Features

Lindsey Buckingham: Sowing The Seeds Of Independence

Andy Cabic of Vetiver recently cited Mirage as a major reference point for his latest album. What are your thoughts on younger rock acts finding inspiration in Fleetwood Mac’s 80s material?

It’s a little hard to be in touch with that. But yeah, hopefully you work your way into the fabric and that comes back at some point. It’s just nice when it comes back twofold, or when a certain amount of time goes by and it is still making sense to people. That’s gratifying.

We always hear about how influenced Fleetwood Mac was by the New Wave movement during the recording of Tusk, but what actual artists were you listening to at the time that were inspiring the sounds for the album?

Well, it wasn’t really any one act. I think what happened was that after Rumours, that album was so successful and, at some point, I think the success detached from the music and kind of became about the success, or about the voyeurism that was going on. And then in the meantime a lot of this stuff had come over from England, whether it was The Clash or Elvis Costello or Ian Dury. And it was just reinforcing my idea of what rock ‘n’ roll was all about and what one’s ideals should be about. When you interface that reinforcement with the fact that we were getting ready to be branded for good to make Rumours II, there was just this need and desire to draw a line in the sand and undercut the expectation to come up with more of the same. And, really, Tusk remains the most important album that I have ever done with Fleetwood Mac for me, because it sent me on the road that I’m still on in terms of my way of thinking [about music].

Are you a fan of the Peter Green era of Fleetwood Mac?

I was certainly a fan of the Peter Green days and I was a fan of Danny Kirwan’s stuff as well. I wasn’t really a Bob Welch fan, however. So yeah, sure, I was very aware of Then Play On. I have that album at home, actually. The funny thing about Fleetwood Mac, and again this is sort of a comment on what the record companies have become and what they were at one time is the confidence that [legendary former Warner Bros. president] Mo Ostin had in the group. After Peter left, they moved to L.A. and they had all these albums that were pretty much non sequitors from one to the other. Different lineups every time, and they really weren’t making Warner Bros. any money. And Mo had the autonomy and the intuition to say, “Well, I don’t know what’s going on with this band, but we’re gonna just let them stay here and maybe something will happen because they are an interesting act.” And then Stevie and I showed up. But it is that kind of nurturing and allowing for the ferment does not take place these days.

Any plans to finally re-release Buckingham-Nicks, which has been out of print for way too long?

We’ve talked about it. I think it’s just inertia that keeps it from happening. But hopefully that will happen in the fairly near future.

Congrats on your Les Paul Award. Did you ever get to meet and/or play with Les?

No, unfortunately, I did not. But I was greatly influenced by him. He was the guy who started the approach of what I do when I make solo work. He was playing all the instruments himself. He was the guy who was paving the way with, at the time there was no such thing as a multi-track, but when he was making those records with Mary Ford, he was bouncing back and forth from machine to machine building stuff up with a multi-track sensibility. He defined that whole way of recording.

Loved your appearance on SNL’s “What’s Up With That” skit. Did Bill Hader make a good doppelganger?

I think he did, yeah (laughs). When I first heard about it, I thought, “Gee, this is obscure.” But when I saw it, it was so funny because they had the exact outfit I had on from the last Fleetwood Mac tour. He had it down, it was great.