeppelin, Elton John and The Rolling Stones.
Now, more than four decades on and having notched up 60 million sales worldwide of their classic albums, they are still touring. But Anderson, 69, sports a more ‘sensible’ look these days, conservatively attired in black, with a neatly-trimmed goatee.
Next month, Jethro Tull will release a remastered version of their second album, Stand Up.
Tomorrow, the band will play in San Diego, California, as part of a world tour that comes to Europe next month and ends in New Zealand in April.
The venues are smaller now, but Anderson, who once refused to meet a drug-addled Elvis Presley because he disapproved of substance abuse, says he is ‘embracing the anonymity’ of an aging rocker.
He is now happy ‘playing second fiddle’ to his son-inlaw, British actor Andrew Lincoln, the lead character in The Walking Dead.
Anderson said: ‘The other night we were in a restaurant and a couple of female staff came rushing out afterwards. I assumed they were going to ask for my autograph or want a photo, but it was Andy they were after – and they were quite happy to let me take the picture of them with him.
‘I’m used to being ignored when I’m with him. They think I’m his driver or maybe his dad.’
Anderson, who has never learned to drive and does not own a car, has always enjoyed the anonymity of being away from the spotlight.
He said: ‘I love to blend into the background, whether in a train station, on a bus or in Sainsbury’s. At big gigs, I could go out and walk among the audience. It’s a wonderful feeling when you get away with it.’
Anderson’s career took off in the late 60s when he went from cleaning cinema toilets in Luton to lead singer, songwriter and flute-player with Jethro Tull, whose early engagements included supporting Jimi Hendrix.
Despite the infamous excesses of the rock scene, Anderson has never taken drugs – which influenced his decision not to meet Elvis in Las Vegas in 1969.
He recalled: ‘Elvis was addled with drugs, he was overweight and he was out of his box. We were wheeled in to see him perform at a casino, then to my horror we were commanded to meet him afterwards.
‘I thought, “I don’t know what I’d say to him. He’s used to people saying how wonderful he is, but he wasn’t; he was c**p, he forgot his words, he stopped during songs, he didn’t know where he was, probably drunk, drugged or both”.
‘I didn’t want to have to lie and say, “Loved the show”, because it was awful. So I politely declined on behalf of the whole band, though the others were miffed as they did want to meet Elvis.
‘When you see people stoned it’s never a pretty sight – they go down in my estimation because they behave badly.
‘If you compared Jethro Tull to Led Zeppelin, we appeared like a bunch of nuns. Most of the guys liked a drink and some – though not in my presence – would have a joint if it was being passed around at a party. But I’m not a sociable person and wouldn’t feel good about a soggy joint getting passed hand-tohand. Besides, I felt taking drugs was taking a risk. I probably have an addictive personality and might not be able to handle it.’
Next year will be Jethro Tull’s 50th anniversary. But Anderson, who will also be 70, is not planning to celebrate either landmark. ‘It’s just not my thing,’ he said. ‘I don’t like crowds. I’d rather celebrate with two or three people over a quiet dinner. I hate to sound like a party-pooper, but I feel so uncomfortable about attention, especially as they’ll be thinking, “Poor old bugger, he’s lost all his hair, none of his old trousers fit him any more”. I’d rather sit in the garden with one of the cats.’
His ‘garden’ is a 400-acre estate in
Gloucestershire, where he has lived for the past 22 years and which he shares with his second wife, Shona, formerly a PA to Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison. It’s a long way from his childhood in Dunfermline and Edinburgh. He said: ‘I wasn’t into dressing up at all and was totally terrified of anything that involved being in front of other people and expected to perform.’
He didn’t emerge from his shell until the family moved to Blackpool when he was 12. He said: ‘I started to play music and after a terror-stricken first appearance at the Holy Family youth club in front of a few Catholic schoolgirls, I found my expression and ability to project – something I didn’t think I had in me.
‘But I spoke with an Edinburgh accent and my classmates called me Jock and thought as little of the Scottish as my primary schoolmates had thought of the few English boys in our class who were constantly teased and bullied.’
Anderson deliberately erased his accent but admits today: ‘I probably epitomise the dour Scot, a Presbyterian, Gordon Brown-like figure who tut-tuts in the background, occasionally gets cheerful if I’ve had a glass of whisky and sports some of my lunch down my tie.’
While daughter Gael, a former PA to Gwyneth Paltrow, has been married to Lincoln since 2006, son James has worked for his father for 15 years, currently as his agent.
Anderson admits to having been slightly underwhelmed by Miss Paltrow: ‘She seemed a very nice girl, but a bit ethereal, detached and distracted. I can’t say I know Gwyneth the movie star.’
Named after an 18th Century English agricultural pioneer, Jethro Tull have sold tens of millions of albums, including Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung and Thick As A Brick.
They supported Jimi Hendrix in Sweden in 1969, the year before his death aged 27. The re-release of Stand Up comes with a DVD of the band on that tour date.
Recalling meeting Hendrix outside a press conference in Stockholm, Anderson said: ‘I asked, “Shouldn’t you be in there?”. ‘He said, “Oh man, I don’t wanna go in, it’s too scary”. We had some small talk, finished our cigarettes, then I said, “Come on, we’re gonna have to do it, let’s go”. So we went in. Sadly, I never spoke to him again.’
While producing a track for Steeleye Span, Anderson persuaded David Bowie to play saxophone.
He said: ‘To my astonishment, he turned up. But he was very professional and nailed it in one take. I met him a few years later and thanked him for doing it as a freebie. He looked at me in horror and said, “You mean I didn’t send you an invoice?”. Then he laughed and I realised he was pulling my leg.’
ANDERSON would later double his fortune salmon farming on Skye for two decades. He said: ‘I’m glad I got out when I did but I can hold my head up and say, “I did my bit for my country”. We had 400 employees in our fish farms and factories but it got to be a bit scary as there was no insurance if things went wrong. We would have lost our shirts. It was time to move on.’
Having been awarded an MBE for services to music in 2008, Anderson said: ‘I’m a big supporter of the Royal Family and feel we’re really going to miss the Duke of Edinburgh when he goes. He’s been one of those politically incorrect naughty people who even the most staunchly antiroyal can’t help but like.’
Anderson has given serious consideration to his ideal finale. He said: ‘That would be like Tommy Cooper or Eric Morecambe dying mid-act, finishing up doing the thing you love doing. Mine would be a nice gig, followed by a late-night curry I shouldn’t have, then the paramedics coming just a little too late.’
Jethro Tull’s Stand Up: The Elevated Edition is available on November 18 on Parlophone.