Tull tales: Legendary rock flutist Ian Anderson leads Jethro Tull to Junefest

Kirk Baird

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 9:20 a.m.

What: Junefest, featuring The Voices of Classic Rock, Kansas, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Jethro Tull, REO Speedwagon and Bad Company (with Paul Rodgers).

When: Noon Saturday.

Where: Silver Bowl Park.

Admission: $21.90.

Information: (702) 474-4000.

VH1's "Behind the Music" series has become enormously popular for the music-video network.

However, don't look for veteran progressive-rock band Jethro Tull, which performs Saturday at Silver Bowl Park as part of the 10th annual Junefest, to be the subject of the tell-all "Behind the Music" anytime soon.

"I always get a little angered by the fact that VH1 glorifies the near-death experiences of rock's adventurers," said Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson recently from his studio in London.

"It's always easy, if you're a 16-year-old today, to think, 'Oh, that's OK to be like the guys in Aerosmith. You can go nuts when you're young and do all the drugs and do all this stuff and then you nearly die. And then you quit the drugs, then you come back and you're really famous and successful again.'

"Well, that's kind of a dangerous message. What about Jimi Hendrix? What about Jim Morrision? What about Janis Joplin? What about John Bonham and Keith Moon? The list goes on and on and on.

"Every time you have a Pete Townshend or an Eric Clapton, or whoever, who survives the hard drugs and the rock 'n' roll-lifestyle accessories, you've got to remember all the folks who didn't," Anderson said. "I think there is a danger in glorifying this kind of rock 'n' roll-lifestyle peer group that seems to exist."

Anderson is also positive he is not the only rock performer who shares this sentiment.

"I'm pretty certain most of these guys will also be a little alarmed that, somehow, the inadvertent message gets across, 'It's OK to do that stuff because you quit and then you carry on as everything was.' I don't think everything is as it was," he said. "It worries me that sometimes the message is the wrong one.

"But I'm a bit of a realist. I've always stayed away from the temptations of that exaggerated lifestyle and decided to curl up in bed early with a good book. It seems like a better recipe for longevity. But ultimately I am so unbelievably boring. I don't have a single, kind of really exciting thing (vice)."

His lifestyle, or lack thereof, may have given the 54-year-old singer-flutist a long life. But it is the diehard fans who have enabled the band to survive and thrive for 35 years.

Known for the hugely popular songs "Aqualung," "Thick as a Brick," "Cross-Eyed Mary" "Locomotive Breath" and "Bungle in the Jungle," to name a few, Jethro Tull has not had much in the way of a chart-topper in a decade or more.

In fact, the last bit of major publicity the band received was 1987, when the group won the Grammy Awards' inaugural award for Best Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal Performance for "Crest of a Knave," beating a shocked Metallica in the process.

But through all of Jethro Tull's evolving musical styles -- blues, folk, prog rock, hard rock -- and changing lineups (Anderson is the sole original member of the five-piece band) there remains an audience for its music.

"Jethro Tull's like the Grateful Dead, we have our faithful," he said. "They're great people, although a little bit crazy. They're the kind of Tull fans who will buy anything. It's always great to have those kinds of people; they're the folks who make it all go around."

And Jethro Tull's new DVD, "Living with the Past," which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's new Top Music Video chart, is a testament to the devotion of the band's fans.

Still, Anderson took the DVD's chart success in stride.

"Let's be cynical for a moment, shall we? It's a tribute to the few, certifiably insane, overly wealthy, crazy, bored people who have nothing better to do than rush out and buy the Jethro Tull DVD. They're the kind of Tull fans who will buy anything," Anderson joked. "It's No. 2 this week, and next week it'll be No. 59."

While the singer laughs about the momentary sales momentum of Jethro Tull's latest release, Anderson does take the group's projects seriously, especially when it comes to the band's previous recordings.

So far, only the first three of Jethro Tull's albums have been remastered last year as part of a series of expanded reissues. Fans of the band consistently post queries on Internet chat rooms wondering when the group will -- if ever -- remaster its remaining back catalog on CD, some of which, such as 1979's "Stormwatch" and 1980's "A," are out of print.

Anderson promised that eventually all Jethro Tull's albums will be remastered.

"There's about six remasters sitting upstairs that I have yet to approve. Every time this comes up in an interview, I remember that I have got to listen to (the albums), just totally concentrating, totally analyzing -- making comparative checks with all pressings and all the rest of it," he said.

"They're being done at Abbey Road (Studios) ... and we've done the first six. And then there's another three coming out this year. I guess, probably like six a year."

Part of the holdup, he said, is the inclusion of additional tracks recorded at the same time as the albums.

These are not previously unavailable songs, Anderson made clear, rather they were issued as singles, B-sides or as part of compilations. Still, the work involved in matching the tunes with their album counterparts has been time-consuming.

"It's a laborious process, but it's being worked on all the time. It's very much the intention that all the Jethro Tull catalog is gradually being taken out of circulation as the old copies are sold off," he said. "And then we remaster and then bring them back again in their new remastered format.

"Frankly speaking, they probably sounded like they always did anyway. We're just trying to make the new versions sound like they did on the original vinyl recordings if you had a really, really good record player and speaker system back in 1968. That's what we're trying to do. We're not trying to make them sound like they didn't sound, we're just trying to make them sound like their original master tapes."

While Anderson is focused on bringing past recordings up to speed with present technology, he acknowledges it is time to look to the future of Jethro Tull.

The band, which maintains a steady touring schedule all over the world, often finds itself on festival bills with other "veteran" rock acts. Junefest is no exception.

On a crowded lineup of other classic-rock bands, Jethro Tull is the elder statesmen of all the groups.

Anderson is not surprised.

"There's a lot of us still about, it just doesn't go away," he said of '70s rock bands. "I grew up listening to people like B.B. King and Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and people like that. When I was a teenager, I was listening to those folks. And B.B. King is still out there, he's still doing it ... so, hey, I should be."

Anderson does promise when Jethro Tull hangs up its flutes, codpieces and other band artifacts, don't look for him to turn up as a lounge singer belting out cover songs for hotel patrons.

"You won't find me at weekends playing at a Holiday Inn doing covers. I won't be on the cruise ships," he said. "It won't be me. It'll be some other flute player who's desperate for the money."