Mick Fleetwood interview "Fleetwood Mac keeps going its own way"

Fleetwood Mac keeps going its own way

By Alan Sculley, Special to The Morning Call

The band became arguably the biggest act in rock in the late 1970s after guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks joined three previous members of Fleetwood Mac — drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and keyboardist/singer Christine McVie (the bassist's former wife) — in 1975 and released three straight blockbuster albums, "Fleetwood Mac" (1975), "Rumours" (1977) and "Tusk" (1979) that established the lineup as the classic edition of Fleetwood Mac.

In a conversation with Fleetwood, it's very clear that today's four core band members (Christine McVie retired in 1998) are very much invested in the band and far from complacent about its live show. In fact, the band spent six full weeks rehearsing for this year's tour, it's first in three years.

"We know the nuts and bolts are all in place and we have confidence in that," Fleetwood says. "But we also have like a garage band-like mentality where we go sh--, we're actually playing down at the local town hall next week. We better be good. And it [that nervousness] doesn't really go away, which is a nice thing. We're not all jaded and so showbizzed out that we're all super slick and go 'Ah, piece of cake.' We're not like that at all. We're all quite sh---ing ourselves."

Fleetwood says the shows will, of course, feature signature hits.

"We know that we have sort of a body of songs that, in truth, if we didn't do them, we'd probably be all lined up and shot," he says. "So we have sort of eight or nine songs that no matter what, we know people are going to want for us to do them, and we are totally cool with doing them. If we walked on the stage and didn't play 'Dreams,' I think people would be shocked. So we don't go there. So what we do is we take the prime songs, 'Go Your Own Way,' 'Dreams,' songs like that, and then build a new show around the fact that we, of course, are going to be doing those songs."

This is Fleetwood Mac's first tour since 2009's "Unleashed" tour. Buckingham and Nicks are busy with solo careers, making Fleetwood Mac part of the picture, but not the entire one. Following the "Unleashed" tour, Buckingham released the studio album, "Seeds We Sow," and Nicks released "In Your Dreams." Both artists toured extensively to support the albums.

The personal history and inter-personal dynamics within Fleetwood Mac also create challenges, and, according to Fleetwood, are another indication of why the four band members are all in when they reunite.

"When we do do it, we work really hard at it and we're committed to it," he says. "We fundamentally have to be happy to be doing this because we're all ex-lovers and all the stuff that is well worn news out there."

As has been well documented, Buckingham and Nicks were a couple (and were recording as Buckingham-Nicks) when they joined Fleetwood Mac. The McVies were also married at that time. But the relationships soon frayed, and the "Rumours" album (a deluxe expanded edition of the CD was released in January) was written in the midst of those breakups. Fleetwood and Nicks later became a couple for a time, while Buckingham later married and started a family.

"[This is] a bunch of people who aren't just connected by the music, but connected by spending huge amounts of time [together], including Lindsey, Stevie and their journey," Fleetwood says. "No, they're not in love and Lindsey has an incredibly wonderful family. But the story they tell as two people is huge. And you know, there I am with Stevie, and me and Stevie had a long-lasting love affair. She's the godmother of my children and it's a trip. It's a trip."

This year's reunion could turn out to be even more eventful than the one in 2009.

On the "Unleashed" tour, Fleetwood Mac essentially played a greatest hits set. But Fleetwood says this tour will blend in three or four new songs from those recorded last year when Buckingham, Fleetwood and McVie got together for a writing and rehearsal session.

"Stevie was on the road, and during that period she lost her mother, who passed," Fleetwood says. "So she was not set up to come and join the party in that few weeks that me and Lindsey and John put some ideas together that Lindsey had."

Nicks has since added her vocals to several of the songs Buckingham, Fleetwood and McVie recorded during the sessions and three of those songs will be available through iTunes shortly. Another song was written by Nicks. It's an unreleased tune that dates back to before Nicks and Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac, and was recently rediscovered by Nicks and recorded with the band.

"It really tells the story of how Stevie and Lindsey joined Fleetwood Mac, which is when they were known as Buckingham-Nicks," Fleetwood says. "It was an unrecorded song that Stevie actually wrote about Lindsey, and it's a beautiful song ...

"And this was the music that I heard in the studio that spurred me on to make the phone call and ask them to join Fleetwood Mac."

Fleetwood says with any luck these songs will form the basis of a new Fleetwood Mac album that may be recorded later this year and released either ahead of Christmas or in early 2014.

