The National interview

[elle]

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-cultu...st?pageCount=0

Lindsey Buckingham still working but puts fatherhood first
James McNair
Sep 1, 2011

The Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham talks to James McNair about his new album and fatherhood late in life

In 1974, when the drummer Mick Fleetwood asked Lindsey Buckingham to join his band, the California-born guitarist insisted that he and his girlfriend Stevie Nicks should come as a package.

"It wasn't a slam-dunk, 'Oh my goodness, this is our big break thing'," Buckingham tells me on the line from his home in Los Angeles. "Stevie and I could have made another Buckingham Nicks album - and who knows what would have happened if we did?" History records that the couple did not, of course, and when the gifted and glamorous duo joined Fleetwood Mac, they helped transform the group from esteemed British blues outfit to drive-time radio colossus.

Formerly led by the troubled guitar magus Peter Green, the band became an Anglo-American entity whose eponymous 1974 debut reached number one in the US. The new recruits' song-writing talent sat nicely alongside that of the keyboardist, Christine McVie, whose bass-playing husband John was also a long-term member.

Amazingly, the success of Fleetwood Mac was surpassed by that of the group's 1977 follow-up album, Rumours. Essentially a document of two relationship break-ups - Buckingham and Nicks were separating; ditto the McVies - the album has since gone on to sell more than 40 million copies. The band was indulging in all kinds of excess, and songs such as Go Your Own Way and Dreams aired their dirty laundry in public. Not for nothing, then, has Rumours been dubbed "rock's greatest soap opera".


"We can laugh about it now," says the soft-spoken Buckingham, "but at the time it was incredibly painful. The instinct was to run away, but we had to make the right choices for the band. Rumours brought out the voyeur in everybody, I think, but we learnt to be philosophical about that and use it to our advantage. I'm just glad it wasn't today's media covering the story - there was no phone hacking or people rooting through your trash back then."

Now 61, Buckingham is about to release his sixth solo album, Seeds We Sow. He recorded it in his home studio, where a poster of the Beach Boys' Smile album hangs for inspiration ("I also have a little teak warrior figure standing between the speakers to remind me that I have to fight on"). The new record packs echoing lattices of nylon-string guitar, songs such as Illumination and That's the Way confirming Buckingham's pop sensibility is still highly attuned. The album also benefits from the guitarist and singer's left-field production technique, something that, in Fleetwood Mac, was only ever let loose on the brilliant, defiantly uncommercial Tusk, an album the band's record company later dubbed "Lindsey's folly" despite its selling four million copies.

Buckingham says his new album is about "karma" and how the decisions we make influence our lives. So is he happy with his own choices? "Yes, I think so. With the music, my small, independent projects allow me to take risks, and that has a positive effect when I go back to Fleetwood Mac. More personally speaking, I think it was good not having children too young." He and wife Kristen Messner had their first child, William, when Buckingham was 48, and have since had two daughters, Leelee and Stella. "I've seen a lot of parents not really be there for their kids, so I'm glad that gift came when I was ready."

Chatting more about the new album, Buckingham explains that When She Comes Down was written for his wife. "When we first met, it took Kristen a while to open up and feel safe with me," he says. "I just had to wait and have faith." Happily married the couple may be, but for Fleetwood Mac fans, Buckingham will forever be romantically linked with Stevie Nicks, the girl he first met when they were pupils at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California.

In May of this year, Nicks released her seventh solo album, In Your Dreams, and, much to the delight of Mac fans, Buckingham sang and played guitar on the song Soldier's Angel.

"It was great," he says of the dynamic between them. "We spent more time together than we had in while, and we even talked about trying to get the [long deleted] Buckingham Nicks album out again and perhaps doing some kind of tour around it."

There are plans for new Fleetwood Mac projects, too, and Buckingham says that once he and Nicks have finished with their respective solo album commitments, their thoughts may well turn to another Mac studio album and tour. At 64 and 65 respectively, the band's titular rhythm section Mick Fleetwood and John McVie are still game, but Christine McVie - who retired from touring in 1998 and only fleetingly appears on 2003's Say You Will album - is unlikely to return to the fold.

"You could call Chris and ask her," laughs Buckingham, "but she quite deliberately burnt her bridges some years back. As far as I can tell, she's living the quiet pastoral life back in England, but I would imagine that must get a little one-dimensional for her from time to time."

