After a spell with The Uglys, Dave joined the Ian Campbell Folk Group on double bass and met fiddle maestro Dave Swarbrick by whom he was introduced to Fairport Convention. He joined them and has been in the band ever since. In 1980, he joined Jethro Tull as bass player and spent 15 years with the band. As if playing in two bands was not enough, he set up Woodworm Records to produce and market Fairport's albums. He also recorded a solo album. Dave has also co-organized Fairport's Cropredy festival since the early 1980s. From small beginnings, it has grown into a major event that attracts 20,000 fans each August.
As well as recording and touring with Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull, Dave is much in demand as a session player and has contributed bass to innumerable recordings. He is also an accomplished mandolin player.
Purchase Off the Peg | bespoke memoirs of a bass player
The Autobiography by Dave Pegg & Nigel Schofield
at amazon.com
Dave Pegg (or Peggy as he is known to friends and fans worldwide) is almost as admired as a teller of tales as he is as a bass player: and as a bass player, he is held in awe by friends, fans and fellow musicians. For years people have been saying he should turn his tales into a permanent record. “Write a book, Peggy”, they yelled. Now (with a little help from his friend and Fairport biographer Nigel Schofield) he finally has. In his own words it’s all here: the thriving Brum music scene of the sixties; trad folk with The Campbells; Fairport, Tull, the Dylan Project; countless sessions; gigs from front rooms to the world’s most celebrated stages; running his own recording studio and record label; homes from Sutton to Little Hadham to rural Oxfordshire to even more rural Brittany; an annual gathering that began as a village fete, became a reunion and is now one of the world’s most respected festivals. There’s also friends and fellow musicians, including some of the biggest names in the music business (Off the Pegg features a detailed and complete index so you can find them easily!)
Limited vinyl LP pressing. Fairport Convention, the UK's most influential folk-rock band, celebrates it's 50th anniversary with 50:50@50. Half the fourteen tracks were recorded at recent concerts and half in the studio. With nine compositions by members of Fairport, the album presents a mix of brand new songs and favorites from Fairport's repertoire. Two tracks feature guest lead vocals: one from Robert Plant and one from Pentangle's Jacqui McShee.
JHS Vintage Reissued Series V58JD Jerry Donahue signature electric guitar, ser. no. M201706254, bearing the autographs of some of the greatest musical artists of our generation, including: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Paul McCartney, Mark Knopfler, Tony Iommi, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Albert Lee, Jeff Lynne, Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Blondie Chaplin, Steve Winwood, Dave Pegg, Richard Thompson, Joe Brown, Andy Fairweather-Lowe, Martin Barre, Al Stewart, Richard Digance and Ralph McTell Jerry Donahue - born 24th September 1946 in Manhattan, New York, is an American guitarist renown for his work with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay and The Hellecasters, later touring with artists such as Joan Armatrading, Robert Plant, Elton John, Cliff Richard, Chris Rea, Hank Marvin, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys and The Yardbirds to name a few. His prolific career has resulted in him becoming one of the worlds most respected guitarist and always wielding a Telecaster inspired guitar has held endorsements from Fender, Peavey, Fret King and JHS Vintage. On 29th July 2016, Jerry suffered a severe stroke, tragically rendering a diagnosis that he may never be able to play the guitar again. The sale of this guitar is to assist funding for Jerry's rehabilitation with an aim to bring him as far back to his normal self as possible. Kindly donated by JHS Vintage Guitars, the V58JD guitar has been autographed by some of the greatest and iconic musicians known to our generation, all of whom were delighted to rally round to help the cause. A special thank you goes out to Matt Worley and Tony Kelsey, who have spent hours and put in the miles obtaining the autographs and of course JHS Vintage for donating the guitar and all of the artists involved. A selection of images of some of the artists signing the guitar are available. The guitar is housed within a hard case, which has also been signed by further artists, fellow band members of the past, colleagues, friends and those who have been instrumental in making this happen.
For those who wish to donate to Jerry's Sweet Relief fund, they can do so via the following link: https://sweetrelief.org/jerry-donahue-fund/ D A V E P E G G EXCLUSIVE on INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS with RAY SHASHO BBS RADIO CLICK BELOW TO LISTEN
Every August, Cropredy inhabitants welcome an invasion of up to 20,000 music-lovers for Fairport's Cropredy Convention. The festival site and the adjacent village melt into one big jamboree. It’s excellent stuff!
2020 witnesses the festival's FORTY FIRST Anniversary!
Please subscribe to my You Tube channel interviewing the legends with Ray Shasho for the very latest interviews …
It’s REAL NEWS!
And don’t forget to purchase a copy of my book entitled Check the Gs -the true story of an eclectic American family and their Wacky family business ... available now at amazon.com.
THE RAY SHASHO SHOW WELCOMES MARTIN BARRE OF JETHRO TULL
Our special guest today is songwriter and guitar hero Martin Barre. Martin has been the legendary guitarist of Jethro Tull for 43 years, his sound and playing having been a major factor in their success. Album sales have exceeded 60 million units and they continue to be played worldwide representing an important part of classic rock history.
Martin’s guitar playing has earned him a high level of respect and recognition; he was voted 25th best solo ever in the USA and 20th best solo ever in the UK for his playing on 'Aqualung'. His playing on the album ‘Crest of a Knave’ earned him a Grammy award in 1988.
Most Recently: Martin Barre has announced the release of his sixth and most important solo album to date. Back to Steel celebrates the guitarist’s 50-year career with a return to his roots of steel strings and electric guitars released through Garage Records and will be available through www.martinbarre.com, iTunes and Amazon.com initially. Martin Barre and his band have started their 2015 tour throughout the UK and Europe. Following Cruise to the Edge in November 2015 in Florida, Martin and his band will also be touring the U.S.
