Lindsey interviewed by U-T San Diego

[WildHearted]

[I've bolded Lindsey's responses for convenience because of the length of the article.]

Fleetwood Mac says: 'Don't stop'
It’s been a turbulent ride, but the group is back. "We are the kind of people who don’t all belong in the same band together,' says Lindsey Buckingham.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/...mac-interview/

It’s been 39 years since Lindsey Buckingham and his then-girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, joined Mick Fleetwood and John and Christine McVie in Fleetwood Mac.

Faster than you can say “Landslide,” the 8-year-old English blues-rock band and its two new American members shifted gears, changed musical styles and soared to international pop stardom. The 1975 album “Fleetwood Mac” was the group’s first release to top the U.S. charts, while its 1977 masterpiece “Rumours” has now sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and yielded such enduring hits as “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way.”

Did Buckingham ever imagine then that the band would still be active in 2013 and embarked on a world tour, which includes a Friday stop here at San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena?

“Well, time kind of slips by and it doesn’t seem that long,” said the veteran guitarist and singer-songwriter, speaking from a recent tour stop in Boston. “You know, when you’re in your 20s and contemplating that (long an) amount of time, you think: ‘Gee, will I even still be alive by then?’ So, it’s all kind of relative to your perspective. And it certainly is a surprise, although there are bands that have managed to stick around that long.

“The one thing that probably would have disabused me from thinking then that we’d still be around now is that the chemistry was always so volatile. Not just because there were two couples in Fleetwood Mac who had broken up (before ‘Rumours’ was completed), and that whole subtext, but from the point of view that we are the kind of people who don’t all belong in the same band together.”

Those two couples were, of course, Buckingham and Nicks, who split up while making “Rumours,” and the McVies, who separated before recording sessions for “Rumours” began and soon divorced. For any other band, such upheaval would spell the end. For Fleetwood Mac, it was the launchpad to fame, fortune and more upheaval, including drugs, Fleetwood’s bankruptcy, his on-tour affair with Nicks and enough other ups and downs to fuel a rock ’n’ roll soap opera.

“The conception is the volatility would eventually become a divisive force,” Buckingham said. “But I guess it went the other way; that same dynamic has a musical synergy, and we’re still working through things on a personal level.”

He laughed.

"There's no way (39 years ago) I thought we'd still be doing this, now, in this form."

Of course, Fleetwood Mac has hardly remained constant since its “Rumours” heyday.

Buckingham, always the most musically adventurous of the band, quit in 1987. He was replaced by Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. Nicks and Christine McVie left the group in 1990, followed by Vito a year later, at which point Fleetwood Mac ground to a halt.

In 1993, Buckingham, Nicks, Fleetwood and the McVies reunited to perform at newly elected President Bill Clinton’s inaugural ball (“Don’t Stop” was his campaign theme song). Burnette quit the same year, leaving Fleetwood and the McVies to soldier on. They were soon joined by singer Bekka Bramlett and, briefly, ex-Traffic singer-guitarist Dave Mason. Burnette returned in 1994 and Christine McVie left.

In 1998, a year after the band’s “Rumours” lineup reunited — perhaps as much for financial reasons as artistic ones — Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Christine McVie quit the band, for good, the same year.

“The Fleetwood Mac world certainly can be dysfunctional at times,” drummer Fleetwood said in a 2003 U-T San Diego interview.

Ironically, that very dysfunction seems to have sparked some of the band’s best work.

Witness "Rumours," a classic album born of failed relationships and the subsequent hostility between four of Fleetwood Mac's five members. That dysfunction, while personally painful, provided the essential artistic fuel. Rather than throw in the towel because their lives were falling apart, the band embraced that dysfunction -- or at least decided to not let it do them in -- as they made the album that would make them rock legends.

“Yeah, it’s very difficult to separate one from the other,” agreed Buckingham, who guests on the new Nine Inch Nails album.

"You have to start with the unique circumstances: John and Christine were married, and were in the process of ending their marriage, when Stevie and I joined the band. Stevie and I had our problems before then. And, to some degree, she and Christine egged each other on in dislodging themselves from their respective partners. So you had this unique dynamic going on within the band, and it really didn’t play out its conclusion until 'Rumours,' when John and Christine were completely separated and Stevie and I separated for good, right at the outset of (recording) that album.

