WDVE INTERVIEW WITH MICK FLEETWOOD

Mick Fleetwood interview on

102.5 WDVE Rocks

in Pittsburgh, PA 2/26/09

Link to Audio Interview

FLEETWOOD MAC IN ONE INCARNATION OR ANOTHER

By Ed Symkus
GateHouse News Service
Norwichbulletin.com

Fleetwood Mac, in one incarnation or another, has been making music — first it was straight blues, now it’s pop-rock — since 1967. 

They started off playing in dark and dingy London clubs and, throughout the late-’70s and early-’80s, they packed the largest arenas in the world.

Their current three-month tour of North America marks the first time they’ve performed together in five years. They visit the TD Banknorth Garden on March 11, in support of their new “best of” album, “Unleashed.”

All four members of the band recently took part in a telephone conference call. Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham were in chatty moods; John McVie took on the role of silent partner.

The tour marks the first time since the band’s rise to prominence in the’70s that they’ve gone on the road without an album of new material; they’ll only be playing tunes from their fat catalogue of hits. But that doesn’t mean they’re through recording.

“This is a refreshing thing to do in terms of selecting a lot of really emotively connected songs to the audience,” says drummer Fleetwood of only playing the hits. “But there have been discussions for sure that we would love to make some more music. I think it’s sort of down to the biorhythms of how everyone is feeling and what’s appropriate. We have [solo] careers and families and different perspectives from what it would have been you know 20, 30 years ago. So I think the consensus is that we would love to be challenged to go out and do something with some new songs in a couple of years. My heart says I believe that will happen.”

Singer Nicks and guitarist Buckingham, who have done separate solo albums and tours over the years, are looking forward to the reunion for both personal and professional reasons.

“Solo work and Fleetwood Mac is a really great thing to be able to go back and forth to because you can do your solo work and then you can do Fleetwood Mac,” says Nicks. “ And then you can go back to your solo work and then you can do Fleetwood Mac. We’ve been apart for four years. Now we’re back together and we’re having a blast.”

Buckingham feels that not having to present new material and try to win audiences over on a first listening is a wonderful thing.

“It kind of frees you up to enjoy each other a little bit more as people,” he says. “The mantra is really more ‘let’s just have a good time,’ and we can value the friendships and the history that underpins this whole experience that we’ve had over the years. I think because of that we are actually able to just look at the body of work and choose from that. And then you know just have a little bit more fun with it than we would normally be able to have.”

Though no set lists have been put together yet, Fleetwood reveals that they’ll certainly be playing what he calls the obvious ones: “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop,” “Dreams.”

“But then we are finding songs as we go along that we feel are special songs that maybe aren’t considered the massive, massive hits but are truly emotionally connected to Fleetwood Mac,” he says, without naming them. “I feel really confident that we’re going to surprise the audience in some ways. I think that we’re going to make the audience identify with songs that they know. And we’ve had fun really re-sculpting certain segments of the show, which will remain secret until you see us.”

Buckingham is also keeping secrets, of sorts. Asked if there are any songs he wishes he didn’t have to play ever again, he first dodges the question, saying, “You know, we really have a body of music that we’ve been lucky enough to have become part of the fabric of the music culture.”

Then he gives in — but doesn’t name any songs — and says, “Certainly there is a challenge of being on the road in terms of the repetition. It’s almost the inverse of the challenge of being in the studio where you’re trying to pull stops out of the air; the challenge on the road is trying to keep things fresh night after night. But you know that’s part of being a professional and it’s also a part of being in a band where you’ve been together a long time and you can keep finding new things for those songs to mean to you personally and to share. It’s just part and parcel of what we do: to go out and recreate those same songs.”

The always outspoken Nicks, asked if she can believe she’s still singing in a rock band after all of these years, casually mentions, without prompting, that she recently turned 60. She follows that with a reminiscence of her first days with the band.

