Ed Masley

The Republic | azcentral.com

Three days before the conversation you’re about to read took place, the city of Los Angeles honored the 50th anniversary of a self-titled album that even now remains among the most acclaimed recordings in the history of rock and roll, officially declaring Wednesday, Jan. 4, the Day of the Doors at a rainy outdoor ceremony in Venice, Calif., where it all began.

The two surviving members – lead guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore – reunited on an outdoor stage and treated the crowd to a spirited take on “L.A. Woman,” the title track to the final album they recorded with Jim Morrison before his tragic death, at 27.

It’s the kind of moment most of us would automatically assume is something of a watershed.

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To Krieger?

“Well, it doesn’t seem like 50 years,” he says. “It seems like yesterday to me. But you know, 10 years ago, it was the 40th anniversary. And then the 45th.” He laughs, then adds, “It’s just a word, right? Anniversary.”

He loves the songs, though.

“That’s why I keep playing them,” he says. “If I hated them, I definitely wouldn’t still be playing them.”

And what that means for Doors fans is that you can definitely plan on hearing Krieger blow the dust off any number of the songs that made you love him in first place when he brings the Robby Krieger Band to Tempe’s Marquee Theatre, with his son Waylon on lead vocals.

Here’s what Krieger had to say about the tour, the Doors, his other band and more.

Question: What can fans expect to hear?

Answer: Well, you’re gonna hear Doors songs, you know? We can’t play all the ones that everybody wants. But we try.

Q: How does it feel to be touring with your son on vocals?

A: It’s really the reason I’m doing it. After Ray (Manzarek) passed away, I didn’t really have the urge to go out and do Doors songs until my son started wanting to do it. And that kind of got me back into the mood.

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Q: And when was that?

A: About a year and a half ago, maybe a little longer. We got a call to go to Florida. I guess Dickey Betts couldn’t do some kind of festival down there and it was kind of a last-minute deal when they called us so I couldn’t round up any of my usual guys who sing. Then, Waylon said, ‘I’ll do it.’ So it was a little rocky, that first gig. But he’s gotten better.

Q: How does it feel to be playing those old Doors songs after all this time?

A: Well, I never stopped playing them, really. Actually, I did for probably 20 years or so. When Jim died, the three of us, we went ahead and did two more albums and toured quite a bit. And then we all decided to find a singer. But it was the hardest thing in the world to try and replace Jim Morrison, you know? So we all moved to Europe and it just wasn’t working out. Not only could we not find the right guy, but the three of us were kind of at each other’s throats. So Ray came back to L.A. and John and I stayed over in England and the Butts Band with Phil Chen on bass and a couple of other guys. From that point, I really didn’t play Doors songs for maybe 20 years. Little by little, I started putting a couple of Doors songs in the set. Then Ray and I got back together around the year 2000 and started doing the Doors stuff again. So I’ve been doing it ever since.

Q: Is that when you started the Doors of the 21st Century?

A: Right. We had three or four different singers, including Ian Astbury and Dave Brock.

Q: You mentioned trying to find a singer in the ‘70s. Is it true that you considered Iggy Pop?

A: It was talked about. But we never actually got together with him. He was good buddies with Danny Sugarman and Danny was always trying to push him.

Q: Did you have any interest in seeing what Iggy would sound like?

A: Not really. We just didn’t think it would be right.

Q: I read in Billboard that you also have a new Jam Kitchen in the works?

A: Right. For the past couple years, I’ve been jamming with these guys. Most of them have been with Frank Zappa at one time or another and we do a bunch of Zappa-type stuff. These guys are really good musicians. Arthur Barrow has been my buddy ever since the ’70s, and Tommy Mars, he was in Zappa’s band for a number of years. Chad Wackerman and when Chad can’t do it, we have a guy, Joel Taylor, who’s really great. We’ve got a guy named Larry Klimas who’s a great horn player. So this album is kind of a collaboration with all these guys who are all writing stuff together. It’s pretty fun. It’s mostly instrumental.

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Q: What do you think it is about the Doors that there’s still so much interest in what you accomplished after all these years, much of it among people who weren’t around to see you when Jim was alive?

A: I wish I knew. That would be a good answer to know (laughs) You know, you can’t beat good songs and good production. At the end of the day, those songs have to hold up. It doesn’t matter how many great-looking lead singers you have or how many movies are made of the band. If the songs aren’t there, it’s not gonna last.

Q: So do you have a favorite Doors album?

A: Not really? I think all of them have something to offer. But it’s pretty hard to beat the first Doors album. And the last.

Q: There’s a three-CD version of the first one coming out this year with a live recording from Matrix included. Have you heard the live recording?

A: Yeah. You know, it’s pretty bare-bones (laughs), but it shows you, kind of, how the songs developed from the Matrix to when they were recorded. And it’s pretty well-recorded. What’s funny about it is the audience. I bet there’s, like, 10 people in there. (laughs). Polite applause after every song.

Q: So it was recorded before you recorded that first album?

A: Yes.

Q: I thought it was interesting that the first seven songs in the live set, unless they switched the order, are the first seven songs on the album, and then it jumps to the last song, “The End.”

A: I didn’t realize it was in the same order. I think they just did that after the fact. I’ll have to ask Bruce Botnick when I see him. I didn’t think about that, but we would definitely change the set list every night so that would have been too much of a coincidence. (Laughs)

Q: That other live set just came out of an earlier show (“London Fog 1966”) with the crumpled-up set list. That’s a really cool package.

A: Oh you think so? Yeah, I like that. That was really the earliest known recordings of the band. That was before the Matrix. Unfortunately, they lost some of those tapes. There was another whole batch of songs that were recorded that night. Maybe someday they’ll find it.

Q: I thought it sounded really cool.

A: I did too. And it was really recorded. It was a film student who did it so she probably borrowed one of the recorders from UCLA.

Q: So you’ve got the Jam Kitchen album. You’re doing this tour. Do you have any other musical plans for 2017?

A: Well, I’ve got a studio out here in Glendale (Calif.) and besides recording my album, I’m producing some other bands, so hopefully, you’ll hear some of that one day. Some local bands that are pretty interesting.

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Q: What kind of stuff?

A: I don’t know what you’d call it. It’s kind of New Wave-ish. There’s a group called the Bots. They’re two brothers, very talented. And they play live, just the two of them. One’s the drummer and the other plays guitar. He does a bunch of loops with it, with the pedals and stuff, and sings. They were actually voted the group most likely to succeed in Rolling Stone a year or two ago. They were kind of a kid band then, you know, but now they’re growing up. They’re probably 18. They started out being kind of a wonderkid band when they were maybe 15 or something. But yeah, look ‘em up. And there’s another band called Dig the Kid that I’m gonna be working with.

Q: What would you say the best of touring for you is at this point?

A: Just hitting the stage (laughs) and playing for people. I hate traveling. That doesn’t do anything for me. It’s all about getting up there and playing the music, whether it’s the Doors or the Jam Kitchen or sitting in with other bands.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley.

Robby Krieger Band

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21.

Where: Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe.

Admission: $40-$50.

Details: 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.