PEREZ MEETS NICKS (STAPLES CENTER)

Thursday night, Pretzel attended the Fleetwood Mac concert at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, and he had the very special privilege of meeting Miz Stevie Nicks. STEVIE NICKS!!!!!!!

READ ON

CELEB SIGHTING AT FLEETWOOD MAC (STAPLES CENTER)

Jennifer Anniston, Courtney Cox and her husband David Arquette were snapped leaving the Fleetwood Mac concert at the Staples Center in LA last night (May 28th)

THE RETURN OF MAC DADDY (MICK FLEETWOOD)

Mick Fleetwood
The Return Of The Mac Daddy

by Patrick Berkery
Modern Drummer

Mick Fleetwood is held in high regard as a drummer for outfitting his band’s songs with hypnotic grooves in various forms. Think of the hollowed-out verses of “The Chain,” the delicate brushwork of “Sara,” and the steady pulse of “Dreams.” When the chorus of Rumours closing track “Gold Dust Woman” enters, however, the other side of Fleetwood’s rhythmic genius is on display: his penchant for playing patterns of accents where you least expect them, and rarely duplicating those figures when a section repeats.

Mick says that habit developed from a difficulty in consistently committing things to memory. And he’s well aware that other drummers have driven themselves mad trying to approximate his unorthodox style. “Some of the drummers that play with Stevie when she goes out on her own, they’ll say, ‘When I play your parts, it just sounds so stiff and weird. It’s driving me crazy,’” Fleetwood says with a knowing laugh. “I tell them it was just the way I felt it and I can’t really explain it. With me, it’s back-to-front sometimes.”

While he’s celebrated by fans and fellow musicians for providing such unique rhythmic counterpoint to the gilded pop songs of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, within the ranks, Fleetwood, sixty-one, has always been much more than just the band’s drummer, or founding father, or partial namesake.

From Fleetwood Mac’s inception as a blues-based London combo back in 1967, Mick has been the straw that stirs the drink. He acted as de facto road manager in the early days, drafted new members as original guitarist-vocalist Peter Green and replacements like Bob Welch left the fold, managed the band’s affairs when things blew up in the ’70s, and kept his group afloat in the ’80s and ’90s after Buckingham and Nicks temporarily departed.

Throughout it all, Fleetwood has had bassist John McVie (the “Mac” in Fleetwood Mac) at his side to form one of the greatest rhythm sections in rock history. And well into his fifth decade as a working drummer, he’s feeding his desire to have a regular gig with two bands he formed with former Mac guitarist-vocalist Rick Vito—The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and The Island Rumours Band.

Today, the Mac is back (albeit minus retired keyboardist-vocalist Christine McVie) and is well into a reunion tour that should keep the band on the road throughout 2009 and might inspire the members to enter the studio in the not-too-distant future. “I truly believe that during this tour Stevie and Lindsey will be thinking of ideas for a new Mac record,” Fleetwood says with palpable enthusiasm. “This band feels we’re more than capable of doing that. If I was put on the spot and asked to bet on whether it would happen, I would put money on this band definitely recording again.”

MD: When you wrapped the last tour in 2004, was there any certainty that Fleetwood Mac would work together again?

Mick: There was, it was just a question of when. In truth, we thought we’d have been doing this three years ago. But it had to be right for everyone. Otherwise it would just suffocate something that someone’s doing. Lindsey’s solo projects took way longer than he thought. And Stevie went back out on the road, so we waited. Everyone is totally focused instead of sort of focused. So it’s worked out better.

MD: What are some of your recollections of the early days gigging around London?

Mick: My first official gig in London was with a band called The Senders. They were basically an all-instrumental group. And out of that band came The Shames, which did fairly well around London. We played at The Marquee, doing Yardbirds-esque stuff. From there came my connection with keyboardist Peter Bardens, who I played with for many, many years. I went on to play with him and Rod Stewart in Shotgun Express, and with all sorts of people. I was very fortunate that once I got to London I was never without a gig. I never had any downtime when I wasn’t playing. That situation really helped my chops.

MD: Did you have lessons or any kind of training before you started gigging?

Mick: No, it was training on the job. Though I was playing to records in the attic when I was a young kid, about nine or ten. I had a toy kit called a Gigster. Each drum was about 6" deep, and it had a 6" cymbal, a hi-hat, and a bass drum.

MD: When you were playing around London in the mid-’60s, were you rubbing elbows with up-and-coming drummers like Ginger Baker?

