May 1977
Hit Parader
by Jim Girard

Speak about Fleetwood Mac these days and you are liable to set off a series of long-winded, laudatory extrapolations about how diverse, fussy, complex and inspiring the five members really are. All that from people who have probably never even seen the band play live. This is especially true in the music business (within these very pages over the last several issues, thousands of words have been written about the band). This is a time when rock writers and music business people are cramming for finals — just trying to brush up on their Fleetwood Mac history. It is, you see, quite unhip to NOT be aware of the band that rose to unparalleled heights this past year, after knocking around the minor leagues (so to speak) in various. aggregations for the past nine years. Rock writers especially get insecure about not being aware of the varied past this band led by Mick Fleetwood and John McVie has had.

Currently, Christine McVie (a member of the band for the past four and a half years), Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks are the other members of the band. It is this lineup that produced last year’s monster album, entitled FLEETWOOD MAC, and has recently released their second album RUMOURS. Mick Fleetwood has considered using his gold records for doorstops, as the continued success of the band is inevitable.

In the following interview, leader and drummer Mick Fleetwood tells HIT PARADER about his band, his longtime relationship with bassist. John McVie (the “Mac” in Fleetwood Mac) and the various things that make Fleetwood Mac an entity in and of itself:

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HP: Now that the band has finished RUMOURS, could we talk about the how and why of the album taking so long to finish?
Mick: Well, when we started the album RUMOURS there were a lot of things going on in the band — for everybody involved. Needless to say, it was a very strange time. Things weren’t all that bad with all the personal problems, but needless to say, things just took a lot longer than expected as a result. Lindsey and Stevie broke up, John and Christine had broken up and I was going through some changes too. Then, after two months of laying down basic tracks, we went back on tour for a white. Luckily, sometimes when you overwork at something and don’t get away from it, you get to a point where you lose it. That didn’t happen with us this time; everything we did just kept getting better and better. Since all of the original tracks were done in the first two months, the initial vibe of the album is still there. The energy isn’t gone. It hasn’t been tampered with. Mainly, there were a lot of strong feelings going on in the band, and then on the album. Unwittingly, the songs and moods on RUMOURS are connected to what various people in the band were going through. From that point of view, this is a very emotional album; more than the last one.

HP: RUMOURS was amazingly expensive to record I hear.
Mick: We worked on the album for over six months physically, but we worked on it for over ten months in total. We spent a lot of time on the album and it cost us a lot of money, yeah. However, we didn’t compromise anything on the album. We got past the point of worrying whether or not things cost too much. We didn’t want to quit until everything was as right as it could possibly be. One reason we were able to work on RUMOURS as long as we did was because the FLEETWOOD MAC album was selling so sensationally and it allowed us to keep working on the new one. If we would have put out the new album when we were supposed to, we would have killed the sales of the FLEETWOOD MAC album and there was no point in doing that. It is still selling a lot, although it is starting to drop off now.

HP: I would imagine that RUMOURS is more together musically because the band has actually played together for over a year now, whereas with the last album you were only together a few months.
Mick: That’s true because we had also been through a lot together on a personal level. The moods on the album are radically different; there’s a hell of a lot of variation. It’s really good, I think. We didn’t use any outside musicians and there are no strings or anything; it’s a total Fleetwood -Mac album. We paid a lot of attention to keeping the original way we made the tracks and we didn’t overdo anything.

HP: The single from the album was released before the album … Why. was that? “Go Your Own Way” is from the album, but the “B” side is “Silver Springs” and it isn’t on the album.
Mick: The album was taking so long to get out, we wanted to put the single out before Christmas. It’s a number of Lindsey’s and I really think it’s great. As for the flip, well, that’s Stevie’s song. It’s a really long song that she’ll be doing onstage this tour. “Silver Springs” is something that couldn’t go on the album because it was long — you can’t start putting too many tracks on an album without reducing the quality of the sound. So, it was a neat way to get the song out and let people hear it.

HP: Now that the band is so successful are you going to change your stage show at all and get really show biz?
Mick: (Laughs) Well, we are going to put on a two-hour set, a longer show. We need the time, as we are a band with three songwriters now. We need that long so everyone can get a fair crack at the whip. On our last tour we got a good spot in the shows, but we weren’t always headlining. Now, we’ll be headlining all the time and we can get into all the things we wanted to last tour.

HP: But are you changing the staging at all? Christine is sort of hidden behind her equipment onstage and in a big hall that’s a drag.
Mick: I know what you mean exactly. We are probably going to get risers that are at a slight angle — not a throne or anything — but just so her equipment can be out of her way. We also might get an acoustic piano and put it at the other side of the stage; Christine is really at home on-a regular piano. Now she is stuck behind a wall of organ equipment and what not. Also, a few new backdrops and some bigger lighting equipment will be used. Plus, we are rehearsing for three weeks straight before we go on tour. Our first date is February 22, I think. We’re going to do a mammoth U.S. tour and then go to England and Europe for a short summer tour.

HP: Are you happy with the growing interest in Fleetwood Mac’s Ip catalogue? I mean, ALL of your older albums are getting picked up now and people are getting into the older stuff.
Mick: Well, I am very pleased with everything the band has ever done. Besides, we could always turn around and learn some of the older numbers to do onstage now — if there was an interest.

HP: You mean the other members wouldn’t mind playing, say, a Peter Green song or something by Jeremy Spencer?
Mick: No, not at all; that is something that’s always open. The only thing to be taken into consideration is how a particular number would work into our new format. A certain number might not gel too well with our other songs. But if people would really get into an old track from a Fleetwood Mac album, then we would certainly try to please them.

HP: Speaking of older albums, what is your favorite Fleetwood Mac album from previous versions of the band?
Mick: I really like MYSTERY TO ME as an album. That definitely would be one of the more recent ones that I could reflect on and listen to. In fact, I like MYSTERY TO ME more now than I did when we cut it. Then I also like THEN PLAY ON, just for sentimental reasons I think. That album maintains an attitude of freedom that’s hard to pin down. On the other side, I sort of think PENGUIN is one of our albums that doesn’t flow that well as a whole. It’s one of my least favorite.

HP: Since Fleetwood Mac was basically a blues band at the start did you and John McVie decide to start a band to play blues or did it just happen?
Mick: It just happened. Anyone who played in the first Fleetwood Mac was interested in blues music. It was very much a blues thing, but only remained a real blues thing for a year and a half or so. It’s always changing for us — the music that is. That is what makes this band interesting I think.

HP: Have you always aimed for change in the music?
Mick: Yes. The new album, RUMOURS, for example is going to surprise a lot of people who thought we had found our niche, as it were. They think we are gonna crank it out now. Luckily we aren’t tied or held down like that. The new album is very different, very different… John and I have always had a concept for this band which is just an attitude really. That is: we don’t feel we have to supply people with the sort of thing they expect from you all the time. It’s a healthy attitude and it gives us an advantage; other bands should have it. I think this is what has kept Fleetwood Mac a stimulating thing for John and myself.

HP: Since Fleetwood Mac doesn’t have a manager, you have to sort of manage the affairs of the band. So you and John care for the business and help the others with their songs?
Mick: Well, I don’t write music at all and I don’t arrange any of the songs. John and I are the basis for this band and we direct things, in a way. I definitely have a lot to do with the recording of the albums. I like things the way they are now; it has worked.

HP: So you think the combination of the five of you works really well and that things will stay that way?
Mick: I hope so because this is the best Fleetwood Mac that ever was; we’re a mixed musical band and we are getting better and better…