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Lindsey BuckinghamThe Joint
Las Vegas, NV
September 20, 2008
September 20, 2008
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Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Fleetwood Mac’s studio mastermind fleshes out his solo sound with a band
By GEORGE A. PAULThe OC Register
Lindsey Buckingham’s return to the Grove a strong one
Review: Two years since a solo acoustic gig there, Fleetwood Mac’s studio mastermind fleshes out his solo sound with a band.
For the Lindsey Buckingham completist, this was as good as it gets.
During an exceptional, nearly two-hour show Friday night at the Grove of Anaheim, the Fleetwood Mac singer-guitarist-studio-wiz touched upon virtually every facet of his lengthy career. Buckingham’s wife and young children were present, a likely catalyst for his relaxed and chatty demeanor.
Unlike the last tour – which arrived at the Grove in late 2006 – Buckingham indulged fewer guitar showcases alone. (See “Live at the Bass Performance Hall,” released earlier this year, for a fine example of that). His tight three-piece band this time out, including keyboardist-bassist Brett Tuggle (a veteran of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks treks) and guitarist Neale Heywood, rocked plain and simple.
Since Buckingham compositions were continually given over to the Mac, 14 years elapsed between his third solo disc, “Out of the Cradle,” and the mostly acoustic effort “Under the Skin.” But this past week the impressive “Gift of Screws” (a title based on an Emily Dickinson poem) arrived in stores – the veteran musician is definitely making up for lost time.
Buckingham employs a unique, self-taught finger-picking style on electric and acoustic guitars. The result is a distinct sound that can be a wonder to behold live.In Anaheim, half of “Screws” comprised the 20-song set, kicking off with the churning new “Great Day,” where Heywood, Tuggle and their boss traded overlapping harmonies. (Click here for a complete set list.) Solo hits from the ’80s like “Trouble” and “Go Insane” were played back-to-back, each done in full-band mode. The former had a gorgeous rhythmic sweep; the latter, an almost country-rock vibe with cascading vocals from all three guys.
Evil Buckingham cackles, tribal drums from drummer Walfredo Reyes and ominous keyboards marked a wicked “Tusk,” with Tuggle triggering the USC Marching Band horns. That prompted the first of several standing ovations.
The evolution of 1987’s “Big Love” was described “an ensemble piece before I took leave of the band to relieve my sanity.” Buckingham, 59, said refashioning it for just voice and guitar became a template for future work. “I’d been living a narrow life” until I got married. “Now the song has taken on a sense of irony.” Watching Buckingham’s manic buildup and nimble fretwork on flamenco-styled guitar during that song never gets old.
One of the evening’s oldest tunes was “World Turning” from the Mac’s self-titled 1975 album. It’s been a frequent part of that band’s gigs ever since. The crowd didn’t have to endure Mick Fleetwood’s loony human percussion shtick here, but Reyes’ extended spotlight was clearly a tribute.
Some lighthearted moments occurred during the rarely played “It Was You,” a “rock nursery rhyme written for my kids,” as Buckingham described it. Halfway through the breezy tune, with more cascading vocals, his son and daughter tentatively strolled on stage to add percussion, proud papa beaming throughout.Buckingham also pulled out the strange and bombastic “Come,” off the Mac’s shamefully ignored 2003 reunion effort, “Say You Will.” It was a “bathroom break” tune when I reviewed them at Verizon in ‘04, but fans at the not-quite-sold-out Grove stayed seated. (I would’ve picked something more melodic off that disc, such as “Bleed to Love Her” or “Steal Your Heart Away,” and given either one a tweak).
“Gift of Screws,” meanwhile, is chock-full of potential adult rock radio hits. The yearning first single “Did You Miss Me?,” with its memorable chorus, came across even better in concert, for instance.
Once Buckingham and company reached the home stretch, the audience was on its feet, wildly clapping along to exhilarating old “Rumours” faves “Go Your Own Way” and “Second Hand News.” All told, Buckingham proved he’s still a force to be reckoned with.
Setlist:
Great Day / Love Runs Deeper / Trouble / Go Insane / Tusk / I Know I’m Not Wrong / Gift of Screws / Never Going Back Again / Big Love / Shut Us Down / Under the Skin / It Was You / Did You Miss Me / Come / World Turning / I’m So Afraid / Go Your Own Way
Encore: Second Hand News / Don’t Look Down / Treason
5th solo album for Buckingham
By Scott Iwasaki
Deseret News
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008
Lindsey Buckingham, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his band Fleetwood Mac back in 1998, said working on his fifth solo album was "effortless."
