Time is right for Doors' return, Manzarek says

By Alan Sculley
Special to The Herald
 

Ray Manzarek's first order of business in a recent interview may have been to promote the current tour of the Doors of the 21st Century, a project that finds the keyboardist playing Doors music alongside another former member of the band, guitarist Robby Krieger, with singer Ian Astbury taking on the late Jim Morrison's role as singer.

But at times, Manzarek seemed as interested in talking politics as he did the music of the Doors, the band he co-founded with Morrison in 1965 in Los Angeles.

When asked why, nearly 32 years after Morrison's death in July 1971, the band has been resurrected, Manzarek's thoughts turned to the state of the country today.

"What better time to do it than the 21st century, the dawning of the new age?" Manzarek said. "Unfortunately we are in a period that is very much like the '60s, so it's ironic that the Doors have come back in the 21st century. And here we are engaged in, not a war activity anymore, but it still seems like it, doesn't it? Guys are getting killed every day, so a soft war, rather than a hard war like Vietnam.

"And you know, people are struggling and people are out of work and we're out to spoil the environment as much as we can, so here the Doors are one more time doing the same thing they did in the '60s and having to do it again in the 21st century."

Manzarek said the three surviving members (Manzarek, Krieger and drummer John Densmore) had considered reviving the Doors at other points in the past.

This time several events conspired to take Manzarek and Krieger beyond simply considering the idea. The first factor was a tribute CD, "Stoned Immaculate: Music of the Doors," which featured a variety of current rock singers (such as Creed's Scott Stapp, Astbury and Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland) contributing vocals to a selection of Doors songs.

This CD helped spur a VH-1 "Storytellers" special in which some of the singers who appeared on the CD joined Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore in performing the material live.

Then Harley Davidson helped put the Doors of the 21st Century on the fast track.

"Harley Davidson called us about a year ago and said we're doing our 100th anniversary, 10 shows around the world and we'd like you guys to play in the show in Los Angeles," Manzarek said. "So ... Robby said, 'Let's do it.' And I said, 'I'm with you, man. Let's do it.' That was it."

There have, however, been a few bumps along the road. Densmore decided not to join in the reunion, and when Manzarek and Krieger (with Astbury, frontman of the Cult, joining the fold as singer) proceeded with their plans, Densmore sued, seeking to block usage of the name the Doors.

Densmore's claim has tentatively been denied.

Also, former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, who originally was to fill Densmore's slot, sued Manzarek and Krieger when he was fired early in the reunion. Manzarek said the dispute was settled out of court in late May (with Copeland getting an undisclosed cash settlement).

The legal wrangling has taken some of the public focus away from what really matters -- the current tour by the reunited group and plans to record a studio CD of new material.

The group has been on tour since March, and Manzarek said the live shows are not intended to recreate the Doors music as it exists on record.

"The idea here is to play Doors songs in a 21st century manner, with Ian Astbury as the lead singer instead of Jim Morrison," Manzarek said. "We're not trying to replicate, duplicate, it's not a tribute band. It's a kick ass band of its own self, its own entity."

He noted, though, that Astbury shares some similar traits with Morrison.

"Ian comes from the same psychic space that Jim Morrison occupies," Manzarek said. "He's the same kind of person without imitating Jim. You know, he's shamanistic, he's into native American spirituality. He's a Celtic Christian, and that's what Morrison was."