Going Their Own Way (Sunday Times, 24th May)
 

I am bracing myself for the comments this will cause.... They caught someone on a bad day, lol.

Thanks for the full article, Neil. http://fleetwoodmac-uk.com/wp/going-...-sunday-times/

Going their own way | The Sunday Times

Dan Cairns
Published: 24 May 2015

Reunited for a mammoth tour, Fleetwood Mac are now planning an album. But for all their attempts to put on a show, they are still riven by backstage tensions

Return of the Mac: from left, John and Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood (Al Pereira )

Forty years after the line-up that conquered the world with Rumours first came together, Fleetwood Mac are still having problems agreeing on anything much. The return to the fold 16 months ago of Christine McVie, after an absence of 16 years, is one development they all speak positively about, with none of the usual caveats and festering agendas.

“There’s Stevie on one side of the spectrum,” says Lindsey Buckingham, the band’s coiled, restless, 65-year-old musical director and, what seems like a lifetime ago, Stevie Nicks’s boyfriend, “and me kind of on the other, in terms of sensibilities. Christine sort of bridges that gap.”

Where Buckingham talks in the clinical manner of a scientist, Nicks dives right in. “Christine’s coming back was like the return of my best friend after years away. It’s much more fun now. We were always a force to be reckoned with, and that’s happened again.”

For McVie, 71, having emerged from what she describes as years of isolation in a remote Kent farmhouse, years of “mud, and grey days, where your life is dark, your heart is dark, your brain is dark”, rejoining the band “feels like a resurrection. I feel confident again, self-assured, I know I can put my fingers on a piano and play, I can write again, I can sing.”

And Mick Fleetwood, aged 67, gentle giant, drummer, court jester and the band’s unofficial manager and cajoler-in-chief, is characteristically gung-ho.

“It’s been an enormous benefit. I turn round every night during the shows, when Stevie’s doing her Gypsy intro, which sometimes goes on a little long, and there’s John and Christine chatting away, sitting on an amp. And I sit there and think, ‘How cool is that?’ I’ve asked them, ‘What are you talking about?’ and they say, ‘Oh, you know, we’re just catching up on stuff.’ It’s the sweetest thing.”

The band, whose European tour begins in London on Wednesday, have just completed an 81-date run around North America, and there are signs of wear and tear. Holding court at various locations in Santa Monica, the Mac — save for Christine’s ex-husband, the bass player John McVie, 69, who is currently in remission from cancer and rarely grants an interview at the best of times — accentuate the positives, but cannot quite eliminate the negatives. This is the latest stage in a journey, or saga, that has always been as riveting for its off-stage shenanigans as it has been for the music that has soundtracked the lives of successive generations.

Nicks, sitting in her vast apartment, its wraparound, floor-to-ceiling windows making you feel as if you are suspended above the ocean, seems the most conflicted and ambivalent. Buckingham, by telephone, exudes a serenity you sense is hard won and, by all accounts, paper-thin. McVie talks like a lovable, slightly dotty aunt, words tumbling over themselves, candour suddenly rearing up and slapping you in the face.

Then there’s Fleetwood, resplendent in various shades of aquamarine, charms, chains and bangles rattling from wrist and neck, who goes back down memory lane to early-1960s Notting Hill, hanging out as a teen in coffee bars and flirting with the girl who would become his first wife; and, later, fights tears while talking about the recent death of his mother, and his plans to walk Hadrian’s Wall in her memory.

“I was telling Lindsey about that the other day,” he says, “and he went, ‘Oh, you and your rose-tinted spectacles.’ I said, ‘Well, look where they’ve got all of us. You should trying wearing them yourself some time.’”

If the two McVies are now friends again, and Fleetwood still adept at playing the role of peacemaker, the relationship between Buckingham and Nicks seems as dysfunctional as ever. Most bands, with a tour raking it in and a new album in the planning stages, would, you feel, have a fairly clear idea of how the near future was going to pan out. Yet that mooted album — their first in the classic line-up since Tango in the Night in 1987; Buckingham and Christine McVie have collaborated on seven songs — already sounds fraught with some of the same old problems.

“Chris’s return has been a huge help for some of the things that Stevie and Lindsey continue to go through,” says Fleetwood, with a hint of exasperation, “in terms of … well, it’s a form of button-pushing, about which Christine would say, ‘This should long since have been over.’”