"When I did my last album, 'Under the Skin,' it was not a rock album," said Buckingham during a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. "There were no lead guitars, no drum and bass.
"With the new album ('Gift of Screws'), I came into it with songs that rocked," he said. "And that set the precedence."
From there, Buckingham let the music take the reins.
"While getting the songs together, there were a few other songs that I had written a few years ago that wanted to be part of the project. So I let them.
"It all came together easily, even though I was laying down tracks in hotel rooms on a little Korg mixer during my last solo tour," he said.
Making a solo album is a musical vacation for Buckingham.
"I don't have to make a CD for money," he said. "That's one of the luxuries I have with Fleetwood Mac.
"When I make a solo album, it's more to be away from Fleetwood Mac and examine the left side of my palette."
Still, Buckingham knows he will always be connected to the Fleetwood Mac machine. And he even has drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as guests on his new album.
"They are on the recordings of some of the older songs that I had written for the album," said Buckingham. "The album is really a reflection of what I have done throughout my career. And having John and Mick on the album ties that part of my life into the project."
Still, another beauty of making a solo record is not having to answer to anyone but himself, said Buckingham.
"With a band there are politics," he said. "You have to work within a border. And that is challenging."
With that said, however, Buckingham said Fleetwood Mac will be doing some things next year.
"Stevie (Nicks) and I have been talking, and there is some good energy going through the band," he said.
"We've decided that we all need to be nice to each other," he said with a laugh.
Deseret News
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008
Lindsey Buckingham, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his band Fleetwood Mac back in 1998, said working on his fifth solo album was "effortless."
"When I did my last album, 'Under the Skin,' it was not a rock album," said Buckingham during a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. "There were no lead guitars, no drum and bass.
"With the new album ('Gift of Screws'), I came into it with songs that rocked," he said. "And that set the precedence."
From there, Buckingham let the music take the reins.
"While getting the songs together, there were a few other songs that I had written a few years ago that wanted to be part of the project. So I let them.
"It all came together easily, even though I was laying down tracks in hotel rooms on a little Korg mixer during my last solo tour," he said.
Making a solo album is a musical vacation for Buckingham.
"I don't have to make a CD for money," he said. "That's one of the luxuries I have with Fleetwood Mac.
"When I make a solo album, it's more to be away from Fleetwood Mac and examine the left side of my palette."
Still, Buckingham knows he will always be connected to the Fleetwood Mac machine. And he even has drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie as guests on his new album.
"They are on the recordings of some of the older songs that I had written for the album," said Buckingham. "The album is really a reflection of what I have done throughout my career. And having John and Mick on the album ties that part of my life into the project."
Still, another beauty of making a solo record is not having to answer to anyone but himself, said Buckingham.
"With a band there are politics," he said. "You have to work within a border. And that is challenging."
With that said, however, Buckingham said Fleetwood Mac will be doing some things next year.
"Stevie (Nicks) and I have been talking, and there is some good energy going through the band," he said.
"We've decided that we all need to be nice to each other," he said with a laugh.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Buckingham gets intimate at the Orpheum
by Michael Senft
Sept. 19, 2008
The Arizona Republic
With a new album in stores, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham returned to the Valley on Thursday, Sept. 18 for an intimate, and loud, show at the Orpheum Theatre.
Although he played many of the same tunes and featured the same three-piece backup band, Thursday night was a sharp contrast from Buckingham’s recent Valley shows in ‘06 and ‘07, which were promoting his primarily acoustic Under the Skin album. This tour featured Buckingham in full guitar god mode, peppering his two-hour set with lengthy solos and plenty of rock star heroics.
The most notable difference came on his older solo tunes Trouble and Go Insane. Both songs have been deconstructed into acoustic numbers on recent solo and Mac tours, but they were given full-band electric treatments this year. And the bombastic Mac tunes which were a little subdued the last time around, blossomed into their chaotic glory - the only thing missing from Tusk was a marching band.
Even the solo acoustic Shut Us Down, from Under the Skin, seemed a bit more powerful.
