Speaking with Ultimate-Guitar.com, Jethro Tull leader and frontman, Ian Anderson, reflected on the impact his music had on metal bands over the years.
Greg Prato reports: Ever since Jethro Tull beat Metallica at the Grammy Awards, Ian Anderson has constantly been reminded of how incredibly metal his music is. But all jokes aside, despite this odd incident from 1989 and the band’s reputation among some metal demographics, they’ve actually left their mark and inspired some of the metal bands we all love.
While promoting Jethro Tull’s upcoming new album, Curious Ruminant, Ian sat to chat with us and we took the opportunity to ask him about the matter and how he feels about inspiring metal musicians.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: How do you feel about metal music and Jethro Tull having some influence in helping create prog metal? Bands like Iron Maiden and Dream Theater owe a lot to Tull.
Ian Anderson: “Well, I think there’s some of the music that I’ve written over the years which is direct and simple hard rock music. I can see that those songs might appeal to some of the musicians who are generally termed ‘heavy metal.’ But maybe what also appeals to them is the fact that I do other stuff as well, which is obviously sometimes more acoustic music, sometimes more evolved, or in the realms of what is called progressive rock or folk rock, that seems to appeal to some of the younger musicians too.”
Read more at Ultimate-Guitar.com.
After two consecutive Jethro Tull album releases in 2022 and 2023, a new studio record, Curious Ruminant, will be released on March 7.
Consisting of nine new tracks varying in length from two and half minutes to almost seventeen minutes, this is an album of mostly full band music. Amongst the musicians featured are former keyboardist Andrew Giddings and drummer James Duncan, along with the current band members David Goodier, John O’Hara, Scott Hammond and, making his recording debut with the band, guitarist Jack Clark.
Curious Ruminant will be available on several different formats, including a Ltd Deluxe Ultra Clear 180g 2LP + 2CD + Blu-ray Artbook & Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook. Both of these feature the main album, alternative stereo mixes & a blu-ray containing Dolby Atmos & 5.1 Surround Sound (once again undertaken by Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief), as well as exclusive interview material. The Ltd Deluxe vinyl artbook also includes two exclusive art-prints. The album will also be available as a Special Edition CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g LP + LP-booklet & as Digital Album (in both stereo & Dolby Atmos).
Pre-order here.
Tracklisting:
“Puppet And The Puppet Master”
“Curious Ruminant”
“Dunsinane Hill”
“The Tipu House”
“Savannah Of Paddington Green”
“Stygian Hand”
“Over Jerusalem”
“Drink From The Same Well”
“Interim Sleep”
“The Tipu House” video:
“Curious Ruminant” video:
Ian Anderson had been saying for months following the release of RökFlöte that he would embark on a new project in late 2023. He waited only a few weeks before the first notions began to solidify into some drafted words of intent and in May 2024, some unfinished music recorded earlier with John O’Hara, David Goodier and James Duncan became the starting point for the new songs as they took shape.
Writing the lyrics and melodies for all the newly written material came very quickly once he began in earnest during June and just seemed to slot right in to the musical feel and styles of the earlier recordings.
Anderson’s writing here is often on a more personal level of lyric content than we are used to hearing. Interspersed with his usual observational descriptions are the slightly more heart-on-sleeve moments of soul-baring – albeit not on the topics more often paraded by the usual I-me lyric merchants of pop and rock.
Some of the songs are developed from unfinished instrumental demos made some years ago although this does not result in a huge stylistic divide to jump out at the listener. Apart from the signature flute solos and melodies, accordion, mandolin, acoustic and tenor guitars feature on several tracks too, so the subtle backdrop of acoustic and folk rock serves to remind of the Tull heritage of the 70s.
The band consists of:
Ian Anderson – Flutes, vocals, acoustic guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, odds and sods, bits and bobs
David Goodier – Bass guitar
John O’Hara – Piano, keyboards, accordion
Scott Hammond – Drums
Jack Clark – Electric guitar
The album also features:
James Duncan – Drums, cajón, percussion
Andrew Giddings – Piano, keyboards, accordion
The post JETHRO TULL Leader IAN ANDERSON Reacts To Influencing Metal Bands, Explains “What Maybe Appeals To Them” in His Music appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...
