New MOJO Q&A

[elle]

https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/...-go-out-again/

Lindsey Buckingham: “It would be so appropriate for the five of us to go out again.”
Lindsey Buckingham tells MOJO about his exit from Fleetwood Mac, his new solo record – and the prospects of a Fleetwood Mac reunion

Lindsey Buckingham

BY CELINA LLOYD | POSTED46 MINUTES AGO

To accompany our review of his new solo record, Lindsey Buckingham spoke to Mark Blake for the latest issue of MOJO, discussing his departure from Fleetwood Mac and the making of his new solo record.

MOJO: You recorded this long-player three years ago. Were you tempted to change any of it, considering what has happened since?

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: "Nothing's really changed on the record. But there has been this sequence of strange events tat kept it from seeing the light of day."

Starting with your parting of the ways with Fleetwood Mac in 2018?

"I did the record with Christine McVie [Lindsey Buckingham Christine McVie 2017] and wanted to go straight on to this. Fleetwood Mac wanted to tour. So we ended up going in a direction I didn't see coming [Buckingham was fired]. Stevie [Nicks] orchestrated that, and the others were stuck in the middle. I thought at this point in our careers it didn't speak well of the legacy. So I had to restructure everything. But, hey, that's rock'n'roll..."

Then you had a heart operation in 2019?

"Yes, as soon as I got back into the idea of putting the album out, I started having health problems. So that kicked the whole thing down even further"

Is it liberating making a solo album rather than a Fleetwood Mac album?

"On one level, yes. But my solo work is often more esoteric, and you lose nine out of 10 listeners because you're disconnecting from their idea of what Fleetwood Mac is. But I wanted to make a pop record here."

Is it fair to call this a relationship album?

"I wrote these songs when my wife and I had been together a long time. Things drift. Suddenly, you're at a point where everyone is pulling to reboot the entire scenario of domestic life. That's something that happens. So while a lot of these songs are celebrating long-term relationships, they're doing it in a non-romanticised way."

A song such as Blind love sounds like a throwback to The Beach Boys in the '60s. Are you getting nostalgic?

"I can be nostalgic. But I also try not to be too imitative. I could never write a song as good as Brian Wilson. On Blind Love, I was actually thinking of Sam Cooke, but it could just have easily been The Beach Boys."

You are touring with your own band during summer 2021, but could you see yourself performing with Fleetwood Mac again?

"Of course. It would be so appropriate for the five of us to go out again, even if you want to call it a farewell tour. I didn't see the last shows [Fleetwood Mac's 2019 tour with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn] but I heard it it was a little generic, like a covers band. That's fine, because there's always a fraction of people who are coming for the brand, per se, and aren't going to differentiate in terms of members as long as Stevie is up there. But it would be great for us to share it one last time. I know Mick [Fleetwood] and Christine would love that to happen. Wait and see."

The Q&A with Lindsey Buckingham is available to read in print in our latest issue, as well as an extensive, in-depth review of his self-titled album, released on September 17 2021.

The issue is available to buy here https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/mojo-335-october-2021

[aleuzzi]

Thanks for posting. A succinct and honest interview. He comes off looking very good here, outlining the conditions for his firing, pointing the finger in the right direction, but never dwelling on the culprit or her behavior.

Glad to see he is showing that the other three members were "caught in the middle." We may not have liked their decision to honor Stevie's wishes but we can appreciate the complicated position they found themselves in.

[TrueFaith77]

Sam Cooke! Intrigued!

[bombaysaffires]

I am curious when he did this interview (not when it finally came out) as compared to his other interviews.

The other interviews were all done with them coming to his house and sitting in his living room (which they described) and you have to wonder if they were on the same day (like a big promo push). Not clear on this one. So you can't assume his tone on this one was related to the response to the other interviews because we don't know when they all were done versus when they came out in print.

I look forward to interviews that he actually does now, after the other explosive interviews came out, to see if anyone asks him for his reaction to the public's reaction, and Stevie's reaction to his comments. We haven't yet heard him react to either her statements or Azoff's statements.....