MacMan
02-07-2008, 08:21 AM
By Daniel Durchholz
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
02/07/2008
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/music/story/9CDF5A31D3037145862573E6007D4F7E?OpenDocument
That's how Mick Fleetwood, on the phone from his mountaintop home on the island of Maui, describes his busy life as a musician. Never mind that Fleetwood Mac, the band for which he's provided the rhythmic heartbeat for more than four decades, is on hiatus.
These days, the drummer named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is performing with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, a three-piece outfit that pays tribute to the Mac's early days, when it drew heavily on American blues music and produced hits such as "Albatross," "Oh Well" and "Black Magic Woman" (which was covered by Santana).
The Blues Band also features guitarist-vocalist Rick Vito (himself a Mac alum) and bassist-vocalist Lenny Castellanos.
"In truth, I've had way too much time off from playing," Fleetwood says. "Not in the last five years or so, but prior to that, we would do these horrendously long tours with Fleetwood Mac, then we'd go straight back into the studio. That went on for about 20 years, and then we started easing up on how much work we were doing, and I started getting into just being at home and quite enjoying that whole thing.
"But I woke up one day and suddenly thought, 'What's missing? Well, what's missing is, you're not playing enough.'"
Fleetwood also has a Hawaiian band, Island Rumours, that plays original music as well as native-friendly versions of Fleetwood Mac songs, using slack-key guitars. He's also been playing private shows for corporations with fellow Mac member Stevie Nicks.
"This whole balance, it's not necessarily easy to do," says Fleetwood, 65, who has a wife and 5-year-old twin daughters. "It's a balance of having a home life and fulfilling something which needs to be fulfilled, which is, I'm a musician."
Fleetwood is also touring to raise the profile of his Private Cellar line of wines, which will be served at a preshow VIP dinner at the Sheldon and a post-show party at Monarch Restaurant. His wine enterprise grew out of his love for choosing wines for dinner parties thrown at his home.
"I had a quiet confidence that I knew what sort of wines that I like, and that premise is what we've stayed with," he says.
Fleetwood doesn't own his own vineyard but works with winemakers to create 19 varietals, most of which have won awards. Starting in California, Fleetwood has spent the past five years moving awareness of his wines eastward, in part through events like the one at the Sheldon.
"I work hard at it," he says. "I don't just stick my name on a bottle and disappear."
As for the show, Fleetwood says, it will be "a revisiting of where my musical roots came from. If you're aware of the early Fleetwood Mac, the whole show is dedicated to that. We're almost, to the song, playing only really vintage old Fleetwood Mac, precious blues material. Maybe a couple of Rick's things, some John Lee Hooker stuff."
In short, it's the kind of material he no longer gets to play with the current Mac lineup.
"In the early days, when Lindsey (Buckingham) and Stevie first joined Fleetwood Mac, we touched on a little bit of that during the transition," Fleetwood says. "But you know, it's not their music, and it sort of went off the radar. So whenever I get a chance to do something like this, it's really a lot of fun."
More Mac music may be on the horizon. Fleetwood won't go into detail about the band returning to the studio, or the road. But he does say that fans should stay tuned.
"Really, all I can tell you is, be very happy and hopeful that we will be working again. I can tell you everyone's going to be extremely excited about what's happening with Fleetwood Mac."
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
02/07/2008
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/music/story/9CDF5A31D3037145862573E6007D4F7E?OpenDocument
That's how Mick Fleetwood, on the phone from his mountaintop home on the island of Maui, describes his busy life as a musician. Never mind that Fleetwood Mac, the band for which he's provided the rhythmic heartbeat for more than four decades, is on hiatus.
These days, the drummer named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is performing with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, a three-piece outfit that pays tribute to the Mac's early days, when it drew heavily on American blues music and produced hits such as "Albatross," "Oh Well" and "Black Magic Woman" (which was covered by Santana).
The Blues Band also features guitarist-vocalist Rick Vito (himself a Mac alum) and bassist-vocalist Lenny Castellanos.
"In truth, I've had way too much time off from playing," Fleetwood says. "Not in the last five years or so, but prior to that, we would do these horrendously long tours with Fleetwood Mac, then we'd go straight back into the studio. That went on for about 20 years, and then we started easing up on how much work we were doing, and I started getting into just being at home and quite enjoying that whole thing.
"But I woke up one day and suddenly thought, 'What's missing? Well, what's missing is, you're not playing enough.'"
Fleetwood also has a Hawaiian band, Island Rumours, that plays original music as well as native-friendly versions of Fleetwood Mac songs, using slack-key guitars. He's also been playing private shows for corporations with fellow Mac member Stevie Nicks.
"This whole balance, it's not necessarily easy to do," says Fleetwood, 65, who has a wife and 5-year-old twin daughters. "It's a balance of having a home life and fulfilling something which needs to be fulfilled, which is, I'm a musician."
Fleetwood is also touring to raise the profile of his Private Cellar line of wines, which will be served at a preshow VIP dinner at the Sheldon and a post-show party at Monarch Restaurant. His wine enterprise grew out of his love for choosing wines for dinner parties thrown at his home.
"I had a quiet confidence that I knew what sort of wines that I like, and that premise is what we've stayed with," he says.
Fleetwood doesn't own his own vineyard but works with winemakers to create 19 varietals, most of which have won awards. Starting in California, Fleetwood has spent the past five years moving awareness of his wines eastward, in part through events like the one at the Sheldon.
"I work hard at it," he says. "I don't just stick my name on a bottle and disappear."
As for the show, Fleetwood says, it will be "a revisiting of where my musical roots came from. If you're aware of the early Fleetwood Mac, the whole show is dedicated to that. We're almost, to the song, playing only really vintage old Fleetwood Mac, precious blues material. Maybe a couple of Rick's things, some John Lee Hooker stuff."
In short, it's the kind of material he no longer gets to play with the current Mac lineup.
"In the early days, when Lindsey (Buckingham) and Stevie first joined Fleetwood Mac, we touched on a little bit of that during the transition," Fleetwood says. "But you know, it's not their music, and it sort of went off the radar. So whenever I get a chance to do something like this, it's really a lot of fun."
More Mac music may be on the horizon. Fleetwood won't go into detail about the band returning to the studio, or the road. But he does say that fans should stay tuned.
"Really, all I can tell you is, be very happy and hopeful that we will be working again. I can tell you everyone's going to be extremely excited about what's happening with Fleetwood Mac."