Michelle Kaplan

Lindsey Buckingham - Still Looking Forward

Lindsay Buckingham isn’t looking back too much these days.It could be because the future for him is now.

In the last ten years, he’s married, started a family, and birthed a new album that is as intimate and personal a portrait as any artist may dare to venture.

But for him, taking risks may be his proverbial fountain of youth. After all, he did it with Fleetwood Mac.Following the commercially successful Rumors, which catapulted the band into rock icon status, Buckingham could have followed the same recipe and spoon-fed fans a Rumors II. Instead, he followed it up with the quirky, Tusk, a 180-degree departure from Rumors.True to his word, at 58 he’s still not stopped thinking about tomorrow.

“I think what happens is usually a lot of people are either kind of tapped out with their creativity by the time the get to a certain point, or they’re in a position where they’re willing to rest on the their laurels on the body of work that they have. It’s very important for me to keep fresh. What I think is important goes back to Tusk…it kept me musically honest… I subverted some of the commercialism, that’s what you have to do, otherwise you paint yourself into a corner.”

Through his new album, Under the Skin, Buckingham still has much to say. Beginning with the first track, Not Too Late, the tension of the passage of time is felt through his intricate guitar work. He questions his own motives in his lyrics:

What am I doing anyway?

Telling myself it’s not too late.

This feeling of time catching up with him may be the reason he has taken the time to finish his latest solo effort. Buckingham explained that several attempts at solos were put on the back burner when other issues in his life had to take precedence. It literally had him feeling like he was doing a balancing act between satisfying his need to put out his own music, and fulfilling his responsibility to his band mates in Fleetwood Mac.

And there’s a need for songs that are sung.

For chances not taken, for deeds not yet done.

So that’s been a problem…feeling unheard.

So called visions always deferred.

“I had intentions to put out a solo album for over ten years now… I did a solo album in ‘93, then a subsequent album was shelved…I tightrope walked over, I suppose my entire career, certainly over the last 10 to 12 years…Under the Skin …this is time for me… I’m blocking out a period of however long it takes. If Fleetwood Mac are knocking on the door, then they’ll knock for awhile…This is really the best time of my life.”

Buckingham left the band in the 80’s because with members various drug and alcohol problems he found it impossible to harness the creativity needed to make it work.

“I walked out of Fleetwood Mac because there was no way…it was almost impossible to do the album, in a year, we saw Stevie for 2 weeks… everyone was at their worst…I could not be around that anymore…I cared too much about keeping that alive, it wasn’t about selling out…it’s a spiritual thing not a commercial thing.”

The band eventually pulled it together and released Tango in the Night in 1987. But that is where he drew the line. Buckingham was not going on the road.

I’ve never regretted it…craziness in the studio is times ten on the road.” When asked by the Clinton’s to perform at the inauguration in 1993, a brief reunion was had, followed by a more substantial reunion and tour and live album in 1997.Since then, there have been collaborative efforts with various members;

Under the Skin is no exception. Both Mick Fleetwood and John McVie team with Buckingham on his latest venture.

Listening to the album, fans can easily identify the track the two lend percussion and bass on with its very Fleetwood Macesque sound.

Although, Under the Skin is unique, it can’t help sounding somewhat like Fleetwood Mac at times. After all, Buckingham was a driving force behind the writing, guitar and vocals, often sited as the band’s visionary. The album is an eclectic and reflective piece of work that Buckingham calls intimate.

“It’s a more intimate album musically… it kinda jives with what’s going on in my personal life…For years I’d watch people in my life not be there for their kids or not be good examples for their kids… I was not going to do that…at a relatively late point I met someone and all of that did happen…it may answer some questions that may have been hanging out there for years.”

This tour promises to have that same intimate feel. Buckingham wants it to feel as if the band is playing in your living room. To accomplish this, he will take the stage alone… and with very few musicians (a percussionist and one other guitarist).”Under the Skin, the song represented the basic feel of the album…We are all

working to get from here to here… to here to here…stuck in one place for the wrong reasons. But it’s not that far below the surface …You just cant see it at that time. It’s all about being in touch with what’s really not far below the surface.”

Perhaps he’s looking deeper now because he is a husband and father. He said that meeting his wife, photographer Kristen Messner, was the best night of his life.

“The night I met my wife… she came down to the studio, she was a photographer… She was unhappy in relationship and I was unhappy in relationship… We just hit it off …went out and had a drink…we were talking…and she kept coming back.”

They couple now has three children:

William Gregory, 8, Leelee, 6 and Stella, 2.

“I had never been married…the idea of being a husband and having someone being the mother of your children… those things alone come as complete departures…that puts you in a situation where you have a lot to fight for…I’ve never be in that situation before…Things are just great.”

When Buckingham goes on this tour, for the first time, he’ll leave behind a family.

“I come home and I wonder if … I’m doing the right thing…I am who I am. If it comes to doing what I’m doing as an artist isn’t jiving with my ability to be the kind of parent I want to be then that’s it… but it hasn’t gotten to that.”

- March 1, 2007

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