New interview from The Sun
 

Yep, the Mac are still tabloid fodder :laugh: Actually they were featured in the weekly music section, which usually is pretty good. It ran over three pages. I didn't even know this was running today a friend just brought it around especially for me. I looked online for it but no luck so have had to type it all out. Just for you guys. It runs over a lot of same old ground but there's a few interesting gems in there.

“We didn’t care about each other… only the music”

Exclusive: Sex, drugs, booze and bust-ups… Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham on rock’s biggest soap opera

By Jacqui Swift
IN a luxurious suite at Manhattan's Plaza hotel, Stevie Nicks Fleetwood Mac's iconic singer – is contemplating why her band are still together.

Their story reads like a soap opera a packed with tangled love lives, drug and drink excess and fall-outs.

But it is even more incredible that the band have survived after two of the couples in it - Stevie and Lindsey Buckingham, and John and Christine McVie went through messy break-ups decades ago. Even Mick Fleetwood was going through a divorce at the time.

Yet at the start of this year Fleetwood Mac embarked on their global Unleashed greatest hits tour SFTW were given unrivalled access to the legendary band, and first I flew to LA to join Lindsey at their pre-tour rehearsals.

Mid-tour, I headed to New York to chat to Mick at their Madison Garden soundcheck. Then, the next day, to - an open and very honest Stevie (John hasn't done an interview in years).

Looking 20 years younger than her actual age of 61, with her long, flowing blonde hair she is still beautiful.

She welcomes me into her lounge, showing me the views of the New York skyline before we settle on her cream leather sofa, her beloved Yorkshire terrier Sulamith plonking himself on my knee.

In her famously husky drawl Stevie says: "When Lindsey and I split and Christine and John were about to break up, there were the five of us in the room, each saying, 'Well, I'm not going to quit so you quit'.

"Mick was in the middle saying 'Well, is anybody quitting? If not, can we just carry on?' "And that's exactly what happened. No one was willing to give up Fleetwood Mac - it just wasn't an option.

"Whatever happened between me and Lindsey or the others, the power of the band and the music meant more."

The breakdown of Stevie and Lindsey's five-year relationship and the McVies' divorce during the making of landmark album Rumours became part of the Fleetwood Mac legend.

Mick Fleetwood was also suffering, stuck in the middle of divorce proceedings from his wife Jenny Boyd, before embarking on a two-year affair with Stevie.

The 1977 album went on to sell more than 33 million copies and became the best-selling album of all time until Michael Jackson's Thriller came along. Songs including Lindsey's Second Hand News, Go Your Own Way and Never Geing Back Again, Stevie's Dreams and You Make Loving Fun, written by Christine after she started an affair with the band's lighting director, as well as Don't Stop - a personal message to John lyrically dished the dirt.

Lindsey says: "Those songs brought out the voyeur in our fans. But for us Rumours proves the redemptive power of music. The fact we rose above it all made us seem slightly heroic.

"Fleetwood Mac have always been a band of contradictions. We were being forced to co-exist together during the making of Rumours. There was unity and alienation and sweetness and savagery and hope and despair. All at once in this small period of time."

Mick adds: "We didn't care about anyone or each other but the music we were so involved with got us through it.

"Fleetwood Mac's never been smooth running, even when everyone was in love and falling out of love. It was just the music.

"You hear' famous rock'n'roll stories about bands who don't get on - but we have too much emotional investment. We are all ex-lovers and deep friends."

The band's intake of drugs in the Seventies and Eighties is also part of their story. Lindsey and Stevie moved to LA from San Francisco to join Fleetwood Mac in 1974 - establishing a new line-up and sound after the blues of the Peter Green years (the band founder and guitarist left in 1970 following LSD abuse). In the City Of Angels they were introduced to cocaine, with Stevie in particular developing a taste for it.

She says: "I think if Lindsey and I had stayed in San Francisco there would never have been any drugs. We probably would never even have had a drink."

Lindsey adds: "It just became a non-stop party - and when in Rome, you know, you all join in.

"There was an illusion that you had to be experimental to max your creativity, but by the late Eighties, when we were making Tango In The Night, it caused tension.

"It was hard for me to get anything done. I would try to leave the studio at one or two in the morning and Mick would run out to the parking lot and drag me back in. They were not easy times for me personally."

1987's Tango In The Night was very much a "Lindsey album", with him contributing seven of the 12 tracks and playing all the instruments.

