OnlineHost : Welcome to CYBER-TALK!
CYBER-TALK (TM) is Warner/Reprise Online's weekly interactive talk show. Each
segment of CYBER-TALK (TM) features a different music persona.
OnlineHost : Christine McVie will be available to chat with fans regarding
Fleetwood Mac's upcoming album, 'Time,' from Warner Bros. Records. Time will be
released October 10th.
JBatman95 : Do you still interact with other members of Fleetwood Mac?
Christine: Very much so, I have not seen Stevie in a while. I have been
recording with John and Mick for the last couple years, and just ran into
Lindsey at a club a couple weeks ago and had a good chat.
Gre1440: Give us your perspective on this most recent
incarnation of Fleetwood Mac.
Christine: I find it a bizarre combination of people, but Mick chose Dave
Mason... I don't think he is a bad guitar player, but I just don't know how he
fits in with Fleetwood Mac... Great guitar player he is, he would not have been
my first choice.
Bartman33: What ever became of Robert Weston?
Christine: I think he got a recording deal in Paris, recording some
instrumentals. Don't quote me on that, but that is the last I heard. Doing quite
well on some French recording label.
BearBillN: Hello Christine! First of all you're one of my all time favourite
singers and songwriters! I enjoyed your last solo album a lot! Will we see a new
one any time soon?
Christine: Yes!! I do have plans to record a new solo album maybe
sometime next year... I have to recharge the batteries, but am keen on doing it.
I got a great kick out of doing the solo record. I do enjoy being with a team
more than as a solo artist, but I will give it another shot. It was a very
rewarding experience
LAdel4514: Do you ever listen to your 'Legendary Christine Perfect' album
anymore? How do you feel your music has changed over the years?
Christine: I try to avoid it, but I have not had the courage to listen to
it for a very long time... I do have a copy at the house somewhere. My music has
changed over the years in the way I have changed. .. I am more experienced in
life and in the art of writing music. I have refined my music a bit. Some of my
old stuff seems very naive to me... not that it is bad... maybe a little dated.
LAdel4514: At any point over the years did you regret joining Fleetwood Mac? Did
you and John ever think it would lead to the problems that occurred?
Christine: No. I certainly have no regrets. I have had a wonderful life
with Fleetwood Mac. All members of Fleetwood Mac have had a wonderful life with
the band. I think that you must be careful when working with your spouse. I
thought it would bring us closer together, but it did not work out. We are still
friends though.
Question : Where is your "home base" these days, in England or in L.A.?
Christine: Both, we have a house in the south of England and in Los
Angeles. I think I would like to start spending more time in England. After 25
years in L.A., my roots are calling me back home. I am going back for a short
stint in a few days, I like the rain, I miss it.
AliciaB13: So, do you like any other music? Any upcoming CD's or tapes?
Christine: I don't listen to masses of music. I can't absorb it. There is
so much out there. I get my weekly quota of MTV, and it gets a little mind
boggling. So many bands out there.
I do listen to the old stuff. Steely Dan, Peter Gabriel, Sting.... alot of Jazz
and Blues... Freddy King, Clapton, BB King. That is where my roots are. You
start trying to list bands you like and you forget half of them. I do like REM
and others.
Robeng4u: Would like to ask Christine what her favourite Fleetwood Mac song was
to do.
Christine: To perform live... lots of them, not necessarily mine either.
I enjoy Gypsy, Sara, Go Your Own Way, You Make Loving Fun.
Songbird was always a good one, except... sometimes I would blank out. It was an
important message (Songbird). You can hear a pin drop in the audience. It was
more than a love song, it was about the world.
SandG: Throughout all of the rough times in Fleetwood Mac, what's made you stick
with it so long?
Christine: Basically, there is a great section for all the band members.
All that we've been through. Because of the rough times, it has made us closer.
There is an undeniable chemistry with the music and the personalities as well.
Fleetwood Mac is an entity that rolls along on its own... we are by-products of
it.
LAdel4514: Do you think you've inherited any of your mum's psychic abilities?
Christine: Every once in a while, I sense something, but for the most
part, not really. My brother definitely has some of it. I don't think I am a
psychic person, though I wish I had inherited some of her powers.
Bartman33: What was the major change in your music from the Weston/Welch Mac to
the Nicks/Buckingham Mac?
Christine: Since I was writing and performing with different styles of
music... Stevie and Lindsey had more country/western roots. The nature of the
beast, singing with them in 3 part harmonies, along with Stevie and Lindsey,
created some chemical reaction that, even to this day, don't know what it really
is.
With Bob Welch, there was not as much chemistry, it was harder work. Not that
the sound was not as good, but just a different sensation altogether.
Logo C: How many songs do you carry the lead vocal on the new album?
Christine: 5
SandG: Would you consider inviting Stevie on your next solo project? Your voices
on Straight Back worked excellently with each other.
Christine: Absolutely, I would like to work with Stevie and Lindsey
again. Some point down the line... Don't know where or when, but the
possibilities are there. I think they would like to also. The more you don't
hear Stevie's voice, the more you miss it. So unique.
