Kristen recently ran into John’s wife, Julie, at a local nail salon. The bassist’s home is “literally 300 yards from here,” the guitarist says, pointing through his house to the other side of the street. Do your job well.” Also, John McVie and the Buckinghams are neighbors. Don’t be anything other than a centered, grounded person for him. Buckingham’s advice to him: “Mick is still a great guy. ![]() The husband of Lindsey’s niece is a drum technician on Fleetwood Mac’s road crew. “Even though we didn’t see them very often,” Kristen says of the other members, “it was still a family of sorts.” The Buckinghams’ three children “called them aunts and uncles.” “I was thinking, ‘How did they get here?’ ” Kristen and Lindsey met in 1996, not long before the guitarist - who quit Fleetwood Mac in 1987 - rejoined, leading to the 1997 live reunion album, The Dance. On September 5th, Fleetwood Mac’s new lineup made its television debut on Ellen. Since their last show together, at MusiCares, Buckingham has not spoken to any of his former bandmates. On February 28th, a month after first writing to Fleetwood, Buckingham sent the drummer another e-mail expressing those sentiments and his frustration with the band’s “radio silence.” There was no response. This is not the way you end something like this.”īuckingham says he tried to contact Nicks, without success. “Am I heartbroken about not doing another tour with Fleetwood Mac? No,” Buckingham says, “because I can see that there are many other areas to look into.” But, he goes on, “The one thing that does bother me and breaks my heart is we spent 43 years always finding a way to rise above our personal differences and our difficulties to pursue and articulate a higher truth. The guitarist had completed a new solo album, tentatively called Blue Light, when he was cut loose. Later in the day, he will rehearse with his own band for a fall tour to promote Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham, a compilation drawn from records he has made outside the Mac since the early Eighties. It is a warm late-summer morning, and Buckingham, who turned 69 on October 3rd, is sitting on the patio behind his house in a hilly neighborhood in West Los Angeles, giving his version - on the record for the first time - of his exit from Fleetwood Mac. All of us have worn on each other’s psyches at times. We have all done things that were not constructive. And I don’t think there was ever anything that was just cause to be fired. “I left the meeting because there was nothing else to talk about.”īut he insists that Fleetwood Mac always “came first. They break their kids’ hearts and destroy everyone around them because it’s just hard.”īuckingham confirms that, at a band meeting in late 2017 - shortly after a series of shows with McVie to promote their project, Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie - he asked for “three or four months extra” to do solo dates. Some couples get divorced after 40 years. We were never married, but we might as well have been. But, she added, “Our relationship has always been volatile. Nicks - Buckingham’s romantic and musical partner when the two joined the Mac in 1975 - cited a disagreement over tour plans, saying Buckingham wanted too much time off for solo work. “This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band.” The drummer did not elaborate but said, “We made a decision that we could not go on with him.” But in April, Fleetwood - who co-founded the group in 1967 with original guitarist Peter Green - told Rolling Stone that the band hit an “impasse” with Buckingham. I don’t 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, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.Īzoff and the other members of Fleetwood Mac declined to comment for this story on Buckingham’s account of his dismissal. ![]() Is Stevie leaving the band, or am I getting kicked out?’ ” Azoff told the guitarist he was “getting ousted” and that Nicks gave the rest of the band “an ultimatum: Either you go or she’s gonna go.”Īsked if those were Azoff’s exact words, Buckingham responds, “Pretty much. A couple of days later, Buckingham says, “I called Irving and said, ‘This feels funny. He wrote an e-mail to Fleetwood assuring the drummer that the group could continue. But I look over and Christine and Mick are doing the waltz behind her as a joke.”Īt the end of that call, Buckingham assumed Nicks was quitting Fleetwood Mac. As for smirking, “The irony is that we have this standing joke that Stevie, when she talks, goes on a long time,” Buckingham says.
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