Michael Usher talks about interviewing the
members of Fleetwood Mac
[airing this Sunday 9/13 in Australia]
Sounds like a pleasant brunch, a casual weekend get together, but certainly not the hospitality I'd expected from three musicians whose sex drugs and Rock'n'Roll lifestyle in the 1970's made them legends.
I'm talking about Fleetwood Mac. Earlier this week, I returned from Los Angles and Hawaii where I caught up with Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham.
Now to understand the band's history and music, you first have to get your head around these three members of the band. Their lives have been a rollercoaster. Stevie and Lindsay were lovers and broke up, and ever since have had a love-hate relationship. Stevie and Mick had a lengthy affair - that started in Australia by the way - and today call each other soul-mates. Stevie and Mick also happened to have spent most of the late 70's and 80's hooked not only on each other but drugs, especially cocaine. "Booze, cocaine, dope, booze, cocaine, dope," Mick told me when he was describing that time of his life.
These days, their lives are very different. They're clean, loving their music again and, after 34 years, liking each other enough to tour again.
In fact, for all their personal turmoil over the past few decades, they've always come together for the music. They may not have been speaking with each other at times, but what they had to say they said in song. And luckily for us, that meant great classics that made Fleetwood Mac one of the biggest-selling, most popular bands of all time.
Lindsey Buckingham was our first interview at his beautiful home in L.A. He has his own recording studio beneath his garage so we set up there for the interview. Lindsay's about to turn 60 next month but married for the first time 10 years ago and has three young children. A few of them popped their head in on the interview after getting home form school. You can tell Lindsey is loving being a dad, as much as he loves playing his music. He rightly has been hailed as the creative force behind Fleetwood Mac, especially the 'Tusk' and 'Tango in the Night' albums.
After the interview, Lindsey was good enough to pull out one of his many guitars and play us two songs, 'Never Going Back Again' and 'Big Love". He plays beautifully and, as many of his fans know, has enjoyed a successful solo career away from Fleetwood Mac. And here's some trivia – you remember that movie "National Lampoon's Vacation" with Chevy Chase? Well Lindsey wrote and performed the film's catchy theme song "Holiday Road".
Our next interview was a little way down the road in an equally nice area of L.A., at Stevie Nicks' home. And what a host she was, an open kitchen, fresh sandwiches, anything you wanted. Lucky there were supplies, because this lady loves to talk, and so do I. Our main interview ran almost one hour overtime and nothing was off limits.
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