Buckingham sounds wary when the album comes up. “We had planned on reconvening at the start of next year, but, again, there is the politics. Stevie has not involved herself in it, and has not committed to involving herself in it either, so that’s something we’re working on.”

Nicks, 67 on Tuesday, doesn’t even try to hide her fatigue. “Tomorrow will be show 79, and then we come to you, and then we go to Australia. Three solid years of Fleetwood Mac. When that’s done, I’m done. I’m done. I’m taking a long vacation. I’ve bought a little house on the other side of Malibu, I’ve owned it since March last year and I have three chairs in the living room, and that’s it. I’ve spent five days there in a year. People keep saying, ‘How’s the new house?’ I don’t know, I haven’t been there. I need a break.

“Maybe I shouldn’t be saying this in an interview, but I don’t really care. I have done my best, every single night, to go out there and be my best, and not be upset about the fact that we are doing 80 shows instead of 60, and then going straight to Europe and doing 27 shows instead of 17.”

Isn’t she keen, though, to have her own material represented on the new album? “I don’t know how I really feel about that. I’m not in a good place right now to make decisions. We are on the road, and in my opinion we should not be thinking past that. We’re a strange band of bandits and gypsies, travelling as part of this huge machine. This tour would never have happened if Chris hadn’t come back.”

Christine McVie admits to some bemusement about the continuing discord between the band’s Californian contingent. She describes the appeal of returning to the band as one of “chemistry, simple chemistry. I’m drawn to these four people. How can you not love Mick? He’s bold, eccentric, arrogant, pompous, vulnerable, warm and sweet. Lindsey is another type of character altogether. He has the darkest, most caustic sense of humour ever. He really makes me laugh, but he can also be so twitchy and edgy; you know, ‘Keep away.’ He’s always crossing his arms, his legs. And you just think, ‘Relax.’ He and Stevie don’t get on. On stage, they act. Privately, no.

“John and I genuinely have a friendship, I love Mick, and I love both of them. But it’s like putting a wet hand in a plug socket, it’s an electric shock every time. Who knows how long it will last? The idea is to try to finish the album, and then tour it. But Stevie says: ‘You’ve just had 16 years off. Now it’s my turn.’”

For McVie, her return was worth it, no matter the bickering that continues to coexist with some sublime live performances (for all that, the one I watched in Los Angeles was pretty lacklustre and flat). Anything’s better than that Kent fastness, she says.

“I was living in this sprawling wasteland, in the middle of 50 acres of farmland. It’s a lovely place, but it’s too isolated, and I think that’s what drove me into this slow decline; the dogs and the wellington boots and the Land Rover, the idea that you’re going to bake cookies in the Aga. And you don’t. You just get depressed. I tried writing songs again, and nothing came, nothing. I was there, in the middle of acres of greenery and sheep, and totally alone.”

Nicks, clearly ready for that (long) vacation, says she still finds herself having to talk about the band’s 1970s heyday, the busted relationships, the drink and the drugs, the wounds that, in some cases, never quite seem to heal. “And I don’t enjoy going back to that time, because it’s not who I wish that I had been. I wish that I’d been less f*****-up and less drugged-out. Done a little bit less coke, drunk a little less, smoked a little less pot. I don’t feel romantic about it at all. People like hearing about it, but it wasn’t their journey, it was mine. I was young and beautiful and just so super-unattractive.”

Of the Buckingham-Nicks relationship, Fleetwood speculates: “On some level they must be addicted to it, to something — to love, probably. It’s strange when you’re a friend to both parties, and I do sometimes get drawn in, but you don’t want to be like the messenger in El Cid, bringing in the head. I want them to be sitting on an amp, like John and Chris. I don’t think it will ever happen, but I don’t know that for sure.” He pauses, to relocate a more positive thread.

“Look, this is one hell of a thing, not all of it is ever going to be 100% happy, but it’s one hell of a weird, wonderful thing. And if it were a book, you’d want it to end like this.”

Key songs on Rumours
You Make Loving Fun
Go Your Own Way
Don’t stop
Dreams
Songbird

Fleetwood Mac’s tour begins on Wednesday at the O2, London SE10

there you go. he couldn't have said it more clear, for all the people who were trying to keep closing their eyes to this reality and read something into his previous quotes that wasn't there.