But Stevie was at her lowest ebb. Following an addiction to cocaine which created a hole in the septum of her nose, she was prescribed Klonoplin, a tranquillizer to help her stay off the coke.

She says: "A plastic surgeon looked at my nose and told me it would collapse if I carried on. My vanity made me stop.

"I didn't want to be a dead drug addict - least of all one with a collapsed nose. I called the Betty Ford clinic straight away.

"But then two months after I got out, I went to see this stupid psychiatrist who dished out these little pills called Klonoplin. They were way worse than the drugs.

"At least on coke I could work. For Tango I couldn't do anything. I just lay on the couch, called the deli and drank wine - and that went on for eight years. I lost eight years of my life - my forties - because of that man.

"I went to Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Marina Del Rey, LA, to wean myself off it.

"It was hell. I thought I was going to die, I was in so much pain. I was really sick. To this day I will haunt the psychiatrist who gave me Klonoplin. One day somebody is going to find out who the bastard is and I will be there."

For drummer Mick, the drugs and booze were also causing problems.

He says: "There's no doubt that Stevie and I were the worst offenders of the band by far.

"And while there have been some far-fetched stories like 'He blew £20 million on cocaine', it was still my abuse of choice.

"It makes me ill just thinking about it all today and I'm glad those days are over. I stopped drinking for about 15 years but now just enjoy a glass of wine. But back then it wasn't enjoyable.

"Then one day in Hawaii, where I live, I remember it clearly.

"I was sitting on my own and was still raging. My now wife Lynn said, 'I'm not going to watch you do this to yourself any more. I'm out of here.'

"I begged her to stay, I was scared. Then I looked in the mirror and saw an overweight man with greasy hair and a really long beard. That was my wake-up call and I haven't touched drugs or gone near anything but wine for 15 years."

Today, Fleetwood Mac are in a good place - playing live again.

Mick tells me: "It's so much fun to play and get the old car going again. As a band, we've been blessed that our following has stayed with us.

"Yeah, we always indulge because we're so proud of what we're doing. After 40 years of doing this, people understand us and they really are emotionally attached to the songs."
Mick believes Lindsey's role in Fleetwood Mac has kept them together over the decades. Even though he quit the band just before the world tour for the Tango In The Night album, he rejoined in 1992.

Mick says: "Lindsey left us for a number of years but, thankfully, he came back. He had been so important in keeping the flag flying on Rumours.

"And with our 1979 album Tusk he'd had a real fight on his hands to get the aesthetics of what he wanted to do, which was pushing the envelope. Lindsey put his heart and soul into those projects and they are great albums.

"Then he made his solo albums and so he can rest, look back and know he completed his own cycle. Without Lindsey's input and return we probably wouldn't be here."
Although Lindsey eventually returned to Fleetwood Mac properly in 1997, Christine McVie's retirement in 1998 is a loss still felt to this day.

Stevie says: "Chris was a tough girl but she never really told us just how afraid she was of flying.

"She'd started having panic attacks about it. We did the Grammys and then she turned to me and said, 'I can't do this any more, I'm quitting.' I said, 'You're leaving me? Abandoning me?'

"She goes, 'I'm sorry, honey, I just can't do it.' So she went home, sold her beautiful house in Los Angeles, her piano, her truck, and she was gone in three weeks.

"We never saw her again until we played Earls Court in London in 2004. You just have to respect her wishes."

Mick adds: "Stevie really misses her female partner and we've been very protective of her since Christine left. There was talk of Sheryl Crow taking Chris's place but she'd been through too much.

"She'd had cancer, lost a lover and adopted a child. Being on the road was the last thing for her."

However, Lindsey is less enthusiastic about the idea of Sheryl joining Fleetwood Mac. He says: "There aren't too many people who would be able to fill that bill. With Sheryl I thought it was pretty funny.

"She announced to the Press she was joining Fleetwood Mac but I didn't know any of it."

Whatever the truth to the Sheryl rumour, all agree that Christine cannot be replaced vocally.

Stevie says: "It's been very hard to try Christine's songs in rehearsals. Lindsey and I have tried singing some in harmony but we were just disappointed with it.

"We spent seven weeks battering our heads against a wall trying them, but we just can't. She can't be replaced."

Mick adds: "We' tried Songbird with Stevie and Lindsey but Stevie refused. She said, 'I will not touch that song - it's hers.' But there are some we've managed to get through as band anthems."

All three members I chat to insist that, musically, the band remain as committed as ever. They don't know whether there will be another new album but do not rule it out.