Despite Buckingham’s new CD, Gift of Screws, only hitting stores on Tuesday, most of the audience was familiar with the material, including the maniacal title track and Did You Miss Me which Buckingham noted was his new radio single. He didn’t seem too confident that it would actually get any airplay, however.
Buckingham turned down the volume in the middle of the show, offering an acoustic set which covered such Fleetwood Mac faves as Never Going Back Again. Big Love - a middling Mac tune in its original full-band form on 1987’s Tango in the Night album, blossomed in the stripped-down setting.
After the acoustic interlude, Buckingham plugged back in and deafened the crowd with a brace of heavier Mac tunes. World Turning featured an intricate drum solo from Walfredo Reyes, while Come, from Mac’s 2004 album Say You Will, featured some snarling lyrics and even more vicious soloing.
But the climax was the majestic I’m So Afraid. The tune has been Buckingham’s showcase for 30 years, and he didn’t disappoint, delivering a 10-minute guitar solo that had the entire theater on its feet. The smash Go Your Own Way was almost a letdown afterwards.
After the high-decibel finale, Buckingham brought the crowd back to Earth with a low-key encore set. The Mac classic Second Hand News was performed in an acoustic band setting, similar to his last appearances, and Don’t Look Down , from Buckingham’s 1993 album Out of the Cradle, was a welcome return to his set.
He finished up the show with a final pair of new tunes, the full band Treason and the gentle Time Precious Time. Unfortunately by that point the casual fans were heading for the parking lot, having heard the Mac hits they came for.
A shame really, because those final songs provided the perfect coda to a spectacular show.
Setlist:
Great Day
Love Runs Deeper
Trouble
Go Insane
Tusk
I Know I’m Not Wrong
Gift of Screws
Never Going Back Again
Big Love
Shut Us Down
Under the Skin
Did You Miss Me
Come
World Turning
I’m So Afraid
Go Your Own Way
Second Hand News
Don’t Look Down
Treason
Time Precious Time
Sept. 19, 2008
The Arizona Republic
With a new album in stores, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham returned to the Valley on Thursday, Sept. 18 for an intimate, and loud, show at the Orpheum Theatre.
Although he played many of the same tunes and featured the same three-piece backup band, Thursday night was a sharp contrast from Buckingham’s recent Valley shows in ‘06 and ‘07, which were promoting his primarily acoustic Under the Skin album. This tour featured Buckingham in full guitar god mode, peppering his two-hour set with lengthy solos and plenty of rock star heroics.
The most notable difference came on his older solo tunes Trouble and Go Insane. Both songs have been deconstructed into acoustic numbers on recent solo and Mac tours, but they were given full-band electric treatments this year. And the bombastic Mac tunes which were a little subdued the last time around, blossomed into their chaotic glory - the only thing missing from Tusk was a marching band.
Even the solo acoustic Shut Us Down, from Under the Skin, seemed a bit more powerful.
Despite Buckingham’s new CD, Gift of Screws, only hitting stores on Tuesday, most of the audience was familiar with the material, including the maniacal title track and Did You Miss Me which Buckingham noted was his new radio single. He didn’t seem too confident that it would actually get any airplay, however.
Buckingham turned down the volume in the middle of the show, offering an acoustic set which covered such Fleetwood Mac faves as Never Going Back Again. Big Love - a middling Mac tune in its original full-band form on 1987’s Tango in the Night album, blossomed in the stripped-down setting.
After the acoustic interlude, Buckingham plugged back in and deafened the crowd with a brace of heavier Mac tunes. World Turning featured an intricate drum solo from Walfredo Reyes, while Come, from Mac’s 2004 album Say You Will, featured some snarling lyrics and even more vicious soloing.
But the climax was the majestic I’m So Afraid. The tune has been Buckingham’s showcase for 30 years, and he didn’t disappoint, delivering a 10-minute guitar solo that had the entire theater on its feet. The smash Go Your Own Way was almost a letdown afterwards.
After the high-decibel finale, Buckingham brought the crowd back to Earth with a low-key encore set. The Mac classic Second Hand News was performed in an acoustic band setting, similar to his last appearances, and Don’t Look Down , from Buckingham’s 1993 album Out of the Cradle, was a welcome return to his set.
He finished up the show with a final pair of new tunes, the full band Treason and the gentle Time Precious Time. Unfortunately by that point the casual fans were heading for the parking lot, having heard the Mac hits they came for.
A shame really, because those final songs provided the perfect coda to a spectacular show.
