(Interview) Palm Beach Post

[MacMan]

Lindsey Buckingham goes his own way
By Leslie Gray Streeter
Palm Beach Post Music Writer
Thursday, March 08, 2007
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/..._web_0308.html

Fleetwood Mac earned its rightful status as a supergroup in the days before the term was being thrown around everywhere like paint splatters on a Jackson Pollock canvas.

Made up of five musicians of varying backgrounds and influences, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham proved a successful experiment in the heady mixture of musical styles, personalities and drama.

Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, often the musical scientist behind the band's more experimental work (like 1979's avant garde Tusk), is still a member of Fleetwood Mac, although he says he's long since abandoned the drama. What remains is his studio mastery and expert guitar work, which is in evidence on Under the Skin, the 2007 solo album he released, which Rolling Stone named as one of the year's best.

Taking a brief break from the Mac, Buckingham is currently on what he calls his first extensive solo tour, which makes two stops in South Florida, at Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse tonight and at Fort Pierce's Sunrise Theatre on Sunday. He's also enjoying holding the musical reins, and enjoying the view of his success from the other side of the drama.

Question: Are you enjoying touring solo, after touring with a band for so long?

Answer: It's been great. This whole period of time, since we released (the album) in October, has begun a period for me, where I'm touring extensively behind a piece of work.... I'm going to put out a second album in 2008, and do the same thing. I'm going to carve out time to do that properly. I'm not necessarily trying to play the game radio-wise, so I can put out what I want to put out, and not be concerned about Sound Scan or anything else. It's just about the music and getting it out there.

Q: So it sounds like you like this.

A: It's a very liberating thing. I have a small band... our camaraderie is incredibly high. A lot of things have happened to me since the last time, that have been reflected in the style of music. I'm married, I have three children. So the whole thing has an intimacy to it.

Q: So having had such a different experience being in a major band, it sounds like you're in a head space where you can appreciate something else.

A: I guess, to some degree. You stay around, you do your work, you do things for the right reason. We're in the early days, still playing theaters, and maybe that's all we'll ever do. That's OK with me. There's always Fleetwood Mac if I want to play arenas. I'll have to see what happens. I'm doing this for the love of the music I'm doing right now.

Q: I read a review of Under the Skin that referred to it as your "solo Smile," (a reference to former Beach Boy Brian Wilson's mythic experimental work). Do you agree?

A: It's sort of hard to think of anything I'm doing in comparison to (Brian Wilson). There was a period of time when I was so mentally aligned with him for any number of reasons. I was taking in a lot of esoteric music he put out, and I was understanding the struggle he went through, which was not dissimilar from what I went through, with the resistance to Tusk.

Q: That's a pretty well-known story.

A: There was tons of backlash, coming after the success of Rumours, with the politics of the band, and of the label. After (Tusk didn't meet the phenomenal sales success of Rumours), they said "We want you to produce, but you can't do that anymore." (Chuckles). It was worse for Brian Wilson, because (his band members) were family members. He felt beholden to them. He was responsible for their well-being in a broader sense. The impulse is to want to go to places that were outside of the box. I understand how difficult it is to get people behind you.

Q: So why don't you feel that mental and emotional alignment with him anymore?

A: Today, I'm out the other end of that. (Wilson) is, as much as he ever will be. It all ended pretty well for him. But it's hard to make any comparisons. I mean, I would never compare myself to him. Smile is a minimalist album, but it's way more eclectic and all over the map. I would like to think (Under the Skin) has less of a pretense. It gets to a point. It's basically me sitting on the couch playing my guitar.

Q: Do you think that some of the difference is that, as you've gotten older, you've gotten over some of your pretentiousness?

A: There is that. There is freedom in (getting older). When you're younger, it's not that easy to get the company behind you. There are discussions about the kind of album they want you to make. They want you to make something with drums, something normal. (laughs) But I'm at the point in my life where it's like, what is the point of playing the radio game, or any of those games? You've earned the right to follow your instincts, to get the thing out there.... I would call (what I'm doing) my "late style." And (having gotten over) some of that darkness is an added bonus.

Q: It's interesting that Under the Skin was recorded while on your last tour with Fleetwood Mac. Did you have to constantly put yourself in a different head space between the band work and working on the album, or did it all flow together?

A: It all flows together. That show was also a lot of fun for me, again, because I had had a lot of changes in my life. (On the tour) we missed Christine (McVie, who left the band) a great deal. But since there was space, with just two writers up there, there was room to flex my muscles. There was a little more testosterone up on stage, if you will. That translated into being a little more myself in context of me.

And I was a good head space anyway. I had a cheap 16-track hard drive thing in a case, and on my days off, I fired it up, and made sounds with whatever I had in my room, whatever guitars I had handy. The funny thing was that I hadn't written in a long, long time. The last Fleetwood Mac album was meant to be a solo album, so I just wrote songs for a couple of years, until they found a home (with the band). After that I got to the point where I just stopped writing songs.

Q: After all that time, did you know what you wanted to do musically?

A: I had an idea of what I didn't want to do, which was to have drums and bass and lead guitar. There were a few songs over the last few years that I've gotten down to just a single voice and a guitar, like Big Love or Go Insane. They were connecting so strongly live. That was the springboard for a train of thought. The basic idea was me sitting on the living room floor playing the guitar and singing, with very little pretense.

There were other things going on, that formed the whole mind-set behind the album.... It's an overview of 30 years. I got married after a long, long time. There are people who had kids early and screwed them up, and were not a good example. So I was holding off for a long time, and was fortunate enough to meet a woman at a relatively late time in my life. We have three kids, 8, 6 and 2, and that's an interesting world to pit against everything that was going on before.

