Fleetwood Mac Billboard Article 5/7/2014
 

Fleetwood Mac Billboard Article Billboard

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie talk about collaborating ahead of the band's upcoming tour. "We've been working very closely together, so there is a freshness"

It appears that Christine McVie will be returning to Fleetwood Mac to do more than play some old songs in concert. The group -- sans Stevie Nicks, who was busy with "some other commitments," according to Lindsey Buckingham -- has just finished a nearly two-month run in Studio D at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles, where Fleetwood Mac made 1979's "Tusk" album, working on a batch of new songs by McVie and Buckingham.

"This has kind of been a project in slow motion, that's the only way I can put it," Buckingham tells Billboard. "We got in the studio not knowing what to expect, and the chemistry was just unbelievable... We got eight tracks very far along, like, 75 percent done. It just played out really organically in a way that seemed appropriate." Buckingham says the new songs came from ideas McVie brought into the band, and coupled with material he worked on previously with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the group has "about 14 or 15 things, and some other things we want to get to down the line" even before Nicks begins making contributions.

"We're all very excited about it. Knowing me, I'm going to be pushing for a double album," Buckingham says with a laugh.

Describing the new songs -- which include "Carnival Begin," "Red Sun" and "Too Far Gone" -- McVie says, "There's a wide variety, starting from sort of blues-based songs to very commercial songs. It's very, very exciting. We get chills when we hear them. They sound really fresh. There's an element, I guess, that hasn't really existed so much in the past although it has been there in the fact Lindsey and I have been collaborating more. We've been working very closely together, so there is a freshness and obviously there are parts for Stevie to sing on all of these songs, which she will do eventually."

When the rest of the world hears them remains up in the air, however. Fleetwood Mac released a four-song digital EP in April of 2013, and Buckingham and McVie say they don't expect to have a new album ready before the group's upcoming tour starts September 30 in Minneapolis.

"We haven't finished what we've done here," McVie explains. "these are just tracks with some overdubs, and they're certainly not finished. I go back to England now until the beginning of rehearsals, which is the end of July, and then we're rehearsing and then we're touring, so we won't really have time to (finish the songs). There's some talk about some time next year. Fleetwood Mac always take a long time to make a record -- you know what."

Buckingham concurs, though he acknowledges that there may be a bit of clamor for the new music once word of the sessions leaks out, which may effect the timetable for the material's release. "We want to plant some seeds of awareness about what we're doing," he says. "We won't want to pretend it doesn't exist. We're very proud of it, and we do want to get the word out. But we'll have to see how much clamor there is by the time we get into rehearsal and we have some time to let these seeds grow and see what kind of interest there is. That may inform our decisions one way or the other."

Buckingham, meanwhile, says he's particularly stoked that making new music is part of McVie's return after a 16-year absence. "It just took on a life of its own for sure," he says. "For years I was telling everybody, 'Y'know, she'll never be in the band again. She's gone.' I really believed that. But right now the whole thing has really got such a circular feel to it. And if you're talking about one more act for this play or whatever you want to call it, I can't think of a better way to do it."

Fleetwood Mac formally announced McVie's return in January after she joined the group on stage in London last September. McVie -- who released one solo album, 2004's "In the Meantime," during the interim but mostly spent her time as "a retired lady of leisure with the Range Rover and the Dogs" in rural England -- has gone through therapy to overcome a fear of flying that was one of the reasons he left the group. And she promises that she's back in Fleetwood Mac "for perpetuity, yeah. For as long as I'm around. I'm here. I'm committed." And she adds that returning to the studio with the group was like getting back on the proverbial bike.

"I thought I was going to get nervous coming in the studio, but it's felt very easy and natural," she says. "Before I got to L.A. Lindsey and I had been ping-ponging ideas on computers and that; I'd send him my very, very rough, funky demos and he made some kind of sense out of them and sent them back to me with him playing guitar and they started to turn into really lovely ideas. I really missed playing with them and the chemistry of it all and started to really, really desire to start doing something again, and the only people I could think of that I would have any desire to do anything with would be them, Fleetwood Mac."

Lindsey wants a clamor from the fans. He wants us to help spur things into happening and to do it in time for the FM rehearsals.

I really don't know how to make a clamor. Where should I send my letters Lindsey? You guys don't even have a record company, so it's not as if I can just bombard Warner Bros. with pleas. Where do I go to stage a protest? To whom should I complain?

Michele

This article makes me so happy. Thanks, Michele. :D

Oh, I'm glad to get it too. Thank you to Blue Denim Lamp for posting.

Michele

I'm so excited, I don't care how many hours either of them spent inside that spray tan booth.

If Lindsey want's to do something to draw attention to the new songs they should put together a little video for one of the new songs and post it on youtube...I'm quite sure a record company will take notice if they get a MILLION hits...

If Lindsey wants clamor, they need to start being social media savvy. Get the FM twitter account more active. Each band member make a personal twitter, start tweeting about what they're doing... some pictures from the studio, etc. Snippets of what is being worked on. Get it trending.

Nice idea. Even if the video is just them playing the song in the studio, just a little four-piece, I'm sure it could get loads of hits on Youtube.

Right Wild-Hearted about social media. He and Christine were sending songs back and forth to each other via computer, they might as well tweet.

