icCoventry.co.uk interview w/Mick, Nov. 21

[Les]

Talk of Peter and Christine...

icCoventry.co.uk
November 21, 2003

Fantasy reunion for Fleetwood's Mick
by David Freak

As the classic '70s line-up of Anglo-American stadium fillers Fleetwood Mac partly reform for a new album and world tour, drummer and co-founder Mick Fleetwood reveals that he'd like to get back together with another ex-Mac member ... Peter Green.

"I'd love to make more music with Peter," confesses the lofty sticksman who first played with Green in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in the mid-sixties.

"I've had that fantasy since Peter left over thirty years ago. I don't know what Peter'd think but it'd be great to just play some music and see what comes out of it.

"I'm happy Peter's still around, he's had some problems over the years - that's no secret - but this band owes him a huge amount. He's the matriarch, and wrote some great music - On And On, Man of the World, Albatross - classics, tried and tested by time. There's not a guitar player alive who does not acknowledge his greatness!"

Mick is back on the drum stool to promote the first Mac studio album since 1987's Tango In The Night and the reunion of Mick and original bassist John McVie with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, the line-up who created the massive selling Rumours album.

"The reality is that this whole thing started about nine years ago," explains Mick from his mum's home in Salisbury. "I started working with Lindsey on a solo project and it all went so well. I thought it would be three weeks of over dubs and recording and it turned out to be a year and two months in the studio."

This led to 1997's unplugged 'best of', The Dance which featured several new tunes.

"And we discovered that lot of that old chemistry was alive and well. All those less than perfect feelings we had had gone down the river, so we thought we must do this again, but properly - we wanted to make a new album with new music."

The result is the ambitious 18 track Say You Will, an album which mixes the band's fondness for experimentation with a strong pop sensibility.

"This album is a cross breed in terms of approach," Mick explains. "After Rumours we made Tusk and I really love that album - I listened to it in Dolby surround sound before I came to England and it was amazing - but it wasn't Rumours Two, it was maybe a little bit before it's time and some of that experimentation is represented on this album, although it is accessible. It's the best of where we were with Rumours blended with the best of where we were with Tusk."

Sadly, this reunion does not officially feature Christine McVie, although she does crop up on the album contributing vocals and keyboards on several tracks which were originally pencilled in for Lindsey's solo venture, and Mick says she's definitely welcome at any of the forthcoming UK dates - their first in this country for 15 years.

"She's certainly welcome and it'd be great to see her," he underlines. "I believe she might come to at least one of the shows, but it's up to her if she wants to play. She's not billed, but it's a casual thing."

In between Mac commitments, Mick has no problem keeping busy thanks to a variety of musical and IT projects, yet despite appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger, there's little talk of reviving his acting career.

"Argh!" he laughs heartedly, "that's down the dumper!

"I never took it seriously enough," he continues. "I used to get stressed-out by learning lines and I ended up being best known for B-movie acting. I may still do stuff from time to time as it was a lot of fun, but also it was a lot of stress - I used to wake up in the night worrying about my lines."

But the experience has led Mick in a new direction: "Motivational speaking engagements!" he declares proudly. "It's half way between story-telling and being in a show. I was just asked to do it and I'm always up for doing something new. I would like to do more of it. It's like being a stand-up comedian - you either get over it or die."

And having survived a life of rock'n'roll excess and financial disaster not to mention relationship, personal and personnel problems, it's no surprise that Mick knows a thing or two about keeping motivated.

"I know about surviving," he chuckles, "and I don't mind sharing if people want to listen."

*Fleetwood Mac
Tuesday 25 [sold out] and Wednesday 26 November 2003
Birmingham NEC

* The Peter Green Splinter Group appear at Robin 2, Bilston on 2 December 2003. Call 01902 401 211 for tickets