It is my great pleasure to welcome the legendary guitarist of
Jethro Tull …Martin Barre.
YOU TUBE POSTING OF MARTIN BARRE
AND ANNE LEIGHTON
ON THE RAY SHASHO SHOW BBS RADIO 1
Our second segment of the show today welcomes another special guest … Anne Leighton who is president of Anne Leighton Media * Music Services * Motivations a multi-faceted company that helps artists who need development, marketing and/or promotional services in their careers. Some of her clients include … Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull/Martin Barre, Blackmore’s Night, Grand Funk Railroad, Gentle Giant, Orleans, KKB (with Bruce Kulick), Shun Ng & Magic Dick, The Strawbs, The Family Stone, and Jann Klose to name just a few.
Anne’s worked in radio at WZIR-Buffalo, WRNW-Briarcliff Manor, WFUV-Bronx, WBUZ-Fredonia, and was an editor at HIT PARADER magazine, plus freelanced for a number of magazines including FELINE WELLNESS, CATFANCY, MUSCLEMAG INTERNATIONAL, INSIDE KARATE/KUNG FU, GOLDMINE, and CREEM. Anne’s play’s include REACH FOR THE SUN, which was performed by Poets Repertory Theater of Long Island, ONE WAY TO HEAVEN performed by the San Antonio Living Church, and THE PASSION OF MARY which was read at the Kingsbridge Library Center in her hometown of the Bronx.
Her latest project is Anne Leighton's Poetry Book ...
THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION officially released on October 8th and available to purchase now at amazon.com.
I’ve worked with Anne for several years now and she’s one of the best in the business.
It’s my pleasure to welcome Anne Leighton to The Ray Shasho Show!
-An In-Depth and special Interview with the legendary Ian
Anderson of Jethro Tull:
I interviewed Jethro Tull
legend Ian Anderson on Tuesday, March 18th and our conversation
transposed into something exceptional and quite monumental. Our in-depth
discussion covered an array of atypical and riveting topics concerning…
World issues, Politics, Human sustainability, The Bible, Religion,
Jesus Christ, David Cameron, Barack Obama, Tony Snow, Our Vets, Ian’s
family heritage, Commercial airline piloting , UFO’s … and then of
course about the music… including the inception and concept behind his
Gerald Bostock character & Anderson’s latest studio release ‘Homo Erraticus.’
Ian Anderson’s latest musical endeavor‘HOMO ERRATICUS’
is an extraordinary and all-embracing musical arrangement that
poetically and wittily interprets man’s pilgrimage with brilliant
lyrical optimism. -I gave it (5) Stars! Pre-order your copy of Ian Anderson’s latest studio release [Here]or amazon.com …
Released on Anderson’s own label imprint Calliandra Records in
conjunction with Kscope. ‘Homo Erraticus’ will be officially released on
April 14th but available now for pre-order.
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson will be performing the new album ‘Homo Erraticus’ & The Best of Tull Live In Concert at a city near you throughout 2014. The Ian Anderson touring band is …Ian Anderson (flute, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, harmonica and lead vocals), David Goodier (bass guitar and double bass), John O’Hara(orchestral conductor, piano, keyboards and accordion),Florian Opahle (guitar),Scott Hammond (Drums and Percussion), and Ryan O' Donnell (Vocals and stage antics).
This is my second interview with Ian Anderson; our first encounter was published on April 3rd 2012.
Mr. Anderson is not only a legendary singer, songwriter, musician, rock
icon, and entrepreneur; he’s also an extraordinary and brilliant man. I
can envision Anderson achieving and inspiring the world in so many
other critical roles in his lifetime besides becoming a musical and
creative genius … perhaps in such roles as …Novelist, College Professor,
Pilot, Political Analyst, Economist or Theologian. The hands of time
may only permit Mr. Anderson from accomplishing a few of these added
goals that I have suggested, so I’ll devotedly conclude that I am
eternally grateful for the JethroTull legacy and the evolving musical
ingenuity of Ian Anderson.
Here’s my in-depth and very important interview with the Scottish gent we attest as Jethro Tull … IAN ANDERSON. Ray Shasho: Good evening Ian, thank you so much for being on the call today. Your
latest studio release ‘Homo Erraticus’ will be officially released on
April 14th but is available now for pre-order. Ian Anderson: [PURCHASING ‘HOMO ERRATICUS’] “Absolutely, you can order it in four different
formats. There is the double vinyl records, there’s what we call the
media book which has a CD and an accompanying DVD in a sort of hardback
package, then there’s the simple CD in a plastic case which is the last
one to be released in fact, and then there is also the special limited
edition box set which has two CD’s, two DVD’s and a 64-page booklet that
will grace your coffee table for years to come. So yes, four different
formats and a lot of work in compiling all of that and getting all the
video material and the 5.1 surround mixes and all the extra goodies in
there including all the original demos that I made in a hotel room in
Barbados last March. So there are all sorts of stuff there to intrigue
the fan who wants to unpeel and examine the many layers of the onion.” Ray Shasho: Ian, do you also have your own record label? Ian Anderson: [CALLIANDRA RECORDS]
“We have a label imprint which is a profit sharing enterprise with a
rather specialist record company in the UK which employs about fifteen
people. It’s kind of reminiscent to Chrysalis Records in the early days,
and kind of a homely place where you can always talk to the top three
or four guys who are always at the end of the phone …which is good. I
was grateful to have the same offer from two other record companies, one
was Warner Brothers which of course is one of the majors. But I just
felt maybe it would get a little lost in something as enormous as Warner
Brothers, especially a time when they’re trying to integrate the huge
amounts of catalogue and manage an expanding business. So it’s probably
not a good time to get their undivided attention.” Ray Shasho: I have heard from a lot of artists that say Warner Brothers is one of the best record companies to work with. Ian Anderson:“A lot of the reasons why I gave it
serious attention are that Warner Brothers were our U.S. record company
back in 1968-1969. When Chrysalis Records was boarded and too was just a
label imprint and on a full service deal with Warner Brothers, so we
kind of started off with Warner Brothers, actually the Reprise label
which was a division of Warner’s, and that was our original American
home until Chrysalis became independent two or three years later.” Ray Shasho: Why did you initially create the Gerald Bostock character and why did you bring him back? Ian Anderson: [GERALD BOSTOCK] “He’s like kind of an old friend, a Harry Potter who
has grown into a grumpy middle-aged man who wants to pontificate on
things. So he’s a useful writer’s tool and can be an alter-alter ego.
