Lindsey Buckingham Talks Fleetwood Mac Tour, New EP - Rolling Stone

[kak125]

Lindsey Buckingham Talks Fleetwood Mac Tour, New EP
'Stevie and I have probably more of a connection now than we have in years'


It's been exactly a decade since Fleetwood Mac released a full album, but that hasn't stopped a new generation of fans from discovering the band. "We're doing the best business we've done in 20 years," guitarist Lindsey Buckingham tells Rolling Stone a few hours before the Tulsa, Oklahoma stop on the band's latest tour. "There seems to be a cyclical re-igniting of interests, and there's certainly a lot more young people out there than three years ago."
Months before they started tour rehearsal, the band cut a four-song EP titled Extended Play with producer Mitchell Froom. "When we finally decided this was going to be the year we were going to tour again, I thought it would be great to cut some new stuff," says Buckingham. "I knew we wouldn't have time to cut a new album. Stevie [Nicks] was still caught up in her solo thing, but I got John [McVie] and Mick [Fleetwood] over from Hawaii. They played their asses off. It was a great experience."
Stevie Nicks arrived at the sessions towards the end, and Buckingham presented her with "Sad Angel." "I wrote that song for Stevie," he says. "She always had to fight for everything. She was coming off a solo album and was in the process of reintegrating herself mentally in the band, and we're all warriors with a sword in one sort or another. She and I have known each other since high school. So I just wrote, 'Sad Angel have you come to fight the war/We fall to earth together, the crowd calling out for more
Like many of the group's greatest songs, "Sad Angel" reflects on Lindsey and Stevie's complex relationship. "All these years later, we are still writing songs that are dialogues for each other," he says. "That was part of the appeal of Rumours, and of the group in general . . . Of all the things we cut, 'Sad Angel' was, for lack of a better term, the most Fleetwood Mac-y. It was really kind of the best stuff that we have done in a while."
They also recorded "Without You," a song that's roughly 40 years old. "Stevie and I had a little disagreement over when it was written," Buckingham says. "It definitely predates our involvement in Fleetwood Mac. I believe it was written when we were in the process of culling material for a possible second Buckingham-Nicks album, before we were dropped by Polydor. She claims it was written earlier, but I'm not so sure. But it's a very sweet song that really harkens back to a time when we were far more innocent. She's writing to me and it's about our relationship, when we'd only been together for a very short time."
Stevie Nicks says that she rediscovered the song on YouTube. "I'm not really sure how it resurfaced," says Buckingham. "She brought it in one day and she brought it by my house. John and Mick didn't really work on that. There's kind of an appropriateness in doing something that predates Fleetwood Mac, because at this stage in time Stevie and I have more of a connection than we've had for a while. That's a nice thing."
"Sad Angel" and "Without You" are performed every night on Fleetwood Mac's ongoing world tour, but the vast majority of the set is devoted to songs from the group's deep catalog. "Creating a set list is like making a running order for an album," says Buckingham. "Certain things get pitted against one another that make more sense. One song sets another one off, or it might diminish it. You're just constantly looking for the next thing that's gonna make sense in a particular place."
The show begins with "Second Hand News," the kick-off track to band's 1976 landmark album Rumours. "It seemed like the obvious choice as the opener," says Buckingam. "There are certain touchstones that you always do. When you've been around for a while, you realize there's a body of work you're going to rely on every time. You're not going to reinvent the wheel every time you go out, because that would disappoint the audience."
After "Second Hand News," the group keeps the Rumours theme going with "The Chain" and "Dreams." "You get that out of the way," says Buckingham. "Then we do 'Sad Angel' and then we're segueing into various twists and turns from there."
A frenetic "Rhiannon" segues into four straight Tusk songs: "Not That Funny," "Tusk," "Sisters of the Moon" and "Tusk." "After the success of Rumours, we were in this zone with this certain scale of success," Buckingham says. "By that point the success detaches from the music, and the success becomes about the success. The phenomenon becomes about the phenomenon. Warner Bros. would have very much liked to have seen a Rumours II. There was a need on my part – and the band as well, but I was certainly the instigator – to kind of subvert that notion."
Tusk was a huge bestseller, but the songs were less commercial, failing to live up to the enormous sales of Rumours. "We didn't want to be painted into a corner," Buckingham says. "If you want to be an artist in the long run, it isn't necessarily a good axiom to repeat formulas over and over until they're used up."
The rest of the show focuses on enormous hits like "Gypsy," "Go Your Own Way" and "Gold Dust Woman," but "Don't Stop" is the sole number written by former Mac keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie. "On the last tour we did 'Don't Stop' and 'Say You Love Me,'" says Buckingham. "But it's hard to sustain her presence. There's no real reason to do it. She had some great songs, but it becomes a little schizoid to go out there and try to recreate her thing."
Christine McVie did participate in Fleetwood Mac's 1997 comeback album The Dance, but she left after the tour. "She was just in need of a radical life change," says Buckingham. "She pretty much burned all her bridges in Los Angeles. She sold her house, ended her relationship, quit the band and moved back to England. It was a fairly sweeping set of changes, and something she needed to do for her reasons, though I'm not particularly clear on what those were."
The group took a break after McVie quit, but regrouped in 2002 to begin work on Say You Will. "We all miss her, and we miss the equation that fivesome made," Buckingham says. "It's a different equation with the four. But for me, it actually opened up an opportunity to be a little more myself onstage. When you divide the material more or less down the middle, it gives me more of a chance to be the guy, and to be the kind of presence and energy I am onstage."
The adjustment has been more difficult for Stevie Nicks. "She misses the female camaraderie," says Buckingham. "So it's been a double-edged sword for her. But as the band evolved as a four-piece, it became less relevant to put songs of hers in there. We haven't felt a need to do that, even though she had some hits. It's just . . . it is what it is. The band is a different band now. On the other hand, 'Don't Stop' is just one of those anthems with a strong message. That's why Bill Clinton latched onto it. It's a very effective encore song for us."
The show wraps with "Say Goodbye," the only song of the night drawn from the group's 2003 LP Say You Will. "As I said, Stevie and I have probably more of a connection now than we have in years," says Buckingham. "You can feel it. It's tangible on stage. In many ways, that song is the embodiment of that. When you look at 'Without You,' it's Stevie writing a song about me when everything was before us and all those illusions were intact. 'Say Goodbye' was written 10 years ago, when most of our experience together was behind us. Part of those illusions had fallen away."
Much of their story may be behind them, but Lindsey and Stevie are still taking the stage together night after night and collaborating on new material. "It was difficult for years to get complete closure," Buckingham says. "There was never any time to not be together. It was kind of like picking the scab off an open wound again and again. That's part of the legacy of the band. But 'Say Goodbye' is a very sweet song, and it's about her: 'Once you said goodbye to me/Now I say goodbye to you.' It took a long time. All those illusions have fallen away, but that doesn't mean that there isn't resolve and hope and belief in the future in a different context. That's really what the song is about, and we end the set with just the two of us singing that song."

