Mick Fleetwood: ‘I got permission to urinate on the White House lawn’

[kak125]

Found this article today it was posted on 11/12.

Hi, Mick! Do you remember what you’ve been doing today?

We’ve just finished seven weeks of rehearsals and we’re on tour (1).

Another one of the tours you said wouldn’t happen. And you said you’d never ask Christine (McVie) to come back ...

Bingo! She’s back.

How the hell did that occur?

Good question! Not in a million years did any of us think it was a possibility. When Chris left, she left (2). Stevie (Nicks) was saying the other day that it’s like when you break up with your partner. You always remember the moment when they look at you and you just know it’s over.

You didn’t try persuading her to stay?

I realised there was no point when she held my hand, looked me in the eye and said: “Mick ... don’t ask me.” I promised I’d never mention it. Coming back was her choice. Not to sound like an old hippy, but it’s like she never left. Christine is so happy to be doing it, and it’s powerful, magical, fairytale, mythological stuff.

It’s a myth that you all hate each other, really, isn’t it? (3)

That whole “extreme fear and loathing” thing is a load of bollocks. It’s boring when I have to explain why we still want to be doing this. Some bands admit they don’t like each other, but they can sign a piece of paper and walk on stage. Nothing wrong with that, but we can’t do it. We have to have some emotional credibility to what we’re doing.

Some cynics might say you’re still touring for the money?

I don’t think so, my friend. Elton John and Eric Clapton work more than us, and they certainly don’t need the money. Have you ever thought that we actually like doing what we do?

It’s been almost a quarter of a century since your first autobiography (4) revealed the wonderful tales of excess: hotel rooms redecorated pink, smashing Rolex watches, wife-swapping and drugs. You’ve just written a second one, Play On. What else was there to reveal?

The original book was written in a very different world. I was “out there”. This is about asking “what is this creature Mick in the middle of this band?” I was able to be more constructively reflective.

You’re pretty frank about your feelings for Stevie, and there’s a whole chapter devoted to your first wife Jenny (5).

I’m not sharing anything that anyone’s not going to be comfortable with. I know Stevie’s OK with it. Jenny was hugely helpful, and it allowed her to express how she felt. At the time I had no idea she was feeling the way she was because I was so in my own head. I didn’t see her crying out. It was cathartic for me.

You certainly expressed yourself in the 70s. What’s the most outrageous thing on your rider these days?

We vaguely indulge ourselves. We have a private plane, which isn’t uncommon, and I never lift stuff. On stage I’m like some weird racehorse running the Derby, and I must be in good shape.

Is the plane customised?

That’s one thing we never did. I wouldn’t mind having a Fleetwood Mac decal on the plane. I’ll say, “This journalist from the Guardian gave me the idea.”

Let’s talk about your legendary wooden balls (6).

The originals are deceased.

And the ones featured on the Rumours album cover?

They’re retired, but they always hang in my dressing room in what I call my mojo bag.

So where do your current pair come from. Do you have a personal wooden bollock-maker?

The ones I wear on stage now are about 18 years old and custom-made by me.

Talk us through the process.

I get two wooden lavatory balls, then I get a leather thong and attach them with a little hook. I rub them in the earth, then comes a ritual where they end up getting buried and resurrected. If ever I’m near the sea, I take them swimming …

OK ... well I have to move on because we’ve only got 30 minutes …

Well you asked, so I’m telling you. There’s always one ball lower than the other, right? That’s skilfully measured out by me before hanging them on the thong. And I rub them in linseed oil, which not only smells great but feeds the wood. How’s that for an explanation?

Full! Bet you had some explaining to do after relieving yourself on the White House lawn, feet away from your friends the Clintons (7).

Please don’t make it sound like I’m prone to weeing on people’s lawns! I was dying to pee and I didn’t have time to go back to the house before we appeared.

The White House doesn’t have a portable loo?

I was surprised, too. I was saying to my manager: “What the **** am I going to do?” I was dressed like Mr Rumours, in knickerbockers, with my wooden balls hanging out. The security guys must have heard because suddenly this fella with an earpiece said something like “permission granted to urinate on the lawn”. One of our musicians took a picture of me doing it.

I don’t suppose we could borrow that picture?

Yeah, right. Actually, I should have put it in the book. I don’t think Bill and Hillary knew about it, but they’d forgive me.

What’s the most outrageous rumour that you’ve ever read about yourself?

That over the years, the amount of cocaine I’d used stretched to the moon. It’s funny now, but for a while it got out of control. One article said I’d spent $60m on it. As if. I’ve never earned that much in my life.

And finally … the rumour that the Mac will be playing Glastonbury in 2015?

Not happening.

• Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac is out now

Footnotes
(1) The On with the Show tour reunites the classic lineup of Mick, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and John and Christine McVie.

(2) A fear of flying was a big factor in Christine’s decision to leave in 1998. She’s since overcome it with therapy.

(3) During the recording of Rumours, Lindsey’s relationship with Stevie was crumbling, Mick was divorcing his wife and embarking on an affair with Stevie, and John and Christine were divorcing.

(4) My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac.

(5) In the book Mick refers to Stevie as his “unfulfilled love”. He married and divorced his first wife Jenny twice in the 70s. Her sister Patti was married to George Harrison.

(6) Wooden balls from a toilet chain Mick had stolen from a club. They’re his lucky charm.

(7) The Clintons are fans, and Hillary asked them to play as a surprise at Bill’s leaving party.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...mick-fleetwood