He’s just another stage removed. He can say things that I wouldn’t say
and voice opinions that I don’t have. So he can create lyrical material
which I can occupy as a performer by singing in character. He doesn’t
necessarily speak with my voice. He being a fictional character can have
his own fictional opinions and views on life, some of which I’d
probably share with him but some I don’t.” Ray Shasho: Ian, you bear an unyielding intelligence and
you’re a master storytelling …traits essential in becoming a great
novelist. Ian Anderson: [TOO OLD FOR BRITISH AIRWAYS BUT NOT TOO OLD TO ROCK & ROLL] “I have the intelligence to probably learn to fly a
747 Jumbo Jet but I’m now a year too old to be employed by British
Airways. I would have had to retire last year, so I’m better off doing
what I’m doing. But I do sometimes fantasize about testing my mental and
physical skills by flying 250 people around the world and remembering
to keep my transponder on.” Ray Shasho:Have you actually flown a jet before? Ian Anderson: [AIRLINE PILOT ANDERSON]
“I’ve only flown a Boeing 737, at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. We
went out and did a climb out and did a big circling thing around Surrey,
south of London, and I came back in and landed surprisingly not too
badly. But we did a second landing which I have to say was just
brilliant; I could almost hear the applause at the back of the airplane,
and my very pregnant lady first officer sitting next to me, I was just
concerned not to kill the baby. So when we did land the second time it
was with a huge sense of relief. Then I disembarked the 737 British
Airways simulator and caught a taxi home (All laughing). The simulators
are just like the front of a real airplane, they are the real deal.
They’re not sort of video games; they are bewildering in their
complexity. I kind of understand kids who play video games because
they’re quite realistic. In a computer graphic world they do begin to
detach themselves perhaps from reality. It’s kind of a little worrying
because sometimes the borderline between fantasy and reality is getting
blurred in people’s lives too easily.” Ray Shasho: I’ve heard that those video game wizards may be the medical surgeons and military experts of tomorrow. Ian Anderson: [SUPPORTING OUR VETS & POLITICS]
“What does seem to be the case are the kids that play the shoot ‘em
up video games have actually become officers serving in the military,
basically because they’re chicken- shits. They’d rather stay home in
their bedrooms and fanaticize about blowing the heads off people instead
of actually going out there and doing a real man’s job. I think if
people try and do that for a living, they’d better go in and do it with a
sense of duty and patriotism. I think young people in America or
Britain when they join the military they think it through pretty
carefully. Certainly the ones that I meet who’ve come out usually the
hard way with tremendous injuries and victims of IED … the folks that I
meet sometimes in America when I do meet & greets with the Vets and
from recent excursions to Iraq and Afghanistan, the tales they have to
tell me are certainly not video game shoot ‘em up tales. They have lived
only to tell the tale of their own war injuries … frequently blindness
and deafness through roadside bomb activity.”
“The thing that I do hear from them a lot is their belief in having
gone there to try and do something to improve things for other people.
They haven’t gone there to fight a war for America, they’ve gone there
to try and create a better opportunity for people in Afghanistan or
Iraq. Overwhelmingly I hear that the Iraqi’s were not worth fighting
for. But the Afghans … a lot of Brits and Americans feel that it’s worth
a try. It was worth just seeing that things could be made better and a
real democracy could flourish in the face of the inevitable Taliban
overturn when the Americans are out of there. It doesn’t look good but I
think it was worth a try too. But Iraq I think we could have all done
without. I personally would have paid Saddam Hussein to stay in power,
keep the lid on things, and then shoot him … actually shoot his sons
would have been the better bet because they were a couple of evil
buggers, but they got it even before he did. I think Iraq was just a
mess, a place where nothing good could possibly be done, to overcome the
huge divisions within the country. The sectarian divisions will
probably prevent it forever in becoming a united country. It’s a mess.
But Afghanistan was really worth a try. I was with George Bush on that
one, but not on Iraq.” Ray Shasho: I think Pakistan is another country that we should not support. Ian Anderson: [DAVID CAMERON, BARACK OBAMA, AND TONY SNOW] “We actually do collectively give them quite a lot
of monetary aide, probably to keep them on their side (All laughing). I
don’t think we’ll be going in there, I think Syria was the closer call
in recent times, but luckily the decision was taken to not go in there,
and it all happened on one particular day in the UK Parliament where a
left-wing leader decided to stand- up to David Cameron, the Prime
Minister, to not support the venture to take military action in Syria.
That precipitated a cave-in, which Obama, much as he hated the idea,
suddenly realized he didn’t have the Brits anymore and faced the same
kind of repercussions in congress where he wasn’t going to get a vote of
confidence to go into military action. I think the people and their
representatives, the House of Representatives and the House of Commons
in Britain, I think the people spoke and our leaders backed down from a
confrontation that would have been a grave error in judgment. So luckily
we managed to escape that particular issue. Obama and Cameron both fell
into that trap of thinking … we could have our own little war here and
be remembered for something great. It would have been a fatal mistake.”
