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Rickey Medlocke

Life Is So Strange When It’s Changin’ – A Look At Life, Liberty And Lucidity With Lynyrd Skynyd

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A Look At Life, Liberty And Lucidity With Lynyrd Skynyd

We may view our lives as a linear passage of time, as if we were tiredly gazing through a car window as the lackluster landscape as our lives flew by, a vista of relatively repetitive sameness that is only occasionally broken by the intermittent roadside sign or mildly interesting landmark or two. We make stops along the way, from mildly significant sojourns to epochal events that change the course of our lives. There are very few things that can bring back the memories from the past with any clarity. It’s like trying to remember the innocence of your first kiss and, the more desperately you try to bring it into focus, the quicker is blurs and skitters away into an aching sense of loss.

Conversely, the wafting scent of perfume, a distantly echoed giggle or the chorded melody from a long lost song can drag you backwards in time, suddenly forcing you to relive that moment. Most of our lives are lived with a barely audible soundtrack, a constant companion that etches itself within the furrows of our minds and, when a song from our past comes on the radio, we remember with utter clarity the first time we heard it, maybe coiled beneath the covers with a transistor radio drawn close to our ears allowing a world bigger than our own to enter our consciousness.

I remember the fist time I heard Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird. I was sitting on the porch of an abandoned farmhouse near my home with a Realistic AM/FM radio echoing past the nonexistent front door and inside the vacant structure. I had previously been occupied with doing a good amount of nothing and had planned on extending that agenda far into the afternoon. The sun was high and the day’s warm breeze caused the chest high (to me…I was like nine years old) bearded grass to brush against the rusted remnants of discarded washers and dryers that had been unceremoniously dumped in the overgrown driveway, resulting in a sound not unlike a brushed high hat…nature was accompanying my musical selections. Free Bird came on with no announcements or warnings: just a stark, churchlike organ slicing through the midday haze, sounding ominous and comforting all at once. The building of sporadic percussion and straying strums of the guitar ended suddenly with the moaning slide of a Coricidin cough medicine bottle along the neck of a guitar. I was hooked. I listened raptly, through the pining lyrics, past the pressure cooker build up and all the way through the violent release of triple lead guitars, all the way to the fade and into the hissing open dead air of real radio. I sat through an interminable amount of commercials, waiting for the DJ to come back on and tell me what I had just experienced. Of course he didn’t and I was left clueless until I sat in a friend’s basement and he handed over the still glossy cover of an album mysteriously titled Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd, which I still managed to mispronounce because I suck at phonetics.

Over the years, that song will come on the radio and, regardless of what I am doing, I will crank it up and listen to it until the fade out (unless some industrious DJ manages to put on the version from Skynyrd’s Innyrds, which has a more bombastic ending altogether). The keening wail of the guitars, the simplicity of the message and the organic way in which it all fits together seems to take me back to a time of innocence. Not necessarily my own, but a more overall innocence. A time before record companies created cookie cutter hit makers and allowed their artists to create. A time when AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio stations ruled the airwaves and would allow the DJ’s and the listeners to dictate what was played, as opposed to being spoon fed the latest popular pabulum. It was a time of originality and exploration, instead of following a format or a formula to dispense with the next grandstanding standard.

I was able to talk to Rickey Medlocke (one of the original drummers for Lynyrd Skynyrd, guitarist in the current line-up as well as creator, guitarist and lead singer of yet another monster Southern rock group, Blackfoot) several times over the years, which has been both daunting and exhilarating. One of the things that I wanted to ask him was whether or not I was romanticizing the era, extrapolating my own innocence onto a whole decade or if there has been a shift within the music industry.

“You gotta realize I was there for some of the stuff because I was one of the original drummers, so I was there and saw how stuff went down, and it went down so innocently and so pure. We just wrote songs, and had a magic about ourselves.” Expounding on the music scene now, Medlocke said, “Nowadays you’d be hard-pressed even find a band that even practices their instruments on their own. I’m a guitar player and I’ve had a love affair with my instrument ever since day one, and that’s what it’s all about. I didn’t get into this business to become a rock star; it just happened because we had great music, you know what I mean?”

