PLEDGE WEEK: “Living in the Past” by Jethro Tull

Andrew Hickey· Host0:00

This episode is part of Pledge Week 2025. For five days this week, I will be posting old Patreon bonus episodes to the main feed to encourage people to subscribe to my Patreon. If you want more of these, and only if you can afford it, subscribe for $1 a month at patreon.com/andrewhickey. Whether you do or not, I hope you enjoy this one.

Speaker 10:21

[singing] rock and roll. [singing] yeah. Rock and roll. Roll and rock away. On the down round and round. We'll sway with thee swell. In the spell. Of the droopin' rockin' rhythm of the sea.

Andrew Hickey· Host0:40

The story of Jethro Tull is ultimately the story of Ian Anderson, who has been the only consistent member of the band since it formed 57 years ago. Anderson was born in Scotland, but moved to Blackpool with his family when he was 12, by which time he had already got his first guitar and started learning. In 1963, the same year he left school and started going to art school, Anderson formed his first band, the Blades, named after the club that James Bond would go to in Ian Fleming's novels. The initial lineup of the Blades was Anderson on guitar, Jeffrey Hammond on bass. Hammond hadn't played bass before Anderson told him he looked like a musician and should learn. And John Evans, who got renamed Evan because it was thought that sounded better, on drums. Soon, though, Evan realized he preferred playing keyboards,