“I came to the conclusion that Mr. Obama is not the man that we all
hoped he was. I think we all rather liked his straightforward, nice guy,
not too liberal but pragmatic democratic kind of stance. However he’s
been a grave disappointment, not only to you guys but to the world.
Because he wasn’t just your President … we thought he was going to be
our President. Throughout the world people wanted Obama to be the man
that would be for all of us. But we’re all feeling a bit let down. And
my good friends at Fox TV are probably even more let down (All laughing)
because they never much liked him anyway.”
"My old pal Tony Snow, who was a Fox guy, an ardent Republican and was
Press Secretary for Bush Jr. prior to his colon cancer returning, his
last job was to be taken up by CNN in the run-up to the last election. I
was so sorry that Tony didn’t get to hang-on for at least a few months
to cover that. He was a guy I would love to have seen giving another
view on the emergence of that President. I do remember saying before
Tony died that I hoped he’d make it long enough, because I’d love to see
him be the Press Secretary in the Obama Administration. He was someone
that the media loved; they thought of Tony as a straight guy. He would
do his job in a partisan way if necessary… but he was a journalist, he
was a writer, a broadcaster, and just one of the guys …they held a huge
respect for him.” Ray Shasho: Let’s talk about your new release ‘Homo Erraticus’… I gave it (5) Stars! Ian Anderson: “Out of twenty? (All laughing)” Ray Shasho: Ian, I believe ‘Homo Erraticus’ is an
extraordinary and all-embracing musical arrangement that poetically and
wittily interprets man’s pilgrimage with brilliant lyrical optimism. Ian Anderson: [HOMO ERRATICUS CONCEPT AND HUMAN SUSTAINABILTY]
“If it’s about anything it comes from the very opening lines on the
very first song and I had that and then on the third day of writing the
album I pieced out the whole rest of it as kind of a bullet point
scenario and continued to write for the next three weeks. It’s the story
of all of us. It’s about migration, the movement of people from the
last ice age on to even the future. It’s about the story of all of us…
we’re all from somewhere else. None us are really ancestrally born and
bred, we all came ultimately and possibly from one single tribe sixty
thousand years ago in Africa. I’m not going to go that far back because
I’m really only concerned with the point where my own country first was
permanently occupied by our ancestors who at the time were predominately
Homo sapiens in the aftermath of the last Ice Age. It’s just a way of
talking about the fact that we’re all from somewhere else and we ought
to accept that migration is the story of our planet. It goes on today
and we fearfully and sometimes in protective terms refer to it as
immigration because we naturally and understandably have some suspicion
and sometimes hostility towards those who want to come and join our
party, who perhaps are not always invited or welcomed, and that’s the
way some people think about it.”
“But I just want to remind everybody that we’re all from somewhere
else. It’s a difficult moral, a human ethical problem to try to find the
solutions for accepting people who may enrich your culture and society,
and on occasion may cause difficulties which has to be worked through
and overcome. We have to find our way to accept the idea of human
migration. However, we are living in a different world now to fifty
years ago. Certainly, Five thousand years ago when increasing the
population was necessary for the good of human kind on the planet, right
now the migration that we’re talking about in future years of climate
change is going to be a very-very enormous moral dilemma for our great
grandchildren. That generation is going to have to make some terribly
difficult decisions about who can be accepted where. We don’t have the
resources and there are parts of the planet that prove to be not really
habitable, in the way they are in some cases barely now, and it will get
a whole lot worse in the future inevitably. We’ve got to start thinking
about, talking about, and discussing in a sensible, rational, and
friendly way about these issues before they start impacting us in ways
that can be very divisive and damaging to people everywhere. We have to
start thinking about our resources that isn’t just about recycling or
Green Energy, it has to do with sustainability long-term beyond the life
of any politician or any government of today. We have to start thinking
long-term and people are not very good at doing that. They’re not very
good at thinking beyond their own fragile lifetime, maybe that of their
children but that’s as far as it goes.”
“We have a very beautiful planet here, one that we should be looking
to think of in terms of sustainability, and that means sustainable
populations. We’ll probably have to think about over a period of a few
hundred years, reducing the global population and not increasing it,
because we’re certainly going to find it very difficult to feed the nine
billion people on planet earth in forty or fifty years time. So
everywhere where sensible and responsible thinking women have an average
of 1.5 children, which is the average for most of Western Europe except
for Britain and France where it’s close to 2, everywhere else is about
1.5. Women are educated; they have equality with men and the family
unit. They choose to have modest family sizes, not because the
government tells them they should, but because they make an educated
responsible family choice. And I would venture to say that those who
back it up with excuses of religion and culture and want to have 5, 6 or
7 children, they have to question if it’s socially responsible in the
long term. The argument they present as well is God wants us to multiply
… well then I think you picked the wrong God. Educated women that
receive a basic or secondary education, they make those choices, the
evidence is here already. We don’t actually have to change the culture
of most of Europe, it already works that way. People have made those
choices in the last twenty or thirty years increasingly to have modest
family sizes. So I just want people to be talking about this stuff with a
smile on your face and a friendly hug, and not to have it erupt in
fisticuffs at a local bar. So my words and lyrics of this album was not
designed to be lecturing, hostile, provocative or create violent
arguments, they’re to get people thinking and talking and doing it in a
friendly and smiley kind of a way, because that’s the way to get into
people’s hearts and minds.” Ray Shasho: So many people turn to the Bible as if it were a
set of plans or instructions to guide them throughout their lives. How
factual do you believe the Bible really is? Ian Anderson: [THE BIBLE, RELIGION, AND JESUS CHRIST]
“I think the Bible is a tremendous document and I now have a copy of
it on my iPhone. I have a copy of the Quran as well. The point being,
these existers have bona fide plans, they are “Plan A”, but your
interpretation of the Bible and your interpretation of the Quran is a
very complex issue. In years gone by people did not take this absurd
evangelical literal view of the words in the Bible, it was all
considered to be allegory, it was all considered to be lots of ways of
creating the metaphors. A thousand years ago people looked at the Bible
in a much less literal way. It served as a very useful function for
people to stand by a set of general rules and applications. In many ways
the words of the prophets, Muhammad, are not so different to many of
the words of Jesus Christ and many of the sentiments, good, sound, and
sensible structure or advice that you get from the Bible. It’s all good
stuff!”
