Here we are, an Italian sipping Americano and an American sipping Cappuccino at a posh Knightsbridge Hotel. Apart from the slight cultural controversy, doesn’t sound very rock’n’roll, right? WRONG. In fact, this is probably one of my most memorable rock’n’roll experiences: behind that cappuccino, sits a man who at the tender age of seven saw Elvis playing live and he knew, without the shadow of a doubt, what he would be when he grew older.

Ladies, gentlemen and kids alike, please get yourselves a good cup of coffee and sit around our table. Rickey, from legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd and unforgotten Blackfoot, has a few stories to tell us; when you will get up, you will finally know what rock’n’roll is all about...

Rickey: Hi, how are you today?

Altsounds: Very well thank you! How are you, how are you finding London?

Rickey: Oh, I love London, I used to live here!

Altsounds: Really? When?

Rickey: Early Eighties. With Blackfoot, my old band, we spent so much time over here because we were really breaking big, and I spent so much time in Europe that I actually ended up living over here; I was in Kensington Park. I love being over here, I feel like home over here, I feel pretty at ease and comfortable.

Altsounds: Yes, London has that vibe, I’m not English either but it feels like home to me as well!

Rickey: Yeah, it’s compelling, absolutely great! It’s really cool.


Altsounds: And you’ve been lucky with the weather, it has been crap until last week!

Rickey: Well...Yeah! Actually, in the States we had a pretty bad winter this year. In Florida it’s been freezing, we lost fruit, lots of oranges; it’s been pretty bad... But hey, whatever, that’s life! Global warming! (laughs)

Altsounds: Yep, there you go, let’s blame it all on global warming! (laughs)

Rickey: Yeah right! (more laughs)

Altsounds: T alking about Blackfoot and good old times. The first time you played in Lynyrd Skynyrd was actually in the early Seventies as a drummer, right?

Rickey: Yeah, I was a drummer! What happened was, I was with Blackfoot at the time, living in New Jersey, and I was really kind of discontent with the way things were going with the band; we had some personal problems going on between management and one of the guys in the band, just being involved with the management, and I got really discontent with it and decided that I needed a change. Randomly, I had heard that Lynyrd Skynyrd was doing really well in Jacksonville, playing around quite a bit. So I said, “You know what? If I can’t find anything as far as playing I’ll get back home, maybe I’ll put a band back together, another band, and maybe do something that way”. So what happened was... (and finally our coffees make their entrance) ... I actually called Allen Collins up, I got hold of his number somehow, and said “Allen, this is Rickey”. We talked for a few minutes and I said “I’m looking for a gig, I’m really kind of dissatisfied with the way things are going with me and the band, do you guys need a roadie or...” And he said, “Hey, you need to call Ronnie, we might have something really great for you!”, so he gave me Ronnie’s number, I called Ronnie and he asked me if I still played drums, and I hadn’t played a set of drums in quite a while, but I said that yes, I still played drums. So he said “Well, we’re losing Bob Burns and we need a drummer, ‘cause we’re going to be in the studio in the next several weeks in Muscle Shoals cutting our first album”, and I said, “count me in!”. So, there was this extra set of drums at this old band’s house that we had worked; our band was leaving and another band was leaving, so during the day, when nobody was around, I’d just go there and brush up on chops, get myself acquainted with it again. And I picked it up all really quickly again, so I sold off all my equipment, they sent me a plane ticket and I flew down to Jacksonville. That was in the spring of ’71, and a couple of weeks later I was sitting there in the Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama cutting what would become “Skynyrd’s first and... last album - the Muscle Shoals Sessions”; the rest is history!


Altsounds: But you were not happy being a drummer and you went back to Blackfoot...

Rickey: I ended up leaving Lynyrd Skynyrd for a couple of reasons the first time. Number one, really my call was playing guitar and singing; I made a hard decision and decided that I was going to go back to playing guitar again. And also, I felt like I wasn’t a strong enough drummer; I was good, but I wasn’t great. It just wasn’t in my make up, was never my thing, so I decided they needed somebody a lot better than me, maybe to take them further. So I went to Ronnie and explained to him how I was feeling, and he understood; he said “Man, whatever I can do for you let me know, I wish you all the best”, and we parted amicably. So I went off, but this time it was kind of different, and the next thing I knew I was working a day gig, a day job, until I got a call...