“When I joined Fleetwood Mac, I was 28,” she says. “I went on one tour with just my normal street clothes. I just threw my stuff in my suitcase and we left on like a three-month thing. We went to El Paso, Texas, to do a show, and I tried to put on a dress but unbeknownst to me I had gained five pounds. So the dress didn’t fit. I was screaming and I sat down and I started to draw an outfit. And I said to myself, ‘I’m going to have a uniform. My uniform is going to be such that I can wear it today at 28 and I can still wear it at 60. I’m going to wear the same skirt, the same little top, the same platform boots and some little jacket, and that’s going to be it. And I’m still going to be able to wear this at 60 because it’s not going to be so flamboyant that it can’t be worked with a little bit, and unless I weighed 300 pounds, I’ll still be able to wear this when I’m you know into my 60s. So, yes, I can believe it.”

Suite Deal - Fleetwood Mac in Los Angeles (Staples Center)

A Suite Deal - Fleetwood Mac at the Los Angeles STAPLES Center

Hi, Fleetwood Mac fans,

Our school is running an auction to raise funds at the moment and one of the big ticket items on offer is this: a luxury suite, tickets for 12 and 5 VIP parking passes for Fleetwood Mac at the Staples Center in LA, May 28th 2009.

The value of the auction is $5000 but bidding is starting at $1500. This is the first time we've tried an online auction and so we're just feeling our way and trying to think of any way we can to let people who might be interested in some of our bigger items know about them. That way, fans can bid and likely get a great bargain, and the school gains too.

Our school in Monica Ros School in Ojai, CA, and this is our annual art auction to raise funds for the coming year. 

This is really a great deal for 12 Fleetwood Mac fans to get the top luxury suite at the Staples Center at a far reduced price. 

Bidding starts at $1500 but there is a Buy It Now option too for $4000.

Please do check it out!

Thanks for your time.

S Zahringer (parent volunteer)
Monica Ros School
Ojai, CA

Item Information:

• Estimated Value $5,000.00
  
• Buy Now Price $4,000.00
  
• Item Number 164
  

Item Description

You'll be treated to the best luxury suite in the house. This primo STAPLES Center suite is located on the first level, center court. You'll receive 12 tickets and 5 VIP parking passes.

Special Instructions:

• Concert is Thursday, May 28, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
  
• Place your bids here
  
• Online Close Mar. 5, 2009 8:59 AM PST
  
• Opening Bid $1,500.00
  

MICK FLEETWOOD KFOG INTERVIEW (3/26/09)

Mick Fleetwood was a Guest on the KFOG Morning Show today (2/26) in San Francisco 

Mick spoke about the upcoming Fleetwood Mac Unleashed Tour - The Rumours Reissue Boxset and how relaxed and excited the band is to get back out on the road for the first time without a new album to promote.

The interview includes the early Fleetwood Mac track "Black Magic Woman" and "I Don't Want To Know" from the Rumours album.

Complete Interview Segment is approximately 15 minutes in length.

DOWNLOAD NOW

SNEAK PEEK CLIPS OF STEVIE WITH CHRIS ISAAK

Stevie Nicks will be on the March 5th episode of Chris Isaaks new show" The Chris Isaak Hour" which debuts on Thursday February 26th on The Bio Channel.

Sneak Peek Preview Clips From Stevie's appearance:

On Joining Fleetwood Mac

First Meeting With Christine McVie and the Christine McVie Diamond that she's wearing.

THE CURSE OF FLEETWOOD MAC HAS TURNED INTO A BLESSING

FLEETWOOD MAC UNLEASHES HITS
Pittsburghlive.com
By Rege Behe, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, February 25, 2009

There's no new album, nor is Christine McVie onboard. No obvious reason for Fleetwood Mac to tour, unless you count a forthcoming re-release of "Rumours," the 1977 album that sold more than 30 million units.

There is the likelihood that "Fleetwood Mac Unleashed: Hits Tour 2009," which begins Sunday at the Mellon Arena, will be a blockbuster, playing to capacity crowds in the United States and Canada.

Yet Fleetwood Mac never has been a band of mercenaries, merely cashing in on their popularity. For the four current members of the band -- Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Stevie Nicks -- this tour is attractive because they aren't promoting new material.

