Stevie Nicks... Vamping it up!

via Flourish Public Relations - Melbourne

Lindsey Buckingham... Q&A on Seeds We Sow, Fleetwood Mac, Touring, Stevie Nicks & More...

Q&A with Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham keeps making his own music, but Fleetwood Mac is always there, too.

By Heather Lovejoy - Sept 30, 2011
The Florida Times Union

There aren't many rock musicians who have performed to packed houses in the largest venues in the world. Lindsey Buckingham is one of them.  As part of Fleetwood Mac, the singer/songwriter/guitarist has experienced the pinnacle of popularity.  But when he plays at 8 p.m. Monday at the Florida Theatre, fans will see and hear a slighty different side of him.

Buckingham spoke to the Times-Union recently by phone about his solo work, Fleetwood Mac and more. Here are excerpts from the conversation:

How was your flight?

It was fine. You know, we're doing some commercial flights and some bus trips this time, [laughs] because I'm kind of spoiled.  The shows are going well, though. And I'm very happy with the way things are going.

Where are you now?

In Minneapolis.

You'll be in Jacksonville on Oct. 3; your birthday, isn't it?

That is my birthday.

What's the best present a fan could bring you?

That's a good question. [laughs] I don't know. Did you have something in mind?

No, no. It's just that when fans find out it's your birthday, they are probably going to at least make a poster or something.

Ah, well, we don't want to make a big deal of it. You know, I'm from one of those families that used to just give a Hallmark card. It's not a big deal, really.

What can the audience expect to hear at the show?

Well, we are doing a healthy amount of the new album, which is great, and I'm very happy with the way the songs turned out live and the way they've been received, too.... I am opening the show with something I love to do more and more, which is just get up with a guitar and play by myself, so I'm doing about five songs, sort of opening for myself in a way. ... That approach has become more and more important to me.... There's a nice healthy amount of material from previous solo work, and of course, you've got to throw in a few Fleetwood Mac jams. There will be those.

About the new album, "Seeds We Sow," what prompted the title?

I wasn't planning on making an album, and the time opened up and I filled it. ... It seemed like the songs were sort of arising out of nowhere or out of very vague notions while I was recording. The same is probably true of the subject matter. There was no preconceived idea of what I was going to write about. But at the end, I realized ... there was all this stuff about choices and changes.... It's the good or ill that exists in anything, whether it's the world or in something as small as relationships.... It turned out to be a lot about choices. Much of the album had to do with that kind of karmic thing. ...

[As a guitarist,] you mostly fingerpick. Over the years, has that been hard on your hand? 

... I can't keep nails and if I do they start to get sheared off. ... Before a tour, I basically cut my nails as short as possible. ... No, I don't think so. ... I've been playing since I was about 7. I never really used a pick very much. I mean, once in a while, if you're in a festive mood, you might draw a little blood, but nothing significant. ... But my hands aren't abused, really.

You've never been big on music theory, and you don't read music. Is that right?

I do not read music. I never had lessons. I basically taught myself by listening to my brother's records, the 45s he bought.... It's always been based around the song, and guitar-playing in the service of the song. ... The sensibility is about songs.  I like to think of it as kind of "refined primitive."

How do you think that has affected your songwriting?

That's a very good question, because there are a lot of things that I don't know. ... That is something that you have to let go of, because you can only aspire to be what you are on your own terms. You work with your strengths, your limitations. If I had some amount of schooling, maybe I'd be writing with more sophistication in the European sense.

The other way of looking at it, I think of myself as much as a stylist as a writer. I think of myself as somebody with something he can call his own. A lot of people who have gone to music school have gotten their individuality stomped out of them. It becomes harder to find those instincts. Really, it could go either way.

At this point, it's a little too late to worry about it. [laughs]

How does being on stage with your solo band compare to performing with Fleetwood Mac?

There are certain aspects that are similar. Certainly, whatever I learn while I'm out solo, I bring back to Fleetwood Mac. ... Clearly, the big machine and the small machine support each other creatively - although, that may not have always been the case, but it has become that now.... The last time Fleetwood Mac went out on the road, without an album, it was kind of a freeing experience. Generally speaking, the Fleetwood Mac audience isn't really that interested in hearing anything new. ... You get to a point when your body of work speaks for itself, and you can be down with that and just put it out there.  Obviously, in Fleetwood Mac, as a band, there's always going to be more chaos, more politics. We're people who maybe shouldn't even be in a band together, but the synergy is what makes it interesting, I guess. It also makes it more difficult sometimes.... Working with the solo situation, it's a little more brainier, I think. It's more academic, a more meticulous process. And I love that. I also love figuring out how to make it work on stage. ...

So a Fleetwood Mac reunion tour is in the works for next year.

Well, we never really use the word "reunion," since we never really broke up. We're just a band that takes breaks. People are always of doing other things ... but we come back together. There is talk of doing that; that would follow the pattern of the last 10 years. There is nothing on the books, certainly. But I would be surprised if there was nothing going on with Fleetwood Mac next year.

Of course, what everyone wants to know is, how do you get along with Stevie Nicks these days?

Oh great, great. I spent quite a bit of time with her when she was finishing up her solo album and helped her out with that. I've known her since I was in high school, you know. And somehow we're still evolving; it's hard to believe, but we are.

