RICKEY MEDLOCKE - Open Doors, Closed Doors Page 4
by Martin Popoff

I asked Rickey for a few words on the personality of Skynyrd's latest album, Vicious Cycle. "Well, the new stuff right now, I've got to tell you, if you really sit and listen to it, we've had a lot of people tell us, that Vicious Cycle really reminded them a lot of the old band. I think there's really a lot of stuff there to think about. I think it will make you think about a lot of things. We're taking stuff right from the street, true life things, things we feel, or how we think things should be. Actually were taking a bit of a political stance, down certain avenues. But you know what? Lynyrd Skynyrd isn't one to sit there and bang the drum for any one certain cause. What we are for is the everyday common man out there. And I think that's where everybody should be."

In closing, we bridge the subject of bass player Leon Wilkeson's passing, in July of 2001. "Well, the official cause of death was lung and liver failure," offers Rickey. "My version of it is that Leon was such a great soul. He had a great soul and a great spirit about himself, and never could say no to anybody. And I just think that people really, honestly, really took advantage of it. And I think Leon did things a lot of times that he knew he shouldn't be doing, but he did them anyway because he wanted to make people feel comfortable, and feel he was with them, and doing with them, and so on, and it ended up costing him his life."