Mick: I didn’t really know anyone, but I very quickly knew of them. They were all drummers that commanded a lot of reverence, like Ginger, and Phil Seamen, who used to play with Georgie Fame. He was a great English jazz drummer. Ginger used to worship him. And I first knew of Ginger from playing with the Graham Bond Organisation—that was a wild band. And Mickey Waller [Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart, Brian Auger, John Mayall] I really admired. Great feel drummer, one of the dudes. He was like the English Jim Keltner—played with a lot of people, but he still retained his own style.

MD: When did you hook up with John McVie?

Mick: I hooked up with John playing-wise with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. I knew him as a sort of wayward friend. We’d played on so many gigs in and around London, at places like The Flamingo and The Marquee. When I hooked up with Mayall it was John Mayall, Peter Green, John McVie, and me. So unknowingly, the first three members of Fleetwood Mac were in that band.

MD: I would imagine you and John could roll out of bed in the middle of the night after having not played together in a decade and fall into that boom-bap/boom-boom-bap groove without a problem.

Mick: You are entirely correct. [laughs] We all don’t see that much of each other when we’re apart—John and Lindsey had probably seen each other three times in five years. And Lindsey, bless his heart, like the second week of rehearsals, literally, he had tears in his eyes, saying, “Shit, I forgot about you guys.” He was saying, “I get what we have in this band.” No matter the blows that come and go personally, musically, when we’re all together, it’s for sure a trip.

MD: You also have a tight rhythmic link with Lindsey that feels a little more primal than the way you lock in with John’s bass. The way you and Lindsey often jam into “Go Your Own Way” live is a good example of that.

Mick: You’re right. I play very physically. And when Lindsey’s on stage he’s also pretty physical, in terms of how he gets his stuff over. We have that sort of camaraderie. He knows he can turn around to me and he’s going to get his ass kicked. And he can do likewise with me. That’s how we communicate musically. With John, I don’t have to think about what he’s playing, and he doesn’t think about me. We’re so blended into one, it’s second nature. I can go off and have fun and play off Lindsey, and John’s always right there with us.

MD: It’s certainly an interesting contrast of styles. There’s Lindsey, who’s more of an eccentric, studio-rat perfectionist type. And there’s John and you, who bring an old-school blues approach to the table. On paper, you wouldn’t think that mix would work, but it does.

Mick: John and I deliver something that may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but generally—which is a nice thing—people acknowledge that it’s a rhythm section that is very identifiable. I’m only saying that because I’ve heard it so often. For Lindsey, when he’s away from that, playing with other players who do their thing and approach things differently, it takes a few days for him to come around. I could see it on his face when we started rehearsals. We were doing some of our songs that he had been doing on his solo tours, and I could see him thinking, That ain’t gonna work with these two…. [laughs] But slowly, the big smile would come, and he’d realize that’s the stuff that Fleetwood Mac does.

John and I play like blues players, really, in terms of the way we approach things. It’s not the material we’re doing. But the approach John and I have was learned in the trenches playing with Sonny Boy Williamson. It stays with you. I’m not Gene Krupa. When all is said and done I’m just a guy who gets out his own emotions though a pretty simple formula of technique. I pride myself on time and I pride myself on knowing that if something is digging a hole or not swinging, I’m not playing well. It’s that simple. Has it got the grease? If not, give me a can of it, and let’s deliver this shit—properly.

KRISTEN KICKS LINDSEY ASS... "IT WAS A GREAT GIFT" SAYS BUCKINGHAM

Fleetwood Mac to unleash greatest hits.  Legendary band brings familiar hits for June 3 show.

By David Burger
The Salt Lake Tribune

Fleetwood Mac released "Rumours" in 1977 despite going through incredible personal turmoil -- its two famous couples, Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and John McVie and wife Christine McVie, broke up during the recording sessions.

Perhaps it was inevitable that Fleetwood Mac classics such as "Go Your Own Way" and "The Chain" record the tragedy of lost love.

So as Reprise Records is preparing to release a Fleetwood Mac box set this summer, with unreleased tracks from the "Rumours" sessions as well as never-before-seen footage of the band, it must be hard for the musicians to relive those times, right?

"It's a little touching in some ways," Buckingham agreed in an interview after watching the video footage.

The release of the box set and tour might seem like, well, marketing, or at least an unorthodox response to the musical history created more than 30 years ago. But Buckingham, who will perform with the four remaining members of Fleetwood Mac at EnergySolutions Arena June 3, speaks about the material from the strength of a decadelong, happy marriage to photographer Kristen Messner. "I was lucky enough to meet a woman who kicked my ass," said Buckingham about his wife. "It's been a great gift."

