J.T. Ryder

The Rickey Medlocke Interview

May 9, 2007 By J.T. Ryder Leave a Comment

The Guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd Speaks Out

May 9th, 2007

During a recent telephone interview, I caught up with Rickey Medlocke, one of the three lead guitarists in the current Lynyrd Skynyrd line up. Rickey was one of the original drummers for Lynyrd Skynyrd back in the early seventies who eventually went on to form the southern rock band Blackfoot, so named due to his American Indian heritage.

J.T.: Now, if I remember right, years ago you were in Skynyrd, but you were playing drums.

Rickey: Yeah, I was one of the original drummers, yeah.

J.T.: Do you ever miss being a little more in the background?

Rickey: No! No! No! No! Ha ha! Well, of course not! I was the lead singer and lead guitarist for Blackfoot. I mean, I love to play guitar, I love to entertain people. I just wasn’t…I guess I was a good enough drummer, but I wasn’t a great drummer.

J.T.: How is the current tour holding up. Everything still going good?

Rickey: Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah! Everything is going real good, man. We’re just taking it one day at a time, and so far so good. The crowds have been great, it’s a good package. I mean, Hank (Williams Jr.) has a little bit older fans and our fans are a little bit older, but we also get Lynyrd Skynyrd girls from fifteen to fifty-five now, so I think it works out O.K. The deal is, it’s going good, the crowds are great, they’re all pumped, you know. Hank is Hank and Lynyrd Skynyrd, you know…(Laughs)…what can you say, what can you say!

J.T.: Now, with the younger audiences, do you think your bringing something new to them as well as the presenting the extensive history of Lynyrd Skynyrd?

Rickey: Well, I think so. Last year, we had Three Doors Down out there with us and that was phenomenal. Like I said, the audiences range from fifteen to fifty-five, so, uh, what can you say?

J.T.: With some of the collaborative stuff you guys have been doing with younger artists as well as some of the tour billings with, like you mentioned, Three Doors Down, does that change Skynyrd’s direction at all?

Rickey: Well, that’s really interesting. We’ve been writing for a new CD right now and we’ve been writing with a lot of different writers. We’re involved with a guy that’s been writing and been involved with Velvet Revolver and people like that. We’re writing with a guy that is the guitar player right now for Rob Zombie. On the other side of it, we’re writing with people that’s been, you know, that’s had hits with…country (artists). We’re involved with a bunch of writers and what I think it does is, whatever we put our hands on, it comes out as Lynyrd Skynyrd. Because I think Skynyrd music has a broad spectrum anyway.

J.T.: Yeah, it definitely crosses boundaries. From rock to blues to country…

Rickey: Oh yeah! Sure does, man.

J.T: I know there was some controversy among Skynyrd fans when you introduced the Travelin’ Man duet, where Johnny VanZant sings along with the vocals from the deceased Ronnie VanZant. Is that still part of the performance?

Rickey: Well, this year…I’m not going to let any secrets out, but we’re doing some really different stuff. You know, that came about back on the Thyrty record, and we introduced that and we’ve used it every once in a while, but we’ve got some other surprises in store for everybody on this thing. You know, they’re going to have to come out and check it out.

J.T.: Along those lines, with the song Red, White and Blue, is there more of a patriotic reaction to that song now then when it was released?

Rickey: Well, I think that it’s about the same, maybe a little bit more. I mean, the one thing that I do know that’s going on in this world today is everything is so polarized, you know? It’s a damn shame, you know? It seems like our country is being pulled completely apart, and for Lynyrd Skynyrd, we’ve been the American band for all these years…and it’s really sad for us to see how this country is being so polarized and pulled apart. When, in reality, a few short years ago, you couldn’t break this country apart… it’s interesting. Now, it’s like everybody’s losing their damn balls, man, and nobody wants to stand up and do anything. So, you know, that’s the whole thing about it; instead of getting stronger, instead of having some damn balls about ourselves, the country’s getting softer, being weaker. I, for myself don’t like to use the band as a platform to talk about politics, because I think that entertainers should definitely stay the hell out of politics, you know what I mean? Because, entertainers…we got our own kind of gig and a lot of Hollywood, those people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they get into politics. I mean, Ronald Reagan was a rare case, you know? Ha! That guy was a very rare case, you know? But the point of what I’m getting at is instead of pulling this nation apart, we should be pulling it together, you know? Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent or whatever, we’ve got one of the best countries in the damn world, and guess what? It seems like the damn thing’s being ripped in two.

J.T.: Yeah, it’s like everybody is in their own camps and you can’t say anything cause you don’t know if you’re going to end up in a fist fight.

Rickey: Yeah! Right! Also, its like, just think about it…guys have been cracking jokes for years and years and years and everybody kind of took it in stride. Now, you got to be real careful with what you say because you’re going to end up without a gig, your family is going to be broke, you’re going to be homeless, or whatever. It’s like, this country has become so politically correct, it’s sickening.

J.T.: Well, like what happened with the Dixie Chicks. A two-second comment cost them gigs and appearances.