Mick says: "I believe in my heart of hearts there will be more music from the band. This tour has shown we're still the same. I don't feel my age when I'm up on stage.

"None of us do until the next morning - and that's why it's important we have a couple of days off every ten or 12 days."

So would they all agree they are a new Fleetwood Mac in 2009?

Stevie says: "Some things never change. Like Lindsey and I will never agree on anything and can never be pals. You'd have to go to a psychiatrist to figure out what we are now.

"But what I know is that we still have that musical attraction.

"When we work and sing together there's still that look that's overpowering.

"And that musical attraction will never ever go away."

• THE Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac is released on October 19 and the band begin their UK tour at Glasgow's SECC on October 22.

Thank you so much for typing that up for us! Pretty good read...nothing really new but I still enjoyed it :)

A couple of questions, though:

1) How long were Stevie and Mick actually together? It seems like I've heard it was just a couple of months all the way up to 2 years...does anyone know for sure?

2) Does Lindsey have a particular dislike for Sheryl Crow? It sort of seems that way whenever he talks about the idea of her joining the band.

That sounds more personal than just not thinking she was a good fit for the band. I don't blame him...I wouldn't want her a part of FM either...Christine was irreplaceable. Anyway, I could just be reading more into it than there really is...I was just wondering if you guys think he has something against her.

Thank you for taking the time to type the whole interview. I love how Stevie never fails to mention that she and Lindsey will never agree on anything and can never be pals. I think that along with the statement that they don't know if there will be another new FM album but "do not rule it out", pretty much means that there won't be.

I would have died to hear what that sounded like!

Thanks for your typing fingers! No typos!

I think as Stevie has got older, she's got rid of her "airy-fairy" way of describing things. Now she just calls people bastards instead. :lol:

The breakdown of Stevie and Lindsey's five-year relationship and the McVies' divorce during the making of landmark album Rumours became part of the Fleetwood Mac legend.

I thought that Stevie and Lindsey dated for 8 years

All the instruments??? Keyboards? drums? Bass??
I don't believe that.

Was going to make the same comment! She has been getting sassy lately, and I love it.

Thanks for the article, Sharon. :wavey:

Maybe if there is another album they could it Buckingham vs. Nicks!:lol:

That was awesome!

It was nice to hear that they tried really hard on Christine's songs... and it was nice of them to respect Christine's versions and not touch what they know they can't replicate.

YES!!! I totally agree :thumbsup:

Thank you Sharon!


I like it that Lindsey said that it would be hard for anyone to replace Christine. But especially not Sheryl Crow:laugh:!

Goodness. Mick said that Lindsey has completed his "cycle." It's just as I feared. It has rubbed off. Lindsey has brainwashed them all. Let's get them into deprogramming posthaste.

Stevie made me laugh when she said she didn't want to die a drug addict, but especially not a drug addict with a collasped nose.

Ok Stevie, man. You and Lindsey are not friends. Point taken. I'm never going to accuse you two of staying up until the wee hours of the night sharing secrets or cashmere sweaters.

Michele

Of course they wouldn't share cashmere sweaters....

they'd share top hats, and shawls...

Well, I've never seen Lindsey in either. But I have seen both him and Stevie in kimonos. Pretty sure they shared those back in the day:laugh:.

Oh, Stevie, why don't you want to sit on a couch with Lindsey, watching old movies and wrapping him in velvet:(.?

Michele

Thank you Sharon for typing that article. I am a two finger typer so for me that would have taken half an hour. I enjoyed the article. I always get amused when she blames the Dr. for her drug abuse.

It could be that she wishes that she and Lindsey were closer (as to how close I won't speculate) which is why she always makes the point to emphatically point out that they aren't friends...to sort of hide the way she truly feels. In a way, I guess you could think of it as "the lady doth protest too much."

Another thing I was thinking when that interview from New Zealand aired a few weeks ago...when she stated that she and Lindsey aren't friends and then turned around and immediately gushed about how close she and Mick are, it hit me as a sort of a subtle attempt to make Lindsey feel bad about the state of their relationship...and perhaps jealous even.

All I can say is, judging by her attitude, it doesn't seem as though they are in a good place right now

lol...then again, it could be that they just aren't friends...the end :p

If Stevie and Lindsey were actually friends, their entire relationship would be ruined for me.

They love each other like brother and sister. She often confuses him with Christopher. Michele

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasrgthlfghhhhhhh!

Why, oh why?