For the musician, happiness comes from the memories of creating some of the pop-rock band's most enduring songs during the "Rumours" sessions" -- including "Don't Stop," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman" and "You Make Loving Fun," with the last rumored to be about Christine McVie's affair with the band's lighting director.

With a catalog of those songs as well as other hits from legendary albums such as "Tusk" and "Tango in the Night," the revived band can afford to tour without a new release. "Standing on principle, maybe it's not the right time," Buckingham said about touring sans new album. "But we have a significant body of work. We wanted to reconvene."

Buckingham said after touring with the band in support of "Say You Will" through 2003 and 2004, he asked for several years off to work on solo efforts. He recorded and toured behind two successful albums, "Under the Skin" and "Gift of Screws," and then received another phone call from band founder Mick Fleetwood. "It usually is Mick getting everyone together," Buckingham said with a laugh.

It's still up in the air about what's next for the former members of Fleetwood Mac. "We haven't decided what we want to do," Buckingham said. "The obvious thing would be [to record an album]. I won't presume anything. My mantra is to keep my mouth shut."

Fleetwood Mac fan takes reviewer to task

Fleetwood Mac fan takes reviewer to task
By Sarah Rowland

Straight.com

You get Sarah Rowland to take the music section to a Fleetwood Mac fan club meeting, and we reward you with a Payback Time T-shirt, two recently released major-label CDs, and two tickets to a Live Nation club show taking place in Vancouver within the next four weeks. Here’s this week’s winning whine.

Dear Payback Time: I’m not sure in which universe our rock heroes don’t grow older (perhaps Mick Jagger’s), but as Fleetwood Mac so clearly demonstrated to anyone paying attention, age is just a number. For God’s sake, Mick Fleetwood could be my grandfather, and he still plays with the crazed intensity of Animal from The Muppet Show. From Mick’s flawless 10-minute drum solo to John McVie’s solid and unwavering bass lines, and, most pronounced Lindsey Buckingham’s epic and transcendent manipulation of his guitar, the band proved that no amount of cocaine or internal drama could deaden its capabilities as a masterful live rock band. Stevie Nicks may have been the weakest link that night, but when one of the greatest voices in rock ’n’ roll isn’t at the top of her game, she’s still an absolute treasure to listen to.

If Sarah Rowland honestly watched that performance and still thinks it’s time for Fleetwood Mac to pack it in, her standards must be unreasonably high. I take pity on any band she reviews that doesn’t happen to be in the upper echelon of rock history—so 90 percent of all future reviews?

> Terry Stewart

Sarah Rowland replies: Dearest Terry—I guess one woman’s solid, unwavering bassist is another woman’s sad pile of antisocial shit. John McVie stepped up for 15 bars of “The Chain” and then went back to goal-sucking in a darkened nook by Mick Fleetwood’s drum kit for almost the entire night.

And funny you should bring up Mick Jagger. Say what you want about the Stones miser, but at least when he gouges fans with ticket prices, he has the decency to kick up his cardio routine before hitting the road. Oh sure, we have to endure watching the former rock ’n’ roll sex symbol prance around in those ugly white tennis shoes that Gramps likes to wear on special occasions, but at least he makes an effort to move his Mr. Burns butt on-stage. And if the Boss were to come back and siphon money from his blue-collar fan base during a recession, you can bet he’d only do it with a fully functioning voice. And I’m sure that even Sting, tantric sex–loving new-age ponce that he is, mentally prepares for the rigours of the road by working extra hard on his Downward Dog.

All this, just so you don’t have to wear nostalgic blinders for the entire concert. So, you see, it is possible for aging classic-rock stars to exploit reunion cash grabs, suck you dry for all you’re worth, and still make an effort come showtime.

Read Sarah Rowland's Original Review of the Vancouver Show

MICK FLEETWOOD UN SPECIAL ENVOY

Class, spell turmoil: F-L-E-E-T-W-O-O-D M-A-C
The band is infamous for its battles and lineup changes – and famous for its music
By George Varga, Pop Music Critic

signonsandiego

There are a variety of nonmusical career opportunities for world-famous rock 'n' roll stars, especially those willing to lend their names to lucrative endorsement deals and other commercial ventures. But Mick Fleetwood is one of the few who might qualify for a position as a special envoy for the United Nations.

“That probably would have appealed to me, if I had been better educated and had more mental discipline,” said the lanky drummer, who performs with Fleetwood Mac Sunday night at the San Diego Sports Arena. “I can see bits and pieces of my natural instincts that would have made me well-suited for the U.N. In another life, that premise is not a horrific one for me. Obviously, that's not what I ended up doing.”

