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Lindsey Buckingham and his wifeKristen was at home in Los Angeles on January 28, watching the Grammy Awards on television when the phone rang. Fleetwood Mac manager Irving Azoff called Stevie Nicks for Buckingham. Buckingham explains the point by quoting Azoff: "Stevie never wants to be on a stage with you again."
Two nights earlier, Fleetwood Mac-Nicks' most popular and most sustainable band, Buckingham, keyboardist-singer Christine McVie, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood – performed in New York on a live show. – MusiCares show on the occasion of the show. "We rehearsed for two days and everything went well," says Buckingham. "We got along well."
But on the phone, Azoff had a list of things that, as Buckingham says, "Stevie was mingling" that night, including the guitarist's explosion just before the band's setting to music by the # 39; intro – the studio recording of "Rhiannon" from Nicks – and the way he "smiled" during Nicks' thank you speech. Buckingham concedes the first point. "It was not Rhiannon," he says. "It just undermined the impact of our entry. I am very specific about the right and wrong way to do something. "
As for the smile, "the irony of it is that we hold this joke that Stevie, when she speaks, continues for a long time," says Buckingham. "I may have or not have smiled. But I look and Christine and Mick waltz behind her like a joke. "
At the end of this call, Buckingham assumed that Nicks was leaving Fleetwood Mac. He wrote an email to Fleetwood, assuring the drummer that the group could continue. There was no answer. A few days later, Buckingham says, "I called Irving to say," It's funny. Does Stevie leave the band or do I get fired? "Azoff told the guitarist that he was" being ousted "and that Nicks issued an" ultimatum to the rest of the group: either you go there or she'll leave ".
When asked if it were the exact words of Azoff, Buckingham replied, "Enough." I do not remember his exact words, but that was the message. In April, Fleetwood Mac announced a major North American tour with two new guitarists: Neil Finn, formerly of Crowded House, and Mike Campbell, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. .
Azoff and the other Fleetwood Mac members declined to comment on this article about Buckingham's dismissal. But in April, Fleetwood – who co-founded the band in 1967 with original guitarist Peter Green – said Rolling stone that the group is in a "dead end" with Buckingham. "It was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a group in operation." The drummer did not explain in detail, but said: "We decided not to be able to continue with him."
Nicks – Buckingham's romantic and musical partner when the two men joined the Mac in 1975 – spoke of a disagreement over touring plans, saying Buckingham wanted too much free time for solo work. But, she added, "our relationship has always been volatile. We have never been married, but we could as well have been. Some couples divorce after 40 years. They break the hearts of their children and destroy everyone around them because it is difficult. "
Buckingham confirms that at a group meeting at the end of 2017 – shortly after a series of concerts with McVie to promote their project, Lindsey Buckingham / Christine McVie – he had asked for "three or four more months" to do solo concerts. There was "stone wall", he says. "I left the meeting because there was nothing else to say."
But he insists that Fleetwood Mac "has always been first. And I do not think there was ever any valid reason for being fired. We all did things that were not constructive. We have all worn the psyche of the other at times. This is the story of the group. "
Buckingham, who turned 69 on Oct. 3, sits on the patio behind his home, in a mountainous neighborhood in western Los Angeles, and presents his version – recorded for the first time – of his coming out of Fleetwood Mac . Later in the day he will be rehearsing with his own band for an autumn tour to promote Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham, a compilation from records he has made out of the Mac since the early eighties. The guitarist had finished a new solo album, tentatively called Blue light, when it was cut in bulk. It will be released next year.
"Am I sorry for not doing another tour with Fleetwood Mac? No, says Buckingham, "because I see that there are many other areas to consider," he continues. "The only thing that bothers me and breaks my heart is that we have spent 43 years always figuring out how to overcome our personal differences and our difficulties in seeking out and expressing a higher truth." "Our legacy is what the songs are about, it's not the way you end something like that."
Buckingham says that he tried to contact Nicks, without success. On February 28, a month after writing for the first time at Fleetwood, Buckingham sent another email to the drummer expressing his feelings and frustration at the group's "radio silence." There was no answer. Since their last concert together, at MusiCares, Buckingham has not spoken to any of his former group companions.