Setlist:
Great Day
Love Runs Deeper
Trouble
Go Insane
Tusk
I Know I’m Not Wrong
Gift of Screws
Never Going Back Again
Big Love
Shut Us Down
Under the Skin
Did You Miss Me
Come
World Turning
I’m So Afraid
Go Your Own Way
Second Hand News
Don’t Look Down
Treason
Time Precious Time
Thursday, September 18, 2008
"Stevie Nicks: Turning Rainbows into Music into Gold"
Stevie-Nicks.INFO privides us with a glimpse of the Book by Danny Goldberg where he describes how he met and became associted with Stevie...Danny Goldberg's new book Bumping into Geniuses: My Life in the Rock and Roll Business was released today. Goldberg writes extensively about Stevie, devoting 27 pages to her in the chapter "Stevie Nicks: Turning Rainbows into Music into Gold".....
A Collection of Gift of Screws Reviews
Lindsey Buckingham’s long-in-the-works fifth solo album isn’t a huge departure for the Fleetwood Mac guitarist/vocalist, all skittering, fingerpicked guitar work and vocal overdubs by the Tusk-load.
by Julie Seabaugh
Thu, Sep 18, 2008
Las Vegas Weekly
3.5 Stars
The overdubbed acoustic and Spanish guitars in Time Precious Time are meant to affect a waterfall, and they do a marvelous job. Indeed, the guitar work here is stunning.
by Bill Robertson
The StarPhoenix
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Rating 3 1/2
“Gift of Screws” still showcases plenty of Buckingham’s mesmerizing acoustic finger-picking but there’s also plenty of thump as well, no doubt in part to the guest contributions from his FM mates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.
by Kevin O’Hare
The Springfield Republican
Thursday September 18, 2008
It’s a bravura performance, one in which Buckingham revels in all of his many skills. Those who love him for his studio wizardry will get a kick out of the wicked-cool opening track, “Great Day,” a seamless blending of muffled percussion, kitschy keyboards, spry acoustic fingerpicking, distorted vocals, and a pair of raging electric guitar solos; he’s practically a one-man symphony.
The Hurst Review
September 18, 2998
Don’t let Buckingham’s wasted, sleep-deprived look on the cover mislead you. On this rocking companion piece to his last studio album, the low-key Under the Skin, Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and visionary has never sounded more alive.
BERNARD PERUSSE
Montreal Gazette
September 18, 2008
This is probably Lindsey Buckingham’s finest effort since the heyday of Fleetwood Mac. There’s plenty of nifty hooks and blistering guitar solos here that will send people running for their old copies of Rumours.
Graham Rockingham
Metronews.ca Vancouver
September 18, 2008
Standouts include the lush, reverb-drenched “Underground,” piercing guitar riff-driven “Wait for You,” a jubilant “Right Place to Fade” (think “Second Hand News”; it’s another of the studio wiz’s layered voice extravaganzas), chiming “Did You Miss Me” and the spare, almost gospel-tinged closer “Treason.”
George A. Paul
Inland Empire Weekly
September 18, 2008
by Julie Seabaugh
Thu, Sep 18, 2008
Las Vegas Weekly
3.5 Stars
The overdubbed acoustic and Spanish guitars in Time Precious Time are meant to affect a waterfall, and they do a marvelous job. Indeed, the guitar work here is stunning.
by Bill Robertson
The StarPhoenix
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Rating 3 1/2
“Gift of Screws” still showcases plenty of Buckingham’s mesmerizing acoustic finger-picking but there’s also plenty of thump as well, no doubt in part to the guest contributions from his FM mates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.
by Kevin O’Hare
The Springfield Republican
Thursday September 18, 2008
It’s a bravura performance, one in which Buckingham revels in all of his many skills. Those who love him for his studio wizardry will get a kick out of the wicked-cool opening track, “Great Day,” a seamless blending of muffled percussion, kitschy keyboards, spry acoustic fingerpicking, distorted vocals, and a pair of raging electric guitar solos; he’s practically a one-man symphony.
The Hurst Review
September 18, 2998
Don’t let Buckingham’s wasted, sleep-deprived look on the cover mislead you. On this rocking companion piece to his last studio album, the low-key Under the Skin, Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and visionary has never sounded more alive.