This would be Fleetwood Mac's first collection of new music since 2003's "Say You Will." That was the band's first album without Christine McVie, and the tour that followed the album was not as harmonious as the band members would have wanted.

For Nicks, it was difficult to be the only woman in the band and she sorely missed her close friend, McVie. And before regrouping for the "Unleashed" tour, the band flirted with having Sheryl Crow (a good friend with Nicks) join the band.

Nicks, in various interviews, has said she now is comfortable in the four-person Fleetwood Mac lineup, and Fleetwood notes that the guys try to help create a good environment for Nicks.

"Certainly the guys in the band are very aware of making sure that Stevie feels safe," Fleetwood says. "When she comes back to Fleetwood Mac, she's in a man's world, you know. And two of them are men that she each had relationships with. It's hugely important that she feels safe — and loved. And that's the funny old thing that this band is all about. It's powerful."

CONCERT REVIEW | PHOTOS: Fleetwood Mac Columbus, Ohio

FLEETWOOD MAC LIVE 2013 Opening Night

April 4, 2013 Nationwide Arena

Columbus, Ohio

Concert review | Fleetwood Mac: 

First tour stop had it all. Band in fine form as it satisfies crowd in Nationwide

By  Curtis Schieber

The Columbus Dispatch

Fleetwood Mac returned to performing in concert for the first time in three years last night in Nationwide Arena, the core four members putting on their rock ’n’ roll greasepaint as if it had just came off the night before. Columbus was the first show in a 50-gig run.

The band didn’t reserve anything for the next 49, as it delivered mega-hits, out-of-the-way album tracks, solo work and even a couple of new tunes.

The million-sellers brought the house down, especially selections from the group’s mid-1970s albums, with Dreams, The Chain and Rhiannon duplicating enough of the originals to not only welcome the crowd but also loosen it up.

The band hit the ground running, with Second Hand News, a song with all the group’s strengths, from the deep groove plowed by rhythm section and titular original members John McVie and Mick Fleetwood to the candy-like harmony leads of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

It set the scene for a tour through the two singers’ tangled love lives, which inform a good many of their songs.

The band made tunes that dallied with the darker side, more mysterious still. Sisters Of The Moon opened with considerable drama and ended with Nicks emoting almost as if in fits. Gold Dust Woman was at once spooky and dreamy. Still, the rhythm section proved why it is — after nearly 50 years — one of the most powerful and distinctive in the business.

Buckingham delivered leads that nearly burned down the hall, while adding a richness to the mix with consistently sophisticated guitar work.

Nicks sounded terrific, avoiding the annoying and taxing signature tremolo and concentrating on the natural emotion in her voice. Gypsy particularly showcased her maturing instrument with a succulent delivery.

Though she was more energized than during her last visit, she nonetheless was slowed, rarely moving away from the mike and only a couple of times venturing to Buckingham’s side of the stage. Even though her trademark spin was reduced to about 16 RPM during Gypsy, any movement nonetheless elicited raves.

Buckingham not only led the group firmly but was the artistic center. A dissertation about taking musical chances was followed by a few selections from Tusk. The singer’s declaration of the album’s originality hit the mark, even if he neglected to mention that its commercial failure nearly sank the record industry.

The new material boded well for the future, especially Sad Angel, which will be released in an upcoming EP. Interestingly, Without You was an old song the group forgot but rediscovered in a YouTube video.

Photo Gallery via The Columbus Dispatch - Click through to view

Above 4 photos by nationwide arena

Photo Credit: Curtis Blessing

Lindsey Buckingham announced during the show prior to performing the new song "Sad Angel" that a NEW EP of New Fleetwood Mac studio material would be released in the coming days!

Lindsey announces EP of new @fleetwoodmac studio material hitting in next few days; debuting new cut "Sad Angel" tonight @nationwidearena
— Tom Hunter (@tphunter) April 5, 2013

Above two photos by: Ashley Glynn

 Above 6 photos by: Curtis Blessing

Above 7 photos by: lilyoaks

 Photo Credits: Pattie D. (Lindsey) Michelle Cohn (Stevie)

Photo Credit: Adam Flick

 above 2 photos by: Joyce Hamilton

 Stevie Nicks... The first pic on the left, Stevie is in pants!  There's a first on a Fleetwood Mac tour.

Second pick... An example of the jumbo screen behind the band.. Looks awesome!  Stevie in her Top Hat, must be "Go Your Own Way" and, she's wearing her glasses so she can see everyone not because of the bright lights.

