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Sort of a repost.. Great interview that I originally posted from the Afterellen site awhile back. This one is similar but seems longer and written a bit differently.
By Stephan Horbelt
FrontiersLA.com
By Stephan Horbelt
FrontiersLA.com
Stevie Nicks has enchanted music lovers with her ethereal songwriting and mystical rock goddess persona since the mid-1970s. A member of the rock supergroup Fleetwood Mac and also a successful solo artist, Nicks has once again donned her signature shawls and platform boots to promote her first solo album in a decade, the well-received In Your Dreams. The writer of such hit songs as “Dreams,” “Rhiannon” and “Stand Back,” among countless others, sat down with Frontiers to discuss the new record, as well as the love she has for her LGBT fanbase and the notion of someday writing her memoirs for the world to read.
‘AN ACID TRIP WITHOUT THE ACID’
Dave Stewart, best known as one-half of The Eurythmics, played a large part in the success of In Your Dreams. Though Nicks had never before worked with Stewart, he came onto the project as a producer and co-songwriter and was able to create real magic during their sessions. The seven songs that resulted from their pairing are some of the strongest tracks on the album.
Asked what it was like to work with the legendary musician, Nicks replied that it was “the best thing ever.” She continued, “We made the record at my house. We turned my whole two-story house into a recording studio and we used every part of the house—the backyard, the upstairs, the downstairs, all the rooms. We had dinners every night catered by one of my goddaughters, so we broke at 7:30 each night and talked about politics and music and the world, and then went back and worked for another two hours. It was like a happening. It was like an acid trip without the acid.
“We just had the best time. Dave really has the ability to create a world of magic, where you feel magical. And there is, in our situation, never a harsh word, never a raised voice, never an argument, no egos happening at all, so he and I were able to write seven songs. And I have never written a song with anybody.
“I write with Michael Campbell [of The Heartbreakers], but he sends me tracks in the mail, so I don’t sit in the room with him. I’ve written with a few people who have sent me tracks. But I have never written a song with a real, live human being that is sitting two feet from me, because I never wanted to share that experience. And I never thought it was possible that it could happen.
“So the first day he was there—I’m sitting here in the house right now looking around at all the equipment that we haven’t taken down—he just said ‘OK, well here is a poem that you wrote that I like, so let’s use this poem.’ And he just started playing. We had a Pro Tools rig set up, so we were recording. I just started to recite my words in a sing-songy sort of way, and in a half-hour we had written a song. And my world changed. The golden doors opened, and I understood why Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote together for the first time in my life. If you can find somebody that is not egotistical and does not get their feeling hurt—[who isn’t] hurt if you look at them and say, ‘you know, I don’t really like that part,’ then the world is your oyster. And he did that with me. He allowed me to just be like a child and be totally free.
“And this record—I’m sorry that it’s done. I’m sorry that we’re not gathering here at 2 in the afternoon anymore. When it was done in February, I sat down on my red couch in front of my fireplace and started to cry, because I was just so sad that part of the experience was over."
