in recent years, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon have enjoyed a mother and child reunion in the form of creative collaboration, with Sean’s band IMA supporting Ono both on stage and in the studio. Recently, Ono spoke with Salon about the similarities between John and Sean, and the differences between now and then.

Was working with your son different from previous recording experiences?

It was very different from previous experiences, but it was also a reminder of when John and I did Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. It was that kind of feeling. I felt that Sean was very supportive of me, just like John. So there were no sort of silly questions, you know, like “Why are you screaming Yoko?” [laughs]. It was good. Sean and others in the group, Timo Ellis and Sam Koppleman, they’re from the now generation, but they found it easy to communicate.

Did Sean absorb your aesthetic sensibility by osmosis? It seems like a mother and son might have a pretty organic bond.

Very organic. But I naturally assumed that when he grows up he would respect his father’s work a lot. Never thought he would even listen to mine. I never pushed it or even explained it to him, but then I’m seeing him playing my old records and all that — I was surprised.

Why wouldn’t he be interested in his mother’s work?

I automatically expected that because my work is the work of an outsider, and his dad is very mainstream. Well, he created the mainstream. So it’s natural for Sean to go to that. But the fact that I was an underdog probably appealed to him. And it’s worked out very well for the mother and son relationship. If I was successful he might’ve gone the other way. But he is very much into Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, all the oldies. I think this generation — not just him but his friends, too — have an incredible amount of musical knowledge. They’re lucky to have such a rich history.

Did you ever pull rank on him as a mom?

On a musical level we understood each other well. I was expecting some musical arguments but there wasn’t much of that. But there were things I wanted to teach him — you don’t waste session time, time is valuable in the studio. You don’t keep doing it over and over. You do it right the first time, and maybe I’ll give you a second chance, but not a fourth or fifth. It’s a good attitude to learn in the beginning, it will make him more focused on it. That’s the kind of thing I try to tell the band — this is not play time, it’s doing it right time.

Did the other guys in the band treat you like Sean’s mom?

No. Well, there was a little bit of that, you know, ‘We can be lax because she’s only Sean’s mom.’ But once they got into the music, it was very productive. And the way Sean was supportive was similar to how John was in the studio.

It seems to me that the keynote of the new album is that line in “Rising”: Have courage/Have rage/We’re rising. Do you believe anger is an energy, as John Lydon once put it?

Yes. But not if it’s misdirected, at your friends or your close family. Usually we do that because we have this innate anger, which started probably when we were born, when they slapped us and cut the umbilical cord before we wanted it cut, you know? It’s a big shock to come out into a new world and start life like that. And then you’re subjected to all these misconceptions in life, all sorts of illusions and myths we have to live through, and the anger increases.”