The New Album Thread

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

My only frustration is that this has turned into the never-ending tour. They must be running on autopilot, hence same set list night after night. I can't imagine how they avoid getting burned out and sick of each other. I'll feel better when the tour ends...lol.

You think so? The tour started in September. I don't think it's been that long at all. Seems fairly normal for a successful world tour and ending towards the end of this year.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Richard B

You think so? The tour started in September. I don't think it's been that long at all. Seems fairly normal for a successful world tour and ending towards the end of this year.

Given their ages, and the amount of shows they've played in nearly eight months, not to mention the as-of-yet unconquered world legs, I'd say this tour is ridiculously long and beyond what any of them should be doing at this point. Twenty year olds would find it grueling and taxing. I can't imagine how these five do it, and I can't imagine any of them wanting to jump into the studio immediately when it's done. The new timeline suggests a 2017 release date. I would not be surprised if it comes in 2018. This band exhausts me.

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Given their ages, and the amount of shows they've played in nearly eight months, not to mention the as-of-yet unconquered world legs, I'd say this tour is ridiculously long and beyond what any of them should be doing at this point. Twenty year olds would find it grueling and taxing. I can't imagine how these five do it, and I can't imagine any of them wanting to jump into the studio immediately when it's done. The new timeline suggests a 2017 release date. I would not be surprised if it comes in 2018. This band exhausts me.

They got trainers now!
No, but looking at Unleashed and the tour in 2013, they are long. Remember, 2013 would have been longer had John not gotten ill. This tour is not quite 8 months yet. They had time off in December and some time earlier this year.

I just don't see this as some weird, never-ending tour. This band has been touring a lot these past years. That's all they seem to do.

[Jondalar]

No more tours. They can't waste the time! Newsflash!

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Given their ages, and the amount of shows they've played in nearly eight months, not to mention the as-of-yet unconquered world legs, I'd say this tour is ridiculously long and beyond what any of them should be doing at this point. Twenty year olds would find it grueling and taxing..

I disagree with all of this. You and me and the average musician would be exhausted but that's because we have to carry our own luggage and make all our own travel arrangements. If I was greeted by thousands of screaming fans and then chauffeured from the arena to the hotel in a limo and then driven to a private jumbo jet with a staff waiting to cater to my every need, you can be damn sure I would never be complaining about any of the traveling I had to do. I would love to be able to lay down in a comfortable bed while flying through the air from city to city instead of crammed into a seat that my hips are too wide for, praying and hoping the person in the window seat doesn't have to get up to use the restroom because it is a nightmare for me to get out of my seat and back into it again.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

I'm glad to hear to hear him still talking about the new album. It sounds like he and Christine made some great songs together. He seems very proud of their work and excited to release it.

OF COURSE! He's not going to sit there and say "oh, our new stuff is crap". Every time there's a new album on the horizon, whether it's Fleetwood Mac or his own, he always says something to the effect of "it's the best stuff we've ever done". It's a marketing ploy.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Richard B

They got trainers now!
No, but looking at Unleashed and the tour in 2013, they are long. Remember, 2013 would have been longer had John not gotten ill. This tour is not quite 8 months yet. They had time off in December and some time earlier this year.

I just don't see this as some weird, never-ending tour. This band has been touring a lot these past years. That's all they seem to do.

Your last two sentences are exactly what I feel. My frustration is that yet another LONG tour that won't end until late November (don't forget Australia) is keeping them from making new music. I want new music. I think this is what was frustrating Jondlar in his/her first post--and I agreed.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by vivfox

I disagree with all of this. You and me and the average musician would be exhausted but that's because we have to carry our own luggage and make all our own travel arrangements. If I was greeted by thousands of screaming fans and then chauffeured from the arena to the hotel in a limo and then driven to a private jumbo jet with a staff waiting to cater to my every need, you can be damn sure I would never be complaining about any of the traveling I had to do. I would love to be able to lay down in a comfortable bed while flying through the air from city to city instead of crammed into a seat that my hips are too wide for, praying and hoping the person in the window seat doesn't have to get up to use the restroom because it is a nightmare for me to get out of my seat and back into it again.