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...ew-ep-20130507

[WildHearted]

"She pretty much burned all her bridges in Los Angeles. She sold her house, ended her relationship, quit the band and moved back to England. It was a fairly sweeping set of changes, and something she needed to do for her reasons, though I'm not particularly clear on what those were."

I find it hard to believe that 15 years after the fact, Lindsey's still in the dark on why Chris is gone. It seems fairly clear (and well documented) that she left because she hated touring / was over the whole lifestyle / wanted to go home /was having panic attacks, etc. Yet he seems to insinuate there's still some sort of a mystery involved or some piece of the puzzle that's still missing.

Also the fact that they seem so concerned about when Without You was written is really amusing to me - that seems like such a nonfactor in the grand scheme of things. I guess they can't function without having SOMETHING to disagree about.

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

I find it hard to believe that 15 years after the fact, Lindsey's still in the dark on why Chris is gone. It seems fairly clear (and well documented) that she left because she hated touring / was over the whole lifestyle / wanted to go home /was having panic attacks, etc. Yet he seems to insinuate there's still some sort of a mystery involved or some piece of the puzzle that's still missing.

Well, you assume that it's just that simple. I suspect (or have heard) that there were other factors involved that had nothing to do with quality of life. But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter; Christine has a right to do what Christine wants and it's nobody else's business.

[kak125]

stevie and lindsey remind me so much of my parents sometimes. they totally have that love/hate relationship going on even if it isnt as apparent now as it was back in the day. lol i can totally picture them bickering over the date for when without you was written for days on end - ha! i wonder how many times lindsey reminds her that she thought sad angel was said angel - lol!!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by kak125

stevie and lindsey remind me so much of my parents sometimes. they totally have that love/hate relationship going on even if it isnt as apparent now as it was back in the day. lol i can totally picture them bickering over the date for when without you was written for days on end - ha! i wonder how many times lindsey reminds her that she thought sad angel was said angel - lol!!

I know the woman thinks Lindsey is a bad lyricist but how bad would he have to be to write, "hello, hello said angel."