There certainly is an irony to that, after living my life in a fairly narrowly defined fashion, taking a fairly obsessive road for mostly good reasons, and some not-great reasons, too. This throws you right into the moment. It provided a whole other kind of base to draw from, and aligned itself with my style, in a musical way, that was interesting.

Q: Your kids are very young, but are they aware that Daddy's a rock star?

A: I don't think they've gotten that from us, per se, although when they were very young, we took them to a show when Fleetwood Mac was out on the road, so they got to see Daddy, there showing off on the stage. And there was the scale of that, the arena-sized places. Any more than that, I don't know if they'd remember much about it. They go to a private school in L.A., and I think they get more of (awareness of his fame) from the playground.

My oldest, Will, who is 8, is old enough, and his friends are old enough to have culled clues from their parents, who say things to their kids. He seems to have put it all together. I don't know how much he really understands it, but he can take his iPod, and listen to my music and be thoughtful about that. There is an understanding that there is something of value there — not just notoriety.




Rumours


Favorite moments from Buckingham's career


Lindsey Buckingham's four-decade career has produced a lot of memorable moments (and, arguably, the best white man's 'fro ever). Here are six of our favorites:

1. Second Hand News (from Rumours, 1977) It's country! It's folk! It's a bitter, bitter breakup! And together, it's a hit.

2. Go Your Own Way (from Rumours, 1977) Speaking of bitter breakups, this musical retelling of the combustion of Buckingham's relationship with Stevie Nicks is like bottling a whole episode of Behind The Music in a rhythmic 3 1/2 minutes.

3. Holiday Road (from the soundtrack of National Lampoon's Vacation, 1983) It's true: It is a long way down the holiday road. Especially if there's a dead geriatric relative strapped to the top of your station wagon.

4. Big Love (from Tango In The Night, 1987) Aggressively percussive with a world beat vibe, it's one of several songs on the album that Buckingham wrote, sang and recorded completely by himself, layering his voice to make it sound full.

5. Tusk (from Tusk, 1979): Record executives and some fans didn't know what to make of it, but it's an earth-shaking, joyously cryptic explosion of brass band, rock band and forward-thinking genius.

6. Landslide (live version, The Dance, 1997) OK, so it's Stevie's song. The concert version, from the Mac's reunion tour, features the blond witchy one singing sweetly to the nimble acoustic guitar of former lover Buckingham. It's all so moving and at the end, she looks over and says 'Thank you, Lindsey,' and he replies 'Thank you, Stevie.' Suddenly, all that water is beautifully under the bridge.

[Mari]

thanks for posting this

a lot of talk about his family.. no talk about European tourdates... hmmmfff, maybe there's a connection there :|

[#1LiddyBuckFan]

Originally Posted by MacMan

...has begun a period for me, where I'm touring extensively behind a piece of work.... I'm going to put out a second album in 2008, and do the same thing.

YAY!! "Tour extensively" I'm enjoying that phrase so much! I'm going to have to get a second job to pay for the shows but, YAY!!

[skcin]

Q: Do you think that some of the difference is that, as you've gotten older, you've gotten over some of your pretentiousness?

A: There is that. There is freedom in (getting older). When you're younger, it's not that easy to get the company behind you. There are discussions about the kind of album they want you to make. They want you to make something with drums, something normal. (laughs) But I'm at the point in my life where it's like, what is the point of playing the radio game, or any of those games? You've earned the right to follow your instincts, to get the thing out there.... I would call (what I'm doing) my "late style." And (having gotten over) some of that darkness is an added bonus.

Love this.

[stefan]

O.K. here we go. First mention of 2008 for the new album. So much for one right behind the other. So much for 2007.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by stefan

O.K. here we go. First mention of 2008 for the new album. So much for one right behind the other. So much for 2007.

So much for a Mac tour next year.

[Peestie]

Originally Posted by stefan

O.K. here we go. First mention of 2008 for the new album. So much for one right behind the other. So much for 2007.

I think he's said in quite a number of interviews for the last few months that it would be 2008. After he added the additional legs of the tour he started saying it would be 2008.

[amber]

I just realized every article is called "Lindsey Buckingham goes his own way". Every one.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by amber

I just realized every article is called "Lindsey Buckingham goes his own way". Every one.

You only noticed that now?

[amber]

Originally Posted by danax6

You only noticed that now?

I noticed some before, but I just put the whole massive string of them together.

[shackin'up]

Now, searching for a european tour mention like maniac, scanning the screen zigzag, this sentence hits me like a truck.

He seems to have put it all together. I don't know how much he really understands it, but he can take his iPod, and listen to my music and be thoughtful about that. There is an understanding that there is something of value there — not just notoriety.

I know the guy can talk sh*t regularly, but this is gold.

[tuigirl]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Now, searching for a european tour mention like maniac, scanning the screen zigzag, this sentence hits me like a truck.



I know the guy can talk sh*t regularly, but this is gold.

hehe...your'e right, it's a kinda funny thing to say..but there again young William might be a very clever boy and have his Dads music all sussed out at the tender age of 8!
(methinks he is probably listening to Zoids /manga music or whatever youngsters listen to these days and Dad just dosn't know it...shhhh....)

[JunkFoodGenius]

Originally Posted by amber

I just realized every article is called "Lindsey Buckingham goes his own way". Every one.

Ha! This is the first time I saw this!

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Now, searching for a european tour mention like maniac, scanning the screen zigzag, this sentence hits me like a truck.



I know the guy can talk sh*t regularly, but this is gold.

I thought that quote was adorable. My eight year old can work his IPOD better than me. He doesn't listen to anything remotely resembling Lindsey or FM, but....
I do think the comment about Will "putting things together from comments made by his playmate's parents"...is a bit odd.

[danax6]

^^
I thought the same thing.