Rickey: Yeah, I mean, I got my own opinions of the Dixie Chicks, man. You know what? We live in one of the greatest countries in the world, and that’s how they can become as wealthy as they’ve become. You know what I mean? By living in a place where they’ve had the opportunity to do that. But you know, man? At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, we live in a great nation and we should learn to appreciate what we’ve got. People…just take everything for granted, you know, and that’s a damn shame, man.

The prolific powerhouse that is Lynyrd Skynyrd rolls on, playing town after town with various acts such as Saliva, Hank Williams, Jr. and Kid Rock. The group has faithfully released new material, starting with the album Vicious Cycle in 2003 and the most recent edition to their eclectic repertoire, Gods And Guns, was released in September, 2009. While there are those fervent purists who believe that the real Lynyrd Skynyrd perished in a flash of flames in a swamp in Magnolia, Mississippi, the true tradition of Southern Rock has been loyally carried on, with still one more from the road just around the corner.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9MXvO_8BiM’]

Southern Boys, Simple Men

May 9, 2007 By J.T. Ryder Leave a Comment

Southern Rock Is Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd

“Well every time that I come home nobody wants to let me be
It seems that all the friends I got just got to come interrogate me
Well, I appreciate your feelings and I don’t want to pass you by
But I don’t ask you about your business, don’t ask me about mine”
~Gary Rossington/Ronnie VanZant

Don’t Ask Me No Questions

The iconic band that is Lynyrd Skynyrd is at once an ever changing amalgam of talent as well as a indestructible thread holding together the roots of American rock. From their auspicious beginnings, practicing in a carport in the summer of ’64 in Alabama, to their recent Rowdy Frynds tour with Hank Williams Jr., Lynyrd Skynyrd has remained true to their origins, playing the type of music that has made their name synonymous with “southern rock”. The history of Lynyrd Skynyrd is one of tragedy, turmoil and triumph. Yet, throughout it all, their music plays a testament to the undying appeal of their sound and words.

The original line up of what was to become Lynyrd Skynyd was formed in 1964 with Bob Burns, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins and Larry Junstrom. They practiced in the carport at Bob’s house, which gave inspiration for their original band name, “My Backyard”. “The Noble Five” quickly supplanted that name as the boys melded their Southern blues sound with the prevalent country influences that resonated throughout the south at that time. With the introduction into the mix of British invaders such as Free, The Beatles, Beck and Clapton, their sound was all but complete. There was an ever-changing roster of names that the group called themselves while they honed their sound; The Wildcats, The Sons of Satan, Conqueror Worm, The Pretty Ones and The One Percent. Then, one night at the Forrest Inn, Ronnie called out to the crowd, ‘Hey, we’re Leonard Skinner and we’re gonna play for y’all tonight’. Leonard Skinner, it should be noted, was the name of the gym teacher whom Gary and Ronnie had problems with on a regular basis. Most of the people in the crowd had had problems as well, so the new name was met with a thunderous applause. Later, the band would change the vowels in the name to y’s to “protect the guilty”.

By 1970, having honed their musicianship in countless bars and taverns, Lynyrd Skynyrd cut some demos of the originals that they had accumulated, using Quin Ivy’s studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, returning in ’71 to make a full album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. Skynyrd was finally signed in 1972 by Al Kooper, who also produced their first three albums: pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd (1973), Second Helping (1974) and Nuthin’ Fancy (1975). They immediately caught the eye of Pete Townshend who signed them up as an opening act for The Who’s Quadrophenia Tour.

Skynyrd was promptly propelled into a world of fame that they may have yearned for, but were perhaps not wholly prepared to deal with. Various changes in the band’s line-up, exhaustive touring and an accelerated drug and alcohol intake served to create fissures in the once impervious Southern rock band. Tom Dowd stepped in as producer on the Gimme Back My Bullets album, bringing with him a discipline and focus the band desperately needed.

Steve Gaines filled the void that Ed King left during the Torture Tour, bringing the band back to it’s original three lead guitars. They once again became a tight performance group, as captured in the 1976 live album One More From The Road. The revived Skynyrd next created Street Survivors, arguably the band’s best since Second Helping. The album cover showed the group engulfed in flames and one of the songs held the lyric “The smell of death surrounds you” which ominously alluded to an impending tragedy that loomed on the horizon.

On October 20, 1977, just three days after the release of Street Survivors, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s tour plane, nicknamed “Freebird”, ran out of gas due to a mechanical failure, crashing into a marshy bog on Johnny Mote’s farm in Magnolia, Mississippi, killing band members Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, back-up vocalist and Steve’s sister Cassie Gaines. Skynyrd’s road manager, Dean Kilpatrick and the two pilots also died from the crash, as all of the deceased were in the front section that broke apart on impact. The other twenty or so passengers were injured to some degree or another. Powell’s nose had been utterly mangled, Gary Rossington suffered numerous broken bones and contusions, and Allen Collins had a hefty piece of metal embedded in his arm. Artimus Pyle, the drummer, managed to walk to get assistance, but suffered a shotgun blast by a person mistaking him for an intruder.

