{"id":5049,"date":"2019-03-21T10:42:38","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T10:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fleetwoodmac-uk.com\/wp\/?p=5049"},"modified":"2022-10-02T12:58:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T11:58:25","slug":"christine-mcvie-inside-the-world-of-fleetwood-mac-then-and-now-harpers-bazaar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fleetwoodmac-uk.com\/wp\/christine-mcvie-inside-the-world-of-fleetwood-mac-then-and-now-harpers-bazaar\/","title":{"rendered":"Christine McVie: inside the world of Fleetwood Mac, then and now | Harper’s Bazaar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Ella Alexander<\/a>
\nMar 21, 2019
\nHarper’s Bazaar<\/span><\/p>\n

As the band prepares for its UK return in June, Christine McVie talks Glastonbury, rock ‘n’ roll and retirement<\/h3>\n

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June 2019 will be a big month for music fans for two reasons \u2013 an under-the-radar, little-known festival called Glastonbury and the return of Fleetwood Mac, the band\u2019s first UK dates in six years. Sadly, this year at least, the two aren\u2019t linked, but lead vocalist and songwriter Christine McVie says any decision to perform at Glastonbury isn\u2019t down to the band itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t up to me, it\u2019s up to the management,\u201d said McVie. \u201cIt\u2019s their decision and down to logistics. I can\u2019t say yes or no to Glastonbury, but I\u2019d like to \u2013 so long as I don\u2019t have to wear wellington boots on stage. Or maybe I\u2019d just have to roll with it \u2013 wellie boots with mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, fans will have to make do with two UK gigs at Wembley (the first time that McVie has performed in the UK with the group since officially rejoining), one of which sold out so fast that the band added a further date. Over 50 years after the band were first formed, appetite for Fleetwood Mac shows no signs of waning.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe people are just wondering when the first one of us is going to pop off because we\u2019re not youngsters anymore,\u201d laughs McVie. \u201cMaybe people want to see us because they think it\u2019s the last chance. We\u2019re a young band at heart; you\u2019d never think we are the age we are. We\u2019re never static. It\u2019s going to be fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Any self-respecting rock \u2018n\u2019 roll band has encountered its fair share of drama, and Fleetwood Mac is no anomaly. There have been marriage, divorces and fall-outs, most recently the replacement of guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham after he was unceremoniously fired \u2013 a situation McVie described as \u201cuntenable\u201d. The new line-up comprises Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Stevie Nicks, and McVie along with newcomers Mike Campbell and Neil Finn.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the 70s, we were gods and goddesses,\u201d says McVie. \u201cRumours was huge. We were a lot of younger and for a time it was a brilliant. It\u2019s definitely more sober now. I think we\u2019ve got better as I\u2019ve grown older. We\u2019re the best band we\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n

For McVie, music was always her one true love. She dabbled with the idea of becoming an art teacher, but let that fall by the wayside (\u201cI obviously didn\u2019t fancy doing my last year of teacher training\u201d) and started working as a window dresser in a department store. In 1967, she joined Chicken Shack where she first came across Fleetwood Mac on tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never wanted to do anything else,\u201d she says. \u201cThe band are like my family. I started writing songs when I was very young, but I wasn\u2019t very good. In fact, I was quite paranoid about it. Then I joined Fleetwood Mac and Mick encouraged me to keep trying. I wrote all the time during that time and my pop developed into more of a blues style. It was Mick who told me to persevere and eventually I wrote a few good songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few good songs such as Don\u2019t Stop<\/em>, which chronicled how she felt after her separation from John McVie after eight years of marriage; You Make Lovin’ Fun<\/em>, about an affair she had with the band\u2019s lighting director while she was still married to McVie (she told her husband that it was about her dog); and, of course, the perennial Songbird<\/em>, which she wrote in just 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fleetwood had a sound that was pivotal not only to the generation they were first born into, but for generations to come. But it wasn\u2019t and still isn\u2019t just the music that fans gravitate towards; it\u2019s also to do with the chemistry shared between band members. McVie and Stevie Nicks shared a particularly close bond \u2013 Nicks calls her a mentor, sister and best friend. They shared and experienced a lot together \u2013 bad break-ups and affairs that probably shouldn\u2019t have happened but did \u2013 all on a diet of drugs, alcohol and zero sleep. McVie says it was and still is their differences that make them close.<\/p>\n