Fleetwood Mac take a GIANT leap up the Billboard Top 200 + Lindsey Buckingham Tour Stats

Billboard Magazine 

Week ending September 25th, issue date October 8th:

The big news this week isn't the fact that both Lindsey and Stevie drop off the Top 200 Albums Chart this week with Seeds We Sow and In Your Dreams, but that Fleetwood Mac's 1977 Rumours album continues to sell so well 34 years after it's initial release.  Again this week the album re-enters multiple Billboard charts, most notibly the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart where it re-enters at # 74 on a 328% sales increase or 6,293 total units sold vs 1,470 units sold the week prior.  The massive increase is likely due to Amazon's deeply discounted mp3 album download that saw the title being sold for as little as $3.99 last week.  Even today the album can be bought for $5.99 as an mp3 download on Amazon.  To date Rumours has sold 2,891,943 albums in the US since November, 1991 when Soundscan began tracking over the counter sales.

No such luck for Lindsey's Seeds We Sow on the Top 200, even though Amazon had the album for most of last week discounted down to as little as $4.99 the album drops off the Top 200 this week.  Seeds We Sow in it's 3rd week of release remains on the Top 200 Current Albums Chart falling from # 132 last week to # 177 this week.  On the Top Independent Albums Chart, the album remains in the Top 40 at # 38 down from # 32 last week.

Back to Rumours:  On the Top Digital Albums Chart, Rumours re-enters at # 24 this week while on the Top Catalogue Albums Chart the album re-enters at the # 4 place right behind The Beatles at # 1, Adele and Amy Winehouse.

Stevie's In Your Dreams drops out of the Top 200 Albums chart this week along with the Top 200 Current Albums Chart and the Top 50 Rock Albums Chart.  Her new single "For What It's Worth" remains on the Top 30 AC Charts holding steady at # 26 for a second week.

Complete charts below.  Previous week in parenthesis.

USA ALBUM CHARTS

Billboard Top 200 Current Albums Chart
# 177 (132) Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow

Billboard Top Independent Albums Chart
# 38 (32) Lindsey Buckingham - Seeds We Sow

Billboard Top Digital Albums
# 24 (-) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Re-entry)

Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart
# 74 (-) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Re-entry)

Billboard Top Catalogue Albums Chart
# 4 (-) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Re-entry)

Billboard Top 30 AC Charts
# 26 (26) Stevie Nicks - For What It's Worth

On the tour front, Seeds We Sow Tour attendance to the first 3 shows reported by promoters to Boxscore have been published.  Attendance average based on these first 3 is at 73% which is higher so far then his last two tours ended up after a majority of the dates had been published... It's early yet so provided more stats are published on more dates, this will change.

Video: Watch Lindsey Buckingham on Morning Joe MSNBC

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Photos by Drew Katchen - Morning Joe Blog

Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham joined the show today to discuss his new record "Seeds We Sow" and actress Goldie Hawn stopped by to discuss her new book "10 Mindful Minutes."

Old Grey Whistle Test 40 with Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham & Mick Fleetwood

Old Grey Whistle Test 40

Bob Harris celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Old Grey Whistle Test. Remembering each series with archive recordings, plus new interviews and exclusively recorded sessions.

Series 1 - Episode 6:

Episode aired last night September 28, 2011 on BBC Radio 2.  

Mick Fleetwood & Lindsey Buckingham appear in this weeks episode via old 1976 interview footage that was recorded about a year and a half after Lindsey and Stevie joined the band & during rehearsals in 1976 prior to an upcoming tour. With Rhiannon on the charts at the time, Mick and Lindsey talk about finishing up the recording of Rumours, how the album compares to the white Fleetwood Mac album that was released the year before and how Lindsey and Stevie joined the band.

Stevie Nicks is then interviewed, which was recorded when she was in the UK in June.  She comments on the video footage of Mick and Lindsey being interviewed in 1976 and on the Rhiannon video that was filmed during the rehearsals that day...  Stevie describes how innocent the guys look and that those were the men she fell in love with, that innocence... Then she proceeds to annalyse the 1976 Rhiannon video footage and it's lasting legacy.

Overall this section of the show is about 8 minutes long.  Listen again on the BBC Radio 2 website.  If you don't want to listen to the full hour long show, the Fleetwood Mac section starts at about the 51:30 mark.

Picture it! You Meeting Stevie Nicks at The Fillmore... KFOG Contest

MEET STEVIE NICKS 

Rock goddess Stevie Nicks will be in town for a couple of intimate shows at The Historic Fillmore October 8-9, and KFOG has a free pair of tickets for you as well as a chance to meet Stevie at the 10/9 show!

You must be a registered FOGHEAD and be logged in to enter.  Entries must be submitted on KFOG by 9am on Monday, October 3, 2011. They will select one winner at random and contact him or her via email. One runner up will receive a free pair of tickets to the 10/9 show.

KFOG Website

Stevie also plays the Mountain Winery 10/5.  Tickets for all of her Bay Area shows are on sale now at LiveNation.com.

Lindsey Buckingham on "Morning Joe" MSNBC - Tomorrow

Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., serves as host of “Morning Joe” - On the show Thursday
Pat Buchanan, Donny Deutsch, Gillian Tett, Politico, Ken Burns, Goldie Hawn, Lindsey Buckingham, Simon Hobbs.

Website

Ron & Fez Show - SiriusXM
Also... Lindsey is apparently going to be on the Ron & Fez Show tomorrow... Not sure what time he's on or even what time the Ron & Fez show is on I can't find any info on either... Going by a couple of Tweets.