Good article.
Stevie is being a bit bad. I could never EVER see Stevie not recording the new album. She has stayed with the Mac when Lindsey left, when Christine left, etc. One last album would be so strange without her.
That insane road tour is finally wearing on them. When they are finally done in a few months, they can relax and work on the album at their leisure.
Stevie and Lindsey not getting along? What else is new? In Miami during her Gypsy intro that did run long, Stevie was talking how she was on the road with CCR and the car broke down. Lindsey made his guitar sound like a car horn. Stevie stopped, looked over and Lindsey and said VERY seriously......"did you just do that? What did you do that? I guess I am boring all of you."
That night in Miami Stevie did not come out to give her speech :eek:

Pleasure, glad we can all read this interview :nod:

She will bow in, in time. Lindsey has apart from the seven songs with Chris, at least three quarters of a soloalbum ready, he can work that in between.

I really hope he does - put solo album out next year and tour it, while sn is taking her time off, resting from fm and making up her mind about participating in fm album the rest of them have been working on.

Oh, please. This is so easy to solve. The four of them just need to go in the studio and say to Stevie: "we're recording the album now, come along if you'd like, but if you don't feel up to it we'll finish it up without you."

She'll think they're bluffing. But then the four of them release two songs as a "preview" of the album. When she sees they're actually recording and making concrete plans to release the album without her, she'll be in the studio with her tail between her legs spouting some sort of face-saving nonsense about the stars aligning.

Reading this article I couldn't help but picture Stevie as some kind of Scooby-Doo villain... "And I would have gotten my vacation, if it weren't for Christine and her meddling comeback!" :lol:

Sounds like nothing has changed in the last 6 months; she isn't a happy bunny.
A very honest interview- things must be a bit strained to be so open.

I feel resigned to the older material now being on a Lindsey Buckingham solo album- but it would be an opportunity missed. In some respects that would be good as he could start afresh preparing new songs for the band in the knowledge both Stevie (hopefully) and Christine would be involved at a later time.

She said the tour wouldn't have happened if Chris hadn't come back, not a missed vacation.
She likely would have toured solo for 24k if not for Chris' return. Stevie's gotten pretty outspoken lately, and I'm ok with that. I just wish she'd make a decision once and for all.

Jamie

Who the hell is she to hold them hostage(which she's trying to do!)?

To hell with her. They should go in without her. Either she shows up, or she doesn't. I'd prefer the latter.

Me too.

#FreeStevie

F U Stevie for not wanting to make the album after finally getting Chris back.
FU Lindsey for not trying to maybe be a little nicer to her.
FU Mick for (yes Ill blame him) adding those 40 some odd shows. Did you really need to?

This was just a cash grab tour and I'm done with them. Of course the whole Stevie and Lindsey drama (we are getting along now, no we aren't) is an act to draw us in to by more tickets to the tour.
Most unhappy with Stevie (used to love her, don't even like her anymore) but Mick and Lindsey deserve some of my anger too. I'M DONE!!!!

Oh, no, Elle. Even though Stevie said it too. It's all a big charade to sell more albums.

Michele

I'm not sure what walking Hadrian's Wall has to do with rose-colored glasses, but anyway, don't do it Mick. The wall is not stable.

Michele

Or let them record as a foursome. Then, they can record again when she has had time to have a life, enjoy her new house, enjoy her solo career and feels reinvigorated about FM. That can be their LAST album a few years from now and they can give us THIS album today.

I don't understand why they are so opposed against doing this. She hasn't left the band. She wants a rest. So, give us an album while she rests. I'd like to hear from Christine again. I've waited long enough.

Michele

I think he was being nicer to her, on stage and off, the whole time he was trying to cajole her into doing the album -- which started before Christine returned. That's why he never bluntly said she wouldn't commit to doing it until this interview. Now, he's over it.

Michele

The only thing I'll point out is that this was conducted right before the last show of the previous leg. I wonder If Stevie's attitude has changed now that the've had over a month off. Maybe not, but asking someone about their future plans right before the end of a leg of a tour probably won't yeild a reliable answer.

Right? Then she could tour for 24k and not have to re live the 70's and 80's drama which really seems to be grating on her.
I love Mick's idea to walk Hadrian's Wall. It looks like one of those spectacular once in a lifetime, bucket list things to do. http://www.visithadrianswall.co.uk/things-to-do/walking

1. They already tried the half member thing, and it didn't work. "You're either all in or you're out" was established as a result.

