Back in 2014, STEVIE NICKS calls Uncut on her way to a Fleetwood Mac rehearsal to tell us about the newly reformed Rumours lineup of the band – and her own new collection of lost songs, “the greatest hits that never came out”. In this great, recently unearthed interview, we learn about her fear of computers, her gold dust problems, the quality of Mick Fleetwood’s jewellery, and what it’s like getting a serious talking-to from Tom Petty. “Tom can be a scary character,” Piers Martin hears. “You wouldn’t want to run into Tom in an alley…”

Photo by FIN COSTELLO

The future’s orange: Nicks in 1975

FINCOSTELLO/REDFERNS

TEVIE Nicks is cruising eastbound on the Santa Monica freeway towards Sony’s Culver City studios in Los Angeles for a rehearsal with the other members of Fleetwood Mac. All five of them are together for the first time since 1998, now that Christine McVie is back in the fold. Accompanying Nicks, 66, in the back seat of her ride is Shulamith, her beloved pooch, a 16-year-old Chinese crested Yorkshire terrier mix and the singer’s constant companion. “She’s on top of my shoulder trying to see out the window,” says Nicks over the phone. “She’s the weirdest dog.”

The Mac’s latest world tour, On With The Show – the group’s fourth since they reformed in 2003 – kicks off in the US in October and arrives in the UK in May. The presence of McVie in the lineup – she joined the band onstage at the O2 in London last September for a surprise rendition of “Don’t Stop” and, indeed, hasn’t stopped – is key. It’s helping to shift tickets, Nicks says, with fans who might otherwise have hesitated before paying top dollar to see the band twice in two years.

The hope is they’ll be keen to witness the classic Rumours five-piece run through the hits, especially now they can draw on McVie’s repertoire of “Little Lies”, “Everywhere”, “Songbird” and so on. “The second people saw she was coming back, the tickets just sold. I tell her, ‘You know, Chris, it’s all about you – everyone wants to see you.’ And we’re thrilled. It’s kinda fun to see it through her eyes, her being gone for so long, she’s so excited.”

Nicks has also been busy getting her own affairs in order. This October sees the release of her eighth solo album, 24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault. As if she hasn’t done enough soul-searching in her 40-year career, for this record she immersed herself in her past, gathering 15 of her long-lost songs together like errant children and dressing them in traditional costume – the billowing robes and gypsy shawl – before sending them out, fully Nicksed, into the world. She was assisted by long-time associates Waddy Wachtel (he first played with her on 1973’s Buckingham Nicks) and Dave Stewart, producer of Nicks’ last solo set, 2011’s In Your Dreams, plus a band of hired hands in Nashville who knocked out new versions of Nicks’ old songs in 15 days in May this year.