BERNARD PERUSSE
Montreal Gazette
September 18, 2008
This is probably Lindsey Buckingham’s finest effort since the heyday of Fleetwood Mac. There’s plenty of nifty hooks and blistering guitar solos here that will send people running for their old copies of Rumours.
Graham Rockingham
Metronews.ca Vancouver
September 18, 2008
Standouts include the lush, reverb-drenched “Underground,” piercing guitar riff-driven “Wait for You,” a jubilant “Right Place to Fade” (think “Second Hand News”; it’s another of the studio wiz’s layered voice extravaganzas), chiming “Did You Miss Me” and the spare, almost gospel-tinged closer “Treason.”
George A. Paul
Inland Empire Weekly
September 18, 2008
Lindsey Buckingham - Live Daily Interview
Live Daily
By John Voket
LiveDaily
These days, Lindsey Buckingham has no problem candidly revealing the precarious tightrope walk the level of fame he’s enjoyed with Fleetwood Mac can bring to an artist who constantly seeks his own true creative center.
“Fleetwood Mac has been one of the joys of my life, but that kind of success is a double-edged sword,” Buckingham states in his bio. “You’re under tremendous pressure to sell as much and as often as possible, to become an assembly line, to feed the philosophy, ‘If it works, run it into the ground.’ Artists need to take their time to breathe in and out, to take risks though it may not always be good for business.”
With this week’s release of his latest project, “A Gift of Screws,” Buckingham has produced what may be considered an exhale–a necessary, logical counterpart to a deep inward breath that inspired his 2006 release, “Under the Skin.”
“They do seem to compliment each other,” he observed.
The material on “Screws” represents a combination of elements developed a number of years ago and others that came together in late-night, hotel-room sessions on his last tour, or while working in his home studio. And he said the time was right to “clear out the garage,” because it was becoming uncomfortably full of Buckingham creative possessions.
“As an artist, I’m still, for better or worse, clinging to my idealism and to my sense that there is still much to be said. This album is a culmination of that.”
The new project not only gave Buckingham a chance to reunite with John McVie and Mick Fleetwood on his own terms and on his own turf, but also afforded an opportunity to partner with producer Rob Cavallo, who has put his stamp on material from Jewel to Green Day and the Dave Matthews Band.
In an exclusive interview with LiveDaily, Buckingham discussed assembling his new project, collaborating (or not) with members of his immediate family, and evaluating whether or not he has racked up enough mileage in the music business to pick a hit.
LiveDaily: The advance on “Gift of Screws” suggests a project steeped in contrast; some songwriting and recoding processes are simple–literally done in hotel rooms–and others are complex studio projects. It’s packed with songs full of contrasting instrumentation and rhythms, and, while some material is brand new, some songs have been refined from foundations laid years ago. Yet, at the same time, I understand you are at a pretty happy place in your life these days, so basically none of this is helping us crack the mystique of Lindsey Buckingham.
Lindsey Buckingham: [laughing] Bummer. It’s true, though. You know, I saw a lot of my friends who were not necessarily there for their families. And I wasn’t going to be one of those guys. I was lucky to meet someone after the garbage was all behind me. So having a wife and three children definitely is a major change. It probably doesn’t help the mystique, but it does provide one with a whole different way of looking at the world, which was very necessary for me, having spent many years living in what you might call a ‘post Fleetwood Mac environment.’ There were a lot of walls and focusing on the work and not much else. So it’s been a very satisfying three or four years for me, and, in fact, the last 10 years have been profound.
You’ve got your son, Will, and your wife, Kristen, leaving their mark on the new project. Does that put your two girls in the position of expecting or even pitching you to contribute to something in the future, or do they have more of a “could care less” attitude about the intricacies of dad’s work?
Kristen did contribute lyrics to a couple of the songs. But the thing about Will–he wasn’t really invested in that. He just happened to be in the garage one day when I was recording singing, ‘… great day, great day,’ and I said, ‘What is that?’ He said he just made it up, and I said I [could] turn that into a song. You know, he’s most like me, I think, because he has a very healthy disrespect for the business side of things, and for show business in general, as do the girls. So I don’t think they feel they have to leave their mark in one way or another on dad’s music.
The new album involved old friends and newer influences–Mick and John backing you on some songs, and calling on Rob Cavallo to put his stamp on others as a co-producer. Can you recall how being back in the studio recording beside your Fleetwood Mac mates affected you emotionally, and thus the final outcome on those numbers, versus getting what you were looking for in the final mix of songs you worked on with Cavallo?
