MICK FLEETWOOD SPEAKING TO CANADIAN JOURNALISTS

Mick Fleetwood Still About The Blues
by Elizabeth Chorney-Booth -CHARTattack-

Mick Fleetwood didn't plan on being the drummer for one of the most popular and ubiquitous rock bands of all time.

In his heart of hearts, Fleetwood is a bluesman and as hardcore fans of Fleetwood Mac already know, when he started the band way back in the late '60s, that's exactly what he originally set out to be.

A quick primer for anyone who thinks Fleetwood Mac begin and end with their massive hits of the '70s like "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop": Mick Fleetwood (the only member of the band who has survived every single incarnation of the group) began Fleetwood Mac in 1967 with guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer. John McVie, who still plays bass in the band, joined shortly after their first gig.

They were pretty much straight-up blues band, who became fairly popular. Things fell apart when Green, the driving force in the band, started taking LSD, which unlocked a latent mental illness. Green was diagnosed with schizophrenia, left the band in 1970 and has spent much of his life in institutions. Spencer left the band a year later after being recruited by religious group The Children Of God. 

Fleetwood and McVie kept the band alive, eventually recruited singer-songwriters Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (as well as McVie's wife, Christine), and morphed into the the mega-group we all know today.

But Fleetwood always kept a piece of the blues in his heart. A few years ago, he and guitarist/vocalist Rick Vito (who, to complicate things even further, was briefly a member of Fleetwood Mac when Lindsey Buckingham took hiatus from the group in the late '80s) started playing together and formed The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. That band have just released an album called Blue Again!, which is largely comprised of songs that were part of the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac's repertoire.

Speaking to a group of Canadian journalists, Fleetwood says that for him, the project has been about focusing on the excitement of the early days of Fleetwood Mac rather than the sadness of losing Green and Spencer.

"They are all unbelievably great memories," he says. "This is where I learnt to be the player that I turned out to be.

"Peter was, specifically, an incredibly important part of mentoring me in those days. And we became great friends. The sad part is only that I have somewhat lost that connective as a friend. The music entirely inspires me and makes me really aware of these four little English guys. We had such an incredible journey in a very short space of time."

While Fleetwood is still obviously proud of his work with the contemporary Fleetwood Mac line-up, his affection for the original Fleetwood Mac, and by extension, his blues band, is unmistakable. While he's clearly just happy to be playing this kind of music again, he's also proud of the fact that his old friends who haven't been as successful in the later parts of their lives are still getting their props.

"I don't know where it all came from sometimes, but I know there's a regard for how we played music," he says. "We were pretty hardcore and elevated ourselves in our interpretation, which was as loyal as could be to the [American blues artists] that we loved. And looking back on it, I have to say, in a positive way, listening to what we did, it does really hold up. 

"The only thing that baffles me is why I didn't do it many years ago. I don't know. But now that I'm doing it, it makes me extremely happy."

Mick Fleetwood's "Blue Again" cd is in stores today March 17th.

YESTERDAY'S NOT GONE

Fleetwood Mac: Yesterday's not gone
Fleetwood Mac's current jaunt isn't a reunion tour if you accept the notion that the band never actually broke up

Vanessa Farquharson, National Post
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

It's been more than four tumultuous decades of hookups and breakups, arrivals and departures, hits and flops. But, finally, Fleetwood Mac has found some stability within its instability and the band is going on tour to prove it.

The Canadian leg of their Unleashed tour kicks off in Toronto tonight, and band members Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham spoke recently about the state of the band, its place in today's music industry and why they chose to tour without any new material.

"You know, all of the changes we've experienced have been happening since the beginning," said drummer Fleetwood. "Band members have come and gone, but that's just how our story goes. Looking back on it, it hasn't always been easy -- surviving that change is actually somewhat of a miracle -- but it's who we are."

"We never think of ourselves as a band that's broken up," added Buckingham. "We just feel that there are times to be together and times to be apart ... and we take significant periods of time apart. Because of that -- and because we continue to evolve and gain insight and appreciation for the road we've been down and for each other -- the songs can take on a bit of a new life every time we revisit them."

This, in part, is the logic behind hitting the road now, despite not having a new album to promote. And while some may be tempted to simply call it a "greatest hits" tour, the group insisted this isn't entirely accurate.

"It's the first time we've done this," said Fleetwood, "and it'll be refreshing in that we're selecting really emotive, connective songs that we've enjoyed throughout the years, that we hope people will be familiar with.

"I would love to do another album, to make more music, but it ultimately comes down to bio-rhythms, how everyone's feeling. We have careers and families, and it's a different perspective than it was 20 or 30 years ago."

Nicks concurred, adding that as long as a musician keeps playing, regardless of how much new material is written, his or her sound will remain fresh and original. What makes a good concert has less to do with the specific songs and more to do with how they're performed.

In her case, a sense of enthusiasm and originality, at least at this point in her career, comes from alternating between solo work and collaboration.

"It's kind of a blessing and you never get bored that way," she said. "It makes for a more exciting and uplifting humour because you're not stuck doing one thing, year after year."

As well, the constantly shifting dynamic between Fleetwood Mac's band members adds yet another dimension -- after Nicks and Buckingham, who joined the band as a couple, split up, there was a great deal of tension that often had to be mitigated by former member Christine McVie, who was married to the group's bassist John McVie and eventually left the band for good in 1998. Nicks, for the record, insists she doesn't need a buffer anymore.