 Photo Credit: promogirl2 (left) and shenanigansblog (right)

MERCHANDISE
Merchandise shots in Columbus... Bottom photo not very clear but there looks like plenty of options, and the images of the band are new, which is great!  Plus... Don't look if you don't want to know, but below is the setlist from tonight.  Looking great!!  2 NEW songs in the set.

One of 3 posters available... New photos!

Q&A with Mick Fleetwood on the eve of Fleetwood Mac Tour

The modern rumor-mill media world, with its Twitter gossip

and screaming TMZ headlines, has nothing on the dramas of Fleetwood Mac.

By  Kevin Joy
The Columbus Dispatch 

Although its past is littered with divorces, drugs, lineup changes and lustful behavior — including a painful split between singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and free-spirited frontwoman Stevie Nicks — the ensemble hasn’t buried its missteps.

“We still choose to be more revealed than not,” said drummer Mick Fleetwood, the only player to remain a constant since his namesake band’s 1967 inception. “I think you’d find in any of our interviews, Stevie, and even Lindsey, are almost too open about things that are very personal, really.”

The enduring group is known just as much for refined pop-rock and blues music — in particular, the aptly titled Rumours, which was reissued last year.

Released in 1977, the album recorded at the height of Fleetwood Mac’s turmoil ultimately yielded four Top 10 singles (Don’t Stop and Dreams among them) and, today, spawns a tour kicking off in Columbus.

The Rumours-era unit, reunited since 1997 — with the exception of keyboardist Christine McVie, who retired one year later — has continued to go its own way.

That stamina, said the 65-year-old Fleetwood, “really is charged with some of the real principles of people who have worked at being able to be together.

“This is a journey that is unfolding as we speak.”

He spoke to The Dispatch before tonight’s show in Nationwide Arena.  

Q: What has it been like preparing for this tour?

A: We’re pretty much closing in on the last four to five days of rehearsal. We’ve been at it for about six weeks. No matter what you do, you’re always down to the wire.

We’ve done this a lot through the years. There’s some anxieties — tweaking the set and wondering: “Is that the best song to do there; what would make it different for the audience?” — but we’ll be up and fighting. We always are. The band’s playing beautifully.

Q: Rumours turned 35 last year. Was that motivation to hit the road again?

A: We do it when we feel that this is really a cool thing — something that’s worth a (expletive). That’s the state of the nation with the four of us. We’re all happy to perform. We don’t have to do it.

We’re all in our 60s. We can’t run this like a huge business, which is quite apparent. We have to know that everything’s OK as people — which, for all of our problems, . . . we are feeling really good about all being together.

Q: What are the dynamics of a Fleetwood Mac concert in 2013? Might we see laser lights — or Stevie Nicks flying across the arena in a gilded cage?

A: Unless I fell asleep during the ’70s, which is highly probable, we’ve never been the sort of band that had their production be the reason someone comes to see us.

Having said that, we’re blessed to be able to make a really good effort. It has become grander, the technology we draw on. We don’t have firebombs — simple lights, some bigger screens than we ever used.

It’s going to be really aesthetically tasteful, to complement the songs in a holistic way.

Q: Why do listeners still maintain such a close connection with Rumours?

A: It is extraordinary that the album seems to rebirth itself quietly all the time. And, now (with the 2012 reissue), it’s been really rebirthed in a quite profound way.

One has to say that it’s a body of work that, sonically, does not age. Thank goodness we did not put all those cheap ’70s and ’80s effects with plastic drums, that sort of stuff. You don’t really know where this album was made.

It’s just very pure. There isn’t a lot of hype in the way we produced that album, a lot of care with the layering. The songs and the scenes and the story really seemed to take on almost a part of a responsibility of representing a generation.

That album became an iconic signpost for a lot of things that have nothing to do with music.

Q: An allusion to the musicians’ chaotic offstage lives?

A: This album opened a door that is still wide-open. I think the songs were well-crafted: Just when you think this could be getting a little sweet and cute, whatever they call accessible pop music, you suddenly realize it’s not.

Fleetwood Mac inherently has a dark side — these five people, now four, in a life puzzle. We were probably fairly naive in many ways. I think people identify with that. They’re invested in our story as people.

Q: How would you describe the relationship among band members today?

A: It’s all good, and it’s always interesting. We don’t always see eye to eye on bits and pieces. One of the biggest misconceptions with all the ups and downs and inroads and so-called horror stories — the one thing people forget is that we actually really love each other.

You see Stevie and Lindsey up there, knowing they’ve had huge differences of opinion. But they’r e there. They have a huge regard and love for their journey.

