Telegraph.com Interview

[michelej1]

http://www.thetelegraph.com/entertai...aking_mac.html

September 25, 2008 - 11:36AM
By COREY STULCE

Fans of Fleetwood Mac's prolific guitarist/troubadour got a "Gift of Screws" last week - the second solo release from Lindsey Buckingham in less than two years.

The rocking affair has been tinkering around in one form or another for quite some time, though Buckingham only recently added the finishing touches to the album after a solo tour in 2007. He returns to the area Monday for a gig at St. Louis' The Pageant - arguably the best house in the area to see a performer of Buckingham's caliber.

He said the chorus of the title track - coming off as a punk-rockabilly hybrid with some tribal screams tossed in - is directly ripped from an Emily Dickinson poem.

"You can't necessarily expect to achieve what you're looking for or to find meaning in something just from what is given to you. You have to take those gifts and apply your own vision and love and effort," Buckingham told The Telegraph.

"(Dickinson's) making this analogy about making perfume and how it's not going to be just the sun making the flower grow. You've got to take the petals and press them and turn the screw, basically. The ‘Gift of Screws' is you knowing what you get out of it.

"That was something I related to very much," he added.

His Mac mates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie provide percussion and bass on that track, and Buckingham confirmed what has been rumored about for some time - that he and the rest of the band, sans Christine McVie, are getting back together for a new album and world tour, which will likely encompass most of 2009-10 - perhaps beyond.
Buckingham said "Gift of Screws" almost ended up on Mac's last album, 2003's "Say You Will," but it was a "little too far out on the edge."

"Mick and I share a love of animal energy and taking that potential in rock out and start to push the envelope," he said.

"Gift of Screws" is a buoyant ride, full of fantastic solos. He calls it the main act, after 2006's acoustic "Under the Skin." Online reviews of Buckingham's current tour are strong, and mention that the set list leans heavily on the new tracks and that they mix nicely with Mac classics like "Second Hand News" and "Tusk," as well as Lindsey's other solo hits.

The drama behind the scenes of Fleetwood Mac is almost as notorious as the band's songs are familiar. But Buckingham has left his love affair with Stevie Nicks and those drug-fueled '70s days long behind, and is now a family man. He said that has allowed him to open his life up and lead a broader existence.

"For years, the way I got by was to focus on the music and otherwise lead a fairly monk-like existence, and there's nothing wrong with that," he said. "That was sort of the residue from years of ambivalence about our experiences in Fleetwood Mac."

He said that finding a partner later in life and bringing beautiful children into the world reaffirms the cycle of life. Buckingham feels he is at his most creative at this time, and it shows on "Gift of Screws."
It became a bit of a family project as well.

"My son Will was walking around the studio going, ‘Great day. Great day.' I said, ‘What is that?' He said, ‘I don't know. I just made it up.' That became the chorus for the opening track," Buckingham said.

His wife also added some lyrics to a track and added some structure to another, he added.

"It all starts to intertwine in a very positive way," he said. "It's great. I
feel very lucky."