"Look," said Buckingham, "our mantra is: Have a good time and value the experiences we've had over the years; value the friendships and the history that really underpins this whole band."

CONTINUE

CRASH / LANDSLIDE AVAILABLE TODAY

Stevie's Single "Crash" which includes "Landslide" is available TODAY to purchase through Amazon.com

The "Soundstage Sessions" CD will be released March 31st along with the "Live in Chicago" DVD

SUMMER RE-RELEASE OF RUMOURS

Fleetwood Mac

Rumours still hot

By JANE STEVENSON - Sun Media

Fleetwood Mac expects to hit studio after tour

In addition to Fleetwood Mac's so-called Greatest Hits -- Unleashed Tour (Stevie Nicks describes it "as unleashing a fury which is what Fleetwood Mac is a lot of the time"), the band is also planning a summer re-release of Rumours, as an expanded CD/DVD box set that includes studio outtakes, stills and film.

Drummer Mick Fleetwood points out it's the first time the band has ever gone on the road without a new album but he expects they'll go back into the studio once they've wrapped up their North American tour.

"There have been discussions for sure that we would love to make some more music," Fleetwood said.

"And I think it's really down to the whole sort of bio-rhythms of how everyone is feeling and what's appropriate. ... So I think the feeling is and the consensus is that we would love to be challenged to go out and do in a couple of years something with some new songs.

"My heart says I believe that will happen."

(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE IN ROCHESTER

Fleetwood Mac sticks to basics at Rochester show

Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic

DemocratandChronicle

Critic's standard review form (please fill out completely and submit for spelling corrections). Concert: Standard legacy rock act, Fleetwood Mac. When and where? Monday night, Blue Cross Arena. Attendance: About 8,000. Just a few hundred seats empty at the back of the building.

What was the band wearing? Drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie sported white shirts, black vests and motorcar caps, like a couple of chaps out for a spin in the English countryside. Fleetwood was also wearing knickers. Guitarist/singer Lindsay Buckingham chose a black leather jacket. Singer Stevie Nicks opted for several outfits, opening with a basic-black Wiccan gown with bat wings, later a wine-colored, sequined Victorian wing-backed chair cover.

What was Christine McVie wearing? Probably flannel pajamas and fuzzy slippers, the standard uniform for a night in front of the telly. She hasn't toured with the band for almost two decades. Three back-up singers filled her backing-vocal parts (and ably supported the husky-voice pixie, Nicks).

Did they play their hit songs? Opened with "Monday Morning." "The Chain," "Rhiannon," "Second-Hand News," "Stand Back," "Say You Love Me," "Go Your Own Way," "Don't Stop." You could have gotten many of them on the CD for $18.99. My ticket cost $149.50 (plus service charge of $11.35).

Continue to full Review

REVIEW: Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits Concert at Mohegan Sun

Fleetwood Mac Shines With Greatest-hits Concert At Mohegan Sun

By Kristina Dorsey

TheDay.com

Even bitter breakups can't kill great musical chemistry.

They certainly didn't for Fleetwood Mac, whose hook-ups and bust-ups were well-documented back in the 1970s - and whose intra-band animosity would occasionally bubble up in the years after that.

Now, 32 years after releasing its biggest album, “Rumours,” Mac still bristles with the feisty energy of opposites coexisting. But now they seem to be coexisting happily. During their Saturday concert at Mohegan Sun Arena, the band members emanated a distinct, shared joy.

Central to Mac's success are the quirky contradictions between its two lead singer/songwriters. (Christine McVie, the third singer/songwriter, has retired.) Lindsey Buckingham sparks with edgy intensity. Stevie Nicks swirls with ethereal lyricism. It certainly made for a neat balance Saturday; after Buckingham's screaming guitar on one number, Nicks would swoop in to soothe with a ballad.

Buckingham - who is 59, a year younger than Nicks - performed as if the term “a man possessed” was invented for him. He attacked guitar solos, snapping and pawing at the strings, on “I'm So Afraid” and “Big Love.” He cooed and yelped, injecting each song with fresh emotion. It was heartening to see that he was having a hell of a great time, and so was the audience.

The beauty of this go-round, their first tour in five years, is that there is no new album to promote, so Fleetwood Mac is staging a greatest-hits, fans-dream concert. And Mac isn't merely settling for a musty revival-for-revival's-sake tone. Instead, the band goosed the old songs with fervor and new angles. The once countrified loping cadence of “Second Hand News,” for instance, was sped up and sung by Buckingham with a distinct aggression.

Nicks, too, often toyed with the familiar melodies - sometimes, granted, because she might not be able to hit the high notes like she used to, but often because it made for an intriguing twist.

Nicks' purr is now more of a growl when it comes time to rock, but her voice sounded supple on mellow tunes like “Sara” and “Storms.” And, yes, Nicks rotated through a number of costume changes that inevitably ended up a different variation on her signature look - flowy dark, gypsy-like ensemble, shawl optional.

Much quieter a stage presence was John McVie, but his bass work was sharp as ever. Animated Mick Fleetwood thwacked and swatted the drums in his own inimitable style, especially on that hugely entertaining drum rhythm on “Tusk.”

As if proving that you don't have to repeat history, Nicks and Buckingham worked better and seemed more figuratively in tune as the night went along, and they actually came out for the encores hand-in-hand