Q&A: Charlie Hall Of The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society
The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society: (clockwise from top left) Dave Wayne Daniels (bassist/vocalist for The Capitol Years), Eliza Hardy Jones (vocalist/keyboardist for Buried Beds), Patrick Berkery (drummer for Danielson, Pernice Brothers, Bigger Lovers, Photon Band, I Was a King, Mazarin and others), Brandon Beaver (guitarist/vocalist for Buried Beds), Charlie Hall (vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who has played with Jens Lekman, The War on Drugs, Windsor for the Derby, Tommy Guerrero and others), and singer-songwriter Birdie Busch.
Tonight at Johnny Brenda’s, The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society will once again convene and pay homage to, well, guess who? After their critically acclaimed (and house-rocking) rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk in its entirety last year, LBAS — comprised, as you can see above, of some of Philly’s finest go-to indie rock musicians — turn their sights tonight on the Mac’s 1983 LP, Mirage. (You know, it’s the one with “Gypsy” on it.) After the jump, Charlie Hall explains why, for the love of God, why.
This is the second go-round for LBAS, with the first outing being your short multi-city tour of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, in its entirety — a daunting task for any group of musicians. What brought you guys back for more?
Hah. Yeah. Well, I’m not sure any of us knew exactly what was going to happen last time. But it ended up being more fun than any of us imagined and was quite fulfilling musically. It was the first time I got to work with Tony and Sam Goddess, who are both amazing people and now dear friends. Pat and I basically MET because of our shared Mac obsession. Remember when you and I played with the Bigger Lovers at the Khyber back in late ’03 or early ’04? I was standing around while they soundchecked, and they played a spot on version of “What Makes You Think You’re The One?” and I said to myself, ‘Whoever’s playing drums, I gotta meet that dude, cause he’s more Mick than MICK.’ Sure enough, it was Pat (Berkerey). And, to be clear, when I say “Mick”, I mean “Fleetwood”. Not Jagger. Jagger’s too short, and Pat doesn’t wear football pants and Capezios. Where was I? Oh, Tusk. Yeah, it was a pretty tall order…but everyone brought their own very different take, taste, and perspective on things – Dave (Hartley), Birdie, everyone. It ended up being really cool. And family-like. I just thought, ‘Hell, let’s do this again.’ But we needed a reason. Picking another album that is deserving of more attention and taking a crack at it, warts and all, seemed like a pretty good mission. And I love ‘Mirage’. Like, really love ‘Mirage’. So here we are!
How do we know that this is really all about Mirage, and that you guys aren’t just taking your time, building the base until you get to Rumors and this shit is televised and there’s chapters of the Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society in every major city in America? In short, sell the people who don’t know on Mirage.
First of all, dude, please…it’s Rumours. Second of all, I’m having visions of SPEBSQA chapters all over the country doing Fleetwood Mac. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you should feel pretty good about yourself. But yeah, Mirage. It’s an album that even the band itself has disparaged at times in interviews. I realize that’s no selling point either, but the fact of the matter is – this album has some stone cold crushers on it. There are a few mega-hits (“Hold Me” and “Gypsy”), there are a handful of just completely amazing tunes that belong in the Fleetwood Mac canon along with anything off Rumours, such as “Love in Store”, “Book of Love”, and “Oh Diane” (it boggles the mind that they’re not), the requisite Christine slow burners that I could listen to all day (“Wish You Were Here” and “Only Over You”), a Stevie freakout involving ghosts and fog and dreams or something along those lines (“Straight Back”), and some total left field Lindsey stuff that, much like much of his Tusk experimentation, will reveal itself to be great upon repeated listens. There’s also a beautiful country-esque romp dating back to the Buckingham Nicks album era called “That’s Alright” which Birdie is going to freaking crush. There are loads of vocal harmonies on this album, which I think might be one of the things that really appeals to me, personally. I think they really did intend to get back a little bit of a BAND thing on this record after the very sprawling, Lindsey-screaming-into-a-mic-taped-to-the-bathroom-floor experimentation of ‘Tusk’. The lush harmonies throughout give it all a little bit of a unified feel, I think. It also sounds really great. Like, I’m sure whoever wrote the checks at Warners were a little more careful after the Tusk thing, but they don’t make records that sound this good anymore. Sorry, they don’t. And I bet it wasn’t cheap!
Two tributes in, is LBAS in any danger of becoming, you know, an actual band? A going concern on any level?
I’ll tell you what – if I WERE looking to start an actual band, these would be the people. And when people hear the pocket that Dave Wayne Daniels and Pat Berkery are creating, they’re gonna lose their minds. Honestly, it’s such an absolute honor and treat to be making music with these people. The goal all along was to bring people together who don’t usually get to play with each other, and do something special. Hartley’s out with The War on Drugs in Europe right now, and Tony & Sam are in up in Gloucester getting ready to have a beautiful kid, so Pat, Birdie and I’ve got Eliza and Beaver from Buried Beds in the mix now, along with Dave Wayne Daniels. It’s crazy how good these people are. If not a band, it could turn into a comedy troupe or something. These people are hilarious. It’s hard to get anything done because we spend most of the time laughing.
But “going concern”? For them, probably yes. How many records are there in the Fleetwood Mac catalog? You do the math.
The Lindsey Buckingham Appreciation Society plays Mirage, Friday, Feb. 17 – Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA (tickets $10). Special guest: Pete Donnelly. Read more Philebrity interviews here.
