From U.K.’s magazine “Total Guitar” - July 2004  -  page 68 - Slipknot cover
THE DOORS

The Doors without Jim Morrison?  Surely that can't be right?  As the reunited 'Doors of the 21st Century' come to the UK, TG hooks up with guitarist Robby Krieger to talk licks, legends and life after the Lizard King.  

words:  Henry Yates

In the unlikely event that rockers kept CVs, Robby Krieger's Interests & Achievements would take some beating.  This is the guitarist whose frazzled fretwork united the 60s youth in a sweet-smelling haze;  whose band still straddles rock mythology;  who wrote Light My Fire, for Christ's sake.  But that's nothing.  Without this man, an entire generation would never even have got its leg over.

"Oh yeah," laughs, Robby, "the longevity of The Doors' music is amazing.  Y'know -- lots of people have told me Light My Fire is responsible for them getting their first piece of ass.  And that's really great."  Well, er, quite.  Let's face it -- who needs an Ivor Novello gong when you've soundtracked the world's biggest outdoor humpathons?

Robby is on the phone from his LA home.  It's 10 in the morning -- so pretty early by rock standards -- but we suspect the guitarist's lazy sandpaper drawl has more to do with his lifestyle than our timing.  Eloquent and friendly, Robby chews his opinions over before voicing them, and directs our conversation towards the band's music whenever possible.

As well he might.  33 years after the death of frontman Jim Morrison, The Doors are now writing, recording and piling back into the tour bus, with a line-up that includes Robby on Gibson SG, original keyboardist Ray Manzarek and former Cult singer Ian Astbury filling Morrison's not-inconsiderable shoes.

It can't have been easy finding a successor to the Lizard King?  "Well, Ian's got a lot of Morrison-like qualities.  He actually looks like Jim too.  Every show he's getting better, and while his voice isn't exactly like Morrison's, it does have similar elements.  You know, he's got that huge range, although his phrasing is different."

Robby's motivation for reforming the band surely runs deeper than the usual cash / kudos / boredom reasons that tempt most veterans out of retirement.  Ever since Jim Morrison was found dead in Paris in July 1971, The Doors have felt like unfinished business.

Formed in 1965, when Morrison and Manzarek met Robby and drummer John Densmore at a Maharishi Transcendental Meditation class in Venice Beach, the band soon established a mythical reputation -- both for the acid-fried genius of their recordings and the decadence that inspired them.  Six studio albums cemented their legend, before Morrison's mysterious death derailed the band upon the release of their masterpiece, 1971's LA Woman. 

"What do I miss most about those early days?" Robby considers.  "Just hangin' with Jim.  Whenever he was around, there was always something going on -- it was never boring."

The Doors also took their trademark insouciance into the studio, where Robby recalls a freeform approach to songwriting:  "Sometimes I'd come up with a riff, then Jim would create the vocal -- or sometimes he'd have the whole thing already in his head.  For instance, on Hello I Love You he just came and sang the whole song, although we had no idea what music he was thinking of.  But that's the fun of songwriting -- you have so many possibilities, you've just gotta pick one." 

And what about Light My Fire's extended bridge -- did you dream it up on the spot?  "Yeah, we pretty much improvised it.  When that musical break started out it was actually much shorter, and it just grew every night.  That's the great thing about Doors' songs -- there's a lot of room for improvisation."

When talk turns to matters six-stringed, TG is staggered to find Robby doesn't consider himself a guitar legend.  "Guitar hero?  No -- I never think of myself like that.   I just want to be remembered as a musician who came up with something different."  Robby's also quick to point out he still practises ("but not with a metronome"), and doesn't reckon he's hit his peak yet:  "I think playing guitar is probably the one thing that gets better with age.  With most things, when you hit your 20s it's downhill all the way -- but not with music."

Marvelous.  So, according to TG's calculations, we should be able to nail Van Halen's Eruption by 2045 ...

He may shun the guitar hero podium himself, but Robby doesn't hesitate when we ask about his own inspiration:  "I get blown away by guitar players the whole time.  Derek Trucks sat in with my band a couple of years ago, and I was amazed.  But my all-time favourite is Wes Montgomery.  He was one guy I liked, because he never used a pick -- same as me."   And we thought it was only Mark Knopfler who went without.  "No -- he copied it from me," replies Robby with a chuckle, before tipping his hat to Keef's playing on Satisfaction ("I was just listening to it the other day...").

This is the end.  As Robby slips off to prepare for tonight's Doors show in Minneapolis, TG is left to mentally add him to the 'nicest guitar legends we have met' list and bin our plectrum.

40 years after we first heard him, Robby Krieger is still enigmatic, understated and talented beyond belief.  As praise goes, it couldn't get much higher.

The Doors of the 21st Century play London Wembley Arena, 10 July (0870 060 0870),  Manchester MEN Arena, 11 July (0870 735 5000), Glasgow SECC, 13 July (0870 040 4000)   www.bookingsdirect.com

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