Mick Fleetwood says it will be ''a couple of years'' before Fleetwood Mac release a new album.

The band's drummer has revealed their hectic touring schedule means the band - also featuring John and Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks - have had to put their album plans on hold, meaning it is unlikely it will be released in the near future.

He confessed: ''This whole touring stuff is getting sort of totally, in a good way, out of control.

''We're going all over the world now, so we don't quite know how we're gonna finish this [album] out.''

However, the 67-year-old musician admitted they are gradually working on new material which is sounding ''wonderful''.

He said: ''We're building up this whole sort of dossier of material, a glut of stuff.

''[Lindsey Buckingham] has a great chunk of wonderful songs, [most of which are] pretty flushed out and finished.

''[I have] been in the studio with Christine in months gone by [and that] worked out amazingly well.''

And although Stevie Nicks has not yet confirmed whether she will stay with the band for another album when their current reunion tour ends, Mick is feeling positive they will release another LP at some point in the future, which would be their first record with their current line-up since the multi-platinum 1987 effort, 'Tango in the Night'.

He told ABC Radio: ''I hope it happens.

''My inclination is, the music will not be wasted. It will come out one way or another. And I truly hope, and I quietly believe it will be Fleetwood Mac, and Stevie will do some lovely stuff and within the next couple of years we will get that done.''