"So, yes, the idea that you had to get on with what it was we went along to accomplish – or, if you want to call it, fulfilling our destiny – in order to do that, there needed to be a lot of compartmentalizing of emotions. There's a subtext, within that dysfunction, of heroism to rise above the more petty concerns and look at the bigger picture. And, in many ways, that became not just a musical soap opera, but that subtext of courage became the appeal of the album.

"Because, at some point, the album's success became about the success. But, also, it was just one of those weird situations where (listeners) were all sort of invested in this back story that was gong on. So it is very difficult not to factor that in, not just on a musical level, but in how it formed the identity of the album."

Adding another element to the album is that Buckingham and Nicks came from a completely different cultural background than Fleetwood Mac's three English members.

"Lindsey and Stevie were two California hippies, while the rest of the band were all hardcore Brits," recalled Ken Caillat, who co-produced "Rumours" and several subsequent albums for the band. "They used to kid each other that. The basic difference was the Brits in the group liked to drink and the hippies liked to smoke pot.

"Lindsey was the young musical genius, so to speak. He was always trying to stretch for higher goals. As the music developed, Lindsey was the guy adding a lot of colors."

Buckingham was also the guy who decided to replace McVie's bass parts on the song "Second Hand News," in addition to sitting down at Fleetwood's drum kit to show him he thought the drum part should go. It was a gutsy move for a new member of the band, but Buckingham doesn't see it that way.

"No, not at all," he said. "It was exactly what was needed. Going into Fleetwood Mac, there were certain things I had to give up, a certain part of the lexicon I had as a guitar player, in order to pare down and adapt to the existing sound. There were things that had to be adapted; it was a lesson in adaptation. But, at the same time, it was very clear to me that if this was going to work we had to cut through the b.s. and concentrate on what the needs of the songs were.

"I'm sure there were times when that particular contribution of mine might have made someone else feel like I was stepping on somebody's toes. Perhaps that was the case with John, but Mick never had a problem with the direction I was giving. Sometimes, he had a problem implementing it, but never on an ethical level.

"That (creative input) was something they were crying out for, in my mind. Much of what had been missing since (guitarist and band co-founder) Peter Green left the band (in 1970) was that kind of clear vision. And, right away, even in rehearsals, it was clear to me I had something to offer Christine, in terms of structuring her songs. And she recognized that. I think they all recognized that, on some level."

In a 2002 U-T San Diego interview, Nicks blamed Buckingham for the band having later imploded.

"Fleetwood Mac never would have broken up if it had been up to me, Mick John or Christine," Nicks charged. "So this is all Lindsey's ballpark. Lindsey either wants to be in Fleetwood Mac, or he doesn't..."

Does this make Buckingham the equivalent of Neil Young in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, a band that tours only when Young wants?

After jokingly responding: "Oh, I hope so!" Buckingham grew more serious.

"I don't think it's quite that simple," he said. "Certainly, I have dictated terms at various times. I even left the band in 1987, because things had gotten out of hand, in terms of it being a functional organization. And I needed to get my feet back on the ground. Yes, there have been plenty of times where I've been the one, who dictated terms. But Stevie does that as well. So it's little bit more two-sided at this point. But, sure, any comparison you want to make to Neil Young, I'll take."

So, how are he and Nicks getting along now?

“In 2003 and 2004, there was a tangible polarity between Stevie and me,” Buckingham replied. “By our 2009 tour, that polarity had neutralized. … Now, on this tour, it seems to have swung the other way, to where Stevie and I are sort of playing out these (star-crossed lovers) roles, although it isn’t the reality of our lives! But it was, once, and slowly evolved into these roles.

"I mean, my God, I have three children and a beautiful wife, and that’s my reality. But the dynamic between Stevie and myself onstage this time is more of a love fest. And, for whatever reason, we are able to acknowledge that offstage and manifest it a little on stage. It seems to be playing out like we’re taking stock of that ‘What’s it all about, Alfie?’ moment. And that’s really very touching, and quite intriguing, to do with someone I’ve known since high school.”

[bombaysaffires]

You know this seems to be one of his newer, recurring themes.. that Stevie and Christine were this lethal combination "egging each other on" to leave their respective relationships. Does he think that if Christine hadn't been around Stevie wouldn't have left him?? One toke over the line, dude.

[elle]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

You know this seems to be one of his newer, recurring themes.. that Stevie and Christine were this lethal combination "egging each other on" to leave their respective relationships. Does he think that if Christine hadn't been around Stevie wouldn't have left him?? One toke over the line, dude.

first time i heard him say that was almost 2 years ago at 92Y Q&A. audience kinda reacted with "yeah right" so he corrected himself as he was speaking and said that it would probably take a little longer for them to break up than it did without Christine-Stevie mutual support. or something like that. i have a recording of it somewhere.