\u201cStevie is just unbelievable,\u201d says McVie. \u201cThe more I see her perform on stage the better I think she is. She holds the fort. She\u2019s a brand. We\u2019re quite different in that way – I have an outside life. I live in London not the States. I like going shopping on my own. I have more of a normal life than her and that keeps me grounded. I have other friends and I do other things. I enjoy going sailing. Stevie is devoted to her career and boy, does she do it well.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVie says that, although they were on the road for a lot of the time in a male-dominated industry, she never came across any sexism or misconduct. \u201cBut maybe that\u2019s just because we were surrounded by terrific guys,\u201d she muses. \u201cThe guys in the band were all gentleman, as were the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be bitterly disappointing if such a legendary band hadn\u2019t indulged in a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll lifestyle \u2013 and Fleetwood live up to expectations. McVie says her relationship with co-founder of The Beach Boys Dennis Wilson was her \u201ccraziest time\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all drank a lot and did a lot of cocaine, we partied a lot, I don\u2019t think I did anything terribly outrageous,\u201d she says. \u201cExcept I once threw a cake out the window which landed on top of taxi. I was kind of the good girl in the group. That\u2019s who I was. Stevie used to call me Mother Earth because I was always pretty grounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, being on the road took its toll on McVie and in 1998 \u2013 the same years she was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – she quit the band and went into retirement for 15 years. She moved to Kent where she restored a Tudor house and kept a low profile. A fear of flying stopped her from going too far. But Mick Fleetwood has a knack of bringing people together, and he reached out to McVie at the right time.<\/p>\n

She had started seeing a therapist to deal with her flying phobia, who \u2013 after a few sessions \u2013 asked her where in the world she\u2019d most to be if she could fly anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said Maui because that\u2019s where Mick was living at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, the therapist said, \u2018why don\u2019t you just a buy a ticket. You don\u2019t have to get on the plane, just buy the ticket.\u2019 Then as irony would have it, Mick called me just after and said \u2018Look, I\u2019m coming to London, are you around?\u2019 I told him that I\u2019d just bought a ticket to see him and he said, \u2018well I\u2019ll meet you in London then and we\u2019ll fly back together.\u2019 So that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

McVie rejoined the band not long after, and, as she says herself, the band has never sounded better \u2013 and, thankfully, retirement couldn\u2019t be further away. \u201cMick Fleetwood is the granddaddy of the band and he will do anything to keep it together.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many bands have had the same longevity; there is life in the old girl yet. It\u2019s about finding new inspiration and enjoyment for each other. As long as we have that we\u2019ll keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Books tickets for Fleetwood Mac’s UK show dates on 16 and 18 June at Livenation.co.uk<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ella Alexander Mar 21, 2019 Harper’s Bazaar As the band prepares for its UK return in June, Christine McVie talks Glastonbury, rock ‘n’ roll and retirement June 2019 will be a big month for music fans for two reasons \u2013 an under-the-radar, little-known festival called Glastonbury and the return of Fleetwood Mac, the band\u2019s … Continue reading Christine McVie: inside the world of Fleetwood Mac, then and now | Harper’s Bazaar<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Christine McVie: inside the world of Fleetwood Mac, then and now | Harper's Bazaar","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,7,125,18,19],"tags":[78,79,126],"class_list":["post-5049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christine-mcvie","category-fleetwood-mac","category-fleetwood-mac-2018-19","category-tour-info","category-uk-articles","tag-christine-mcvie","tag-fleetwood-mac","tag-fleetwood-mac-2018-19-line-up"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31Ax0-1jr","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2385,"url":"https:\/\/fleetwoodmac-uk.com\/wp\/fleetwood-mac-play-full-gig-with-christine-mcvie-for-first-time-since-1997-nme-news\/","url_meta":{"origin":5049,"position":0},"title":"Fleetwood Mac play full gig with Christine McVie for first time since 1997 | NME News","author":"fmfanuk","date":"October 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"By Lisa Wright October 2, 2014 8:35 NME News The band played the Target Centre in Minneapolis Fleetwood Mac have played their first full show with original band member Christine McVie since 1997. 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