Christine McVie has officially rejoined Fleetwood Mac after quitting the group 16 years ago, and has opened up about the reasons for her departure. She will also join the band on their forthcoming American tour.
McVie, who was unofficially announced to be returning earlier this year, has now opened up in an interview with Rolling Stone.
After 28 years as a songwriter, vocalist and keyboard player for the band, McVie explained that a fear of flying was an early barrier to her continuation with the group. “Initially I developed a great fear of flying. It was a real phobia,” she said.
This was coupled with a general disillusionment with life as a touring musician. “I also bought a house in England and decided, to a degree, I was really tired of the road. I wasn’t just burned out, but I was tired of traveling and living out of a suitcase. I’m quite a domestic person by nature and the nomad thing had got a bit stale on me, really.”
“It was never anything personal between the five of us. It was just that I felt my time had come and I just thought that I really wanted to leave Los Angeles and make a home in England. That was the root of it, really. And the earthquakes—I was terrified of the earthquakes. So I came back at the right time because we just had one [laughs]. Good timing.”
McVie revealed that when she left, she didn’t think that she would ever return to the band, but that changed as the years passed. “As the years went on, I had some deluded idea that I wanted to live the ‘Country Lady’ life — basically hang out with my Range Rover and my dogs and bake cookies or something. I don’t know what I was thinking, really. I just wanted to live a normal, domestic life with roots,” she said.
McVie watched Fleetwood Mac play live a number of times during her absence – “They just sounded fantastic” she admitted, “As good as they ever were.” Then, McVie revealed that it was about two years ago that she started to consider rejoining. “I started to think, ‘What am I doing?’,” she said. “I really miss that camaraderie with those four people. I miss everything about it. I missed the music, to be able to create again. I couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone besides Fleetwood Mac.”
McVie went to Dublin, Ireland to perform Don’t Stop with the band at the 02 (Check out the video footage below). “For me, I was looking over at my family again and it was effortless. I don’t know. It felt comfortable. It felt right,” she said.
Fleetwood Mac have announced a 34-date North American tour, titled On With The Show, which will begin in Minneapolis on 30th September and finish in Tampa on 20th December. McVie has admitted that rejoining the band on tour will be a challenge: “I’m going to challenge myself and I want to do it more than anything in the world. It’s just such a joy. It’s an affirmation of something so magical, there’s just a chemistry between us that’s just phenomenal.”
The band are now also back recording, with McVie revealing that they’ve been “really running through some demos that I sent Lindsey [Buckingham]”. “My demos are rough,” she said, “We’re just trying to construct some proper tracks from them and the chemistry is magic.”
Watch: Fleetwood Mac (with Christine McVie) – Don’t Stop – The O2 Arena – Live in London – 25th September 2013
http://youtu.be/kJPhM5oQepw
