It feels like déjà vu for keyboardist Ray Manzarek. America is engaged in an unpopular war. Conservatives reign. And Manzarek believes that change is on the horizon.

"This is all very familiar," Manzarek said during a telephone interview from Columbus, Ohio. "I think I lived through this about 40, 50 years ago."

During the '60s, Manzarek rode shotgun for Jim Morrison in the seminal Doors. The famed Lizard King died in 1971, and the Doors splintered two years later.

Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger in 2002 decided to dust off their old material and formed the Doors of the 21st Century, with Cult vocalist Ian Astbury as the new frontman. It was almost eerie watching Astbury, who bears a resemblance to Morrison and possesses many of the singer's mannerisms, during the band's 2003 tour.

The Doors of the 21st Century, with Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge, the Yardbirds and Pat Travers, are performing in the Strange Days Festival, which stops tonight at the PNC Bank Arts Center.

During the phone chat, Manzarek, 66, touched on baby boomers, his new band and his friend Morrison.

Q. During your 2003 tour, you stopped midway through the set and spoke out against the Iraq war and the Bush administration and you were jeered. If you did the same thing in 1969, the venue would have erupted in cheers against the Vietnam war and the administration.

It's wild, isn't it? It's not a big deal since I've met resistance before. So many of these boomers are all for the war, the rape of the environment and the destruction of our personal freedoms. It's a tragedy. But I have hope. I feel like we're coming out of a time like the '50s, that strange repressive time. The feel now and the war in Iraq are a total parallel to what was going on when I was a young man.

Q. Why did you come back in this era as opposed to, say, 1992, when Oliver Stone's film "The Doors" was released?

That would have been too calculated. I didn't want it to be like, 'Oh, here's this very popular book and then the movie and oh, here's a Doors reunion.'

Q. You weren't crazy about Stone's version of Jim Morrison, were you?

Not at all. My buddy was nothing like that goofy, over-the-top character [Val] Kilmer played.

Q. What would Morrison think of you coming back with a new singer?

He would love this. He would have been like, 'What have you guys been waiting for? I'm dead. I'm not coming back.' As a poet, he would love someone like Ian to come along and keep his words alive.

Q. Has Astbury crossed the line by mimicking Morrison? Has your band become a tribute act?

No, it hasn't. It's valid. Ian, like many other singers, has been influenced by Morrison.

Q. During the last tour you played some new songs. Are you going to put out an album?

That's the plan. ... We're hoping to get it done for next year.

Q. How long do you think this version of the Doors will last?