Missing presumed lost as far as the European side of the Atlantic is concerned, Florida-formed rockers 38 Special nevertheless remain stalwarts of the North American touring circuit. Now they’re back with their first album in more than two decades, and there’s even the possibility of them playing a show in Britain. Frontman and co-founder Don Barnes tells us about the aptly-titled Milestone, and more.
How do you keep a band going for more than half a century?
You must try to be diplomatic, and lift one another when necessary. People joke about bands being like marriages, but it’s true. We were by no means an overnight success. It took years of struggle and suffering, which probably creates a stronger bond.
Why is there more than 20 years between Milestone and 2004’s Drivetrain?
Making a new record requires time and patience, especially when a band plays in a hundred cities a year every year like we do. We did this one in stages, cutting a few songs before going back out. But it was the fiftieth anniversary, and it felt important to do it.
Regular collaborator Jim Peterik is on board again. As well as producing, the ex-Survivor man helped to finish some semi-completed songs.
Jim is such a great talent. I gave him my songs which were two-thirds or half-written and he worked his magic on them.
How did Train’s Pat Monahan, a co-singer on Slightly Controversial, become involved?
I was in Nashville and was lucky enough to spend a day with him on our first so-called social commentary song. Pat and Joe Bonamassa had done a fantastic cover of Hold On Loosely [the band’s hit from 1980], and when I reached out to see if he wanted to be on the record he loved to do it.
Having emerged as sworn southern rockers with the first two albums, in the early 80s 38 Special smoothed down their sound. Record sales boomed, but did you have any regrets?
Not really. At the time, southern rock was waning and our first two albums went straight over a cliff. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ronnie Van Zant was a mentor of ours, and he told us to stop trying to copy the original southern bands. We loved melody and muscle, so we went where that took us. The guitars snarled in kind of a genial way, and we told our stories. It really worked for us.
More than a decade ago, co-founding member Donnie Van Zant, brother of Skynyrd’s Ronnie and Johnny, retired from music, after thirty-nine years with the band. How is he these days?
Donnie had inner-ear nerve damage, but he’s doing just fine. The doctors said unless he retired he’d be stone deaf, so reluctantly he stood down.
Back in 1981, 38 Special played the Reading Festival and also supported Foreigner at Hammersmith. After that the band never played in the UK again.
We never did, no. We are so popular in the US it would have meant turning down big gigs at home. But Milestone is being released worldwide and there is already talk of coming over to Europe again next year for some festivals, and I really hope we can make it happen.
Milestone is available via 38 Special Records.
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