Mick Fleetwood

Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Drummer, Solo Artist...Vintner?

Who do you think of first when someone brings up the band Fleetwood Mac? Probably Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, right? Then, maybe, Mick Fleetwood. Understandable, since they did have most of their success in the ’70s and beyond with that particular incarnation of the group: Nicks and Buckingham as the main singers and songwriters, along with drummer Fleetwood, and John and Christine McVie on bass and keyboards. Some people remember, but probably more do not even know, that Fleetwood, along with legendary guitarist Peter Green and John McVie, founded the “blues” band Fleetwood Mac, back in 1967 in London, way before the Fleetwood Mac of the ’70s with Stevie and Lindsay. Fleetwood had previously been playing with John Mayall’s Blues Breakers and was also in a band with Rod Stewart and Long John Baldry.

Mick Fleetwood – It was a real scene in London at that time. We were just a bunch of people that were totally married to this blues genre of music; we couldn’t get enough of it. Blues bands were really the underground scene at the time, playing little clubs and small rooms, and on the other side of the spectrum, there were the pretty boy, Beatle-ish pop groups. Then the Stones came along, and they were a blues band but also had that fashion thing going on, too. So I guess they sort of helped to bring that style of music more to the forefront in London, and even we, who were wearing jeans and T-shirts, became sort of Stone-ized eventually, pretty boys playing Elmore James.
 
Jonathan Clarke – And really, there are three versions of Fleetwood Mac – the first with Peter Green where you had the hit with “Black Magic Woman” and of course the last version that we all know about and that is still touring today with Lindsay and Stevie. And you and John have always been the continuity, the constant as the rhythm section that’s always been there in every incarnation. But that middle version of Fleetwood Mac, with Bob Welch, has always fascinated me. It was such a departure for the band sound-wise, considering where the band had been, because this version of the band had this great song and hit with the very jazzy “Hypnotize.”

MF – Well, you’re right and I think it was a good thing that John and I were always there as the rhythm section, because it allowed these different incarnations to really bloom and allowed their separate talents to really come through. That song is so about Bob Welch. That’s what he brought into the band, this Wes Montgomery-style of jazzy playing. I was living in a hippie house in the country in England at the time and I met Bob through a mutual friend. So we decided to meet, I met him at the train station, and I instantly liked him. He is very intellectual as you can tell by some of the subject matter of some of his songs. And “Hypnotize” is so simple, yet so many of our musician friends comment on that song and make the same observation you make. His tenure with us was four or five albums before he left and then he had success on his own after Fleetwood Mac, too. He lives in Nashville and is alive and well but, yes, Bob Welch is a big part of Fleetwood Mac that sometimes gets forgotten.

JC – Fleetwood Mac are on tour again which is great, playing a few shows in our area in fact this month, but what is the one Fleetwood Mac song that really sort of stands out to you – that brings you right back to the heyday of the band in the ’70s and that you still really get into playing live?

MF – “Go Your Own Way,” selfishly, because being the drummer, of course, there is no halfway for me on that song. That song is bittersweet for obvious reasons, but it always reminds me of how I got turned on to working with Lindsay in the studio. His solo at the end is such a complete solo and it seemed to just fall into place. But knowing Lindsay, it probably didn’t just fall into place. I am sure he worked hard on every note of it and the essence of Lindsay as a guitar player is on that song.

JC – And this year it all sort of comes full circle with your solo album release of Blue Again from the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, which has an old friend of yours in the band, Rick Vito on guitar, and Rick replaced Lindsay on guitar for a few years in Fleetwood Mac when Lindsay was doing his solo albums.

MF – Yes, and I found out then that Rick was totally connected to Fleetwood Mac’s early blues era. So we got together about three years ago and this really is a celebration of where I came from musically and where Rick came from musically, too. Once we got together and started playing out and doing shows, it really grew. This is a live album and live albums are great because they don’t tell any lies. And this project shows my musical training ground in Fleetwood Mac and we revisit some of the old songs like “Black Magic Woman,” “Albatross” and others and we are just having a ball with this!  

JC – So there is Mick Fleetwood wine?

MF – Yes, there is and we will have to get you a bottle. My wife and I like to entertain and 18 years ago I started to enjoy wine, after drinking too much of the hard stuff for too many years. It all started over a conversation at dinner. I knew nothing about winemaking but here we are now, eight years into this journey of Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar, and are now working with a few vineyards. The premise really is that I don’t bottle anything that I don’t love myself, so I figure if I do that, then I’ve done everything I can. You know, it really is sort of like making music. You do everything you can to make it sound just right, and then you release it, and hope for good reviews.