“However, it’s got to be seen in the light of today. Anyone who takes
those words as literal meaning is missing the whole point. The hundreds
of people who put together painstakingly work over a huge number of
years to come up with these words, they are less about being literal
than being about inspirational, being about something that gives you
guidance. You have to be able to interpret and to paraphrase in the
context of today. Whatever happened back then was back then and this is
today. I think the Bible is still a very relevant document, not only for
Christians, but for people everywhere. But don’t literally for God’s
sake just take that simplistic view. The words are merely the English
translations from King James’ Bible and in itself is an interpretation
for goodness sake. Unless you are incredible learned scholars who can go
back beyond the ancient Greek to look at the origins of the words that
make up the Bible, than you really are on dangerous ground. There are a
lot of good things in the Bible to be used in the inspirational sense,
not in the literal sense. That’s the simple message there… I’m all for
Christianity and all for the Bible but handle with care and respect. A
lot of Christian scholars spend a great deal of time looking at the
Bible and trying to make sense of it in light of today’s world, and
that’s something that is a vital part of Christianity today. I’m not a
Christian, don’t get me wrong, but I have a full respect and a huge
sense of following Christianity and being predominately the Religion of
my nation.”
“Obviously with Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism …they’re kind of in our
culture too. We may not embrace them with the same ease that we embrace
Christianity but nonetheless they are in our culture too. But I’m from
here… I’m a white middle-class from Great Britain and my natural first
response is to Christianity as something with a calling card that I can
easily understand. However, it’s not going to make me a Christian. I
like almost everything about Christianity except for the Jesus bit. I’m
pretty big on Jesus the historical character in the context of his time.
But Jesus as the son of God, well, that’s where you have to start
thinking in looser terms; you’ve got to step out of the box once you get
to Jesus in that role. He is symbolic, he is important, he is an
example, and it’s terribly important to have that, but you’ve got to
stop short of creating Jesus as essentially the face of God. We do know
he really was a historical character in Palestine at a given point in
time. He was a revolutionary; he was a Jew for God’s sake. He was a
revolutionary Jew who was pissed off with stuff that was going on and
the fact that many of the Religious hierarchy at that time were in
cohorts with their Roman overlords to have a quiet but influential and
powerful life. Jesus was an angry prophet. He was a guy who got pissed
off … I like that Jesus. I don’t want to confuse him and give him
Godlike status, that’s where I have to stop short and why I can’t really
be a Christian.” Ray Shasho: Ian what are your thoughts on UFO’S … have we been visited by life from other worlds? Ian Anderson: [UFO’s AND ALIEN ABDUCTIONS]
“Having been born in 1947, it was a good year for UFO’s. I may be the
son of Roswell, who knows? Maybe aliens visited in 1947 and my mother
was whooshed up into some alien encounter and was abducted and
impregnated and I’m the result. Who knows? It’s a spooky tale but
extremely unlikely. I think the chances of physical presence of alien
spaceships from another far-off star are pretty slim in possibility
terms, for a number of reasons. But I think there is every possibility
that we have and we may be visited in the future. But I don’t think they
will be real living creatures who have traveled at or beyond the speed
of life. For the time it would take to get here, it seems to me; either
we are talking something really in terms of the supernatural, in terms
of parallel universes, in terms of multiverses, or in terms perhaps of
just human imagination wanting to see bogey men when there aren’t any.”
“But I doubt if we’re really going to see living, breathing aliens. I
think what we might see is rather the equivalent to the unmanned probe
to Mars and beyond, because we can send machinery where we are not able
to go. And right now a lot of scientists are trying to figure out how to
get beyond the Van Allen radiation belt, because you’re going to have
your testicles fried if you step outside the safety zone of magnetic
shield into the trip beyond to Mars. There may be a lot of people who
fanaticize about going to Mars in the next 30-50 years, whenever it
might be possible, but personally I’m keeping my testicles where they
belong (All laughing).” Ray Shasho: Ian, here’s a question that I ask everyone that I
interview. If you had a ‘Field of Dreams’ wish like the movie, to play
or collaborate with anyone from the past or present, who would that be?
You can even go back to the classical period. Ian Anderson: [FIELD OF DREAMS WISH]
“Well, it would probably go a little further than that. Because with
Beethoven who I enormously love, appreciate, and respect as the most all
around classical composer of all time. He came relatively late in the
day in true classics terms and benefited enormously from Bach and Mozart
before him. But he was very clever and way complicated and very
consummate in his ability to understand and to arrange. It would be
difficult to collaborate with him because certainly later in life he
wouldn’t hear a word I say.”
“So I think I’ll go back to the very first time when music was first
written down and the first notions of harmony came about. That would be
kind of simple. So you’d have to plant me in a Medieval Monastery about a
thousand years ago, where I could have talked in more equal terms to
those who were spearheading the development of music, harmony, rhythm,
and to find fault in music too, because maybe I could have helped them
with lyric writing.” Ray Shasho:Have you ever traced your family heritage? Ian Anderson: [IAN’S ROOTS]
“Not very far back …there’s probably some dreadful Danish Viking who
landed on the east coast of Scotland and probably didn’t even leave the
sheep alone (All laughing). Probably with a bit of a dastardly piratical
past combined with a bit on my mother’s side, maybe some Celtic weaver
from Britain perhaps. But no, it’s not been researched very far back. My
much older brother did try a few years ago but he only got so far and
then they couldn’t find anything else reliable further back than that.