For all his gentle ribbing, Buckingham, too, has clearly taken his foot off the accelerator ("Have I mellowed? Oh, I hope so!"). As for Buckingham, he's happier than ever. "I just want to be a consistent and present parent and not let anything get in the way of that. I don't have any big burning ambition, or anything I feel is just out of my grasp.

"One of the most frustrating things about Fleetwood Mac," he adds, "is that you don't get everybody wanting the same things for the same reasons at the same time, but it would be nice to reach a place that dignifies where we started. I find it rather touching and sweet that Stevie and myself might be able to share something beyond the formal designations of recent years. I think there are still a few chapters of our story to be written."

Seeds We Sow is out on September 5 on Cooking Vinyl

[Erin]

"It was great," he says of the dynamic between them. "We spent more time together than we had in while, and we even talked about trying to get the [long deleted] Buckingham Nicks album out again and perhaps doing some kind of tour around it."

Both of them need to stop teasing us about this.

"You could call Chris and ask her," laughs Buckingham, "but she quite deliberately burnt her bridges some years back. As far as I can tell, she's living the quiet pastoral life back in England, but I would imagine that must get a little one-dimensional for her from time to time."

Not the bridge thing again! What did she say or do? Why can't she at least record with them? Aarggh!

[CADreaming]

I'll take the teasing -- as long as it leads up to something really good in the future.

[WildHearted]

It would be nice to reach a place that dignifies where we started.

How long has he been saying that for? Guess they still haven't gotten there.. whatever that place is.

I find it rather touching and sweet that Stevie and myself might be able to share something beyond the formal designations of recent years. I think there are still a few chapters of our story to be written.

Is he referring back to the BN thing here? Or.. what?

Lindsey's vocabulary and metaphors are too much for my brain sometimes, I must say.

[wondergirl9847]

Originally Posted by elle

("I also have a little teak warrior figure standing between the speakers to remind me that I have to fight on").

OMG, Stevie has rubbed off on him!

Originally Posted by elle

Seeds We Sow is out on September 5 on Cooking Vinyl

VINYL!! MUST GET IT!!

[michelej1]

Wow vinyl.

Oh please, don't tell me he has a dream catcher too.

Obviously, I can simply box his ears about the burnt bridges thing, but I see a little door opening up here. First, he says you can call Chris (I will do that). Also, he thinks she might get bored from time to time. Hmmm. Is it something he's been wondering about himself, whether she's bored or not?

You know how Stevie said that in the end of NGBA Lindsey said come down and see me some time, contradicting everything he had said before?

I think maybe we've gotten to a "come down and see me sometime" point with his Christine comments -- even though she burned her bridges.

Funny to have him say, "oh my goodness."

It took a little while for Kristen to trust him? Well . . . they were still in the early dating stages when she got pregnant. So, when exactly was he biding his time and having faith that maybe she'd turn around? During the ultrasound?

Michele

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Obviously, I can simply box his ears about the burnt bridges thing, but I see a little door opening up here. First, he says you can call Chris (I will do that). Also, he thinks she might get bored from time to time. Hmmm. Is it something he's been wondering about himself, whether she's bored or not?

You know how Stevie said that in the end of NGBA Lindsey said come down and see me some time, contradicting everything he had said before?

I think maybe we've gotten to a "come down and see me sometime" point with his Christine comments -- even though she burned her bridges.

I found the fact he called Christine's current life "one dimensional" pretty shocking. If I were Chris, that comment would do the opposite of make me run back to Fleetwood Mac .

It seems pretty clear to me that Christine felt that living the rock star life was in fact one dimensional, so she exited that scene. She returned to the country of her youth, started reconnecting familial ties, etc. As much as I'd love to have Christine back in the band, I truly do think she chose the perfect time to make her exit: she went out when Fleetwood Mac was on top. She'd done it all with the band, too: been there through multiple incarnations, varying stages of success, etc.

Originally Posted by michelej1

It took a little while for Kristen to trust him? Well . . . they were still in the early dating stages when she got pregnant. So, when exactly was he biding his time and having faith that maybe she'd turn around? During the ultrasound?

Michele

I could see how it would take a while to learn to trust a rock star... especially one who had never been married or had any kids at the age of 50. It's also very likely that Kristen's first pregnancy wasn't planned. So as Lindsey would say, their whole relationship unfolded 'organically.'

[bombaysaffires]

still trying to figure out what the "formal designations" between him and Stevie actually means....