Altsounds: A day job? What kind of day job?

Rickey: I was fuelling fighter jets for the Air Force in an airport in Jacksonville and hated every minute of it! I wanted to play music... So what ended up happening was that Jackson Spires gave me a call: he was up in North Carolina and they had a new bass player named Lenny, and he and Charlie were trying to get the band rolling. He asked if I would be interested in fronting the band, leading and singing, and I said “Absolutely!”. So he came down and we put it back together from there. Shortly after that Lynyrd Skynyrd went to release the pronounce record, and they did what they did. Lots of people always ask me, “weren’t you kind of envious and upset with the guys doing what they did?”; actually not, honestly I was happy for the guys ‘cause I knew what they had been trying to do for so long and really putting everything into it, their whole heart into it, so I was really happy for them. I remember my granddad, Shorty, who had a lot to do with Blackfoot of course, wrote “Train Train”. We had him involved with us a lot; he was the subject matter for what Ronnie wrote ‘The Ballad of Curtis Lowe’, because he used to come over and hang out at my house on the front porch and my old man would play the blues. My old man told me at the time, when I was getting ready to make a decision and I made the decision to leave, “You know there’s something really special about that guy that sings for them and writes some songs” - he said “that band is probably gonna end up doing something, and if you leave you’re going to be faced with that, you’re gonna have to live with that for the rest of your life if you don’t do it. So he kinda put the pressure on me to really go out and grab what I needed to grab, and longer haul, here it is, 14 years ago I get a call from Gary Rossington and I’m back in Lynyrd Skynyrd as a guitar player!

Altsounds: And there you go!

Rickey: It all worked out well.

Altsounds: How did you find them after all that time, still the same or older and wiser?

Rickey: I think they’ve all gone through a lot, endured a lot of tragedy, and it’s still kind of looming over their heads. I hope my personality was a positive force coming into the band, because I like to be a positive force in anything that I get into. I like to be stronger for others, I love teams, I am a team player. I’m not the kind of guy who has to have all the glory and all the credit; I had a lot of great success in my life, not only with Lynyrd Skynyrd but with my other band Blackfoot. I had success with two bands, plenty of success! I look at that and there are not a lot of people who can say that. I’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to be able to do that, and I find it really really incredible. When I got into this, Johnny and I had talked and Johnny said “are you sure you want to come back into this just as a guitar player? You’ve been a front man all your life”, and I said “Look, my granddad always told me that if you can’t ride in the back seat of a Cadillac you’ll never get to be the driver. I’m riding in the back seat now”.


Altsounds: Your grandfather was a musician, and he was the one who first thought you to play an instrument...

Rickey: He was an old Mississippi delta blues country player, played everything and played it well!

Altsounds: Did he only teach you to play, or did he teach you a thing or two about being a musician as well?

Rickey: Actually, I must say, he was probably the most influential person in my life; what he taught me was not only to play, but he told me what goes from the heart to the hands, or from the heart to the voice: the feeling, the soulfulness of it. I’ve got the soulfulness watching him and listening to people he turned me onto: a lot of old Mississippi delta blues guys, a lot of the old country guys, and then I got into the rock all on my own, listening to a lot of rock’n’roll with Elvis being one of my first albums. I actually saw Elvis when I was six, almost seven years old; they took me to see him in Jacksonville, and that was when The King was really The King, you know, mid fifties, ‘56-‘57, and this guy was rockin’! I decided right there and then when I saw him. I was already playing guitar on my old man’s box guitar, and I remember leaving the show that night between my mum and my dad, and my dad looking at me saying “So what do you think about that?”, to which I simply replied “I want to do that, that’s what I wanna do”. And there was never a doubt in my mind, ever in my whole life! I have never doubted my ability and my perseverance to be able go out there and do what I do. I’ve encountered a lot of obstacles like anyone else has, we all find some on our way, but a lot of friends of mine just give up, you know, “I can’t handle this, I cannot do with this, and dadadadada...” and they just go. Me, I don’t believe in the quitting part of it. My whole thing is "Never Say Never", and so I’ve done great in my life, I’ve got a beautiful home, beautiful cars...

