short LB q & a from Uncut mag, april

[Mari]

Q&A
Mac man Lindsey Buckingham on how Brian Wilson and Gang Of Four shaped the pinnacles of ‘70s MOR

UNCUT: What kind of impact did punk and post-punk have on you and the way you felt Fleetwood Mac’s music should be going?
BUCKINGHAM: Although punk had a fairly huge impact on me, its influence on Tusk wasn’t so much on the music but more that it gave me a little room to deprogram and reaffirm things - to retrieve my own style, which I had when I joined the band in ’74 but which I had then given up to the situation of the group’s collective femaleness. I was inspired by the honesty, integrity and sensibility of bands like The Clash and Gang Of Four.

How did the band feel about this intended new approach?
- It started out as a shouting match at Mick’s house but they gradually came to accept my ideas about redefining the band’s style. I was very intent that we shouldn’t just reproduce the Rumours formula. I was very aware of punk shaking up the status quo.

Can you take us through the homemade approach to your Tusk songs and some of the strange recording techniques you used?
- I wanted to work on my songs alone with a tape machine and then bring them to the group. More eclectic ideas came out as a result. It’s the difference between one-on-one canvas painting, where the artist takes off in a more meditative, subconscious direction, and movie-making which always carries a political aspect because a bunch of other people become involved, which I found counter-productive. So I went ahead and ran the status quo into the ground! The Kleenex boxes as drums, the mics taped to the bathroom floor - these were all just experiments in the mode of Brian Wilson. There was no great plan behind it. Only after this did Tusk become a “band thing”- although I also worked hard to make sure Stevie and Christine’s songs were produced and arranged as well as they could be.

And then, unfortunately, Tusk sold a fraction of what Rumours had sold.
- Only three million in the States, though I’m surprised and thrilled that you told me that “Tusk” was our biggest UK hit single of the ‘70s (No 6 in 1979)! After that, we had a band meeting and agreed we had to return to functioning on a more realistic level. Maybe there was, to an extent, sand in my eyes insofar as getting songs done the way I wanted, though I feel, with Say You Will, we’ve become a lot more focused as a group, even if I did originally intend it to be another solo album!



... oh god, not the painting/movie story again...

[CarneVaca]

Originally posted by Mari

... oh god, not the painting/movie story again...

You think that's bad? Wait till the "femaleness" comment discussion gets revisited.

[Mari]

[sodascouts]

Originally posted by Mari
Q&A
Mac man Lindsey Buckingham on how Brian Wilson and Gang Of Four shaped the pinnacles of ‘70s MOR

UNCUT: What kind of impact did punk and post-punk have on you and the way you felt Fleetwood Mac’s music should be going?
BUCKINGHAM: Although punk had a fairly huge impact on me, its influence on Tusk wasn’t so much on the music but more that it gave me a little room to deprogram and reaffirm things - to retrieve my own style, which I had when I joined the band in ’74 but which I had then given up to the situation of the group’s collective femaleness. I was inspired by the honesty, integrity and sensibility of bands like The Clash and Gang Of Four.

Does anyone here see a connection between Lindsey's BN material and his Tusk material? I don't see much similarity there.

As for the femaleness bit - I won't even go there. I just wish Lindsey hadn't picked that as one of his new catch phrases.

[Cammie]

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Honesty!!! Integrity!!! Sensibility!!!

[4Buck]

Buckingham is extremely articulate and “femaleness” is the grammatically correct adjective in this context. I’ve been coming across this word a lot in print recently, from many other members of the male species.

Thanks for posting this insightful look into one of rock’s most brilliant masterminds, Mari! I could listen to him for hours!

[wildangel]

I really like Lindsey, but for all his macho talk he himself comes off as kinda effeminate (sp?) I mean his voice and some of his songs are more "female" than stevies and chris's - Not that that is a bad thing

[DownOnRodeo]

Thanks for that, Mari.

Although punk had a fairly huge impact on me, its influence on Tusk wasn’t so much on the music but more that it gave me a little room to deprogram and reaffirm things - to retrieve my own style

Well, Lindsey, I'm glad that you've cleared that up. Punk didn't influence the music, folks, it influenced the deprogramming, reaffirmation and retrieval process!

...is he talking about an album or a computer?

Scarily, the more I look at that sentence, the more sense it makes! Although I agree with Nancy that I don't see from where he was retrieving his Tusk sensibilities. Tusk has always seemed to be the seminal point.

[strandinthewind]

Bless his heart

I have to say he would not be the LB we all know and love if he did not issue this Californian, I'm OK - Your OK, post-hippie, pseudo- psychobabble

WE LOVE YOU LB

[face of glass]

Seems to be Marcello Carlin at work again.

Originally posted by wildangel
I mean his voice and some of his songs are more "female" than stevies and chris's

What I’ve always thought he was referring to was the overall tone colours, the acoustic “femininity” that punk ditched and overt “masculinity”, the distortion and harshness that punk just emphasized.

Maybe all he just wanted to do at some point was to play the huge “I’m So Afraid”-type penis-inflations.

Originally posted by DownOnRodeo
Well, Lindsey, I'm glad that you've cleared that up. Punk didn't influence the music, folks, it influenced the deprogramming, reaffirmation and retrieval process!

In other words, the DIY attitude.

Although I agree with Nancy that I don't see from where he was retrieving his Tusk sensibilities. Tusk has always seemed to be the seminal point.

*is shocked when thinking of the material he might have in store from 1973-77*

[Mari]

yes, this interview was on the same page as the review I posted on the Rumours Ledge. Doesn't mention an interviewer though


OOOH... your last remark about possible material from the early-mid seventies... drool!!
*wipes keyboard*
One can always dream...

[wondergirl9847]

Yep, Lindsey has a very girly talking voice and that girly laugh of his makes me smile every time I hear it.

Back in the day, his voice was VERY high and it's nasly too. I remember him on some interview I have or something, where he goes "We're just going along....as insecure as ever." LOL The way he talks sounds so funny.

His accent is a trip too. It's a psuedo-Southern, freakish California accent.

"Turn it awn."

[Les]

Originally posted by DownOnRodeo

I suspect he's talking more about how he put the songs together moreso than the sound of them, much like his other comment about how punk encouraged an attitude in him, moreso than inspiring him to actually write "Anarchy in the U.K."

With Buckingham Nicks, they didn't have the state of the art equipment and it seems he literally sat on the floor of his father's warehouse, with few instruments, using things like hand claps for drums, etc., and slowly pieced songs together without people pressuring him to do things more "normally", hehe. While I imagine many would view this process as something someone should do only when they don't have access to real professional studio time, lol, I suspect he preferred it in many ways. Tusk was a return to that in some respects, with recording at home, in his bathroom, wires strung throughout the house, with kleenex boxes, etc...

Where Stevie seems to derive the greatest pleasure from writing the words, and Mick and John seem to derive the greatest pleasure from performing on stage, Lindsey's always seemed to derive the greatest pleasure from taking all of the million little pieces of vocals and music and oddball sounds and painstakingly putting them together.

[wondergirl9847]

Originally posted by Les
Where Stevie seems to derive the greatest pleasure from writing the words, and Mick and John seem to derive the greatest pleasure from performing on stage, Lindsey's always seemed to derive the greatest pleasure from taking all of the million little pieces of vocals and music and oddball sounds and painstakingly putting them together.

What a terrific way to put that!! They all find pleasure in various ways and then, they come together with their work and BOOM!!

[rcb77]

Well put, Les. They each have his or her own thing, which all contribute to the "whole being greater than the sum of the parts," as Mr. Buckingham likes to say.