The tension is what makes their relationship so tragic and so powerful. The dark beauty of Lindsey and Stevie comes in their inability to dedicate themselves to one side or another-- they will never be able to presently love without a deeply rooted sense of all of their past hatred and vice versa. If one considered the other a "friend", the inaccessibility and constant indecision would be gone.... and that is what really fuels the tragedy of it in my opinion.

Good for her!

Gail

Beautifully put.

I don't get it. A lot of people seem to like that there is continued tension between Lindsey and Stevie, but I dislike it because if they had been able to become friends years ago maybe Lindsey would have never left Fleetwood Mac.

Quite frankly I believe Lindsey and Stevie are brats and bring out the bitchiness in each other. They need to be with people who can tolerate their self-centered, over-dramatic, divaesque ways without resorting to drop-kicking or consistent slapping. I think they have incredible, stuff-dreams-are-made-of chemistry, but they have a horrible way of getting along with one another. I just picture Stevie going on and on to irk him and LB stomping his feet whenever he doesn't get what he wants. It's like two (old) children. And Mick- or possibly Kristen- are the mediators.

Anyway, I love them. Stevie never shuts up and still conducts interviews that remind me of her lyrics and Lindsey (once again) reminds us of what he thinks of Sheryl Crow. I bet the best way to get him fuming angry is to hand him one of SC's albums as a gift: "Here Lindsey, thought you'd enjoy track 3."

He'd probably leave it sitting against the wall in some room.;)

The routine snow job is a falling and it's begining to look a lot like Christmas. Who doesn't want to believe in Santa Claus? :lol:

I think that it is kind of dumb to blame a doctor for becoming a drug addict especially for a second time. But the doctor knew obviously that she had just gotten out of rehab, and should have simply counseled her, not pump her full of drugs...so Idk how I feel about that.

I think I read somewhere that she didn't even want to see a phychiatrist but a lot of people around her wanted her to...could have been family, friends, bandmates, management...or all of them. So she felt pressure to go in the first place. Also, she didn't realize that Klonopin was something that was going to numb her out so much, and that she was going to get addicted to it. She wasn't told the truth about what the drug was actually used for...she was told it would keep her relaxed and off cocaine...its actually usually described for people with panic disorder, epilepsy, and seizures. She was kept on it for years when generally it is only supposed to be used for no more than 9 weeks.

Long story short...that doctor was shady and I'd blame him too. :nod:

Mick did say that John's chops were way down during the making of Tango. He said something to the effect that John had been hanging in some sailor haunts in the Caribbean and when he came in to record they'd all have a fun evening but he didn't lay down his parts. Now do I think that Lindsey played all the instruments all the time? No. Selctive memeory seems to forget that Christine and Eddy Quintela's songs are on that record too. But then again so is Lindsey's eerie sped up imitation of Stevie's backing vocals on songs such as Family Man.

Did Stevie follow dosing instructions? Did she continue to drink alcohol while on the medication? Did she report to the psychiatrist ALL the drugs (& herbal & other supplements) she was taking, including drugs for asthma, even pot? Did she agree to see a psychiatrist on a regular basis for cognitive or other forms of talk therapy & drug management?

Did she insist on operating heavy machinery? :lol:

I think it's funny how Lindsey has total disregard for Sheryl. If she joined FM it would have been a disaster.

Good interview, same old stuff though.

Oh yeah, because there were no drugs whatsoever in San Francisco back in those days. :laugh:

Haight Ashbury anyone?

I agree and don't think Lindsey would listen to a Sheryl Crow album, but I don't think he has a particular thing against her. I think the press keeps asking him -- the American press is done, but the European press still has a round of Crow asking to get through -- and instead of saying something diplomatic and gracious, like a normal person would, he has to continue to be barbed.

But if you are asking about her, I get the impression he's not thinking about her much. At this point though, if you DO ask, I think he says something flip, (1) because that's his nature and, (2) because Mick and Stevie are trying to be tactful and, since he doesn't think their versions of events is truthful, he has decided that not going along with the Mother's Day story is a good way to annoy them as well -- an enjoyable pasttime having little to do with Sheryl.

I do think he likes to annoy them -- not for any vicious reasons -- just because he disagrees with their approach and has a perverse sense of amusement.

Michele

I agree with Stevie and am glad that she never touched it..that is a sacred song of Christine's.

Yeah really :laugh:

I think that his decision had very little to do with Stevie and everything to do with artistic freedom and band tension as a whole. She made it worse by getting in his face about it but I think he would have come to a similar conclusion either way.

Did you guffaw, too?