Post by Dan on Oct 27, 2009 11:01:58 GMT -5
Ian had guested on this NYC hardcore band, The Six and the Violence cd, Lettuce Prey, playing flute on Bursting Bladder and Theological Guns.
Only heard samples but nothing you would expect Ian to be playing on.
Anyway, I found an article from 1999 with one of the members, Kurt Stenzel encounters with Ian.
AI: You said Ian Anderson played on a couple Six & Violence tracks. You gotta share that story...
KS: Yeah, Ian played on "Bursting Bladder" and "Theological Guns" from the Lettuce Prey record (Fist 1990). It is a very long story, but suffice it to say, it was very damn wicked to have a walking musical god, a Beethoven of our lifetime, play on a song called "Bursting Bladder". We must have been drunk... in fact I KNOW we were drunk.
I have been one of the biggest Tull fans you could meet since I was 9 years old, got tired of my 2 or 3 Beatles records and put on my sisters copy of Living in the Past. Even at that young age, I had some seriously spiritual experiences listening to Jethro Tull, and I was compelled to collect the records, see them in concert as much as possible, etc. My father worked for Pan Am and was often in cities that Tull was playing -- one day he came home with two tickets for a show in Frankfurt. I flew free, so we went. I guess some fathers and sons bond over sports or whatever, but my father was a musician (an accomplished baritone) so we bonded over music and record collecting. Actually, my father frowned somewhat on rock music as a trained classical guy (which created some friction in later years as I got into hardcore), but even he had a good time at that show ( Broadsword tour 1982.) After the show, my father looked at me and said, "you wanna meet the band?" --- I thought he was kidding -- these guys were stadium rock stars -- you couldn't meet them. We went around the back of the stadium, and sure enough, by waiting long enough by the tour bus, with maybe 40 or so other fans, eventually the band came out, got on the bus, and Ian sat on the steps and signed autographs. Things are much more civil and low security in Europe -- in the states, particularly in NY, I only saw Tull's limos coming out of underground driveways of Madison Square Garden or whatever. So that was the first time I met Ian -- I was only 15 --- it was quite a shock to see that this guy was human!
So I owe it to my audacious dad, who had been bold in his youth and went and met opera stars at the Met in NY. He taught me that idols are real, approachable people. Hopefully you have something interesting to offer them when you meet them!
Anyway, in the next few years I got to know Dave Pegg when he would play with Fairport. As any Tull fan will tell you, Dave Pegg is a really nice guy, and will try to find you to talk to you! Eventually by 1987, when I was 20, I was using the Pan Am flying that I got for free to follow Tull like crazy, and I guess I was noticeable to cast and crew as to showing up in all the weird places. I gave Ian a 6 and Violence demo tape at Macy's in NYC, where Ian was doing a Strathaird salmon promotion!!!!
A Tull tour ensued -- I was in college and I had a night job, so I would literally go to Europe on the weekends. At one point in Switzerland, I was loitering while Ian was signing autographs, and he told me he had actually listened to the tape, he had enjoyed it and he wanted another copy, as he had lost it on a plane. I was shocked -- I mean, the demo was pretty rough, but apparently he dug it. Later in Germany or London or something I gave him more copies, and at this point the band and crew were telling me where that night's drinks were to be had, so I became more of a fixture. I even begged a pass for the tour because I was broke from buying tickets. Looking back I must have been some kind of stalking pain in the ass, but of course I was having the time of my life! Eventually, later in the tour, we were all in the hotel bar in Salt Lake City Utah. Ian asked how the recording of Lettuce Prey was going, and I jokingly asked him to play on it. To my horror, he said yes! Longer story short, Ian wound up having a scheduling conflict the first time it was planned, so we thought it would not happen, but fortunately the 6 and Violence are total screw ups and we wound up having a huge delay and re-recording the whole goddamn album, so Ian was able to do his takes almost two years later.
I can't tell you what a nice guy Ian is -- he freakin' carried our 24 track master reels under his arm on a flight from London to NY just to save us the shipping charges! He is incredibly down to earth, a true philosopher and gentleman, which is a nice thing to know about your musical mentors. Actually I wouldn't care if he were a total jerk as long as he keeps making music, but it is refreshing that a guy with that kind of accomplishment, responsibilities, and schedule can do something purely for fun.