Altsounds: ... Beautiful boots! (noticing some pretty cool snakeskin boots on Rickey's feet)

Rickey: ... All the stuff that a man can buy, and I still wear the same old boots that are beat up and torn up, I had when I toured here with Blackfoot! I bought these in 1978 and I’m still wearing them!

Altsounds: Man,they must be good! (laughs) Did you buy them here?

Rickey: No, I bought them in the States in 1978 and these are the same boots I played in when we first came over... It’s amazing, isn’t it? And I’m playing in them tonight! They’re my lucky pair of boots!

Altsounds: Is it going to be a good show then? Any surprise being the last date?

Rickey: Well, actually we’re doing three or four new songs from our new record...

Altsounds: “God and Guns”?

Rickey: We’re doing ‘God and Guns’, we’re doing ‘Skynyrd Nation’, we open with that actually, we’re doing ‘Still Unbroken’. I think we may be doing ‘Simple Life’, I’m not really sure, but we’re doing at least those three; then a lot of the classics and stuff. It’s a good hour and a half, sometimes a little bit more, show, and I’ve gotta tell ya, I’m looking so forward to tonight, because you have to realize that in 1980, when Blackfoot first came over here, we came over with the Scorpions. What happened was that The Scorpions came over to the US to open for Ted Nugent and us, they were the first band on, virtually unheard of in the States; they saw us playing and we made good friends with Rudy and Mathias, the singer, all of them. So when they came back over, we were getting ready to put another record out and they were getting ready to do their European run and they requested us to open. Basically, tonight will be about probably the 8th or 9th time I’ve been playing on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo. We did three nights with The Scorpions, Blackfoot sold out three nights here, and we did two other nights, one with Iron Maiden, and another one with... God, I forgot! Anyway, I played here eight or nine times, and we did a live record, back in 1981, only for Europe, just to show our appreciation; it was never released anywhere else.
Altsounds: There’s a strong connection between band and audience at your live shows, is that something you manage to carry with you from earlier and more intimate gigs?

Rickey: I feel like my connection is music, and the music is the connection to them. I have a strong appreciation for fans, period. Lots of people come up to me, young artists, musicians and fans, saying “you’ve been such a great influence on my life”, or “on my guitar playing”, or “me buying an Explorer as first guitar”, “you’re such in incredible guitar player”. I don’t consider myself a “great” guitar player, I consider myself good, but not “great”!

Altsounds: A better guitar player than you are a drummer though!

Rickey: A lot better, believe me! I’m still in awe of people like Jeff Beck, Hendrix, Clapton, Billy Gibbons, people like these, and I became friends with some of these guys now; Paul Rogers, he’s the guy I was in awe of when I was a singer, and now I’m friends with him!

Altsounds: Who’s your number one Guitar God, your biggest inspiration as a guitarist?

Rickey: That’s a hard one. I would say probably it’s a split between those that to me where the three great ones, which was Hendrix, Clapton and Beck. Those were my idols when I was growing up. I loved Jimmy Page, his production on records was impeccable, and the song writing, you know, he and Robert together were just over the top. I remember when I first met Robert Plant, in Atlantic, here in London, and I was just in awe. These are my influences and I love to sit and listen to all of these guys, but I will at any time put on a Beatles record and listen to The Beatles. I was a Beatles fanatic when I was a kid, I remember watching The Walter Cronkite Evening News in the States, and a guy reporting on a phenomenon called “Beatlemania”, and all of a sudden there was a “Beatlemania” film clip on the news! There was a film clip on the news about The Beatles and I saw them running down the street and people chasing them, and I just said “what the hell is this?”. I’m sitting in my parents room with a guitar on my lap, and I’m looking at this saying “who are these guys?”, while the guy is saying “This is Beatlemania”. Beatlemania?? What the freak is Beatlemania?? I’m looking at these guys, staring at them thinking, wow, I’ve gotta find out about this! Well, you couldn’t find out anything because they hadn’t been released over in the States yet. In less than a year, all of a sudden I hear ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand” and they said it was the Beatles. And you know what, my favourite Beatle after all these years, I mean, I love Lennon, I love McCartney, Ringo, but my favourite Beatle is always George Harrison. He was my favourite boy: the quiet one, really talented. He had all these things, all this talent in his head, I just love George Harrison! And I even sit and still listen to ‘Apple Scruffs’, and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. I just love all that stuff, and I still listen to it nowadays.