So they only went back about a hundred years or so. So I think we have
some Viking blood. Not very romantic or glamorous but we were people
that migrated, we came, we saw, some of us stayed behind and put down
roots. We brought with us the customs, the language, and costume jewelry
(All Laughing).” Ray Shasho: Ian, thank you for being on the call today but more importantly for all the incredible music you continue to bring. Ian Anderson: “Nice to talk with you Ray.” Pre-order your copy of Ian Anderson’s latest studio release entitled 'HOMO ERRATICUS'[Here] or at amazon.com…on Ian Anderson’s own label imprint Calliandra Records in conjunction with Kscope
Very special thanks to the incredible Anne Leighton of Leighton Media: * Music Services*Motivation
Coming up NEXT … My recent interview with Jack Bruce of the legendary Cream
Contact classic rock music journalist Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com Purchase Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com- Please support Ray by purchasing his book so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting. “Check the Gs is just a really cool story ... and it’s real. I’d
like to see the kid on the front cover telling his story in a motion
picture, TV sitcom or animated series. The characters in the story
definitely jump out of the book and come to life. Very funny and scary
moments throughout the story and I just love the way Ray timeline’s
historical events during his lifetime. Ray’s love of rock music was
evident throughout the book and it generates extra enthusiasm when I
read his on-line classic rock music column on examiner.com. It’s a
wonderful read for everyone!” …stillerb47@gmail.com
Throughout the progressive rock ages, Ian Anderson
had been notably recognized as Jethro Tull. Even the occasional aficionado may refer
to the charismatic, swashbuckling, one –legged flautist as simply “Tull.” Ian
Anderson not only gave the world awe-inspiring lyric and melody, but also an
everlasting and irrepressible personification. So it’s no wonder that Ian
Anderson and Jethro Tull are synonymous.
Since it’s origination in 1968, the band has had numerous
personnel changes, but Anderson’s ingenuity and fastidious songwriting has preserved
the Jethro Tull trademark for almost a half a century. Deep-rooted lead
guitarist Martin Barre should also receive accolade for infusing the heaviest
of hard rock riffs.
The Jethro Tull band name was derived from an
eighteenth century English agriculturalist who invented the seed drill, but Ian
Anderson transformed the assigned appellative into a progressive rock protagonist.
Even today, Anderson’s proficiency and style remain unchallenged. His onstage persona mesmerized us, as we all
wondered how cool it would be to be “Tull.”
Ian Anderson embarks on a worldwide tour beginning
April 14th in the United Kingdom. Anderson will be performing the
1972 concept album, “Thick as a Brick” in its entirety as well as the new release, “Thick as a Brick 2” -Whatever
Happened to Gerald Bostock? .... forty years later. “TAAB2” the sequel was
officially released on April 2nd and available at Amazon.com.
Florida dates are confirmed for the upcoming
tour. September 18th at The Fillmore in Miami Beach, September 19th
at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, September 21st
at the Amphitheatre in St Augustine, and September 22nd at the Bob Carr Performing
Arts Centre in Orlando.
I had the rare opportunity to speak with Ian
Anderson recently about some uncommon topics. I wanted the interview to be different
than the usual laundry list of Jethro Tull inquisitions. Mr. Anderson was
quick-witted, fascinating, and profound. I quickly became mesmerized by other
aspects of his life including entrepreneurship.
Here’s my chat with legendary multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/prog-rock
pioneer/Jethro Tull founder/ feline advocate/ entrepreneur/ IAN ANDERSON.
Ray
Shasho: Ian, thank
for being on the call today … are you calling from Scotland?
Ian
Anderson: “I’m actually calling from the South
West of England.”
Ray
Shasho: You
conducted a Self- interview which appeared on You Tube video recently about the
upcoming release of “Thick as a Brick 2.” It was so good; I’m a bit worried you
won’t need us journalist anymore.
Ian
Anderson:
“The
way things are these days, we use every opportunity we can to tell a story and
keep the fans amused, and keep myself amused as we get old and jaded.”
Ray
Shasho:
Just about every piece of information regarding Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull
has been collected and available on your website, it’s getting to be very challenging
to ask you anything that hasn’t already been answered on the site.
Ian
Anderson: “I’m so glad to hear you say that
because that’s exactly why I do it, to try and make your job easier. You can
just cut and paste and have a fun time with that without spending too much
money on transatlantic phone calls.”
Ray
Shasho:
I spoke with Greg Lake several weeks ago; we talked about the Salisbury
Cathedral charity show you did together. Greg said it was a funny experience,
standing in a Cathedral playing rock and roll. He also mentioned there were
dead bodies in the Cathedral while you played?
Ian
Anderson:
“I
didn’t think we were that bad. (All laughing) Well that’s what Cathedrals
usually have in them. They have crypts and all sorts of ancestors and people
lie within, so we hope they remembered to take their sleeping pills.”
Ray
Shasho: I’m
guessing the acoustics were pretty good?
Ian
Anderson:
“Extremely
long reverberation times and you have to be very careful how you gently amplify
and redistribute the sound otherwise it will become a cacophony and will
certainly awake the dead.”
Ray
Shasho: I’m trying
very hard to not be one of those reporters who will ask the same questions of
you, and I’m usually known for asking unconventional questions to solicit new
material. You have an incredibly informative page on
your website called, “Your new kitten: Advice for new parents.” Why the
fascination with cats?
Ian
Anderson:
“When I was a young boy
I preferred cats to dogs. From the age of seven or eight onwards I just felt
more comfortable with cats. And I felt more comfortable with girls, I didn’t
really like hanging out with guys. When I was about ten or eleven, I was
friendlier with the girls in my school than with the guys. And later on in my
school years I really didn’t enjoy the company of men and the beer drinking
experiences of teenagers… so I wasn’t a manly schoolboy. I preferred arts and
more gentle pursuits than sports, so I was more of an academic really and kind
of cats fit the bill. Cats fit that kind of personality better than dogs. I’m a
bit of a girlie guy who liked growing up with cats.”