Later we got Ian to come see us in 1989 at a terrible dive bar on the lower eats side of NY -- an actual Hells' Angles hangout (one of the girls in "Cycle Sluts From Hell" was the bartender if that paints a picture.) We were scared out of our minds to have such a musical idol in the audience, and I think we played faster (and tighter) than Slayer that night. In a bit of dramatic irony, I had played that club a year or two before and vowed never to play there again because I broke my nose getting hit by my other singer (the stage was too small and we jump around a lot). This joint was the only venue in all of NYC that I could get a last minute gig. So there I was, 15 minutes before the set, lecturing my other singer to stay arms length away from me, not thinking that it could possibly happen that I would BREAK MY NOSE AGAIN in the same godforsaken dive bar - and sure enough, I mean, my freakin' musical god is in the audience, we start to play and boom! --- three songs into the set, Paulie elbows me in the nose and blood is shooting out of my face. I mean SHOOTING -- Monty Python style. I hadn't eaten all day (I was so nervous) and I had drank a bunch of beers to calm down. I bled through the whole set. As it is, on a good day with the 6nV, I have to scream at the top of my lungs to "sing", depriving my brain of oxygen. I thought about stopping the show to die, or whatever, but I plowed on. Suffice it to say, by the end of that show I was probably near coma stage, but, my guys propped me up to the bar, and Ian wound up drinking with us until 3:30 in the morning. Taking one look at me dripping blood (and my hand was bandaged from a prior drunken incident in London) Ian probably had to wonder what he'd gotten himself into. He did ask us how guys as ugly as us could pretty girls (a strange 6 and Violence phenomena). I wonder myself. Anyway, the Tull thing was very out of the ordinary with the NYHC thing, although of course many of the musicians in the scene love Tull, given their "musician's musicians" status. To add to the oddity, this was right at the time of the "Tull wins Metal Grammy" furor, so it was really a gas. I love to combine things one would not expect, and I think Ian appreciates that too. He mentions us from time to time in an interview, and Dave Rees put some mentions in the new Tull book that he did. Rees also re-issued a UK version of Lettuce Prey with a bonus Tull medley that we recorded for possible inclusion on a Tull tribute record that Chrysalis never materialized. We got a kick out of doing the medley -- we did the strangest hammering together of Tull bits a band could do, assuring we would NOT get on a tribute CD. Oh well. (Contact Dave Rees at 75 Wren Way, Farnborough Hants. GU14 8TA - he has the bonus tracks pressing of Lettuce Prey.)
Only heard samples but nothing you would expect Ian to be playing on.
Anyway, I found an article from 1999 with one of the members, Kurt Stenzel encounters with Ian.
AI: You said Ian Anderson played on a couple Six & Violence tracks. You gotta share that story...
KS: Yeah, Ian played on "Bursting Bladder" and "Theological Guns" from the Lettuce Prey record (Fist 1990). It is a very long story, but suffice it to say, it was very damn wicked to have a walking musical god, a Beethoven of our lifetime, play on a song called "Bursting Bladder". We must have been drunk... in fact I KNOW we were drunk.
I have been one of the biggest Tull fans you could meet since I was 9 years old, got tired of my 2 or 3 Beatles records and put on my sisters copy of Living in the Past. Even at that young age, I had some seriously spiritual experiences listening to Jethro Tull, and I was compelled to collect the records, see them in concert as much as possible, etc. My father worked for Pan Am and was often in cities that Tull was playing -- one day he came home with two tickets for a show in Frankfurt. I flew free, so we went. I guess some fathers and sons bond over sports or whatever, but my father was a musician (an accomplished baritone) so we bonded over music and record collecting. Actually, my father frowned somewhat on rock music as a trained classical guy (which created some friction in later years as I got into hardcore), but even he had a good time at that show ( Broadsword tour 1982.) After the show, my father looked at me and said, "you wanna meet the band?" --- I thought he was kidding -- these guys were stadium rock stars -- you couldn't meet them. We went around the back of the stadium, and sure enough, by waiting long enough by the tour bus, with maybe 40 or so other fans, eventually the band came out, got on the bus, and Ian sat on the steps and signed autographs. Things are much more civil and low security in Europe -- in the states, particularly in NY, I only saw Tull's limos coming out of underground driveways of Madison Square Garden or whatever. So that was the first time I met Ian -- I was only 15 --- it was quite a shock to see that this guy was human!
So I owe it to my audacious dad, who had been bold in his youth and went and met opera stars at the Met in NY. He taught me that idols are real, approachable people. Hopefully you have something interesting to offer them when you meet them!