Fleetwood Mac’s world tour starts tonight. Christine McVie may grace London stage

As Fleetwood Mac embark on a world tour, we look at the renewed love for a band that defined the 1970s.
Metro.UK

By Amy Dawson
@Amy_Rose_D

I’m as overawed to meet Mick Fleetwood, the towering drummer from legendary Anglo-American rock act Fleetwood Mac, as a hobbit greeting Gandalf – though this wizard sports a batik waistcoat and bright pink socks.

‘We had no concept of the enormity of what we were making with Rumours,’ he says, speaking of their legendary 1977 album. ‘But we did know it was something special and that helped us focus when we were all so desperately unhappy. I can’t think of any other band where all this s*** has happened.’

Earlier this year, an extended edition of Rumours, which had already sold more than 40million copies, went

straight back into the British charts at No.3. An epic world tour starts tonight and will hit Britain on September 24, with 2013 shaping up to be a triumphant reunion year. But it’s not just a nostalgia trip: people far too young to remember Rumours the first time around seem obsessed with the music and the story behind it.

Indeed, it now seems unbelievable that Fleetwood Mac’s 11th album, recorded amid the crossfire of three relationship breakdowns, was ever finished at all. The marriage between bassist John McVie and singer/keyboardist Christine was crumbling, while singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham were going through their own messy split. Even Fleetwood was in the middle of divorce proceedings.

Everyone was strung out on veritable snowdrifts of paranoia-inducing cocaine, working in a room from which all the clocks had been removed, but it somehow resulted in one of the most flawless rock-pop records of all time.

‘The music was the biggest reason we became successful,’ admits Fleetwood, the only constant member of the group since it started as a blues outfit back in 1967. ‘But we’re fully aware that there’s a duality to it. You couldn’t have devised a PR campaign so clever but we were really pretty naive.’

The resurgence of Mac love has taken many forms in recent years: clubland reworks; a Rumours T-shirt in Topshop; and a covers album featuring the likes of Tame Impala and Haim (the BBC Sound Of 2013 winners, whose music has been compared to Fleetwood Mac’s melodic soft rock). The NME even dubbed Stevie Nicks ‘the ultimate rock goddess’. When talking about Rumours recently, Nicks said: ‘I think if I was 20 years old, I would definitely want to be in that band.’

Fleetwood is likewise thrilled and inspired by this continued popularity. ‘A lot of bands, including us, never know when the audience is going to finally disappear,’ he says.

‘But we have a whole influx of new fans, young people who’ve been brought up on us by their parents or picked us up on the internet. There’ll be people on this tour in their seventies and others seeing us for the first time, and that’s really cool.’

A major part of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours-era magic involved the complementary contrast between the two female vocalists – Christine McVie’s cool and smoky tone set against Nicks’s utterly distinctive voice, which could be a Californian twang or a Janis Joplin-style deep belter by turns. But Christine retired from showbiz in 1998.

‘If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’ she says, gracing me with a rare interview, ‘just to do a little duet or something like that.’

That news is likely to set fans whirling like a batwing-sleeved Nicks during a performance of Rhiannon. And almost as exciting is the prospect of the first new music since 2003.

Buckingham, Fleetwood and John McVie went into the studio last year to record tracks that Nicks, who was mourning the death of her mother at the time, later laid down vocals on. Fleetwood hints there might be an EP in the pipeline and very possibly an album later this year.

‘I think people will let us know if they want an album,’ he says. ‘It could definitely happen, we’ve got the goods. We really want to shove some new s*** out there – it may not sell zillions but it’s an important thing to do artistically, we think.’

Whether or not they produce new music, the band who, against all odds, are still friends will always have a work of bittersweet perfection in Rumours. As Christine explains: ‘There was no bulls*** on that record – it was completely real and truthful. And that lasts.’

Fleetwood Mac’s world tour starts tonight. Their British tour begins at London’s O2 arena on September 24. www.fleetwoodmac.com

Win Fleetwood Mac tix with 93.9 BOB-FM all this week! in Ottawa

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STEVIE NICKS "In Your Dreams" Film in Winnipeg at Cinematheque 3 Nights May 2nd 3rd & 5th

The Winnipeg Film Groups Cinematheque Theatre in Winnipeg, MB Canada will present Stevie's "In Your Dreams" documentary across three nights in early May.  The dates have changed from the initial announcement PLUS they've added a 3rd Sunday Matinee showing.

Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Friday, May 3, 2013 at 9:00 PM
Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 2:00 PM

Tickets at the moment are not offered in advance online.  You should be able to buy advance tickets at the local box office.