Patrick here again. Time to spread the appreciation around a bit. Let’s talk Mick.

It’s no exaggeration to say that if not for Mick Fleetwood’s influence, my repertoire of drum fills and my overall approach to drumming would be greatly compromised. In my estimation, Mick’s one of the most underrated time-keepers in rock. He’s a master of tasty flourishes like the lick into the chorus of “Dreams.” That’s a million-dollar drum fill, right there. It’s so classy and distinguished, I’ll betcha he plays it with his pinky in the air.

Mick’s pocket is also deep, strong, and instantly recognizable. Doesn’t matter if he’s hypnotizing you with a kick drum and cowbell (“Gold Dust Woman”) or locking in with his life partner in rhythm John McVie to play a straight-four (“Gypsy”) - you know it’s Mick right away.

Needless to say when I had the chance to interview Mick for a Modern Drummer cover story last spring, excerpts of which you can find right here, I was over the moon with excitement.

We spoke on two occasions as he was being shuttled to rehearsals for Fleetwood Mac’s “Unleashed” tour. He was a very pleasant fellow and had a total recall memory on most of the details. Except when we got to talking about the making of Tusk. “I’ll have to get back to you on that, Patrick,” he said.

Sure enough, next time we spoke, he had detailed recollections of Lindsey playing on tissue boxes and “sharing a reefer” with Lindsey on his front lawn imploring him to not go too overboard with weirdness on Tusk.

Luckily, he ignored Mick’s request.

Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed doing it.