NEW YORK – Fleetwood Mac is heading back on the road, and that means the top-selling group will release new music – sort of.
On its 34-city North American tour, which kicks off April 4 in Columbus, Ohio, the band will perform two new songs, and it could mean a new album will follow. Or not.
Stevie Nicks recently sang on tracks that Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie worked on, calling the sessions great. But Nicks also says shes not sure where the band fits in todays music industry.
Whether or not were gonna do any more (songs), we dont know because were so completely bummed out with the state of the music industry and the fact that nobody even wants a full record, she said. Everybody wants two songs, so were going to give them two songs.
Nicks said depending on the response to the new tracks – which Buckingham calls the most Fleetwood Mac-y stuff ... in a long time – more material could come next.
Maybe well get an EP out of it or something, Buckingham said.
Nicks will continue to record solo albums, though. The group is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the best-selling Rumours album, which has moved some 20 million units in the United States. She knows thats not possible again, despite the success of Adeles 21, which has sold 10 million units in America in less than two years.
This is Adeles Rumours, Nicks said. She had a baby, shes going to take a year off to take care of her baby – thats why I never had any kids. Shes going to go back and start writing again, you never know what the next records going to be. Is it going to sell 10 million records? You dont know, she said.
Buckingham said he initially wanted to record a new album, but Nicks wasnt too into that. But the guitarist and singer knows that new music isnt a priority for the bands fans.
It wouldnt matter if they didnt hear anything new. In a way theres a freedom to that – it becomes not what you got, but what you do with what you got. Part of the challenge of this tour is figuring out a presentation that has some twists and turns to it without having a full album, he said.
Fleetwood Mac, which was formed in 1967, last released an album in 2003, though they hit the road in 2009. Nicks and Buckingham – who joined the band in 1974 as a couple – both released solo albums and toured last year. Buckingham had suggested that Fleetwood Mac tour last year, but says getting everyone to agree was tough.
If you look at Fleetwood Mac as a group, you can make the case of saying were a bunch of individuals who dont necessarily belong in the same group together, but its the synergy of that that makes us so good. But it also makes the politics a little more tenuous, he said. You can say that not only can it be a political minefield, someones always causing trouble, right? I caused trouble for years so I cant point any fingers.