Running with that line of thought, Medlocke went on to say that:

“Well, you’ve gotta understand, when we decided to do what we did for a living, it was two-fold. Record companies signed bands to create two careers; the record company’s and the band’s. They signed bands to build us up, which in turn built the record company’s career.” Comparitively, Medlocke said, “Nowadays, it’s not about that anymore. First of all, you don’t have near as many record labels as you used to;  everything is Internet. People want self-satisfaction right away. I look at it like this, back when I got signed and the band was formed, we looked forward to a good record company.  Now, the only thing that you sell records for anymore is for tickets and merchandising.”

In speaking with people worldwide, it has surprised me somewhat that Lynyrd Skynyrd is regarded as the definitive American sound, along with other genres created by the surf groups and country and western. Lynyrd Skynyrd has always had a prideful side when it came to their roots and country of origin, which comes out not only in their music, but in the core beliefs. Like the lyrics in their songs, Medlocke’s views on the country he loves are very direct and to the point.

“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…I mean, 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.” Medlocke went on to say that, “Myself, I 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 ofHollywood… those people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they get into politics. 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.”

Paradoxically, the image of an airplane factors into the separation of bothAmericaand Lynyrd Skynyrd: a division of time wherein there is that hardscrabble climb out of the rubble to rebuild the icon that once was. In Lynyrd Skynyrd’s case, this epochal event came in the form of a Convair 240 passenger airplane ill-fatedly nicknamed Free Bird, which plummeted out of the Mississippi skies in 1977, killing Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. The remaining street survivors of Lynyrd Skynyrd chose to stay the course in spite of their grave losses. For a long period of time after the death of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, a lone, empty microphone stood, speared in the spotlights as the rest of the band played an instrumental version of Free Bird. This tradition lasted until 1989 when Ronnie Van Zant’s brother, Johnny stepped in to quell a near riot almost caused by fans needing the words to be sung, for the role of a leader to be filled.  Since then, arenas have been filled, records recorded and an homage paid to the creators of the most emblematic music to be pressed into vinyl and into the public’s consciousness. At the end of each concert, Lynyrd Skynyrd plays Free Bird and the audience erupts in unity. Lighters (or cell phones) are held aloft and one wonders if it is to pay tribute to the musicians, to guide those who are lost or who we have lost, or perhaps to try and light the image of our innocence, so that we may see it in utter clarity one more time.

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Free Bird At The Fraze With Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke

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An Interview With Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke

“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 , upcoming performance at the Fraze Pavilion, 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.

I was able to speak with Rickey Medlocke who began his career with Lynyrd Skynyrd as a drummer before forming his own iconic Southern rock band, Blackfoot. He has since rejoined Lynyrd Skynyrd, becoming one of the three lead guitarists, which is the linchpin in what has become Skynyrd’s signature sound. Since the last time I had interviewed him in 2007, there have been a few people from Europe that have expressed interest in reprinting my interview and short biographical piece I had done on the band for various fanzines and one hardcover book to be published in Italy. In speaking with these various people, an image emerged of how some other countries and cultures perceived American music and how some of them saw Lynyrd Skynyrd as being distinctly an American sound. I asked Rickey what his view was, having toured extensively through various countries not only with Skynyrd, but with Blackfoot as well.

“Well, you know, what’s interesting is that being with this band for as long as I’ve been in this band…they just love American music, and Skynyrd, being the well-known southern rock band that it is, it’s been pretty well accepted since day one of the band’s inception. They still think of it in terms as Southern rock, or rebel rock, or whatever they want to call it. It’s never changed; it’s always been that way. They love American music over there.” Rickey stated. “I know that touring over there as much as I did back in the late 70s, early 80s, all the way through into the 90s, they’ve just never stopped loving the Southern rock bands or rock bands, period.  It’s kind of a different thing over there than it is here in the fact that when they love you, boy, they never quit loving you.”

In interviewing other bands, I have found that singles and albums are released in other countries long after they are released here in the States, sometimes a decade later. Some bands who have seen their songs chart in the USA are surprised when, years later, their song or album is number one in Holland or some other country. It is also true that songs that never see the light of day in the United States are found to be wildly popular when bands tour overseas.

“Oh absolutely, absolutely! You can go over there and find such a diverse song selection. Of course, they’re going to like Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird, we all know that…” Rickey said, “…but the deal is, you might go over there and they might like some off the wall song like Cry For The Bad Man or Don’t Ask Me No Questions or whatever, and when you play them they’re just like in awe…they’re thrilled…and they have a very different way and it’s very diverse, without a doubt.”