2. The problem with doing an album without her is that Stevie's hesitatation has more to do with touring at this point, and they are not going to release a new album without touring.

It's amusing to me that she has never said it bothered her to talk about it before. Now, she has always said she doesn't like to relive those Klonopin years, but never said she didn't like talking about, say, 75-86 before. That was a new one.

I mean, I know when she looks at old interview clips on Youtube and can tell that she was high back then, I know she doesn't like it, but they haven't said that they get tired of rehashing the drama, which I would have expected them to say (and wish they WOULD have said) 30 years ago.

About this tour, it was ill-advised. Maybe it was good for Christine to get back on the horse and I certainly cherished seeing them all together. I also know that they only did the tour now, because Stevie wouldn't agree to doing an album first. But without an album, the timing of the tour, right after the last one, was atrocius and Stevie's complaints about that are valid.

Michele

Exactly. :lol:

But resign themselves to the fact that it's going to be low key and they aren't going to tour on it (like Christine didn't tour on Meantime) and just do it for the love. Then, plan a big album and tour with Stevie for 2018 or something. And Christine and Lindsey can do new songs for that along with songs from Stevie. Just shelving the songs Christine and Lindsey have now, is so ridiculous to me and makes them look like -- well, not like artists, not like creative people with something new to say. Old, old-fashioned, scared. They don't want to do it without Stevie or without Warner Bros. or without arena tours, when doing so at this point wouldn't hurt their pocketbooks or their legacy going forward.

They have nothing to lose, but, seemingly, also have nothing to give.

Kills me.

Yes, Lindsey will probably do a solo tour, but that's not what I want.

Michele

part of me agrees with this, because sometimes it seems like everything with this band is some shade of a charade... but then, she's pushing SEVENTY for cripes' sakes. Her mother died. I do think she has legitimately had some personal reflection about mortality, and life getting short, and decline and all that. She has become, seemingly, much more aware that the clock is ticking and her days of being able (and perhaps also willing) to do this on this scale are dwindling. It may be in part the grind of the tour taking its toll, and with proper rest she will relent. I also think part of it's the ongoing power struggle with Lindsey over who gets to call the shots.

Seems like she feels doing this tour was a huge compromise for her, that it's taken several years away from her doing her own thing, and she's just not happy about it (which takes us full circle back to the notion that there's not so much time left and she knows it). I think in typical Mac fashion it's turning into a whole "thing", but I get the sense that the kernel at the heart of it all is true... she's not happy and thus not willing to give anything more to them for the forseeable future post-tour. How long that turns out to be, :shrug: But I agree totally with Chris et al, this power **** should have come to a far better resolution between S&L by now for F's sake. :mad:

I'm in complete agreement with those who are saying the Four should just record without Stevie. To my thinking that would make a better album, anyway. A normal group of musicians would just go ahead and make the album (jumping on the opportunity that Chris' return gives them), and think that there might be a chance to make another album in a couple of years when Stevie is ready. Too bad this group of individuals is so compelled to make high drama out of everything.

I love me some Stevie, I really do....But I have to say that I'm getting so tired of the drama and discontent.

It's amazing to me how bad things seem to have gotten between Stevie and Lindsey again. What about the wonderful days they spent at Lindsey's house recording Extended Play? What about the long talk Stevie had with Lindsey? What about their commitment to once again being the "power couple"? What changed in the past two years?

At this point, I think the band should sit down with Stevie and just say to her in the nicest way possible, "We understand that you're tired; we understand that this tour became bigger than we expected; we realize this took you away from other projects. Clearly you're frustrated and unhappy and unclear about your future with this band. We want to make it easy for you, so all four of us have made the decision to move ahead with a new album once this tour is done. We're excited about the material and don't want it to go to waste sitting in some vault somewhere. We don't want you to participate, and we're not asking you to contribute. We're also freeing you up from any touring obligations that may follow. Enjoy your house, enjoy your vacation. You've been a major part of this band, but we're moving forward without you."

Let her go. Get into the studio and work your magic!

Can The Mac survive without Stevie? I say yes. Will a new album without her sell well? Do albums sell well anymore, anyway? Will they be able to sell out Madison Square Garden without Stevie? Probably not, but they could fill large theaters. To be honest, Stevie has added nothing new to their live shows in years. She sings the same songs every tour. I like Christine and I like Lindsey. If their creative spark and partnership has been reignited, I don't think they should be held back by Stevie's bad attitude.