You know, I think playing with Mick in particular–John came in later and laid the bass tracks down–if you focus on Mick, we’ve always had a camaraderie of spirit; we’ve always shared that sense of pushing the envelope, and he has a really animal style of playing drums in particular. So, on the title track, I think Mick just felt completely liberated to do what he loves to do best and doesn’t always get to do in the context of Fleetwood Mac, which is to present a complete male energy out there, and to not worry about whether it holds a line in terms of taste or anything else. It’s just a raw, primal expression. It’s something he and I both love to do, really appreciate, and I think he hoped ‘A Gift of Screws’ ended up on a Fleetwood Mac album so that he could have gotten to play it. But we just had a ball in the studio–it was great fun.
Cavallo’s [contribution] came about through a set of circumstances. I think he was looking for a palate cleanser of sorts. He more or less sought me out and we got along very well. He knows a lot more about music than I do. I’m basically a refined primitive. I taught myself to play and I don’t read music, so everything I do is based on instinct. Because of that, he was certainly a help in arranging things. Working with him was a lot of fun, as well. He’s a great guy.
How did getting back on the road behind “Under the Skin” help motivate you to get in there and “clear out the garage,” so to speak, revisiting songs and pieces of songs you had piled up in storage?
Buckingham: I did ‘Under the Skin,’ and that was a certain kind of album–as much about what I didn’t do as I did do. And when I went in to start recording ‘A Gift of Screws,’ with the guys from my touring band, I didn’t go in intending to record such a rock album. But, once we started cutting some tracks, it started going in a rock direction. You know, sometimes you have to go in the direction the work leads you. So, once I realized and was accepting of the lead-guitar role–a certain level of aggressiveness in my interpretation of certain songs–there were these three songs waiting to find a new home, that were meant to include themselves in this grouping.
In your advance, you talk about one of those songs, “Treason,” in terms of history, and the historical juxtaposition of good and evil. How does the apparent optimist in you, the one who suggests we have to believe there is more good in the world than bad, pollinate that message across the widest and most potentially receptive audience?
That’s a really good question. There was a time when music seemed to have much more authority and potency in terms of shaping people’s thoughts. There was a whole social world out there that would listen to music for more than just a diversion. The album was a form that, in many cases, created a certain style of listening. So, I think all you can do is try to be yourself–to try and evolve as a person. To try and not fall prey to forces that would like you to do something other than you believe in.
This goes back to the ‘Rumors,’ and ‘Tusk’ period, when we were poised to follow the expectations of the machinery, to follow the formula as it was perceived. That was to make a ‘Rumors 2.’ And, at that point, there was a line drawn in the sand. I took a lot of chances, and influenced the band to make a very different kind of album. That was a point in time for me that represents a way I still try to think: do what you love to do and, in the long term, it will pay off.
Hopefully, if you can be your own person and you have something genuine to say, just try and get the message out. The way that would translate to, say, Fleetwood Mac in an up-and-coming time is, we all realize we’ve all been down individual roads. And our mantra should be to appreciate each other more as people, and try and get out there and share what we have. You just have to present positive energy wherever you can, even if it’s on a small scale. If a lot of people do that, it tends to add up to something.
Do you think you’ve been involved in the music industry long enough to pick a hit, whether it’s for someone else, or even if it’s your own creation?
I could never do it for myself. I’d probably be better doing it with other people. You know, the definition of what a “hit” is changes. I certainly have a good sense of hearing something, when I feel a chemical reaction about something kicking in that feels right. But I can’t assume that is what will drive other people today. Definitions change, contexts change. I hear a lot of music that makes sense to someone that doesn’t make sense to me.
With that in mind, do you think music consumers, and more importantly, Lindsey Buckingham fans, would pick “The Right Place to Fade,” as the big single from “A Gift of Screws”?
It’s funny, because, when I turned over “Under the Skin” to Warner Brothers, I was very happy with that album because it succeeded on an artistic level–it represented what I had attempted to do. Warner Brothers didn’t hear it; they didn’t even distribute it that well. [Conversely], I didn’t have a particular feeling about “A Gift of Screws,” but, when I turned it in, they seemed to be really enthusiastic about it. I think, as an artist, I have to do my work and then get on to what I want to do live. If they want to pick one song or another song, that’s their job. It hasn’t had a lot to do with what I consider my solo work. I think success comes from the feeling that you have created something. People with certain ears and certain sensibilities will appreciate it, and, beyond that, the rest is not worth wasting your energy on.