In dealing with the arena rock supergroups from years past, there are those that want to question their relevance in the world of modern music, flippantly dubbing them as ‘has-beens’. It seems ironic that someone would make these statements when all you have to do is flip on any new rock station and hear the influences from bands of the past carried through the music of the current chart toppers. It is also odd that these groups from the past can still pack a huge arena while many of the newer groups are unable to fill the seats in more modest venues. Why haven’t we seen the stellar songwriting and extravagant performances that was the hallmark of the arena rock era? Is it the groups? Is it the recording industry?

“Well, you gotta look at one thing. You gotta look at bands such as ourselves, The Stones, AC/DC, Aerosmith and all these classic bands who have had songs that stand the test of time. They’ve got songs that’ll be here ‘til the end of the world. Lots of new bands…show me one song out of one of these new bands that is gonna stand the test of time like that. A lot of the songs coming through…they’re gone so quick that you go, ‘Whoa…what the hell was that?’” In reference to the term ‘has-beens,’ Rickey had this to say; “I’ve heard DJ’s say that we were ‘has-beens’ before and I’ve had people say it blatantly, right to my face, but my comeback is ‘Look, if you’re insinuating that we are a ‘has-been’, it’s better to have been a has-been than a never-was.’ With Blackfoot and Skynyrd collectively, I’ve sold somewhere between 45 and 50 million records, so, when I get somebody that says things like that, I just kinda feel a lot of them sometimes have a big giant chip on their shoulder. ‘I’m a frustrated musician that never was and I can’t figure out why the hell I can’t do it!’ Well, there’s gotta be a reason. Either you didn’t write great songs, or you weren’t that talented, or you didn’t persevere and you gave it up …so there’s a lot of reasons for it.”

Rickey then alluded to the fact that it also had a lot to do with the record industry and that there were a lot of talented people out there who are ignored or don’t receive the attention of the record industry.

“Well, you’ve gotta understand, when we decided to do what we did for a living, it was two-fold; Record companies signed bands to create two careers; the record company’s and the band’s. They signed bands to build them up, which in turn built the record company’s career. Nowadays, it’s not about that anymore. First of all, you don’t have near as many record labels as you used to; everything is on the internet. People want self-satisfaction right away. Back when I got signed and the band was formed, we looked forward to a good record company.” In  relating how the industry had changed, Rickey went on to say that, “Now, the only thing that you sell records for anymore is for tickets and merchandising. Really, that’s really true, to be honest with you, because the artists don’t make anything off of record sales anymore, especially publishing. A lot of these young artists are even giving their songs away, and they don’t realize how much they’re hurting themselves, you know what I mean? Like now these young bands will get into it and if they haven’t made it within a year to a year and a half, they’re like, ‘Oh God! I’m giving it up and going into something else!’ and not realizing that, being a band and being together for as long as we have, and a lot of the other classic artists…that’s what it’s all about.”

I wondered if Rickey ever looked back on all the iconic music that Lynyrd Skynyrd produced and sat in amazement, wondering how they had ever conceived such layered orchestration and captured the essence of living on vinyl.

“You gotta realize I was there for some of the stuff because I was one of the original drummers, so I was there and seeing how stuff went down, and it went down so innocently and so pure.” Rickey went on, saying, “We just wrote songs, and had a magic about ourselves. I’m a guitar player and I’ve had a love affair with my instrument ever since day one, and that’s what it’s all about. I didn’t get into this business to become a rock star; it just happened because we had great music, you know what I mean?”

Since they are coming off of a world tour in support of their God And Guns album, I was curious if going from huge arenas and stadiums to a smaller ampitheater like the Fraze would offer Skynyrd fans a more intimate view of the band..and visa versa.

“Well, it will be and it’s kind of a conscious thing by us right now. The band loves to do smaller stuff every once in a while.” Rickey paused before going on. “What it does…it brings you back to the basics, you know what I mean? And, that’s cool…that’s a great thing to do. The Lynyrd Skynrd band, as with a lot of other artists, we don’t mind doing whatever we need to…we just love to play!”

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The Rickey Medlocke Interview

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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.

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