Michele

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I know the woman thinks Lindsey is a bad lyricist but how bad would he have to be to write, "hello, hello said angel."

Michele

Well, if she thought the person's name was Angel, then it might not have been so bad.

"Hello, hello," said Angel, "have you come to fight the war?"

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Well, you assume that it's just that simple. I suspect (or have heard) that there were other factors involved that had nothing to do with quality of life. But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter; Christine has a right to do what Christine wants and it's nobody else's business.

Oh, it's my business.

Bottom line is she saw them in Los Angeles. She's up to appearing with them in the UK, so I don't think the visit went badly and I have to be content with that. If she were still in the United States, she might still be in retirement, but she wouldn't be as out of touch with them as she has been all of this time. There would have been conversations and rapprochement and I am sorry that there's been distance instead. If this year has changed that a little, I'm grateful.

Michele

[elle]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Oh, it's my business.

Bottom line is she saw them in Los Angeles. She's up to appearing with them in the UK, so I don't think the visit went badly and I have to be content with that. If she were still in the United States, she might still be in retirement, but she wouldn't be as out of touch with them as she has been all of this time. There would have been conversations and rapprochement and I am sorry that there's been distance instead. If this year has changed that a little, I'm grateful.

Michele

maybe Christine is rebuilding her bridges?

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Well, you assume that it's just that simple. I suspect (or have heard) that there were other factors involved that had nothing to do with quality of life. But at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter; Christine has a right to do what Christine wants and it's nobody else's business.

I wasn't trying to imply that it was actually that simple - merely that if there was anything else factoring into it, you'd think Lindsey would know by now. Or at the very least not be publicly wondering about it these fifteen years later.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

I wasn't trying to imply that it was actually that simple - merely that if there was anything else factoring into it, you'd think Lindsey would know by now. Or at the very least not be publicly wondering about it these fifteen years later.

Oh, he knows. He's insane. He's just . . . it's like the Sheryl Crow thing. Sometimes he just says things to provoke, for his own personal pleasure. This is one of those things that has obviously gone onto his, "They tried to make me use a guitar pick" list of grievances that he will never get over in this lifetime.

You know when they pick a new dalai lama they have to go and find who he is by testing the reincarnated person to see what he knows and recognizes from his past life. I could easily find the reincarnated Lindsey, just by asking him about 5 questions.

Michele

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Oh, he knows. He's insane. He's just . . . it's like the Sheryl Crow thing. Sometimes he just says things to provoke, for his own personal pleasure. This is one of those things that has obviously gone onto his, "They tried to make me use a guitar pick" list of grievances that he will never get over in this lifetime.

You know when they pick a new dalai lama they have to go and find who he is by testing the reincarnated person to see what he knows and recognizes from his past life. I could easily find the reincarnated Lindsey, just by asking him about 5 questions.

Michele

^ This. Thanks for making me laugh out loud.

[redtulip]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

I wasn't trying to imply that it was actually that simple - merely that if there was anything else factoring into it, you'd think Lindsey would know by now. Or at the very least not be publicly wondering about it these fifteen years later.

I don't think he's wondering, he just said he's not clear. I'm sure he only said that because he doesn't feel it's his place to air her business.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

I find it hard to believe that 15 years after the fact, Lindsey's still in the dark on why Chris is gone. It seems fairly clear (and well documented) that she left because she hated touring / was over the whole lifestyle / wanted to go home /was having panic attacks, etc. Yet he seems to insinuate there's still some sort of a mystery involved or some piece of the puzzle that's still missing.

Oh my goodness. He's an absolute nut. Fifteen years, man. Let it go.

Michele

[Andy Man]

I find Lindsey's comments on Christine in this article quite interesting. I totally agree with him that the four-piece Fleetwood Mac is a different band than the classic line up, in many ways. Also, it seems as if he is saying that the reason they have not covered many Christine songs is that she had "her own thing" which would be stupid for the band to try and re-create. This seems to be a sign of respect from the band - really agree with him there.

I do however think it's interesting he stated that she "had a few hits" or "some good songs" haha. She had more than a few hits - more than Lindsey has ever had in Fleetwood Mac haha.

It's very evident from Lindsey's remarks that he and Christine are not that close at all. But I do get the impression that he does respect her and would welcome her back if she wanted to do anything with the band.

[Kubrick2788]

"As I said, Stevie and I have probably more of a connection now than we have in years," says Buckingham. "You can feel it. It's tangible on stage."

Especially when Silver Springs comes across as more conciliatory than angry/gritty. Though this relationship breakthrough has made Say Goodbye just a little sweeter. And Stevie seems to be more into it than the SYW tour performance.