Greg Prato reports: Ever since Jethro Tull beat Metallica at the Grammy Awards, Ian Anderson has constantly been reminded of how incredibly metal his music is. But all jokes aside, despite this odd incident from 1989 and the band’s reputation among some metal demographics, they’ve actually left their mark and inspired some of the metal bands we all love.
While promoting Jethro Tull’s upcoming new album, Curious Ruminant, Ian sat to chat with us and we took the opportunity to ask him about the matter and how he feels about inspiring metal musicians.
Ultimate-Guitar.com: How do you feel about metal music and Jethro Tull having some influence in helping create prog metal? Bands like Iron Maiden and Dream Theater owe a lot to Tull.
Ian Anderson: “Well, I think there’s some of the music that I’ve written over the years which is direct and simple hard rock music. I can see that those songs might appeal to some of the musicians who are generally termed ‘heavy metal.’ But maybe what also appeals to them is the fact that I do other stuff as well, which is obviously sometimes more acoustic music, sometimes more evolved, or in the realms of what is called progressive rock or folk rock, that seems to appeal to some of the younger musicians too.”
Read more at Ultimate-Guitar.com.
After two consecutive Jethro Tull album releases in 2022 and 2023, a new studio record, Curious Ruminant, will be released on March 7.
Consisting of nine new tracks varying in length from two and half minutes to almost seventeen minutes, this is an album of mostly full band music. Amongst the musicians featured are former keyboardist Andrew Giddings and drummer James Duncan, along with the current band members David Goodier, John O’Hara, Scott Hammond and, making his recording debut with the band, guitarist Jack Clark.
Curious Ruminant will be available on several different formats, including a Ltd Deluxe Ultra Clear 180g 2LP + 2CD + Blu-ray Artbook & Ltd Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook. Both of these feature the main album, alternative stereo mixes & a blu-ray containing Dolby Atmos & 5.1 Surround Sound (once again undertaken by Bruce Soord of The Pineapple Thief), as well as exclusive interview material. The Ltd Deluxe vinyl artbook also includes two exclusive art-prints. The album will also be available as a Special Edition CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g LP + LP-booklet & as Digital Album (in both stereo & Dolby Atmos).
Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:
“Puppet And The Puppet Master”
“Curious Ruminant”
“Dunsinane Hill”
“The Tipu House”
“Savannah Of Paddington Green”
“Stygian Hand”
“Over Jerusalem”
“Drink From The Same Well”
“Interim Sleep”
“The Tipu House” video:
“Curious Ruminant” video:
Ian Anderson had been saying for months following the release of RökFlöte that he would embark on a new project in late 2023. He waited only a few weeks before the first notions began to solidify into some drafted words of intent and in May 2024, some unfinished music recorded earlier with John O’Hara, David Goodier and James Duncan became the starting point for the new songs as they took shape.
Writing the lyrics and melodies for all the newly written material came very quickly once he began in earnest during June and just seemed to slot right in to the musical feel and styles of the earlier recordings.
Anderson’s writing here is often on a more personal level of lyric content than we are used to hearing. Interspersed with his usual observational descriptions are the slightly more heart-on-sleeve moments of soul-baring – albeit not on the topics more often paraded by the usual I-me lyric merchants of pop and rock.
Some of the songs are developed from unfinished instrumental demos made some years ago although this does not result in a huge stylistic divide to jump out at the listener. Apart from the signature flute solos and melodies, accordion, mandolin, acoustic and tenor guitars feature on several tracks too, so the subtle backdrop of acoustic and folk rock serves to remind of the Tull heritage of the 70s.
The band consists of:
Ian Anderson – Flutes, vocals, acoustic guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, odds and sods, bits and bobs
David Goodier – Bass guitar
John O’Hara – Piano, keyboards, accordion
Scott Hammond – Drums
Jack Clark – Electric guitar
The album also features:
James Duncan – Drums, cajón, percussion
Andrew Giddings – Piano, keyboards, accordion
The post JETHRO TULL Leader IAN ANDERSON Reacts To Influencing Metal Bands, Explains “What Maybe Appeals To Them” in His Music appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...