Jethro Tull Confirms New 2022 Album ‘The Zealot Gene’

Ian Anderson Teased The Project Early This Year

Back in March, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson teased the band’s first album in almost 20 years – The Zealot Gene. They’ve apparently started working on it in 2017 and at the time of his interview, Anderson revealed he was about three-quarters done with the recording and he still had no idea when it will be released.

But now, the rock legends have signed with InsideOut Music/Sony Music and confirmed that they will release The Zealot Gene in early 2022. Their current lineup aside from Anderson includes guitarist Joe Parrish-James, guitarist Florian Opahle (album only), drummer Scott Hammond, keyboardist John O’Hara, and bassist David Goodier.

“There’s a line in [‘The Zealot Gene’], the title track, which says, ‘Bee buzzing in your bonnet/and a wasp right up the bum/a V8 under hood/a cocked hammer under thumb’,” Anderson told Rolling Stone in March. “It’s about getting your knickers in a twist, we would say. Getting hot and bothered and agitated.”

“I’m not a Twitter guy at all, but ‘we know who’ is the arch Twitterer of recent years, which was both a success and ultimately his downfall,” he added. “It’s that kind of vehemence or zealotry, which comes with a point of view and wanting to indoctrinate people with a very polarized and divisive view. There’s a little bit of that in all of us. We all have that capability.”