It's sad that for so long Stevie bemoaned the fact that she didn't have Christine by her side anymore, yet now that she's back and excited and wanting to contribute something meaningful, Stevie is unwilling to commit. What a spoiled child.

why are we talking in future tense? :confused:

they already did. they have album recorded and they just need to wrap it up and release it. they don't even need to go to the studio anymore, probably, if they would be willing to put the album out without Stevie.

there are just a few reasons i can think of why they are not:
1) greed
2) some kind of contractual obligation

these reasons are somewhat coming through in Mick's this is the last incarnation of FM, the 5. he's closing the door to the 4 there (or any possible replacements or reincarnations).

They haven't finished the songs they worked on together. There is still work to be done on them to bring them to completion. I think Christine said there were just rough vocals on them.

lol yeah first they were finished back in mid 2014, then as SN not overcoming her reluctance any time soon became more and more clear, the songs became less and less finished with each interview. #regressing

Stevie touring with 24 Carat Gold would get her probably 1/25 of the revenue she is getting for On With The Show.
In defense of her though, the Mac toured like dogs in 2013 thinking it would be their last tour for awhile. Then out of the blue they tour 2014 and 2015 like its Rumours all over again. Being tired after a long tour in 2013 to tour the insane On With The Show tour will have its breaking point. They have toured the world for 2 years in a row. There is going to be wear and tear for sure.
But I am sure she will come around and want to be part of the Mac's last album. If not, more songs for Christine is not a bad thing ;)

This article makes me sad. I saw them at Little Rock, and this article has actually tainted that experience somewhat. I was having a great time, but now it seems Stevie resented being there. I guess it shouldn't matter that she was faking her pleasure at being there, as long as I had a good time... I guess I'm just being silly, but still...

I want a new Fleetwood Mac album badly and I am desperate enough to be very reluctantly OK with not having Stevie on it - I bought Time, after all, and that was missing both my faves - but I wonder if WB would even accept a Fleetwood Mac album without Stevie.

I pray that a rest will help her gather herself and look at recording with Fleetwood Mac more kindly. I would much rather have new Mac than new solo.

I feel like their building up to something on Tuesday since its Stevie's birthday. I'm not sure whats gonna happen I just have a feeling their gonna announce/do something for her birthday.

Yeah, I agree. She was just tired out at the time of the interview and she'll come round eventually. I wouldn't worry people.

As far as being tired of touring....I think all of us here predicted that, so certainly they could've too. That's a lack of forsight on their part.

They aren't signed to WB so it doesn't matter if they would or wouldn't. They certainly can find a label that would be interested.

It's funny that people have said this all along the way when at no point has Stevie shown any interest in recording with the band. Even before she was burned out from touring and resentful of Christine. Before they'd even started rehearsals people were saying essentially that same thing "I wouldn't worry". It's blind optimism to take in every time someone has implied or explicity expressed Stevie's lack of interest and cooperation and assume she's going to get on board eventually just because it seems ridiculous that she wouldn't. She still may, but am I confident that she will? No, not at all.

I too am sad after reading this article. What the hell is wrong with Stevie and Lindsey? She says they are great friends and hashed all the past out. They act all lovey dovey on stage and then Chris says it's all an act? And Lindsey tell Dan Rather in The Big Interview that there are still issues with them? What is the problem? You guys are too old for this. If you don't get along, don't be in each others lives! If you want to still be in Fleetwood Mac, then you are in Fleetwood Mac and you commit to the record. I love Stevie, but it frustrates me when she is quoted saying those things.

There will not be a Fleetwood Mac album release without Stevie Nicks on it. If they have to release only a 12 disc with the band and release the rest of the tracks on a Buckingham solo release after that so be it.

Perfect word: sad. It's just sad. It really is. Christine is back and Stevie is just bringing the whole excitement down. It's not like she's doing anything different on the road....it's the same 8 bloody songs. No different from the last three tours I spent $1,000s to see. She sounds like a whiny brat in this interview. Yes, I hope Lindsey's songs turn into solo efforts. 24 KARAT BLEW, was horrendous. She needs to spend some quality time with DS and come up with something as amazing as IYD.

I know in a week she'll be all smiles in London, but this interview was brutal.

After reading this a second time through, it's not so bad. This was obviously done before the last leg ended and they WERE EXHAUSTED. We all have days like this. I'm sure she'll kick herself later for some of these comments.