Fleetwood Mac: “If We Were 20 Years Old, We’d Wanna Join Our Band!” | NME

NME
28th Sept 2013
Jenny Stevens

As the legendary band hit the UK, Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood tell Jenny Stevens how they got Christine McVie out of retirement — and why the Mac are still as relevant as ever

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It’s been 35 years since Fleetwood Mac ‘ s seminal album ‘Rumours’ was released, setting in amber the band’s place in rock’n’roll history. But as they prepare to play their first gigs in the UK in fouryears this week , Fleetwood Mac have never been more relevant. It’s impossible not to feel the impact their formula of heart-trodden lyrics swathed in glossy soft rock is still having on the music scene. Last year, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Mascis, MGMT, Tame Impala and Lykke Li were all lining up to appear on a Mac tribute album. Haim frequently drop ‘Oh Well’ into their sets, and Mumford & Sons regularly close theirs with ‘The Chain’.

This week, for the first time since she left in 1998, the group’s former vocalist  Christine McVie —who penned Mac classics including ‘Don’t Stop’ and ‘Songbird’ —will come out of retirement to perform one songwith her former band at London’s 02 Arena. It’s the first time the full ‘Rumours’ line-up have performed together in 15 years, but not for lack of trying on the band’s part. Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood tell NME they had been asking her to appear with them onstage for years, but had hit what felt like  a permanent brickwall. No she flnally feels it’s the right time to come back to the fold, albeit temporarily. Continue reading Fleetwood Mac: “If We Were 20 Years Old, We’d Wanna Join Our Band!” | NME

Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks on music, Game of Thrones and her relationship with Prince | Herald Scotland

Ahead of their sold-out show at Glasgow’s Hydro, we talk to Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks about touring, solo albums, Game of Thrones and her relationship with Prince.

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Fleetwood Mac have been touring for much of the year – how’s it been?

“Great. But the last 15 shows in America were particularly gruelling. Shows got added so the routing was difficult – you’re in Canada, then you’re in Dallas, then you’re in Florida, then Portland. So it was very hard.

“We’d fly after the show most nights, a two-hour flight, then the drive to and from the airport. We all got terribly jet-lagged. But for me, it’s not such a big deal ’cause I stay up really late every night anyway. But for Lindsey [Buckingham] and Mick [Fleetwood] and John [McVie], they don’t stay up late – they go back to their rooms and go to sleep.'”

This is the first Fleetwood Mac tour since 2009…

“At the beginning of 2012 I told everyone I wouldn’t tour with the band that year, because I wanted to give [2011 solo album] In Your Dreams another year, because I thought it deserved it. And because I thought Fleetwood Mac should stay off the grid for three years.

“It’s a good idea; it’s just smart to keep us out of the spotlight for three years. Everyone went along with it. And now they all know it was really a great idea – because we were gone long enough that it was us coming back.

“I told the press last year that 2013 was going to be the year of Fleetwood Mac. And I was just hoping with all my heart that this big statement was gonna come true!”

The band released an iTunes EP earlier this year, which was recorded just after your mother died. Was that a difficult time for you?

“I didn’t go [to the studio]. I didn’t want to go. But it wasn’t just that – I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t leave the house for almost five months.

“I worked on the edit of my documentary about the making of In Your Dreams. And then I got pneumonia. With my pneumonia and my mother’s death I watched the entire first season of Game Of Thrones – so that was great! That certainly took my mind off everything.” Continue reading Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks on music, Game of Thrones and her relationship with Prince | Herald Scotland

Lindsey Buckingham says there’ll only be a new Fleetwood Mac album if Stevie Nicks agrees | NME

NME Online
September 30, 2013 15:10

‘Stevie needs to come to the table with some material,’ says guitarist

Lindsey Buckingham has said that there will only be a new Fleetwood Mac album if Stevie Nicks wants to do it.

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The reformed band played a series of shows at London’s O2 Arena last week as part of a world tour, and their seemingly repaired relationships have led to speculation that they could record a new studio album together.

However, Buckingham has claimed that the only way the group could make a new album is if Nicks wanted to write new material rather than working on her solo career.

2012FleetwoodMacStevieNicksPA-11057637061212Speaking to M Music And Musicians about Nicks’ 2011 solo album ‘In Your Dreams’, he said: “She had a wonderful experience making that album. She hasn’t said this – this is just me – but, knowing Stevie, she’s probably thinking, ‘If I have to write five new songs, do I want to give them to Fleetwood Mac?’ I think she’s feeling a but protective and territorial about the experience she had doing her solo project. And I can totally relate to that.”

He went on to add: “The way we do things is always a political minefield. If it’s not Stevie, it’s me; someone is always causing trouble. I know Warner Brothers is dying to get an album from us, even though we’re not signed to them anymore. Stevie needs to come to the table with some material. In order to contemplate a new album, she has to want to do it.”

Last week (September 25), Fleetwood Mac were joined onstage by former member Christine McVie for a rendition of their classic track ‘Don’t Stop’. You can watch a video interview with Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood by clicking at the bottom of the page.