Ian Anderson: "Please don't become Malmsteen or Satriani"

Ian Anderson: “Please don’t become Malmsteen or Satriani”

ByJohn

The leader of the Jethro Tull Ian Anderson in an interview with Loudersound he told what his advice was to the band’s new guitarist Jack Clark who participated in the creation of the group’s latest album, “Curious ruminant”released in March 2025.

These are the words of the 78-year-old Scottish musician: “This is our first album with Jack Clark, but he had already played with Jethro Tull several times. He had David Goodier when David was operated on, and then John O’Hara, covering part of his role as keyboard player, but as second guitar. Apparently Jack is also a very good lead guitarist.”

Anderson, among other praise, praised Clark’s measured approach on the new record. “On this record he impressed me with intelligent, measured guitar solos, with lots of semiquavers in the right places. Jack isn’t afraid to stay on the right note. That’s something I passed on to him when he joined the band: ‘If you have a sixteen-bar guitar solo, please don’t turn into Yngwie Malmsteen or Joe Satriani.'”

This advice given to the guitarist in his early thirties fully reflects his preference Ian Anderson for a sober and tasteful guitar work compared to the technical spectacularity of a performance. Jack Clark joined the Jethro Tull in 2022 as substitute bassist. He was then promoted to lead guitar in 2024 following his departure from the group Joe Parrish-James.

John
John

With an untamed passion and deep, eclectic knowledge of music, John is the soul of RadioWise UK. Having worked in the music industry for over two decades, his vision was to create a platform that embodies the love and respect for music. John is known for his great attention to detail and insatiable thirst for discovering new talents and music genres.