Even with all of the luxury and the personal trainers, each concert and the preparation for each concert takes a huge physical toll that would exhaust most people half their ages. It's easy to disagree with this sentiment because we aren't doing it. No matter how much is taken care of for them, they still have to get up there and do 2.5 hour shows every couple of days. They still have to travel. They still have to rehearse. They still have press interviews.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Even with all of the luxury and the personal trainers, each concert and the preparation for each concert takes a huge physical toll that would exhaust most people half their ages. It's easy to disagree with this sentiment because we aren't doing it. No matter how much is taken care of for them, they still have to get up there and do 2.5 hour shows every couple of days. They still have to travel. They still have to rehearse. They still have press interviews.

Tears on my pillow.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Tears on my pillow.

Oh, good, so you do understand....

[michelej1]

Vancouver Sun Return of the Mac By Francois Marchand,

Mick Fleetwood talks new album, Christine McVie, and the end of Fleetwood Mac


http://www.vancouversun.com/entertai...#ixzz3VfUSraUr


Never say die once wrote Black Sabbath.

For pop-rockers Fleetwood Mac, the saying couldn’t be any more true.

The band recently reunited with long gone singer and keyboardist Christine McVie, who rejoined Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood after 16 years away.

If you ask Fleetwood, the founding drummer of the group, reuniting with McVie has reinvigorated the Mac, whose members have had well-documented complex and drug-fuelled relationships, especially around the time of their 1977 classic album Rumours, which remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.

In a recent conversation with The Vancouver Sun, Fleetwood, 67, opened up about returning to the studio with McVie in tow, the band’s most recent string of tour dates, and what the future holds for Fleetwood Mac.

Q: We just saw Fleetwood Mac in Vancouver in November. How does it feel to come back to our neck of the woods so fast?

A: It feels good. You can’t go anywhere unless you’re wanted. (Laughs.) So that’s a good feeling for us old “gigsters.” And we happen to adore that neck of the woods anyhow. We always love coming back (to Vancouver). It’s a beautiful place. It’s one of the towns where you go, “Oof, if only we had two days off there.” As a musician, this tour has unfolded beyond anything anyone might have thought, including ourselves. So it’s gratifying — it’s nice to be loved. Off we go again: It’s the never-ending tour.

Q: So you don’t see an end in the foreseeable future for Fleetwood Mac in its current incarnation?

A: Not in terms of “the end of the band” or saying goodbye. No. Unless I don’t know something. (Laughs.) I feel thoroughly employed. We’re working all the way through next Christmas. That’s almost far enough. We’re talking and feeling really excited about creating new music. It looks like a viable future ahead of us, as far as I can see.

If you want a more philosophical answer as to, “Do you ever see this coming to an end?” Yeah, I think we’d all be fairly crazy at this point (not to think about it). But then you start thinking about the Rolling Stones or Elton John and you go, “Hmm.” And you start looking around — you don’t want to be Tony Bennett touring at 85 years old (Bennett is in fact 88).

Having said that, we’re a working band and we’re working harder than we did when we were in our 30s. So go figure. The enthusiasm to do it is very much alive. But time itself speaks to you and you go, “Do I actually think in all sensibility think that any of us — and I can only speak for myself — that we’ll still be doing this 10 years from now?” No. “Do I visualize I’ll still be a musician enjoying playing in some shape or form?” Yes. It’s what we do.

Q: How is the chemistry in the band right now, with Christine coming back into the fold? Having done one round of touring, do you feel things are better than you expected?

A: Oh yeah. Any which way you look at where we are as a band, the fact is that Stevie is hugely enjoying having her old girlfriend back. They’re friends, you know? They’re like the funniest odd couple. She has a partner and she’s not just surrounded by ex-boyfriends. So it’s all good.

Musically, it’s astoundingly complete. We were happy doing what we were doing for many, many years without Chris. But if I had to put a line in the sand, I would say this is something that is really almost exclusively unique: That someone comes back to a band that’s doing what we’re doing at the level we’re doing it. The Rolling Stones don’t have Bill Wyman up there. They have a great band and Ronnie (Wood) is a Rolling Stone, but it’s not Brian Jones.

