Crowded House's Neil Finn Secretly Auditioned for Fleetwood Mac

Crowded House's Neil Finn said he auditioned for the role of guitarist in Fleetwood Mac, though Mick Fleetwood never really called it that.

"It's the only audition I've ever done," Finn says in the June issue of Mojo. "I went to Hawaii and Mick spent an hour telling me it wasn't an audition, but it was. I was auditioning them too: I wasn't sure it was the right thing. I was quite conflicted, but I liked the people and the welcome was universal."

Finn's son Liam, with whom he'd recently released an album, wasn't initially a fan of the idea. But the opportunity was simply too great to pass on. Finn joined a remade Fleetwood Mac lineup that also included longtime Tom Petty sideman Mike Campbell beginning in 2018.

"I was gobsmacked," Finn admitted. "I was 60 and I'd had a wonderfully diverse musical life when Mick called and said, 'We've got rid of Lindsey [Buckingham]; would you play with us?' I'd just done Lightsleeper with Liam so he had a vested interest in my not doing it, but he said, 'Give it a shot,' so I auditioned."

Finn later collaborated with Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie on the charity single "Find Your Way Back Home." He more recently announced the eighth album from Crowded House, which now features Liam on guitars, vocals and drums. Gravity Stairs is due on May 31. Meanwhile, Fleetwood says his band has gone dormant following McVie's 2022 death.

"It doesn't currently exist," Finn confirmed, adding that he hasn't spoken to Buckingham since the split with Fleetwood Mac. "No, but I'd really like to have a dinner with him," he said. "There's a lot of ill-will [with the others], but I don't think he bears any towards me – and I do think he had prior appreciation of the music I'd made. Hopefully, once he got over the massive disappointment, he'd have thought, 'At least someone with something going for them is singing my songs.'"

Listen to ‘Find Your Way Home’

The Challenge of Replacing Lindsey Buckingham

Should they ever reform, Finn says the guitarist playing Buckingham's parts will have high standards to live up to – courtesy of Stevie Nicks. "She couldn't bear to be in a band with Lindsey anymore, but she still wanted to do it exactly the way he would have," Finn said.

"It was more difficult for Mike Campbell," he added. "She was really happy with the way it sounded between me and her, but she put a lot of pressure on Mike to be more like Lindsey. Sometimes Mike's solos would go on and Stevie would get exhausted playing tambourine. She'd be, 'Fucking hell, Lindsey only did 12 bars!'"