Altsounds: Last question then...

Rickey: I’ll tell you when it’s the last question!

Altsounds: (laughs) Ok! “God and Guns”...

Rickey: What do you want to know about it?

Altsounds: Everything about it, and I want you to make me want to buy it! It’s been the album that brought you higher in the US charts since 1977 after all...

Rickey: First of all, it was the highest charting record in the US since “Street Survivors” for Lynyrd Skynyrd. There’s been a lot of controversy about this record because of the title, I understand all that; but people shouldn’t take it so seriously! Rock’n’roll is not serious. Rock’n’roll is fun! You know what I mean? If we’re going to lose sleep over a title of a record, then it’s not fun anymore! Basically “God and Guns” is about “I believe what I believe and you believe what you believe", but we’re still sitting here talking to each other about the record right? There’s a little something in it for everybody, and that’s what Lynyrd Skynyrd has always been about: rock, blues rock, blues, country, pop, whatever! It’s always been about all that.

In this particular record, there’s a little something in it for everybody to get next to it. We started this record with two guys, and all of a sudden we had to finish this record without those two guys we started it with: Billy, who passed away in January, a year ago, and Ian, who passed away right before we came over to Europe in May. So we lost two members. We were doing the record when Billy passed away and we decided we were going to finish it because it was the right thing to do. Here we are in Nashville working on the record, and across town one of our band mates is just slowly withering away from lung cancer. To be honest with you, it was so important for Gary, Johnny and me to finish that record and to put it out, not only for the fans but for those two guys and the guys that have gone before them, to carry on the tradition and carry on the name. Because no one certain name in the band is bigger than Lynyrd Skynyrd. That’s the biggest name. Nobody is ever going be bigger than that name.

The deal with “God and Guns” is... did we decide to call it that? Yes. Did I hear the speech that Obama made about it, “a lot of people in this country want to hold on to their religion and their guns”. Yes we do, what’s wrong with that? People shouldn’t talk politics and religion first of all, because everybody is going to be different, everybody is going to have a different opinion. That’s what’s wrong with this rule that if anybody has a different opinion then they all stink. We can all come together, and we don’t need a gun and don’t need a Bible to come together and sit here and talk, you know what I’m saying? The deal about it is, I believe the way I believe and you believe the way you believe. That’s what “God and Guns” is saying to everybody; it should not be taken literally. Do you have spiritual beliefs? Yes I do. Do you have a gun? Yes I do, OK? I’m an Indian! I’m three quarters Native American, part Welsh, part Scottish. There you go. The deal is, I myself worked all my life to get what I’ve got. I have a beautiful home, I have a wonderful lady in my life who I care about, I have belongings in my home. I never step outside my house and go out in the street with a pistol under my jacket saying “Hey, I want that, give it to me!”. For me, personally, people should be able to protect themselves and their home, whether that be with a baseball bat or whatever else. What are we gonna call it, “God and Baseball Bats”? No! If somebody comes in your house at 3.30 in the morning they are not there to sit there and have coffee with you, you get what I’m saying? Well, that’s not happening in my house on my watch!

The whole deal with “God and Guns” was to make people think “it’s your choice, it’s your freedom to be able to choose spirituality and what’s right”. That’s all it is, it’s not that hard to figure out, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out! Go and buy it, you’ll love it, it’s a great record! (laughs)

Altsounds: I will! (more laughs)

And now, really, last question...

Rickey: Go!

Altsounds: No, you go: what would you like your last question to be?

Rickey: Mmmm... (thinking), my last question is: what is the greatest accomplishment of my whole life!

Altsounds: And what’s the answer?

Rickey: I told this not too many years ago to somebody because I get asked this quite often, and my response is always going be the same... Is it the fans? Yes, it is the fans, like I said all that stuff is great. But the greatest accomplishment I ever had is being able to stand on a stage and play with some of the worlds greatest musicians that God ever put on this earth: Ronnie Van Zandt, Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Jakson Spires, Charlie Hargrett, Greg Walker... I’ve been on stage with some of the worlds greatest, and that is my single greatest accomplishment!

We thank Rickey for letting us not only understand, but feel a bit of what’s behind that iconic flag, and now time to get ready to witness rock’n’roll with our very own eyes! Hammersmith Apollo should consider itself lucky, eight or nine times lucky!...