Anyway, in the next few years I got to know Dave Pegg when he would play with Fairport. As any Tull fan will tell you, Dave Pegg is a really nice guy, and will try to find you to talk to you! Eventually by 1987, when I was 20, I was using the Pan Am flying that I got for free to follow Tull like crazy, and I guess I was noticeable to cast and crew as to showing up in all the weird places. I gave Ian a 6 and Violence demo tape at Macy's in NYC, where Ian was doing a Strathaird salmon promotion!!!!
A Tull tour ensued -- I was in college and I had a night job, so I would literally go to Europe on the weekends. At one point in Switzerland, I was loitering while Ian was signing autographs, and he told me he had actually listened to the tape, he had enjoyed it and he wanted another copy, as he had lost it on a plane. I was shocked -- I mean, the demo was pretty rough, but apparently he dug it. Later in Germany or London or something I gave him more copies, and at this point the band and crew were telling me where that night's drinks were to be had, so I became more of a fixture. I even begged a pass for the tour because I was broke from buying tickets. Looking back I must have been some kind of stalking pain in the ass, but of course I was having the time of my life! Eventually, later in the tour, we were all in the hotel bar in Salt Lake City Utah. Ian asked how the recording of Lettuce Prey was going, and I jokingly asked him to play on it. To my horror, he said yes! Longer story short, Ian wound up having a scheduling conflict the first time it was planned, so we thought it would not happen, but fortunately the 6 and Violence are total screw ups and we wound up having a huge delay and re-recording the whole goddamn album, so Ian was able to do his takes almost two years later.
I can't tell you what a nice guy Ian is -- he freakin' carried our 24 track master reels under his arm on a flight from London to NY just to save us the shipping charges! He is incredibly down to earth, a true philosopher and gentleman, which is a nice thing to know about your musical mentors. Actually I wouldn't care if he were a total jerk as long as he keeps making music, but it is refreshing that a guy with that kind of accomplishment, responsibilities, and schedule can do something purely for fun.
Later we got Ian to come see us in 1989 at a terrible dive bar on the lower eats side of NY -- an actual Hells' Angles hangout (one of the girls in "Cycle Sluts From Hell" was the bartender if that paints a picture.) We were scared out of our minds to have such a musical idol in the audience, and I think we played faster (and tighter) than Slayer that night. In a bit of dramatic irony, I had played that club a year or two before and vowed never to play there again because I broke my nose getting hit by my other singer (the stage was too small and we jump around a lot). This joint was the only venue in all of NYC that I could get a last minute gig. So there I was, 15 minutes before the set, lecturing my other singer to stay arms length away from me, not thinking that it could possibly happen that I would BREAK MY NOSE AGAIN in the same godforsaken dive bar - and sure enough, I mean, my freakin' musical god is in the audience, we start to play and boom! --- three songs into the set, Paulie elbows me in the nose and blood is shooting out of my face. I mean SHOOTING -- Monty Python style. I hadn't eaten all day (I was so nervous) and I had drank a bunch of beers to calm down. I bled through the whole set. As it is, on a good day with the 6nV, I have to scream at the top of my lungs to "sing", depriving my brain of oxygen. I thought about stopping the show to die, or whatever, but I plowed on. Suffice it to say, by the end of that show I was probably near coma stage, but, my guys propped me up to the bar, and Ian wound up drinking with us until 3:30 in the morning. Taking one look at me dripping blood (and my hand was bandaged from a prior drunken incident in London) Ian probably had to wonder what he'd gotten himself into. He did ask us how guys as ugly as us could pretty girls (a strange 6 and Violence phenomena). I wonder myself. Anyway, the Tull thing was very out of the ordinary with the NYHC thing, although of course many of the musicians in the scene love Tull, given their "musician's musicians" status. To add to the oddity, this was right at the time of the "Tull wins Metal Grammy" furor, so it was really a gas. I love to combine things one would not expect, and I think Ian appreciates that too. He mentions us from time to time in an interview, and Dave Rees put some mentions in the new Tull book that he did. Rees also re-issued a UK version of Lettuce Prey with a bonus Tull medley that we recorded for possible inclusion on a Tull tribute record that Chrysalis never materialized. We got a kick out of doing the medley -- we did the strangest hammering together of Tull bits a band could do, assuring we would NOT get on a tribute CD. Oh well. (Contact Dave Rees at 75 Wren Way, Farnborough Hants. GU14 8TA - he has the bonus tracks pressing of Lettuce Prey.)