Ray
Shasho: I sent you an email several years ago
regarding the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida and recently found out that
you’re already kind of connected with them.
Ian
Anderson:
“Well that’s right;
I’ve been there and have done a couple of things for them in terms of press and
promo or what have you, and we know who each other are.”
Ray
Shasho: Do you have any of the larger cats on your
farm?
Ian
Anderson:
“No, I think the proper
place for those animals are in there natural habit and not in zoos or private
collections of wild animals, I don’t really like that kind of thing very much.
That’s like taking me out of my environment and putting me in jail for the rest
of my life.”
Ray
Shasho:
I know your were a successful salmon farmer for many years, do you continue to
be in that line of work?
Ian
Anderson:
“No, I was a salmon
farmer for about twenty years and there were a lot of issues like environmental
concerns and the principals of taking animals into intensive farming. Perhaps in
the case of salmon you have this absurd reality of taking more and more out of
the oceans to manufacture the feed for salmon. It takes roughly speaking … maybe
ten kilos of capelin, sand eels and herring and various wild fish and shell
fish species to produce one kilo of fresh farmed salmon. So it’s a very
inefficient way of converting fish protein further down the food chain into
fish protein higher up the food chain where we think we want to eat it. I think
salmon farming has its place in the world … a few hundred thousand tons of
salmon production in the world is probably a good thing, but to the level at which
it’s gone now where it’s such a mass produced commodity in many parts of the
world.”
“Usually farming
Atlantic salmon because they’re faster growing and better oil content and just a
much nicer fish altogether than the pacific species but as you probably know
they farm down in the pacific too ... in Chile and elsewhere, west coast of the
U.S. and Canada. That’s something we wouldn’t allow to happen in our part of
the world, that is farming of nonindigenous species and an insecure context
like cages and Open Ocean is something that we don’t think should be allowed to
happen. But again, commercial enterprise being what it is people have decided
that they’re going to do that anyway and have managed to persuade the
governmental authorities to let them do it. But I’m very much opposed to that
so I decided I really didn’t want to be involved with farming salmon anymore.
The negatives outweighed the positives for me and I decided to gently remove
myself from that world.”
“When I first started
it was all shiny and new and there were only a few tens of thousands of tons of
salmon being produced when I started and most of it in Norway. When we began it
was a pretty low key effort usually involving people from local communities and
the west coast of Scotland who otherwise found it difficult to find work, so
for the first ten-fifteen years or so it felt like the right thing to do. But I
became less enamored of it primarily because of environmental and conservation
reasons.”
Ray
Shasho: Ian, I was a commercial banker in another
life, and was the guy lending money for start-up enterprises. So I’m extremely
impressed by the way you began an entirely new business venture, turned it into
a success, and operated and maintained it for twenty years.
Ian
Anderson:
“I’m all in favor of
banks that play their part in community endeavors, private individuals looking
for loans, people who want to start up a little business, and that’s what banks
are for. Once we get into investment banking there is no ring fence between the
investment arms of banks and the service sector of banking… I don’t like the
idea of fat-cat bankers looking for their big-big bonuses, spinning the
roulette wheel and using as their stake the money loaned to them used by
private individuals whose life savings are wrapped up into what’s proved to be
an extremely risky and unpleasant side of that industry. So that’s one of the
things I’m singing about on the new album … is my end. Obviously I share this
with a majority of the people. We feel cheated by virtue of the fact that
people used our money to cover themselves in glory and huge bonuses. In the
case of Fred Goodwin of the Royal Bank of Scotland, a knighthood, which he so
surely deserved to have stripped from him as indeed it was a couple of weeks
ago.”
“But it was the Royal
Bank of Scotland who was the villains and the rest of the international banks
are not blameless in any of this. They essentially operate in the same way and
got themselves caught up in the prime mortgage business which was one of the
things that toppled the house of cards primarily due to the arrogance and naivety
of a couple of Icelander banks.”
Ray
Shasho: I was actually one of those banking
soldiers on the front lines that got axed in 2008 when turmoil hit the
financial markets. I was loyal and a top producer but apparently that meant
nothing to them.
Ian
Anderson:
“I don’t think anybody objects
in our capitalist western society about the idea of somebody getting paid for
results. But disparity between those getting really quite obscene levels of
bonus and those who are the foot soldiers of industry seem to have gotten
completely out of balance and it doesn’t seem right that there should be a
ratio of twenty … fifty… or one hundred to one between high paid people and the
average low paid person. It just seems too big of a differential. You can
understand if people got five or ten times as much money if they produce results,
but things have just gotten out of control and that’s part of the degree to
which our moral values have continued to change with capitalism becoming so incredibly
powerful. But like everything else, there’s good capitalism and there’s bad
capitalism. And you’ve got some of the good guys who later on realize they’ve
been so very-very fortunate to have done what they’ve done so the Warren
Buffets and the Bill Gates get to a point in their lives where they realize
true values are what you can do for other people than rather do for yourself.”
Ray
Shasho: Then there are the monopolies … where does
capitalism fit in that equation?
Ian
Anderson:
“Nowhere is that more
obvious than the record industry, where we have the purchase accepted of EMI by
Universal and now down to three major record companies. They have essentially
doubled between the small record companies and the tiny independents that are
left. Most of them would have the goal of selling out at some point to honor
one of the three majors and getting their retirement fund. In the live concert
sector you have Live Nation and AEG which compose far and away the greater part
of the total live concert industry around the world. And that can’t be right
either, it’s just become too much of a megalithic concern where the vast
majority of concert tours everywhere in the world are being carried out
essentially by two multi-national and huge companies that essentially bought
out all the other individual promoters, and did so obviously with borrowed
money and are struggling to stay solvent.”
