Fleetmac Wood: I See Your Gypsy Party @ Cosmic Kaspar This Friday
By Allison Krupp . February 17, 2016
It was your grandmother’s bread-and-butter in the ‘60s; your parents’ gospel in the mad ‘70s; and it was for you, too—all those lost hours belting The Chain from your cracked car window on the highway. Fleetwood Mac, that resilient bohemian-folk-pop band, with Stevie Nicks’ cragged emotion (and endless lace shawls); with no end of band-incest-and-breakups; with 17 studio albums; spans the breadth of human emotion, offering something for everyone.
And Fleetmac Wood, modern-day gypsies whisking from the American West Coast to Burning Man to Colombia to Glastonbury, presents an all-night, once-in-a-lifetime Fleetwood Mac party this Friday, February 19, at Cosmic Kaspar. Tribute act, they are not; instead, they’ve built an eclectic Fleetwood Mac remix catalogue—creating an exhilarating scene of love and dance and freedom (the very things the band represents).
Now in its fifth year of touring, the Fleetmac Wood creativity still flows mid-party, with “a range of tempos and moods to play with over four to five hours.” With the band’s massive music collection, and with their inherent love for the world’s tribe of Fleetwood Mac fans and the emotion and vibe they bring, they say: “We make [the night] up as we go along.”
Catch the show this Friday at Cosmic Kaspar and buy tickets here.
We spoke with, Alex and Lisa, the force behind the Fleetmac Wood party:
Can you describe the experience of a Fleetmac Wood party?
It’s all about the crowd for us. People are really excited and there for the music, which creates more of a festival atmosphere. People interact and let their guards down as they often feel a rapport with others who also love the band as much as they do. One guy recently told us he met some new friends at our Glastonbury gig and now counts them as some of his best mates.
It’s the sort of night you can turn up alone and find some like-minded people to dance with. This seems to happen all over the world and makes us think that perhaps Fleetwood Mac fans are more emotionally open and positive people?
Apart from the crowd, it’s a unique experience to change up music you previously listened to in a private space with headphones to a club with a great sound system. You feel the music in your bones and you hear details you didn’t notice before. You can also close your eyes and lose yourself in the moment.
After five years of production and remixing, how is listening to Fleetwood Mac different for you?
There’s so much material to explore in their back catalogue that we are always hearing new tracks that we add to the remix to-do list. The recent reissue of Tusk features many different versions that we can’t wait to have a go at.
It’s not hard at all to make them dance floor-ready as most of the originals make you want to move when listened to loud. I think it’s got a lot to do with the blues roots of the band and the magical union of John McVie’s bass with Mick Fleetwood’s ‘all about the feel’ drums.
Who in the band is your Fleetwood Mac muse?
It changes daily but Christine McVie is just so cool in more of an understated way, and the big hits she penned are real stompers on the dance floor.
Every member is so talented and adds their own style and intensity to the band. Stevie Nicks has a powerful mystique and a romantic style that is enchanting. Stevie collaborated with photographer Herb W. Worthington for many years and together they created a wonderful aesthetic of romance and wonder that we love to try and emulate.
Since your move from London, how has the United States taken to your events? Is there a different vibe wherever you go?
Strangely not, and this makes us think that Fleetwood Mac fans are a certain type of human. Perhaps our favourite type of human.
There’s a small difference in a America where we get more of a gay crowd that like to dress up as Stevie Nicks, which is fabulous. She is a big icon over there and San Francisco is probably our favourite party that we do in the US.
Thought of doing any spin-off nights with other groups? LinZeppe Led?
Before the 2014 Glastonbury appearance, we did a Rolling Stones dedicated remix set at The Beat Hotel tent called Mix Jagger. I’m a huge fan of their music, so this is a project that I would enjoy to do more of when we have more remixes.
Is there a wrong way to love Fleetwood Mac?
Get obsessed with the music, but not the people behind the music. Admire them, but don’t get needy, as they have given you enough with their magical music. As Mick Fleetwood likes to say in their concerts “Be kind to one another.”