[MikeVielhaber]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

One toke over the line, dude.

One take?

[SteveMacD]

He uses so many words, yet says so little.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by elle

first time i heard him say that was almost 2 years ago at 92Y Q&A. audience kinda reacted with "yeah right" so he corrected himself as he was speaking and said that it would probably take a little longer for them to break up than it did without Christine-Stevie mutual support. or something like that. i have a recording of it somewhere.

He has said this for about 15 years, at the every least. It's not something he repeats ad infinitum, but he has certainly been mentioning it for quite awhile. He says he and Stevie were in turmoil and may or may not have made it, but due to Christine being there, they definitely didn't.

Michele

[michelej1]

[You take these three year breaks?? Oh, Lindsey man. Was that Kool-Aid good? It makes me sad, like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers when I realize that the pod people have gotten you too.]

By RANDY LEWIS, July 4, 2013

Los Angeles Times (via the Miami Herald]
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/0...isnt-says.html


LOS ANGELES - For a notoriously perfectionist band like Fleetwood Mac, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that its live show leaves nothing to chance.

Fleetwood Mac's 2013 tour, which wraps up with a final run of shows this week in California, is built around a song list that's gone virtually unchanged since the concert run began in April.

"We're not one of those bands that throws the names of all their songs in a hat and pulls them out right before they go on stage," guitarist, songwriter and singer Lindsey Buckingham said last week from a tour stop in Charlotte, N.C. "Years ago I was hanging out with Peter Buck and went to several shows R.E.M. did and they literally did just that. That's one end of the spectrum.

"We've always had the sensibility that you work on the set and you structure it, much like a play, where once you've got the lines down and blocking right, you freeze it, and then you go out and do what you're doing night after night," he said. "You want to structure something that has form and that builds the right dynamic from start to finish."

This time out that set list runs from "Second Hand News," the "Rumours" opening track that serves the same function on this tour, through cornerstone hits including ""Rhiannon," "Gold Dust Woman" and "Go Your Own Way" that are interspersed with deeper tracks such as "Not That Funny," "Eyes of the World" and "I'm So Afraid."

When it comes to touring, the group stresses a sense of stability onstage that rarely existed for the members off stage. The group famously channeled feelings unleashed by the disintegrating relationship of Buckingham and Stevie Nicks as well as the failing marriage of John and Christine McVie into the songs that catapulted "Rumours" and the band into the commercial stratosphere. Ever since, interpersonal dynamics have been nearly as big a part of Fleetwood Mac's history as the music it made.

"You could look ... and think these people don't belong in the same band together," he said. "But it's the differences and disparity that creates a kind of synergy where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that's what makes Fleetwood Mac what it is, and what makes the politics of the band what they are."

Certainly the remaining four core members are long past the big drama that fueled their breakthrough 1975 album "Fleetwood Mac," the first after Buckingham and Nicks joined the lineup with founding members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie and longtime member Christine McVie.

But drama still surfaces - most recently over whether the group would have a full album out in conjunction with the latest tour. After bumping the band's tour from 2012 to 2013 so Nicks could continue to support her 2011 solo album "In Your Dreams," Buckingham, John McVie and Fleetwood worked up eight new tracks for what they hoped would be a new album, anticipating several more from Nicks when she returned to the fold.

But she brought just one, and an old one at that: "Without You," an unreleased song from the days she and Buckingham recorded and performed as Buckingham Nicks before joining Fleetwood Mac. (There's talk of a possible Buckingham Nicks tour and album reissue to note the 40th anniversary of that group's one and only release, but it's too early for any specifics, Buckingham said.)

"Without You" is one of two songs from "Extended Play," the new four-song EP released in April, that are incorporated into the live shows. The other is Buckingham's song "Sad Angel."

"All four are some of the best stuff we've done in a long time," he said. "I think they fit right in alongside the other songs. 'Sad Angel' we play very early in the set, and for the song of Stevie's, she tells a story - a very long story - as an intro about how it predates our involvement with Fleetwood Mac. ... Referring back to the past, it becomes an embodiment of how long Stevie and I have known each other, so that has a certain context of its own that fits in very well."

