Pop Quiz: Aqualung

Pop Quiz: Aqualung

Aidin Vaziri | When Matt Hales named his band Aqualung, he had no idea he had just adopted the title of the most famous album by flute-soloing classic rockers Jethro Tull. Then, earlier this year when he lent his song "Brighter Than Sunshine" to the soundtrack for the Ashton Kutcher/Amanda Peet film "A Lot Like Love," he had no idea anybody would actually hear it. Now that the track is a big hit and Aqualung is all over the place, the piano-playing British songwriter is paying for his mistakes. Fortunately, his American debut, "Strange and Beautiful," featuring tracks culled from recordings released in the United Kingdom in 2002 and 2003, is good enough to stand on its own.


Matt Hales of Aqualung
Q: Why would you sacrifice a good song for an Ashton Kutcher movie?
A: I'm still licking my wounds.
Q: Do you think you can digitally go back and take his and Amanda Peet's face out of your video for "Brighter Than Sunshine"?
A: No, I guess not. It might be a pointless exercise. I don't really care, really. For a long time they were supposed to be the stars of that video, which would have been even more hilarious. Sadly, we had to make do with their pictures.
Q: Has anyone at your shows demanded to see you play a flute solo while bouncing on one leg?
A: No. That hasn't happened at all. Not even in jest. I imagine a lot of people who are into Aqualung the band don't even know about Jethro Tull. They seem to be a much bigger deal with elderly DJs and classic-rock writers. I know there were people at the label who were worried for a while that people would think I was a tribute artist. There was also one review on Amazon where they were angry: "The new Jethro Tull album is s -- . It doesn't sound anything like their old stuff. There are hardly any flute solos."
Q: Congratulations on not hearing about Jethro Tull for the first 30 years of your life.
A: It doesn't really exist here. I don't know why you guys are fixated on '70s rock. I just thought it was a nice word. And then it suddenly turned out I was calling myself "Ticket to Ride," or "Layla." I really didn't know.
Q: That's the one thing we need to fix about this country.
A: Yeah, forget the foreign policy issues. You should focus on the Jethro Tull issue.