September 5th, The new range of Fleetwood Mac debuted on television the Ellen Buckingham did not look at it. His wife did it. "I was just sad," says Kristen. "I thought," How did they get here? "Kristen and Lindsey met in 1996, shortly before the return of the guitarist – who left Fleetwood Mac in 1987 – to culminate in the 1997 album. Dance. "Even though we did not see them very often," Kristen said of the other members, "it was always a family". The three children of Buckingham "called them aunts and uncles".
It's still a small world. But it has become embarrassing. Lindsey's niece's husband is a battery technician with Fleetwood Mac's road crew. Buckingham's advice: "Mick is always a great guy. Do not be anything other than a person centered and grounded for him. Do your job well. John McVie and the Buckinghams are neighbors too. The bassist's house is "literally 300 meters from here," the guitarist says, pointing across his house to the other side of the street.
Kristen recently met John's wife, Julie, in a local nail salon. "My heart is a little weakened," says Kristen. "She said hello. I asked about his daughter. It was a neutral ground. But when Julie mentioned the tour, "She must have seen my face," Oh, how's Lindsey doing? "I did not want to take it. I just said, "You know, not great."
"I had a visceral reaction to Buckingham said, "It hurts a lot. I would be fine for a while, then it would come back. He was also "disappointed" by what he calls "the immoderation in what happened and all you can do to me about the behavior and the scale of what is going on. passed on. "
Buckingham is not the first member of Fleetwood Mac to be fired. Guitarist Danny Kirwan was canned by Fleetwood in 1972 for alcoholism and violent behavior. (Kirwan died in June.) In 1973, singer Bob Weston got his pink slip after having an affair with Fleetwood's wife. Buckingham, in turn, has a long-standing reputation as a tough, uncompromising and quick cause to ignite. He took over the musical direction of Fleetwood Mac after the major sales of the band's album in 1977, rumors, pushing for the risk of the new wave of 1979 Tusk. After the mixed success of this record, the guitarist makes his first solo album, 1981 Law and order, because, he said, "I was angry" at what he saw as the group's creative retirement. "Did I bite the hand that fed me? Oh yes."
Kristen acknowledges that Lindsey was "noticeably more inflammatory when I met her," adding that marriage and paternity "had softened her". Nevertheless, she admits: "He has always been a pungent man. That's the truth. "
Buckingham coaches for a solo tour in a studio in Burbank. He is laid back and talkative. He scoured the first issues of a list of 23 songs with two members of his band, keyboardist Brett Tuggle and bassist Federico Pol. (Drummer Jimmy Paxson will arrive in a few days.) Buckingham also focuses on the details of the music, singing his eyes tightly focused and watching his guitar carefully as he chooses the introduction of "Don & # 39; t Look Down, from 1992 From the cradle.
Buckingham is literally a solo artist insofar as he mainly records at home, sings and plays virtually every role, and he is an obvious perfectionist in rehearsal as he stops songs to solve the timing of a song. part or volume of his monitors. It is easy to see how, in a historically dysfunctional context such as Fleetwood Mac, such intensity could turn into dissent and deadlock.
Ironically, when Buckingham began his solo tour in early October in Portland, Oregon, it was a few days after the first Fleetwood Mac night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These play in arenas until next spring. Buckingham appears in theaters such as New York Town Hall. "It's the story of my solo work: you lose nine-tenths of listeners," concedes Buckingham. The list that he repeats at Burbank includes songs that he could play with Fleetwood Mac right now: "Big Love," "Tusk," "Go Your Own Way." But the stills come from solo albums. One, from 2008 Gift of Vis, it's called "betrayal".
"This is not my place or intention to open that door," said Buckingham of his former group. "I did my best to contact them." He did not technically close the book on anything. Neither do I. But I do not foresee that anything will change compared to what it is now.
Buckingham knows that there will be moments on his solo tour, behind the scenes, when well-meaning fans will hand him a copy of rumors sign. And "it's okay," he says. "Someone who tends me rumors It has no effect on anything more than what he would ever have. It's just an affirmation that we did our job well. "
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