"Some bands -- which is fine -- go around doing this year after year, year in, year out," Fleetwood, 61, said during a recent teleconference, "and, understandably, people love to hear songs they're familiar with. So having said that, that's a whole new experience for us as a band, presenting the very best we feel we can get on board and do."

"What it does is it kind of frees you up to enjoy each other a little bit more as people," said Buckingham, 59. "And the mantra is really more 'let's just have a good time' and value the friendships and the history that really underpins this whole experience that we've had over these years."

Since Peter Green started the band in 1967, Fleetwood Mac has emerged in various incarnations, starting as a blues-based outfit with a penchant for psychedelia. Christine McVie galvanized the sound, adding melody. Californian Bob Welch would further abet the transition from blues to pop, and his work on songs such as "Hypnotized" gave the band its first widespread exposure in the U.S. during the early 1970s.

When Nicks and Buckingham joined the group in 1975, the band's direction was irrevocably set. The taut and spare, just drums and bass, guitar and piano, became larger than life by way of its omnipresence in pop culture. The songs "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" and "Go Your Own Way" became standards, even mantras, for the masses.

Fleetwood, who, along with John McVie, 63, has witnessed and been part of every Fleetwood Mac lineup, said the revolving door that was the band ended up being a benefit.

"It's still about individuals experiencing and giving their individual thing without being totally swallowed by Fleetwood Mac," Fleetwood said. "And I think the nature of that is all because we changed so much through the years, and that ethic ... is always about pushing forward and changing and keeping it fresh.

"So I think the curse of Fleetwood Mac has turned into a final blessing over the years, that, creatively, we were able to hold our audience. Obviously, the band ... that's on the phone right now became the band that had the worldwide acceptance of it."

That said, Christine McVie -- arguably the strongest singer in the group's history -- is missed. Nicks noted that she still feels the absence of McVie, who has not toured with the band since 1998.

"I miss Christine everyday because she was my best buddy," said Nicks, 62. "She was my best friend. I probably spent more time on the road with Fleetwood Mac than anywhere, so I've spent more time with these people than I've spent with my own family. So the loss of Christine as one of my best girlfriends was horrific for me. But she's been gone a long, long time now. ... There's not a day goes by that I don't wish she'd call up and say, 'I'm back.' But she's not going to. We've all kind of accepted that."

A few years ago, the band made an overture to Sheryl Crow, who has toured with Nicks, to replace Christine McVie. Nicks admitted she initially thought Crow might provide a buffer between her and Buckingham. But Crow, after a few rehearsals, felt she could not continue.

Nicks agreed, telling her, "'You have survived breast cancer and Lance Armstrong. I don't think this is the right thing for you, Sheryl.'"

Nor was adding Crow the right way to approach any disagreements, perceived or real.

"The fact is that if Lindsey and I can't work out our problems by ourselves, we might as well throw in the towel," Nicks said. "So that's what we are currently trying to do, is work out our problems. And, certainly, another person could not do that for us."

The disintegrating relationships that fueled the album "Rumours" -- Buckingham and Nicks parted, and the McVies filed for divorce -- became part of the album's appeal as fans parsed the meanings behind the songs "Second Hand News" or "Never Going Back Again."

Buckingham -- who called the band "a group of great contradictions ... the members don't necessarily have any business of being in a band together because the range of personalities is disparate" -- did not think "Rumours" was autobiographical. For him, the songs were written in a "generic vein"; only with feedback did he realize how the songs reflected the band's disharmony.

"The whole idea of the tabloidism of that, the musical soap opera aspect of that, I think to some degree was revealed to us by our audience after the fact," Buckingham said. "The meaning of my songs, I can only say that they have shifted slightly in the same way that the meaning of the band has shifted. ...

"You tend to just sort of see the irony in the songs, and you tend to see, maybe, the heroicism, a little bit, that we possessed. We saw that we had this destiny, and we saw we had to rise above the personal difficulties. And we saw that the music could actually have redemptive power for us and could be a symbol of that to other people."