With only two of the original members surviving the crash, the days of Lynyrd Skynyrd seemed to have come to a fiery end. The label quickly pulled all the copies of “Street Survivors” depicting the band surrounded by flames. The following year, MCA records released the Muscle Shoals sessions and titled it Skynyrd’s First…and Last. Some of the members played with bands like Molly Hatchet, Alias and .38 Special. Gary Rossington and Allen Collins went on to form The Rossington Collins band in the early eighties after Rossington had undergone extensive surgeries to regain the use of his arm.

Tragedy still stalked the musicians when Artimus Pyle suffered a leg injury in a motorcycle accident, Allen Collins’ pregnant wife suddenly died and a 1984 car crash paralyzed both of Collins’ legs and killed his girlfriend. Collins died in 1990 after succumbing to pneumonia.

A 1987 concert commemorating the 1977 plane crash found Ronnie’s brother, Johnny Van Zant stepping into the spotlight as lead singer, showing the world that the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd was far from forgotten. Through many permutations over the years, Skynyrd has recorded several new albums, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, performed innumerable concerts and held onto the sound that has made the freebird a phoenix of American rock and roll culture.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDrk5DBHle8′]

The Aug Man Cometh

April 25, 2007 By J.T. Ryder Leave a Comment

Auggie Smith and the Subtle Dangers of Censorship

There are comedians who carpet bomb the audience in the statistical hope that most of their hurled bon mots and humorous bits land on target with an explosion and not a fizzle. Auggie Smith does not succumb to this temptation, instead relying on his rapid-fire delivery, spewed forth in a breathless scream of consciousness that leaves the audience no quarter. Aug is more of a consummate storyteller, weaving reality with the absurd so flawlessly as to draw the audience into a world of his own design. There are no “jokes” or “bits”, just an unpretentiously intelligent torrent of guttural humor and angst that rises and falls, peaking at precisely the right moments. The reaction from the audience range from apoplectic laughter to a shocked indignation, as if they had just received a Cheney scatter shot to the face. One walks away from the performance not remembering a single line verbatim, just a different viewpoint and an afterglow of a cathartic release.

His comedic fodder is comprised of broad political satire and a repertoire of staccato rants ranging from the oppressive fear being foisted on the American public to Barbie getting raw dogged by G.I. Joe while he suffers a ‘Nam flashback. He draws from the world at large, but he doesn’t feel the need to use the stage for his own political agenda.

“Personally, I may have particular views and vote for particular people and I don’t

care, you know, that I don’t expect people to have my political opinions when I’m on stage.” Auggie said during a recent phone interview. “I’m not trying to change minds, I’m trying to make people laugh.”

Freedom of speech is of paramount importance to Auggie, as it is the structure on which his craft is based, but also on a personal level that all people should be attuned to.

“Yeah, well, people’s view of what freedom of speech is completely messed up now.” he said. “Freedom of speech means that you might get your feelings hurt, and that’s exactly what it means. It doesn’t mean we don’t offend anybody. Freedom of speech is that people will be offended and that’s the point of it, and when you take that away, we’re, we’re done.”

The political and social sensitivity welling in this country and the ease in which people in general have the uncanny knack of finding offenses where none truly exist, seems to make the comedic landscape a minefield waiting for a big ol’ clown shoe to come along.

“Yeah, yeah….maybe they shouldn’t leave the house if they’re going to be offended by other people’s words. It’s probably best that you never come into contact with anybody else.” Auggie stated, somewhat perturbed. “That’s probably the best game plan for them…and what it is, is people have to be morally superior over others and they decide ‘Well, morally, I’m better than you so I can decide what you can and cannot say and what’s morally objectionable’ and here’s the thing; it doesn’t offend me. So is there something wrong with me? Am I a bad person for not being offended by that? You know, because that’s the way the logic has to go.”

It seems that the current political atmosphere is so devoid of humor that one is loath to joke about the powers that be for fear of risking a heated confrontation. It used to be that anyone could make a joke about Clinton’s indiscretions or Dan Quayle’s complete ineptitude, and there would be a laugh, regardless of any affiliations. Now it is like a simple satirical jest can get you labeled as being anti-American.

“The problem, you…you’re talking about a couple of different issues here. If you’re talking specifically about the current administration here, yeah. I think there are people who have forgotten that it is our job to be anti-establishment.” Auggie went on to state that, “It is the comedian’s job to, uh, comment on the government and it is a comedian’s job to have a problem with the powers that be. We’ve become so aligned with our various political parties, uh, that we do not see the humor in them anymore. That is true. Um, and the fact that this, this turf war that we have going between Democrats and Republicans, and so one political party has your best interest at heart, yeah, right, for Christ’s sake! Like they’re not just a collection of millionaires that are designed to further people’s political careers, and instead are… for you, the common man. That bothers me, that people are under that assumption.”

When Auggie Smith takes the stage, he is not there to entertain you; he is not there to tell you a couple of amusing little jokes. He shall rise to become your personal, self-proclaimed Sherpa, shepherding you through life’s mysterious and often frightening landscape. Give your life over to the Aug Man and he will guide and protect you from all of the sharks, senior citizen NASCAR drivers and violently voracious vending machines that besiege you on your chosen path. Praise be to Aug.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqqKFB4Le6I’]