Lynyrd Skynyrd

FREE AS A BIRD
An Interview with Johnny Van Zant and Ricky Medlocke
By Troy Schmidt

Have you ever had any contact with the gym teacher Leonard Skinner (who the band was named after)?
Johnny: Yeah. We did this thing with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, which didn’t vote us in this year. We won’t be doing that anymore (laughs). But actually, no, he came out to the presentation for the movie thing we did a few years ago…Free Bird, The Movie. Leonard Skinner came out to the Press Conference. One of the interviewers ask him, he’s pretty much a man of short words, “well, what does it feel like being Leonard Skinner?” He says, “Cool.” He’s okay.
Hardrock.com: Was he apologetic for the way he treated the “long hairs?”
Johnny: Hell no. He stills looks like he’s in the Marines, are you kiddin’?
Ricky: Looked a drill sergeant.

On the other end, have you ever had any contact with Neil Young (regarding the controversy between “Southern Man” and “Sweet Home Alabama”?
Johnny: Well we beat him up a couple of times (laughs).
Ricky: The guy that was actually his tour manager for awhile, did a thing for us. He was going to speak to Neil Young. Actually Neil Young’s been invited a couple times to sing a song with us. Scheduling wise it never really worked out. It’ll probably happen.
Johnny: We love Neil Young. It’s just one of those fun songs. Nobody hates each other.
Hardrock.com: So he’s fine with it.
Ricky: He might shoot us if he sees us (laughs).
You just did a Christmas album. When did you record that?
Johnny: May, was it?
Ricky: May of last year.
Hardrock.com: How did you get into the Christmas spirit in May?
Johnny: Actually, Dale Rossington went and got decorations from her house and decorated her studio.
Ricky: We brought in the snow blower and blew snow all over.
Johnny: We knew what we needed to do and we knew what we wanted to do. Actually the year before we were out with ZZ Top during Christmas time and we had the bus decorated, so we said, hey, let’s put out a Christmas album because we can sing these Christmas songs pretty good.
Hardrock.com: That’s quite a change of pace for a rock band to record a Christmas album.
Ricky: It’s something that a lot of people didn’t really expect from the band. When we got into it, we really had a lot of fun with it because we were able to do it ourselves. Didn’t have a lot of people looking over our shoulders saying, “Uh, that doesn’t sound good. Santa Claus won’t like that.” We had some really interesting blues stuff, some Texas shuffle things, some instrumentals. Charlie Daniels did a thing on it. 38 Special…
Johnny: Myself, Dale, Ricky, Gary wrote one called “Christmastime” which is the title track. Dale sang it with me, which was great. She’s a great singer.
Hardrock.com: So if you get Bing Crosby’s, James Brown’s and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Christmas albums, you have the ultimate Christmas collection.
Johnny: There you go. (laughs) You have to get Tony Bennett in there too.
What is your favorite Christmas memory?
Johnny: Probably my last Christmas. My mother just passed away, this past April. Just being able to spend it with her.
Ricky: Mine was this year. I drove out to Las Vegas to meet the band for a couple shows. I did a cross country Christmas drive to go to my sister’s house.
Johnny: You were spreadin’ the cheer all the way along.
Ricky: I was. I was just throwing things out (the window). I saw some relatives on the reservation in Oklahoma. That was great for me.
How come the song “Sweet Home Alabama” was never called “Sweet Home Florida”? You can’t rhyme Florida?
Johnny: I don’t know. (looking heavenward) You’d have to ask Ronnie that. Unless he phones that one in.
Ricky: If he does, I don’t want to be sittin’ here. (Laughs)
Johnny: The guys were spending a lot of time in Alabama. Doin’ records at Muscle Shoals.
Ricky: We did some early recordings down there. 71. 72. 73. We were there an awful lot and it became like a second home. It became one of things where it became like a home. That had a lot to do with it.
Johnny: Alabama been very good to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
There have been a lot of personnel changes with the band. What’s the strength of this band?
Johnny: I’ve been with the band for 14 years. This band, when Ricky and Hughie got together with us, just made it more of a rock band. We were leaning toward the country way before that. Strength now is we have to let Ricky out every night, out of a cage. (laughs). No, I think it’s just a strong rock band right now. Got a great drummer, Michael, from the Damn Yankees…We’ve been writing some new songs for a new CD that will be coming out sometime in the near future. We’ve been writing some rock stuff that’s really gonna kick some people’s butts.
You have a Van Zant brothers album coming out. What do we expect from that?
Johnny: Tip Toe Through the Tulips.
Hardrock.com: A little ukulele. There’s something the fans won’t expect.
Johnny: Yeah! It’s a great record. Got a lot of mid-tempo stuff on it. Great ballads. I’m having a blast working with my brother Donnie…In fact, it just went to radio and it was the number one Most Added at rock radio this week. It’s called “Get What You Got Comin’”.