We are complete and we’re lucky and we’re enjoying it. It’s a great way for me as herder, someone who’s been trying to keep this band going. I couldn’t think of a better ending, when this does end, that we’re all on the same page and writing the same last chapter, which is no time soon, as far as I know.

Q: You’re working on a new album and some of the tracks are already completed. The only thing missing are Stevie’s vocals. What’s holding that back?

A: Touring until next Christmas. (Laughs.) That would do it, you know? We all have lives and stuff, so the little breaks that we get really aren’t that big. So we’re working and we’re trying to find ways for all of that to make sense. At some point, probably after this coming Christmas, we’ll be ready to address all of that.

We have full intention of not leaving for a five-year gap. It would be lunacy at this point. We want to keep going. Two years after we come off the road is what most sensible bands do, otherwise you overstay your welcome anyhow. It goes very, very quickly when you’re putting albums together and thinking of fun things to project and work on. Our whole chemistry is about being busy for pretty large and undetermined amount of times.

Q: What are some of the new songs about? What inspiration did you draw from on the new material?

A: I wish I could answer you but I’m not the songwriter. As they say, I’m “just the drummer.”

(The material is) really powerful. Lindsey’s a given because I’ve been working on and off with Lindsey anyhow. But Chris disappeared for nigh on 16 years. All I can say is that the chemistry between her and Lindsey as songwriters used to be fairly detached, and Lindsey would come in very strong producing and interpreting the material. This time, to my knowledge, they have worked on songs together, taking Lindsey’s ideas and then Chris coming in and finishing with melodies and words. That’s something, to my knowledge, that’s entirely new. It’s great. I think Lindsey is finding it very gratifying that it’s gone to the next step with Chris and vice versa.

So all of those juices seem to be very intact and it’s not totally necessary for a band like us to reinvent the wheel — and we don’t. But I have to say it’s a nice extra texture to know that that spirit is still alive and well in all the songwriters in this band.

Q: You recently revisited all of Fleetwood Mac’s history, both glorious and inglorious, in your new book Play On. If anything, out of all the turbulence and the madness and the fun and the excitement of being in Fleetwood Mac over the years, what do you want people to remember?

A: I hope the overview for the band I’ve been in since 1967 is that, no matter what, we really genuinely cared about our craft. Not only were we lucky — especially myself — to survive the lifestyle choices that we made, but I truly pay homage to the fact that Fleetwood Mac, as an institution, demanded that you had some semblance of responsibility. And I think it saved a lot of us, certainly myself.

I think Stevie has been really outspoken about our lifestyle, so I can share that her dedication — even with the huge distractions — has always been about the art, and that goes without saying for anyone that’s ever been in this band. This incarnation of Fleetwood Mac speaks to that. That’s what I would hope people have felt.

I think we’re able to be a little reflective, just as the passing of time itself has allowed us not to wallow in what it was. It is quite gratifying to realize that you have cared about what you do.


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertai...#ixzz3VfUJS0i6

[michelej1]

There's definitely been a switch in tone reflected by both Mick and Lindsey's recent interviews.

Everyone's being friendly now.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by chiliD

OF COURSE! He's not going to sit there and say "oh, our new stuff is crap". Every time there's a new album on the horizon, whether it's Fleetwood Mac or his own, he always says something to the effect of "it's the best stuff we've ever done". It's a marketing ploy.

He didn't say that Mirage, or even Tango, were the best thing they'd ever done. He just said he thought Tango was an improvement on Mirage -- Mirage being a note he didn't think anyone wanted to end on.


Michele

[Macfan4life]

I am happy they are enjoying this probably last monster tour. Something like 75 North American dates. The Dance only had 40 dates period. Christine turned down touring Europe. I say let them enjoy this enthusiasm because this is the last tour before the last album and possible goodbye tour.
As long as they do an album and give Christine at least 5 songs, I will be happy. It makes me happy seeing them so happy.

[Nick]

I'm just mad that they can't take a 6 month break or so from touring to complete this album. Those international dates should be for 2016 after the new album is released.