“Like everybody else we’re
force to do business with Live Nation at least some of the time because they
have control over many venues and cities and have the monopoly to work there. We
have to grit our teeth and work with those guys too, there’s nothing wrong with
the individuals that work for those companies, mostly nice people that we’ve
worked with for many years, but they sold their souls to the devil … of
corporate enormity, but it’s up to us to change the things we don’t like.”
Ray
Shasho: When I interviewed Eric Burdon he said to
call it a “music industry” is a stretch.
Ian
Anderson:
“Eric Burdon is a venerable old gent who’s been around for many years and when
I was a lad fresh out of school, Eric Burdon was one of the guys that got me
infused about trying to play music and trying to become a professional musician.
All those years down the line, I think Eric Burdon has been one of those who is
lucky enough to still have his job, get’s out there plays a good concert and
plays a bunch of songs that he feels a rightfully degree of ownership about. That’s
a good position to be in if you’ve been around as long as Eric Burdon, and made
it your life, career, and the thing you love. It’s great that he can do it, but
economically it’s not that easy for Eric Burdon, he’s not quite big enough
around the world in terms of commanding quite enough to give himself a
comfortable level of profitable percentage doing concerts. He’s probably quite
close to the point where he’ll be doing okay and not great financially. He’s
kind of in the low to middle range economically …it’s not easy but he’ll do
okay as long as he’s careful.”
Ray
Shasho:
I’ve
always blamed commercial radio stations for the debacle of the music industry …
laziness to seek out and play new music, repetitive mindless commercials taking
over the airwaves and the absence of the music radio jock. After chatting with
Greg Lake … he blamed the invention of the Sony Walkman for self isolation, and
not sharing the music experience with your friends anymore. What do you think
changed the music industry?
Ian
Anderson:
“That
for me was the beginning of the beginning because I’m not a social type of guy.
I don’t like to sit around and listen to music with other people. The original Sony
Walkman … which I think still have, was quite well made, interesting, a small
practical cassette machine that allowed you to plug into it and listen to music
in that convenient isolation. That privacy was great to have if you were
traveling around the world and maybe had the opportunity to close your eyes and
listen to some music. So to me it was a great step forward. I’m eternally grateful
for the Sony Walkman and all of its successes to the introduction of the MP3
players. I think I’ve owned all the models of IPods so far. And these days
between my iPod, iPhone and my personal laptop computer, I’m someone who is very-very
grateful for all the ways to listen to music and completely switch off from people
around me and listen to the music in detail, which is very hard to do if you’re
in a room with other people.”
“We do hear perhaps too many accolades generally
aimed at people like Steve Jobs. We have to remember that there are other
classic things in life that we undervalue and take them for granted. If you
think of the classic lines of the modern jet aircraft, it’s really been there
since early World War II. I mean the first passenger jets that flew… they don’t
look so different. The Boeing 737… its generations apart from a few engine
changes but essentially remains the same thing that it was around forty years
ago since that airplane first flew commercially.”
Ray
Shasho:
I know we need to wrap this up … You’re touring the “Thick as a Brick 2” tour
as Ian Anderson. Will there be a future tour billed as Jethro Tull?
Ian
Anderson:
“The
band is essentially the same, maybe one different member of the band; it’s just
essentially the way I choose to describe what I do in different context. I like
to work with musicians who I feel are the right people. Sometimes one or two
people will change as I’m doing a certain Ian Anderson concert. If I’m doing an
acoustic tour with just a stripped down show than obviously I would choose
musicians who would fit that bill. If I was playing all Jethro Tull repertoire and
material than I would just call it Jethro Tull, but when it’s other projects
that represent my impersonal input, than I tend to use my own name rather than
simply call it Jethro Tull. I think given the fact that I’m the guy that writes
the music and does more of the organizational and management side of what goes
on … and sometimes I think I should be forgiven for having a Roger Waters moment
and claiming something is my own.”
Ray Shasho: Well, in our eyes … you are TULL!
Ian
Anderson: “That’s what people have been saying
for many-many long years but I always try and point out that it is “The band”
or whoever that band is… the people that play the music, and we have to remember
that were something like twenty eight members in Jethro Tull over the years and
people who have taken part in a major tour or in recording. So it’s a big
extended family … I’m the expedition leader and they trust me to take them
where we go.”
Ray
Shasho:Ian, thank you so much for spending time
with me today, but more importantly for all the fantastic music throughout the
years. We look forward to the release of “Thick as a Brick 2” (TAAB2) on April 2nd
and your upcoming concert tour.
Ian Anderson: “Ray I enjoyed talking with you, we’ll
see you in the states … bye-bye!”
“Thick
as a Brick 2” (TAAB2) is available to purchase at amazon.com
Ian
Anderson’s world tour begins April 14th in the United Kingdom. Anderson will be
performing the 1972 concept album, “Thick as a Brick” in its entirety as well
as the new release, “Thick as a Brick 2”
Florida dates are confirmed for the upcoming tour. September 18th at The Fillmore in Miami Beach, September 19th at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, September 21st at the Amphitheatre in St Augustine, September 22nd at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre in Orlando, September 25th at Sunrise Theatre in Fort Pierce.
Just Announced! Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall in Ft Myers on September 24th and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on September 23rd. Tickets go on sale April 28.
Very
special thanks to Anne Leighton of Leighton Media for
arranging this interview -Official website www.anneleighton.com
Download author/columnist Ray Shasho’s fascinating memoir
‘Check the Gs’ The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family
Business Available on Kindle at Amazon.com and Nook at
Barnesandnoble.com for Only .99 Cents.
