{"id":124372,"date":"2025-11-09T17:41:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T17:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/124372\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T17:41:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T17:41:06","slug":"how-martin-barre-bounced-back-from-jethro-tulls-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/124372\/","title":{"rendered":"How Martin Barre bounced back from Jethro Tull\u2019s shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ian Anderson <\/a>decided to shut down Jethro Tull in 2012<\/a>, the shock move left guitarist Martin Barre out of work for the first time since 1968. After a period of bewilderment he returned to action with a new band, releasing solo albums Away With Words<\/a> and Order Of Play<\/a> a year apart. On the arrival of Back To Steel in November 2015 \u2013 another year on \u2013 he told Prog what he\u2019d learned since the end of his time with Tull (who later reconvened<\/a> without him).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a pigeon that\u2019s been locked up in a shed for a few years and then it\u2019s released \u2013 it just felt like a huge rebirth,\u201d says Martin Barre<\/a> of the creative surge that\u2019s yielded three solo albums in two years, including his latest, Back To Steel.<\/p>\n

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His enthusiasm is such that it\u2019s like talking to a young, upcoming musician rather than the highly regarded, hugely influential guitarist who served for 42 years in one of prog\u2019s premier groups. \u201cIt all sounds a bit pretentious, but I just had this void in front of me when Jethro Tull<\/a> finished, and at first it was a bit intimidating,\u201d he says. \u201cBut then I realised I had total freedom to do exactly what I wanted. So the last four years have been amazing, particularly in recording.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He says Back To Steel is \u201cthe most important work in my career as a musician\u201d because it consists largely of his own songs \u2013 and showcases him as a fine writer. So does he think perhaps he could have explored that avenue before?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019d been doing this is the 70s or 80s, I\u2019d have my own career really established by now,\u201d he reflects. \u201cBut what will be will be. I don\u2019t have any regrets as we were so busy. Jethro Tull was one of the few bands that never stopped working. I can remember only having one year off, ever, and that was the year I started writing music. It wasn\u2019t very good, I hasten to add \u2013 but that was the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title track is a mid-paced, bluesy excursion with some searing lead guitar lines, while It\u2019s Getting Better is a high-velocity song with a mercurial structure. Barre riffs on electric guitar and adds intricate lines on mandolin, while twisting vocal melodies are delivered by Dan Crisp and backing singers Alex Hart and Elani Andrea. The songs are very strong; how did he make such a step up in his writing? Was it craft, or \u2013 for want of a better phrase \u2013 a location of his muse?<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth those things are right. I truly believe that writing is something you have to learn how to do,\u201d he replies. \u201cWith guitar or piano you\u2019ve got strict guidelines of where you\u2019ve got to go; but with songwriting, people either like what you do or they don\u2019t. And you have to do what\u2019s in your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Barre has ruled himself out of contention as a singer, though, reckoning with some reluctance that it\u2019s too late to try to excel in that field. \u201cI\u2019d have to go through a very dark period of being rubbish and I can\u2019t afford to do that at my age! I didn\u2019t with Tull because there wasn\u2019t the need. Although I don\u2019t know why there wasn\u2019t, because there were a lot of harmonies in some of those albums, particularly the Songs From The Wood<\/a> era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like writing the parts, but I can\u2019t perform them \u2013 I\u2019ve got enough to do with the guitar. It\u2019s one of my great pleasures, arranging music, and that\u2019s part of a musician\u2019s job. But in my band the musicians have a plain sheet as far as their parts are concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the matter of writing lyrics: \u201cI\u2019m confident with the music because I know what I write is going to be okay. I\u2019ve got lots of knowledge and I\u2019ve got a pool I can draw from. But I\u2019m under pressure to make the lyrics as good as I can, so I spend lots of time on them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt probably took me longer to do the lyrics than the music, because I\u2019d rewrite them so many times. My wife has a huge collection of CDs \u2013 I\u2019d grab one, read the lyrics and think, \u2018You know, I shouldn\u2019t be worried!\u2019 When you\u2019re just reading them they\u2019re not enough, but as soon as you add the melody and the vocal quality, they change into another thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Martin\n<\/p>\n

Barre at home in Devon (Image credit: Guy Harrop)<\/p>\n

Back To Steel<\/a> contains some acoustic numbers, such as the lovely, baroque-flavoured You And I, with the female vocalists duetting along with guitar picking that\u2019s reminiscent of John Renbourn<\/a>. Then there\u2019s the more animated Calafel. Does Barre listen to, say, Bach\u2019s lute suites or particular folk guitarists?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been listening to Vivaldi\u2019s mandolin concertos; they\u2019re just fabulous,\u201d he says. \u201cI love folk music \u2013 some of the virtuoso mandolin players and whistle players are a delight. They don\u2019t so much influence me as inspire me to improve as a mandolin player. Of course, I know [bassist and mandolinist] Dave Pegg<\/a> really well, and because we\u2019ve been such good friends for a long time, that\u2019s come into the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone has something to say and has their place in music. I\u2019m comfortable with who I am<\/p>\n

Barre includes a number of Tull songs in his band\u2019s live repertoire, including
Fat Man and Sweet Dream \u2013 even sections of A Passion Play. On Back To Steel he\u2019s recorded versions of Slow Marching Band from 1982\u2019s Broadsword And The Beast<\/a> and Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day from 1974\u2019s War Child<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The original Skating Away builds up with accordion, glockenspiel, guitars, bass and drums gradually introduced into the mix. On his own version, Barre clears space in a previously very busy, detailed song, explaining that he and his Tull colleagues were all active in arranging their songs. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to replicate them or rewrite them, but it\u2019s my take on them. They\u2019ve worked well on stage, and when we do gigs I want to have that Tull connection. But I want it to be my connection, so this is my way of making it a bit more fun for me. The audience hear the same song with different clothes on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being endearingly modest about his abilities, he has an impressive list of American hot-shot guitarist admirers including Steve Vai<\/a>, Joe Satriani<\/a>, John Frusciante<\/a> and Joe Bonamassa<\/a>. \u201cGreat players, but I\u2019m never going to play like them,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone has something to say and has their place in music \u2013 a whizz-kid guitarist or someone who plays a bit and sings. I\u2019m comfortable with who I am \u2013 I don\u2019t feel intimidated by other musicians, as I used to years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like almost all his generation, Barre started off as a blues<\/a> player; but it\u2019s a genre he believes has lost its way somewhat. \u201cThe 1960s spawned a whole era of players who were just trying to emulate what B.B. King<\/a> and Buddy Guy<\/a> were doing, but they missed the point that blues is about note placement and how that note sounds. To me the blues is far more complex; there were so many bad blues players, particularly in England, that it lost its popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November, Barre and his group will take part in 2015\u2019s Cruise To The Edge. \u201cIt always sounded great to me \u2013 a festival on water,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cAllan Holdsworth<\/a> is playing; Marillion<\/a> and Yes<\/a>. It\u2019s only five days \u2013 if it were longer I might jump over the side! But I\u2019m more comfortable around other musicians now, so it\u2019ll be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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