By John Voket
LiveDaily
These days, Lindsey Buckingham has no problem candidly revealing the precarious tightrope walk the level of fame he’s enjoyed with Fleetwood Mac can bring to an artist who constantly seeks his own true creative center.
“Fleetwood Mac has been one of the joys of my life, but that kind of success is a double-edged sword,” Buckingham states in his bio. “You’re under tremendous pressure to sell as much and as often as possible, to become an assembly line, to feed the philosophy, ‘If it works, run it into the ground.’ Artists need to take their time to breathe in and out, to take risks though it may not always be good for business.”
With this week’s release of his latest project, “A Gift of Screws,” Buckingham has produced what may be considered an exhale–a necessary, logical counterpart to a deep inward breath that inspired his 2006 release, “Under the Skin.”
“They do seem to compliment each other,” he observed.
The material on “Screws” represents a combination of elements developed a number of years ago and others that came together in late-night, hotel-room sessions on his last tour, or while working in his home studio. And he said the time was right to “clear out the garage,” because it was becoming uncomfortably full of Buckingham creative possessions.
“As an artist, I’m still, for better or worse, clinging to my idealism and to my sense that there is still much to be said. This album is a culmination of that.”
The new project not only gave Buckingham a chance to reunite with John McVie and Mick Fleetwood on his own terms and on his own turf, but also afforded an opportunity to partner with producer Rob Cavallo, who has put his stamp on material from Jewel to Green Day and the Dave Matthews Band.
In an exclusive interview with LiveDaily, Buckingham discussed assembling his new project, collaborating (or not) with members of his immediate family, and evaluating whether or not he has racked up enough mileage in the music business to pick a hit.
LiveDaily: The advance on “Gift of Screws” suggests a project steeped in contrast; some songwriting and recoding processes are simple–literally done in hotel rooms–and others are complex studio projects. It’s packed with songs full of contrasting instrumentation and rhythms, and, while some material is brand new, some songs have been refined from foundations laid years ago. Yet, at the same time, I understand you are at a pretty happy place in your life these days, so basically none of this is helping us crack the mystique of Lindsey Buckingham.
Lindsey Buckingham: [laughing] Bummer. It’s true, though. You know, I saw a lot of my friends who were not necessarily there for their families. And I wasn’t going to be one of those guys. I was lucky to meet someone after the garbage was all behind me. So having a wife and three children definitely is a major change. It probably doesn’t help the mystique, but it does provide one with a whole different way of looking at the world, which was very necessary for me, having spent many years living in what you might call a ‘post Fleetwood Mac environment.’ There were a lot of walls and focusing on the work and not much else. So it’s been a very satisfying three or four years for me, and, in fact, the last 10 years have been profound.
You’ve got your son, Will, and your wife, Kristen, leaving their mark on the new project. Does that put your two girls in the position of expecting or even pitching you to contribute to something in the future, or do they have more of a “could care less” attitude about the intricacies of dad’s work?
Kristen did contribute lyrics to a couple of the songs. But the thing about Will–he wasn’t really invested in that. He just happened to be in the garage one day when I was recording singing, ‘… great day, great day,’ and I said, ‘What is that?’ He said he just made it up, and I said I [could] turn that into a song. You know, he’s most like me, I think, because he has a very healthy disrespect for the business side of things, and for show business in general, as do the girls. So I don’t think they feel they have to leave their mark in one way or another on dad’s music.
The new album involved old friends and newer influences–Mick and John backing you on some songs, and calling on Rob Cavallo to put his stamp on others as a co-producer. Can you recall how being back in the studio recording beside your Fleetwood Mac mates affected you emotionally, and thus the final outcome on those numbers, versus getting what you were looking for in the final mix of songs you worked on with Cavallo?
You know, I think playing with Mick in particular–John came in later and laid the bass tracks down–if you focus on Mick, we’ve always had a camaraderie of spirit; we’ve always shared that sense of pushing the envelope, and he has a really animal style of playing drums in particular. So, on the title track, I think Mick just felt completely liberated to do what he loves to do best and doesn’t always get to do in the context of Fleetwood Mac, which is to present a complete male energy out there, and to not worry about whether it holds a line in terms of taste or anything else. It’s just a raw, primal expression. It’s something he and I both love to do, really appreciate, and I think he hoped ‘A Gift of Screws’ ended up on a Fleetwood Mac album so that he could have gotten to play it. But we just had a ball in the studio–it was great fun.