Mavenman: Is Atlantic City on your schedule soon? I saw you at Taj Mahal about 5
years ago.
Christine: Well, I've given up the road as it were. Hung up my stageboots
about three years ago.
MastrPeace: Christine, is there any musician you have always wanted to write a
song with? Or do a duet with?
Christine: Peter Gabriel!
Paul McCartney!
You see, I keep very humble sights...
The Maxx5: What does it actually take to write a song, editing the song, and
finally releasing it??
Christine: A lot of patience, usually. Once you have written the song, it
becomes something else. You can't treat it with the same passion as when you
first wrote it. There is a long process from its inception. I write on the piano
or drum machine, then take it to the studio and practicing with the band. Then
what arranging you want, what instruments, etc... You have to treat the song very
coldly, because you have to work with it and hear it again and again. Sometimes,
a song ends up completely different from the way you wrote it. Hopefully changes
for the better. A metamorphosis, they can take on a life of their own.
JDForest: Will everyone since the last Fleetwood Mac album be playing on this
one
Christine: Stevie is not on it, Rick Vito is not on it. The band now
consists of John and Mick... Dave Mason, Bekka Bramlett (daughter of Delany and
Bonnie)... Billy Burnette and Me.
I'm on the record, but I'm not touring with the band.
Rucass: Sorry for the mistake ... how did you like Buffalo in the rain?
Christine: Loved every minute of it.
Seaweed92: Prior to the release of 'Rumours', what do you think the bands best
release was? I personally loved 'Bare Trees' and 'Mystery To Me.'
Christine: Person after my own heart... I was just listening to 'Mystery
to Me' the other night. There are some good songs on there. Bob did some good
stuff. Good choices, Seaweed.
I also liked 'Then Play On,' but I was just on background vocals on that album.
WMona2469: do you ever see or talk to Peter Green or Danny Kirwan?
Christine: They both live in England. Have not seen Peter in a long time.
Mick calls Peter once a month. Calls him to say hi on a regular basis. Don't
know where Danny is, I think he is living in Brighton.
It is the curse of Fleetwood Mac, all the guitar players go insane, except for
Billy Burnette, who is already insane (ha ha).
MastrPeace: Who would have been your first choice, as opposed to Dave Mason?
Christine: Lindsey Buckingham, I think he was the most superlative guitar
player this band will ever have. A true shining light. After Lindsey, everybody
else seems a little palid. I'm not talking talent, just chemistry for Fleetwood
Mac.
Bartman33: Do you miss the style of music of the Mac with Jeremy Spencer?
Christine: That is a tough question. Jeremy was a clone, he found it
difficult to be himself, so he emulated Elmore James, Keith Richards, Elvis
Presley...
We did a whole Elvis bit which lasted about 20 minutes. He really became Elvis.
He was one hell of a slide player, probably better than Elmore James. That was
his style though.
SandG: Do you ever feel the calling for doing more blues?
Christine: Yes I do, not all of the time, but no matter how buried it
may sound there is a lot of blues influence in my most unbluesy songs. I have
thought about doing another blues album... Not just 12-bar blues, that would put
people to sleep these days. That is where I came from though. The days when I
was back and forth in a transit van, hauling my own equipment into the pubs to
play.
Luvbear00: What were your "true" thoughts of the use of "Don't Look Back" during
Clinton's election?
Christine: Don't Stop, you mean. As a resident alien of the country, I
can't vote anyway. If I was able to vote, don't know if I would have voted for
Clinton. Though, politics aside, I was honoured that he used it as his slogan.
It did bring Lindsey, Stevie, myself, John and Mick back together which was the
first time in 10 years. That was nice.
Deminimus: What has been your most satisfying project?
Christine: I get a kick out of all of them. This last one has taken 2
years, because the rest of the band has gone out on the road. That is too long.
I love to record. I am a studio junkie. I love it.
CARBONsux: What makes you laugh??
Christine: I like a dry sense of humour myself. Not sitcoms, that's for
sure. I think all of the members of Fleetwood Mac and the peripherals of the
band have a cynical sense of humour. One has to be able to laugh at oneself
first, if you can do that, that is a start. I think it is a pretty mean sense of
humour though. Mick is a very funny person.
Christine: Last question
ROBNORT: Why are you not currently touring with Fleetwood Mac?
Christine: Mainly because I've been with the band for 25 years. Touring
was never my favourite thing to do... I get insomnia on the road. I can't sleep
in strange beds night after night. Did not want to take sleeping pills, that is
the beginning of the end.
I would lie awake reading all night. This made me irritable. I had done it
enough. Then I would drink a bottle of wine before bed... wake up with a
hangover. It was a no win situation.
Christine: Got to go. Thanks everybody.
OnlineHost : Copyright © 1995 Warner Bros. Records. : CYBER-TALK (TM) is
produced in house by : a Warner Bros. Records staff
Originally posted on http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/emeraldeyes/chris.html and posted on The Ledge by Johnny Stew