What memories do you have of your brother Ronnie growing up?
Johnny: Basically getting my ass beat every night. (laughs)
Ricky: I knew you were going to say that. I knew you were going to say that!
Johnny: All sorts of memories. I can’t think of one particular one, but we’re in the business of traveling and playing music, and he was gone quite a bit. But over the holidays…holidays were our favorite time.
How does a family produce so many musicians?
Johnny: My momma and dad must’ve been listenin’ to that Elvis.
Ricky: You know everyone’s always asked us why Jacksonville was so popular, producing so many bands, musicians and stuff. Don’t ever say it’s in the water, because it’s not. The water has nothing to do with it.
Hardrock.com: It’s that paper mill smell.
Johnny: Yeah, it’s that I-95 paper mill. (laughs) I think for us, the Van Zants, we grew up in a tough neighborhood. It was our way out.
Ricky: I do too.
Johnny: Our friends we grew up with, honestly, are either in prison or dead. It was really a way out of that whole scene.
Ricky: I was pretty fortunate, pretty blessed, because my dad Shorty Medlocke was a musician all around the Southeast and all around Nashville. I got it from him and my mother’s side. My mother was a singer…I started playing when I was three. Playing banjo. It was figured out this is what I was going to do.
Johnny: You’re like me. You had no choice. (laughs)
Ricky: We’re doomed!
Johnny: There’s a song that will probably be on the next album called “Lucky Man” which pretty much says how lucky we are. We have a pretty good life being able to do what we do.
With the bands that really make it, how much of it is luck and how much is talent?
Johnny: That’s a good question. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that. I think you have to have some sort of talent.
Ricky: I don’t really believe all of it is just luck. There’s an element of it of being in the right place at the right time. I think it takes great songs. It starts with a great song. You can have all the luck in the world, but if you don’t have a great song, you’re not going to get past the first door. Then you have to have talented people. You know what it is too, there has to be magic in the band. There’s a camaraderie that just happens naturally. Four or five guys, six or seven guys come together a certain magic happens. And it’s just meant to be that way. I really believe that. Then everyone else tries to follow along and tries to copy it and it doesn’t work.
Johnny, you took some time off and drove a truck around. What did you learn from that?
Johnny: About a year and a half. I learned rock ‘n’ roll music was a lot easier. (laughs) And you made a little bit more money. I really got sick of it at that point…I was out in Olathe, Kansas. I had laryngitis, playing some club. I couldn’t sing, but I was out there doin’ the best I could. I had some guy in front of me goin’ “Play Cocaine” and he had no teeth. And I went, “You know, I don’t know if this is for me.” I’m tired. I don’t know if I want to keep paying these dues. So I went back to Jacksonville. I had a truck at the time. So I started working as a truck driver. The whole time I was doing that I was writing songs. I still had the love of music. I just hated playing those kinds of places. Actually ended up meeting a guy named Robert Johnson, who turned me on to a guy named Joe Bolan, who said “I can get a record deal for you in a week.” And I said, “now I’ve heard it all now.” Sure enough within a week I got a call…Kind of fairy tale thing. On top of that, a week later, I had Gary (Rossington) call me and ask to play for Skynyrd. I went from being a truck driver, to having a record deal with Atlantic Records, to Gary calling me asking me to do a thing with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Hardrock.com: Who’s going to play you in the movie?
Johnny: Somebody hefty. (laughs)
Hardrock.com: Jack Nicolson?
What will Lynyrd Skynyrd sound like in twenty years?
Ricky: Lynyrd Skynyrd will always retain its heritage, in terms of its sound. That’s just our thing. That’s just the way we play. We’ll try to do new things to keep it fresh, but it will always have its integrity about it…
Johnny: We hope to still be around in twenty years. That would be nice.
On your stage you use a confederate flag. What do you think of the whole controversy over that?
Johnny: We’re from the South. That’s just part of our heritage. To us it’s not hate. It’s greens, grits, y’all, and all that kind of thing. It’s not hate. Some of my favorite singers are black singers. Ray Charles. Marvin Gaye. Aretha Franklin.
Ricky: I think it’s been way overblown. Like Johnny said, it’s about heritage, not hate. I saw where Georgia just voted to take it out of the flag, where it’s going to be condensed down to five tiny little flags…I don’t look at that flag and think about slavery.
Johnny: I don’t either.
Ricky: I’m the one who should be bitching about prejudice, my family on my dad’s side, and some on my mom’s side, are all American Indians…It’s way overblown.
Our slogan for Hard Rock is “Love All Serve All”. What does that mean to you?
Ricky: Love all humanity and serve all with our music. We love everyone for loving Lynyrd Skynyrd.