Cavallo’s [contribution] came about through a set of circumstances. I think he was looking for a palate cleanser of sorts. He more or less sought me out and we got along very well. He knows a lot more about music than I do. I’m basically a refined primitive. I taught myself to play and I don’t read music, so everything I do is based on instinct. Because of that, he was certainly a help in arranging things. Working with him was a lot of fun, as well. He’s a great guy.
How did getting back on the road behind “Under the Skin” help motivate you to get in there and “clear out the garage,” so to speak, revisiting songs and pieces of songs you had piled up in storage?
Buckingham: I did ‘Under the Skin,’ and that was a certain kind of album–as much about what I didn’t do as I did do. And when I went in to start recording ‘A Gift of Screws,’ with the guys from my touring band, I didn’t go in intending to record such a rock album. But, once we started cutting some tracks, it started going in a rock direction. You know, sometimes you have to go in the direction the work leads you. So, once I realized and was accepting of the lead-guitar role–a certain level of aggressiveness in my interpretation of certain songs–there were these three songs waiting to find a new home, that were meant to include themselves in this grouping.
In your advance, you talk about one of those songs, “Treason,” in terms of history, and the historical juxtaposition of good and evil. How does the apparent optimist in you, the one who suggests we have to believe there is more good in the world than bad, pollinate that message across the widest and most potentially receptive audience?
That’s a really good question. There was a time when music seemed to have much more authority and potency in terms of shaping people’s thoughts. There was a whole social world out there that would listen to music for more than just a diversion. The album was a form that, in many cases, created a certain style of listening. So, I think all you can do is try to be yourself–to try and evolve as a person. To try and not fall prey to forces that would like you to do something other than you believe in.
This goes back to the ‘Rumors,’ and ‘Tusk’ period, when we were poised to follow the expectations of the machinery, to follow the formula as it was perceived. That was to make a ‘Rumors 2.’ And, at that point, there was a line drawn in the sand. I took a lot of chances, and influenced the band to make a very different kind of album. That was a point in time for me that represents a way I still try to think: do what you love to do and, in the long term, it will pay off.
Hopefully, if you can be your own person and you have something genuine to say, just try and get the message out. The way that would translate to, say, Fleetwood Mac in an up-and-coming time is, we all realize we’ve all been down individual roads. And our mantra should be to appreciate each other more as people, and try and get out there and share what we have. You just have to present positive energy wherever you can, even if it’s on a small scale. If a lot of people do that, it tends to add up to something.
Do you think you’ve been involved in the music industry long enough to pick a hit, whether it’s for someone else, or even if it’s your own creation?
I could never do it for myself. I’d probably be better doing it with other people. You know, the definition of what a “hit” is changes. I certainly have a good sense of hearing something, when I feel a chemical reaction about something kicking in that feels right. But I can’t assume that is what will drive other people today. Definitions change, contexts change. I hear a lot of music that makes sense to someone that doesn’t make sense to me.
With that in mind, do you think music consumers, and more importantly, Lindsey Buckingham fans, would pick “The Right Place to Fade,” as the big single from “A Gift of Screws”?
It’s funny, because, when I turned over “Under the Skin” to Warner Brothers, I was very happy with that album because it succeeded on an artistic level–it represented what I had attempted to do. Warner Brothers didn’t hear it; they didn’t even distribute it that well. [Conversely], I didn’t have a particular feeling about “A Gift of Screws,” but, when I turned it in, they seemed to be really enthusiastic about it. I think, as an artist, I have to do my work and then get on to what I want to do live. If they want to pick one song or another song, that’s their job. It hasn’t had a lot to do with what I consider my solo work. I think success comes from the feeling that you have created something. People with certain ears and certain sensibilities will appreciate it, and, beyond that, the rest is not worth wasting your energy on.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
WMGK Phone Interview with Lindsey (Sept 17th)
John DeBella (102.9 WMGK Philadelphia) interviewed Lindsey today (Sept 17th) over the phone about Gift of Screws, the tour and the upcoming shows in the eastern side of the US.
Download the mp3 directly from 102.9
Download the mp3 directly from 102.9
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