Posted Aug 29th 2008 10:30AM by Steve Baltin , Spinner.com Lindsey Buckingham is feeling recharged and refreshed after a Hawaiian vacation with his wife and three young children. In fact, it's his time with his family and away from music that has renewed his creative energy. The end result of his holiday is a creative spark that not only has brought about an upcoming solo album, 'Gift of Screws,' due in September, but a rekindled interest with his band of 30 years, Fleetwood Mac. "Years ago, I saw a lot of my friends not be there for their kids or their spouses when we were all doing what we thought we had to do to be creative," Buckingham tells Spinner. "The sense of stability and the sense of almost de-prioritizing the career has actually enhanced the sense of having fun with it and the sense of being able to be productive with it."
This isn't the only relationship breakthrough for Buckingham. In January, he will join his old flame and Fleetwood Mac bandmate Steve Nicks for tour rehearsals, a pairing that has been tumultuous at best -- lest we mention the whole band's storied career. But Buckingham says not only is he in a place where he can enjoy his bandmates and add up the bygones, but that each individual member is there as well. "On a broader level, when you look at the different people in Fleetwood Mac, the key thing right now for us is to dignify how we got started and the road we have left to go -- to make sure that it's done in a way which is fundamentally supportive of each other and acknowledging of the love we have for each other now," he says."It's just taken us longer as individuals to sort of get past all the baggage, some of which has probably been there since the late '70s. Even though we are not a band that has technically broken up, there are long periods where we don't see each other or even communicate on the phone, especially not for me. There's a broader thing that's gone on with everyone that's sort of all coming together at the right time."
The band will not have anybody fill the shoes of keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie, who left the band in 1998. Sheryl Crow was planning to join the tour, but, according to Buckingham, stepped away after rethinking the time commitment, which Buckingham says could run up to three years. "That was by far the best outcome because not only did it reinforce the idea that the real mantra here is for the four of us [Buckinham, Nicks, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood] to work on our own thing," Buckingham says, "but it also began a series of really productive conversations between Stevie and myself on a more emotional level, acknowledging what's gone on the last 30 years in a much better way than we've been able to do."
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