Jonathan has also gained considerable and deserved recognition as a highly sought after drummer by some of the world's top artists in the pop, rock and crossover fields and he has a reputation for excellence and integrity. Being a working musician myself, I never saw the “Turbo – Fuel for Life” tour as I was touring at the same time with Jethro Tull. However, we had spoken on many occasions about his time working with Judas Priest and I know that despite the fact that he did not get the official recognition for his service, for understandable public relations reasons, he was justifiably proud of his work and association with such a unique and prominent group.

There is a critical element in this entire controversy to which I would like to offer some professional perspective. In the 1980’s there was an explosion of technology that opened up new sonic possibilities for all instrumentalists, particularly drummers and percussionists. Electronic drum kits and drum machines offered drummers far more control over their studio and live sound than ever before. Unfortunately, the midi and triggering technology of the day was still very inconsistent when it came to triggering drums in a live environment. It was possible to trigger other sounds from acoustic drums through a series of interfaces but even with the best technology of the day available, it could be far from reliable. I know from first hand experience, as I often wrestled with the “state of the art” technology, trying get my acoustic drum kit to reliably trigger sounds from my electronic drum kit. Very often, we simply had to put some of the electronic drum and percussion parts on tape, so that I could play along in real time with them. Jethro Tull has been a five piece band for most of its history and we did not feel we needed to bring along a sixth member just to play these additional parts. So, we did what so many artists at that time did; we put the auxiliary parts and sound effects on tape and used them in real time along with the band’s live performance. This was far from being an uncommon practice and audiences didn’t mind that at all, as long as you were actually up there playing the rest of the music. Often this was a function of the basic economics of touring but if one could afford it, then you might be able to bring along auxiliary musicians or vocalists on tour to help recreate the sound of the records.

Judas Priest was fortunate enough to be able to hire a knowledgeable individual such as Jonathan to perform that auxiliary musician’s function. As I understand, Jonathan was never hired in any capacity to replace Dave Holland, but simply to augment Dave’s parts with the electronic drum kit. They simply chose to have Jonathan playing onstage behind a scrim where he was not visible to the audience but where he could still see, hear and feel the band. Again, this was not an uncommon practice. Many, many big name bands and artists have auxiliary musicians playing live with them but who are relatively invisible to the audience. And there are also many artists and bands that make no secret of the fact that they are using additional musicians. Either way, it rarely is ever an issue for either the audience or the artists. Consequently, I am puzzled as to why Judas Priest feel they have to deny the nature of Jonathan’s involvement with their live show. I cannot imagine that the knowledge of Jonathan’s presence would somehow undermine their well-earned international stature or even that their audience would mind. They are still watching THE band that they paid to see. Furthermore, the fans would probably appreciate the fact that the band cares enough about how they present themselves in a live setting to really try to make the show as professional and powerful as they possibly can.

I can provide a brief illustration of that point. In 2005, when we were planning the Jethro Tull USA tour, we decided that we wished to bring a young violinist named Lucia Micarelli out on the road with us. This allowed a broader range of Tull material that we could play and provided a considerable sonic addition that gave us a new performing freedom. Instead of placing Lucia in the back or off to the side, we put her right up in the front line. The audience accepted her immediately and often gave her a standing ovation for her solo spot in the show. Even though the fans knew she wasn’t joining the band, other than for that tour, they accepted her as if she had. There are countless other examples in the music world similar to that and I think Judas Priest are underestimating the intelligence and acceptance of their audience if they believe this could affect their considerable reputation. Relax, it’s only music.

Respectfully,