Michele

I really understand that the Macsters don't know how to market themselves, but what I don't understand is how they have consistently had managers and PR agents who have been so abysmal at it as well.

They're compared to the Eagles in another thread and think how much more exposure the Eagles get, how much more money the Eagles have made, not because of greater talent or more hits (although their catalog is very impressive), but because of better marketing.

It's a head scratcher.

Michele

Stevie has a "Verified" twitter and it has been re-tweeting Dave Stewart's...Since being "Verified" her twitter is gaining about a 1,000 new followers a week...They are clueless about modern media...How hard would it be for them to tweet something or make a little video in the studio and post it on line...They Just Don't Get It...

It's one of the most untapped resources I've ever seen. You think they'd capitalize on all of it. Website with updates, articles in major magazines, selling album during tour... I mean it's a no brainer..

They look fantastic together!!

He wants a double...
 

I'd be more than happy with a double album this time around. Especially if this is the last one we're going to get! A live album from this tour seems like a no brainer, but I'd like to see a second studio album if the 2015 one is just a single album. Pipe dreams, all of them, for now. Also, Christine looks a little less Oompa Loompa in this photo. So that's good. Now she just has to stop wearing those damn clips in her hair.

I could see a double album but I'm still hoping for it to drop in the fall.

From us?!
 

Is Lindsey talking about clamour from US or the record companies?!

GIVE US THE FRIGGIN' MUSIC ALREADY!! :blob2:

I AM CLAMOURING!

I think on a certain level FM has a hard time "new-comers" into their inner circle. They've largely got the same people working with and around them that have been for years and years and years and years. Maybe it's loyalty to those people, or maybe it's a reluctance to trust anyone else, who knows. But either way, by not letting anyone new in, they're not very good at keeping up with the times. All things considered, FM do very well for themselves - but think of how much better they could do with the right marketing team behind them?

And it's FREE.

Like someone else here said, it's crazy that their management are just as bad. Maybe Lindsey is actually inviting us to go down to the studio and bang on the door?
"Knock-knock, Lindsey - It's the Ledgies. We brought cookies and oh yeah, we want that new album!"

Maybe they should fire the old fan club back up again. I never did get my 2004 calendar.

Jamie

Awwww yiss double album! :D Clamor, clamor, clamor! We wrote Mick a letter offering our social media services at the B&N thing, but I suppose he wasn't interested :laugh:

Lindsey has teenagers. Can't he give them some extra allowance money for tagging along to the studio with him and tweeting?

HE WANTS CLAMOR FROM JUST ONE INDIVIDUAL ON THIS EARTH.

But she is just not there to be part of this Newfound creativity or chemistry. She's just not there. If you read this, how can you NOT get sick by the fact that SHE'S NOT THERE?????

Yeah, Christy, me, too. I AM CLAMOURING, BRING IT!! :D


"HE WANTS CLAMOR FROM JUST ONE INDIVIDUAL ON THIS EARTH.

But she is just not there to be part of this Newfound creativity or chemistry. She's just not there. If you read this, how can you NOT get sick by the fact that SHE'S NOT THERE????? "

ITA, HOW CAN SHE NOT BE THERE? :distress: I don't understand it @ all!

Lee :)

someone oughta tell her what it's really all about!

it sounds like they're really on a great creative roll. Too bad they won't be able to continue on this streak and finish the album. They may not be in the same place creatively after being on the road for months and months.

I don't think people in their 40s are laying around on the floor wondering when the next Fleetwood Mac double album is coming out. They've got houses and kids' colleges to pay for.

Where did I hear that before...?

:angel:

They should title the next album, "Say You Won't".

so, he wants clamor in order to get her on board, something like Mick's playboy interview and his Dancin' in 2012?


:wavey: hey linds - remember what worked last time?
going on a solo acoustic tour and performing Dancin'!!

maybe if you try similar thing again you may get similar results?! :xoxo: :angel:

he should perform the ledge on the next tour to get his message through :D

Dancin' in 2012?

What are you guys refering to?

Edit: Aah, Thanks elle, that was that sad little ditty on the first two OMS shows...

Or LB could do a cover of "I Can't Wait" and post it on you tube...

"Am I wasting my time while you make up your mind now baby" I can't wait...I can't wait... That would get peoples attention...

What makes you think you're the one, who gets paid without working!!

That's enough for me!

I'd kill for a hard rocking two minutes of that..

I love this line from Christine: "...and obviously there are parts for Stevie to sing on all of these songs, which she will do eventually."

It makes me sad. She should have been there so they could have experienced their threeway harmony Magic. It's saddening.

It seems like they both made sure to make the point that the songs definitely aren't finished and there will still be more studio time in the future. Who knows what will happen even in the next few months, during, and after the tour. They could come up with even greater songs and moments on the road!

Plus - this has always been Stevie's way anyway.

I just know they are creating magic. This has got to be a double album.

But the clip is towards the back this time. I like the way the hair that frames her face is so full. It looks kind of like a lion's mane. I think it's kind of hot.

Michele

Poor little raven. Michele

Except for before she had a solo career when they made their best albums.

Gonna turn 71 years old.. I ain't gonna lie to ya... she looks f()())()()(#( amazing...