For help on their return to the studio for the first time in a decade, Buckingham drafted producer Mitchell Froom, who made lauded albums with Crowded House, Los Lobos, the Latin Playboys, Richard Thompson and others in the 1980s and 1990s, and who collected the 1993 Grammy Award as producer of the year.

"What I wanted to do when we contemplated going in with John and Mick, knowing Stevie wouldn't be with us for a while, is that I didn't want to do this by myself. The last time we were in the studio for 'Say You Will,' which is coming up on 10 years now, I was the producer, and that put me in position of displeasing Stevie. I wanted a third party to be involved in the potential making of an album. I thought it would be a healthier environment for everybody."



All that psychological backdrop, he said, plays out in what goes out to the audience from the stage.

"We take these three-year breaks, we come back together and everybody's individual journeys have somehow shifted since last time we did it. If you go back two tours to 2003, we were coming off the last studio album, which I produced, and there was a certain amount of tension between Stevie and me, things she was not happy about. That translated into something tangible onstage - not necessarily something positive but something you could see and respond to.

"If you go to 2009, that had neutralized, and it was a little more generic that time," he said. "This time, it has swung the other way, and now it's a little bit of a love fest up there, and that's an acknowledgment of how things have evolved emotionally and musically."

Things are going smoothly enough that the band members are kicking around the prospect of more shows in 2014, skipping the usual three-year break rule.

"We've done the best business we've done since early '80s," Buckingham said. "I have to assume there's a cyclical thing going where maybe another generation of appreciators have kicked in. The audiences are skewing younger. I can turn on Alt Nation on (SiriusXM) satellite radio and hear what I perceive as musical references to Fleetwood Mac now, where maybe three or four years ago that didn't seem to be the case.

"A lot of things seem to be aligning right now," he said. "We're just assessing what we have to offer."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/0...#storylink=cpy

[MikeInNV]

Originally Posted by michelej1

[You take these three year breaks?? Oh, Lindsey man. Was that Kool-Aid good? It makes me sad, like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers when I realize that the pod people have gotten you too.]

Well technically, Unleashed ran through the end of 2009 and this tour started early in 2013, so the time that passed between the last show and the first is closer to 3 years than 4. (Don't know if that makes you feel any better, but I thought I would give it a shot.)

[WildHearted]

. It seems to be playing out like we’re taking stock of that ‘What’s it all about, Alfie?’ moment.

[jkmaletic]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

He uses so many words, yet says so little.

Haha!!

[elle]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

He uses so many words, yet says so little.

well said!!

and, not just so many, but throwing bunch of big words into the pot, mixing them, and then sprinkling them all over various sentences for some strange inexplicable reason.

[bombaysaffires]

" 'Sad Angel' we play very early in the set, and for the song of Stevie's, she tells a story - a very long story - as an intro about how it predates our involvement with Fleetwood Mac. ... "

this reminds me of years ago when Stevie would complain about how long Lindsey's "stories" and explanations of songs were during shows....

same ****, different day.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by michelej1

He has said this for about 15 years, at the every least. It's not something he repeats ad infinitum, but he has certainly been mentioning it for quite awhile. He says he and Stevie were in turmoil and may or may not have made it, but due to Christine being there, they definitely didn't.

I find it annoying. Clearly with all the shrinkage he's had he must know that his and Stevie's relationship was pretty unhealthy and needed to end. (Even after it ended it remained unhealthy for yeaaaarrrs).
It's an irritating bit of masculine denial... blame those yapping females for colluding and wrecking everything. I love him but when he says sh&t like that I want to hit him over the head with his guitar.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MikeInNV

Well technically, Unleashed ran through the end of 2009 and this tour started early in 2013, so the time that passed between the last show and the first is closer to 3 years than 4. (Don't know if that makes you feel any better, but I thought I would give it a shot.)

Ha, thanks Mike I accept the 3 years between Unleashed and this tour, but the suggestion that they always take 3 years between gatherings and it's an established pattern was one Stevie just thought up for their press conferences and now he's hopped aboard.

Michele

[MikeVielhaber]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

I find it annoying. Clearly with all the shrinkage he's had he must know that his and Stevie's relationship was pretty unhealthy and needed to end. (Even after it ended it remained unhealthy for yeaaaarrrs).
It's an irritating bit of masculine denial... blame those yapping females for colluding and wrecking everything. I love him but when he says sh&t like that I want to hit him over the head with his guitar.

He seems to be saying that she expedited the process. It was going to happen eventually, but it happened earlier than it otherwise would have. I don't think he's blaming Christine for "ruining a good thing" or anything like that.