Robby Krieger (1946), guitarist of the illustrious American rock band the Doors (1965 – 1971), shifts his musical course on his latest album. The Soul Savages’ gospel and soul influences enrich his guitar and sitar playing and give wings to the still pickless Krieger. In 2021, the guitarist completed his memoir in which he soberingly dismisses the many mythical tales circulating about the Doors and death-obsessed singer Jim Morrison. (1943 – 1971). We speak to Krieger via a zoom link. His wife Lynn with whom he has been with since the 1960s, is present in the background.
How did your collaboration with the Soul Savages begin?
Krieger: ‘During the pandemic, I invited these musicians, who live near my Love Street Studio in Glendale, California, to come and jam. We liked it so much that we decided to record some songs.’
Did the Soul Savages already exist as a band?
‘No, we came up with that name on the spot. Keyboardist Ed Roth, bassist Kevin Brandon and drummer Franklin Vanderbilt learned to play at church. They add a warm gospel feel to my music. As musicians, they have more than earned their spurs with artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, James Brown and Michael Jackson.’
Meanwhile, drummer Franklin Vanderbilt has also joined the conversation. What is it like for him to perform with a legendary guitarist like Krieger?
Vanderbilt: ‘It’s a special experience for all of us. We feel that Robby’s playing has become richer and more profound over the years.’
How well did you know Krieger’s music before working with him?
‘I had an uncle who regularly played ‘Riders On The Storm’ by the Doors. I associated that song with a certain smell at his house, which in retrospect must have been the smell of cannabis.’
Why did you choose to play instrumental music?
Krieger: ‘We want to let the music speak for itself, which gives us more freedom. Besides, it is my wish to have an instrumental hit someday.’
Not only soul and gospel make a mark on this album, the influence of Indian music is unmistakable: Krieger plays an electric sitar and Indian tablas can be heard as well. Are the Soul Savages interested in eastern music?
Krieger: ‘The tablas are played by guest musician Rock Deadrick. Indian music is my personal fascination. One of my favourite albums is Ravi Shankar Live In London. I started as a flamenco guitarist, then Ravi Shankar sparked my interest in the music and culture from India.’
Are you into meditation as well?
‘Sure, I was doing that even before I was in the Doors. In fact, Doors drummer John Densmore, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek and I bumped into each other at a meeting of the Students’ International Meditation Society at the Maharishi in Los Angeles. I still meditate, it’s a good way for me to unwind.’
Is it a coincidence that the sound of the keys on the latest album is very reminiscent of the sound of Ray Manzarek’s keyboard at the time of the Doors?
‘That’s a coincidence, but a wonderful coincidence.’
Can you remember the Doors’ only performance in the Netherlands at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on 14 September 1968?
‘Absolutely. Jim Morrison had eaten a piece of hash that afternoon which didn’t go down well. Before we went on stage, he was taken away by an ambulance. Ray and I then had to do the vocal parts. Beforehand, we asked the audience if they wanted their money back or if we would do it without Jim. Fortunately, everyone wanted the gig to go on. The audience was even enthusiastic afterwards. The Dutch audience was apparently mainly focused on the music and not so much on the spectacle around it, which did us good. Although I was glad that Jim joined us again at the next performance in Copenhagen.’
Besides Morrison, you were one of the Doors’ lyricists (the royalties of ‘Light My Fire’ assure Krieger of a carefree old age). The lyrics of ‘Tell All The People’ were much debated at the time, especially the lines: ‘See me growing / get your guns’. To whom were your guns aimed at?
‘That excerpt was about the growing protest generation that opposed the then US government because of the war in Vietnam. But, I didn’t take my lyrics that seriously, mind you. I was usually more about the sound of the words than the meaning. When I wrote a song, I almost always started with the music.’
In his memoir Set the Night On Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors, co-written with author Jeff Alulis, Krieger clearly distances himself from previous attempts at Doors historiography. The two books by drummer John Densmore were written out of bitterness, says Krieger. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek, in his book Light My Fire, My Life With The Doors (1999), unnecessarily inflamed the mythical fire around Morrison, according to Krieger. Manzarek even helped to spread the story that Morrison would have been still alive. However, Krieger particularly cracks down on Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman’s sensational Doors biography No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) and Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors which was based on it. ‘I hope that when people listen to the Doors a few decades from now, they will have forgotten all the nonsense that has been said about the group and that the power of the music will have remained,’ Krieger writes in the book he worked on for some 20 years. The reader can only conclude that Morrison would have benefited more from a good psychiatrist than from the medication he scratched up every day.
The Doors’ relatively short-lived success was never matched again. Krieger and Manzarak played in a Doors tribute band for a while and argued with Densmore over its name. After Manzarek’s death in 2013, Krieger and Densmore buried the hatchet. Krieger also played in his own Robby Krieger band in which his only son Waylon sang.
Besides playing guitar, Krieger is currently into visual art. His colourful paintings with titles like ‘Evolution’ and ‘The Ritual Begins At Sundown’ exude the same improvised zest for life as his music. Prints of these works can be ordered on the website artforacause.net. Proceeds will go to a charity of your choice.
The cover of your latest album features the image of the painting ‘Parrot Explosion’. How long have you been involved in visual art?
‘My mother used to paint and I learnt it from her. Thirty years ago, I picked it up again and I enjoy doing it. Recently, I painted a series of Gibson guitars, which will be online soon.’
Will Robby Krieger and the Soul Savages play at one of the European festivals in the foreseeable future?
‘If they pay us a good price, we’ll come!’
Robby Krieger & The Soul Savages
Robby Krieger – Players Club
Robby Krieger & Jeff Alulis – Set the Night On Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors. Bay Back Books 432 blz. €14,99 (Paperback)
Picture Robby Krieger: Jill Jarrett