Interview: Johnny Van Zant, Lynyrd Skynyrd

Johnny Van Zant rekindles Lynryrd Skynyrd's rebound glory

REBEL YELL

Lynyrd Skynyrd's vocalist Johnny Van Zant is feeling well and hyped up in the wake of the success of their splendid new album The Last Rebel, which has already gone top 10 in the US. The factor separating Rebel from its predecessor 1991 is its overall strength, and it just sounds so natural.

"You just get a vibe from working with people you like to work with," begins Johnny in explanation. "We didn't have any fussing and fighting, whereas with 1991 we had a few, er, 'mishaps', shall we say. This time it was fun. We went into the studio and had a great time. At the end we went, 'Wow we made a great record'."

The title track is a quite exceptional piece, the initial atmospheric opening conjuring vivid images of America's Civil War.

"Yeah, the first verse is based on a Civil War soldier trying to find his way home, and, being from the South, we can relate to that, but the second is based on Gary [Rossington] 'cos we consider him to be the last rebel. Of the last three original Skynyrd members he's the last on earth today."

The recording process was also made that much more relaxed by the acquisition of producer Barry Beckett.

"Barry's an original Swamper. We heard through the grapevine that he'd like to be involved, so he came down and we clicked. I think it's the best thing to have happened to this band because he's not a bullshitter. He's a man's man. I'd quite happily do the next ten albums with him."

I can't replace the receiver without reference to original Skyryrd vocalist and brother of Johnny, Ronnie Van Zant. How does Johnny feel singing the older tunes made famous by his brother?

"It feels great, it's an honour and pleasure to sing those songs. I'll always love doing the older songs because it was part of Ronnie and to me it keeps part of him alive."

If you were like myself and previously thought that Skynyrd were content living on past glories, pick up a copy of The Last Rebel and blow your preconceptions. After all, there really is no substitute for good music.

Joe Mackett
Riff Raff

June 1993

Revenge...?

Riff Raff was a legendary rock magazine based in London in the late 1980s and 1990s. Edited by the ultimate music biz insider, Mark Crampton, and employing such talents as Mark Blake, Jerry Ewing, Mike Harris, Paul Smith, Chris Collingwood, Alan McCrorie, Simon Robinson, Lyn Guy, Anna Marx, Nick Douglas, Marion Garden, Peter "Grunty" Grant, Joe "The Crow" Mackett, Billy "The Kluck" Kulke, and, lastest and mostest, the incredible Liddell Brothers, Mark (a.k.a. "El Perro") and Colin (a.k.a. "Der Fly"). Unfortunately, Riff Raff was just too R n' R for its own good. A genuine working class rock mag, written, edited, and translated into 16 European languages in a drug-N-Jack-D-fuelled haze, often on the back of motorbikes, with spell checking by our staff of attentive rock bimbos (chosen purely for their blondeness and big knockers), it soon fell behind more trainspotterly, nerdish, and politically correct publications like Q, Kerrang, Mojo, Metal Hammer, and Horse & Hound. This website is an archive and kind of shrine dedicated to the writing of its greatest writers, some of whom, luckily for the Rock Kosmos, still continue to write about music. This is the REVENGE of Riff Raff...Rock on!