I didn't get the sense Christine burned any bridges.. he needs to find a new expression. He says that in reference to her selling her LA house.... never understood how that was burning any bridges...

[Nico]

Originally Posted by michelej1

It took a little while for Kristen to trust him? Well . . . they were still in the early dating stages when she got pregnant. So, when exactly was he biding his time and having faith that maybe she'd turn around? During the ultrasound?

Michele

I think it makes sense to me now. The song "It Was You" had those lyrics:
"back in '99, our love just in time
if we had to wait, WE would be too late
caught in history, future I couldn't see
you saw oh so well..."

So I guess he was stuck in the past and she had to work hard to open herself up to helping him to remove as much of himself from that world to see his future. That's what I get from the lyrics now, after this interview...

Of course all of this may have been discussed ad nauseam in the past, but oh well.

Great interview. I don't know how Lindsey and Chris are, in terms of friendship or whatnot. I don't quite understand Lindsey's terminology. It always sounds harsh, but maybe it isn't meant to be so. In any case, I know how much Lindsey loved and valued Christine as a member of FM. He always speaks glowingly of her talents, and that means a lot.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

I didn't get the sense Christine burned any bridges.. he needs to find a new expression. He says that in reference to her selling her LA house.... never understood how that was burning any bridges...

I know. Even if his explanation reveals he is using the phrase, to mean she pulled up all of her U. S. stakes, he knows what the term means in ordinary parlance. So, he knows that, regardless of what he is actually referring to, it sounds rather nasty and I have to think he just keeps saying it to be wicked.

I don't think Lindsey's vocabulary is especially big, like people keep saying, but I do think he knows enough to know that "burned her bridges" has an acrimonious ring. Like she did something bad enough that she wouldn't be welcome back. Like when you curse out your boss, before leaving your job. You know you probably won't be able to return to that employment.

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I found the fact he called Christine's current life "one dimensional" pretty shocking. If I were Chris, that comment would do the opposite of make me run back to Fleetwood Mac .

Well, only one dimensional "from time to time." Lindsey has said a lot of things about Christine that would make her not want to come back. She made Stevie have less testosterone (well, he said that before Chris even left the band). Her stuff never sounded that good live. He doesn't even know if he wants her back (reminds me of her Behind The Mask lyrics) and he's glad to have 30% more room. Of course, she said negative, rather catty things about him when he left too. Par for the course.

I don't have any opinion on whether Chris wants to stay gone or not. Her feelings on that subject are secondary to my own. But I do think that him joking that the writer should give her a call and speculating that she must get bored suggests to me that if Mick were to try to get Christine back for some recording, Lindsey wouldn't protest.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Nico

I think it makes sense to me now. The song "It Was You" had those lyrics:
"back in '99, our love just in time
if we had to wait, WE would be too late
caught in history, future I couldn't see
you saw oh so well..."

So I guess he was stuck in the past and she had to work hard to open herself up to helping him to remove as much of himself from that world to see his future. That's what I get from the lyrics now, after this interview...

Of course all of this may have been discussed ad nauseam in the past, but oh well.

I always laughed at those lyrics because she was pregnant in 1997 and had Will in 1998. So, why was their love just in time in 1999? I guess that's when she decided to trust him, it was during their second child's ultrasound.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

Is he referring back to the BN thing here? Or.. what?

My question is, what are the informal designations. Yeah, for the record, you are my bandmate, but off the record . . .

Michele

[Nico]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I always laughed at those lyrics because she was pregnant in 1997 and had Will in 1998. So, why was their love just in time in 1999? I guess that's when she decided to trust him, it was during their second child's ultrasound.

Michele

Good gawd, you're right. Well, perhaps love does in fact come "in it's own time," lol! Yeah, I totally am using songs and song lyrics to try and understand a relationship here. Gosh I'd be great shipper material.

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by michelej1

My question is, what are the informal designations. Yeah, for the record, you are my bandmate, but off the record . . .

Michele

Really though, I'd like to know myself.

[Regina]

I could swear I read somewhere (or maybe it was Ledgie speculation) that the 99 was purely for rhyming purposes.


I don't know. Accident or not, if she trusted him enough to sleep with that early...you'd think trust wouldn't be an issue. I mean, Rock Star--potentially flighty, potentially angst-ridden, potentially STD-ridden, potentially metaphor-ridden...)

The whole Christine thing? I think he just wants to warn her that, since she has no home in LA--she is NOT staying with the Buckinghams....