However, in his own way, Fleetwood has learned more than many career diplomats about maintaining order, tiptoeing around land mines (at least figuratively speaking) and negotiating fragile truces in uncivil circumstances.

The only member of Fleetwood Mac to have played with every edition of the band since its inception in 1967, his key qualification is, well, that he is the only member of Fleetwood Mac to have played with every edition of the band since its inception in 1967.

As a result, he has served as the de facto peacekeeper for this famous (and famously contentious) band, which in its first seven years of existence went through nine different lineups.

Between 1970 and 1974, guitarist Peter Green burned out after taking too much LSD, guitarist Jeremy Spencer abruptly left to join a religious cult and guitarist Bob Weston was fired after his affair with Fleetwood's then-wife was discovered.

The band has weathered five more lineup changes since 1975, the year two young Americans – singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist-singer Lindsey Buckingham – joined. The couple had previously played together in Fritz, a Bay Area band, and had recorded one obscure duo album.

Against all odds, the addition of Buckingham and Nicks helped transform Fleetwood Mac, which had started out as an all-English blues-rock outfit, into an Anglo-American band that became one of the best-selling rock acts of the 1970s – and beyond.

Faster than you can say “Rumours,” the name of the band's 1977 mega-album, Fleetwood Mac became a superstar act at precisely the same time internal band tensions nearly caused it to implode.

The marriage between bassist John McVie (who is still in the band) and singer-keyboardist Christine McVie (who isn't) came to a rocky finish. Buckingham and Nicks ended their romantic relationship. Fleetwood began a clandestine affair with Nicks, who still relied on Buckingham to improve her songs with his expert arrangements and stellar musicianship.

“It's a testament to every man and woman in this band that none of us ever believed we were something special,” Fleetwood, 61, said. “That's been the extreme blessing of Fleetwood Mac, that it really is a 'people with their faults' band. We never got sucked into the massive potential for a showbiz-type approach, (despite) the soap-opera type stuff going on that became public knowledge.”

At the time, Buckingham openly bristled when it became clear the band (and its record company) wanted Fleetwood Mac to avoid tampering with its success. Determined not to cash in on the success of “Rumours,” which has now sold close to 40 million copies, the guitarist pushed the band to make 1979's “Tusk.” An edgy, artistically ambitious double album, it didn't sell nearly as well as its predecessor.

“Those years after 'Rumours' were difficult,” Buckingham acknowledged in a separate interview from Los Angeles.

“That was the beginning of me realizing I wanted to buck the pressures of making something like 'Rumours 2,' so that we would not become a caricature of ourselves. People want you to repeat formulas and run them into the ground.”

People (at least at the time) like drummer Fleetwood. His increasingly heated arguments with Buckingham over creative control and the band's musical direction prompted the guitarist to quit in 1987 and embark on a solo career.

“I was probably the numero uno cheerleader for the band,” Fleetwood acknowledged.

“I was the one who believed that, at all costs, we must turn up for Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey left because he didn't see any other way to do what he wanted to do, without leaving Fleetwood Mac. He probably had visions of me, with a cheerleader's outfit on and a huge master-of-ceremony's whip, saying 'We will never stop, not even to take a breath.'

“Looking back, I would say I could have done with being about 30 percent less obsessive about putting my whole life on hold for Fleetwood Mac. But all of us, for a while, sold our creative souls to the band. And it was always all about the music, even when things were not easy for us, emotionally.”

But that was then, and this is now. And Buckingham, who rejoined the band in 1997, has since managed to strike a balance between his solo career and his work with Fleetwood Mac. The band's current tour is, by Fleetwood's account, the first time the band has hit the road without a new album to promote. (The band's most recent album was 2003's “Say You Will.”)

The result is a “Greatest Hits” show that also features some songs from Buckingham and Nicks' respective solo careers, including his “Go Insane” and her “Stand Back,” along with Fleetwood Mac's 1969 gem “Oh Well.”

“When I introduce the band now (on stage), I acknowledge John and Lindsey first,” Fleetwood said. “And when I get to Stevie, I invariably say: 'This is a lady who keeps us guys in Fleetwood Mac very well-behaved, if you know what I mean.'

“We have fun with that. We never got into the whole ripping-hotels-apart thing. Our illicit deeds were tiptoeing down hotel corridors and visiting each other when we shouldn't have. We were more 'under the covers.' ”

Literally and figuratively?

“Yes!”