Versterker Robby Krieger [Archief]

E-J

12 november 2007, 21:23

Robby Krieger, mooie gitarist ... :) Prachtband ook, die The Doors.

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2005:

GL: What influenced you and Ray to get together with Ian Astbury and start performing classic Doors songs again?
RK: We taped a Vh1 Storytellers special back in early 2001, and we had a bunch of different singers join us, like Scott Stapp from Creed, Scott Weiland, Pat Monahan from Train, Perry Farrell and Ian. After the show, Ian expressed a desire to do the reunion. All the other singers had their own deals going, but Ian was getting tired of singing with the Cult. It was perfect timing, plus he was great. He was one of the better singers on that show. For years Ian was a friend of Danny Sugarman, who was our manager. The two of them had always plotted to get us together. Ian came to some shows I did with the Robby Krieger Band and sat in with us. It was the logical conclusion to choose him.
GL: You and Ray have worked together for a while on a few collaborations, such as the tracks you both recorded for your Versions album in 1983. What took you until 2002 to revisit the Doors?
RK: It was just the right time. I had my own band and Ray was doing things with his poet friends. More and more we had people asking when we were going to get together and do something. We figured we’d waited long enough, especially because it seemed like a lot of people wanted to see us do it. Then we got an offer from Harley-Davidson to play at their 100th Anniversary celebration in Los Angeles. We thought that would be a good way to start the reunion.
GL: The band went into the studio in May 2005. How are things progressing on new material?
RK: We did some work at Ocean way with producer Ken Scott. We recorded maybe five or six songs and they turned out pretty good. The thing is we’ve got to make sure that they’re all incredible because it’s going to be compared to the Doors, of course. If it’s not incredible people will complain, so we’ve got to do our best. We’re taking our time with it, and we won’t put out an album until we’ve completed something that lives up to what we’ve previously done as the Doors.
GL: The band debuted a new song, “Eagle in a Whirlpool,” in July. What is that song about?
RK: Michael McClure wrote the words to that song. It’s about America. You’ll have to ask Michael what it’s really about because it’s pretty esoteric. It’s like a lot of other Doors songs where you’re not really sure what the hell it means and you have to make your own judgments.
GL: With the Robby Krieger Band you usually played a Gibson ES-355, but I noticed that you’re playing Gibson SG guitars again, just like you used with the Doors.
RK: My road manager Marco Moir talked me into trying the old SG again. He found a ’67 SG in a pawnshop and I really liked it. I could get a pretty similar sound to the 355 with it. Plus, I think people like to see you play the guitar that you used to play in the old days. It worked out pretty good. I have three SGs now. I found an old SG Special with P-90 pickups in my closet. I bought it about 20 years ago for 100 bucks, and it was in new condition. I just put it away and forgot about it. When the band got back together, I was looking through my guitars and found that thing. It sounded incredibly sweet for slide, so that’s what I’m using it for. I’m also playing a flamenco-style Renaissance Series guitar that Rick Turner made for me. I use it for “Spanish Caravan.”
GL: Are you still using a Fender Twin Reverb amp like you did in the Sixties?
RK: I’m using a Fender Blues DeVille with 4x10 speakers. I play through two of them in stereo.
GL: When the Doors performed live, Ray played the bass lines on a keyboard. On this tour you guys are playing with a bassist. What influenced that decision?
RK: Ray wanted to have both his hands available to play other things. In reality, the piano bass added to the Doors sound by making Ray play very hypnotically because he kind of had to be on automatic pilot with his bass lines. That made the whole band sound more hypnotic as well. We make sure that Phil Chen plays that way on the bass guitar, playing the exact same patterns that Ray did.
GL: How do you feel about being forced to stop using the name Doors of the 21st Century?
RK: It’s ridiculous, but I don’t think that fans really care what the name is at this point. Everybody knows who is playing with the band and who is not. Obviously Jim Morrison is not going to be there. Most people realize that. Maybe there’s one person in the audience who might think otherwise, but that’s not our fault. This whole legal mess has been really stupid. A lot of time was wasted and a lot of feelings were hurt. I don’t mind not calling the band the Doors, but I don’t see what’s wrong about putting the word “doors” somewhere in the name. I think that the fans know what’s going on and they know who they’re going to see onstage when they come to see us play.
GL: You and Ray have often performed “The End” with your own bands, but you haven’t performed it yet with Riders on the Storm. Why not?
RK: Ray felt that it was Jim’s song, that it was personal and that we should probably stay away from it. I’ve played it a couple times with my band, and it always turned out great. We also played it on the Vh1 special with Travis Meeks singing it, who also recorded a version of it for the Stoned Immaculate tribute album. John Densmore and I played on that recording along with Rob Wasserman on bass, and we thought it turned out really good. I wish we could play it. I’m sure we will at one point.
GL: What other songs does the band shy away from playing?
RK: I’ve always wanted to perform “Soft Parade” but I think ray is reticent to do it because he’s too lazy to learn how to play. [laughs] The other guys and I have already worked on it, but now we just have to convince Ray.
GL: The music of the Doors still sounds as fresh as it did when it came out during the late Sixties and early Seventies.
RK: I think you’re right. It’s amazing that people are still listening and the music still seems to work. We get a lot of young people at our shows. Our audiences are very mixed, but we get a lot of younger people there, especially when we’re not playing 21-and-over venues.
GL: Do you find it ironic that the band is back and the U.S. is once again at war on foreign soil, just like we were in the late Sixties?
RK: We just try to put some good music out there and encourage people to make love, not war. I saw this show on television the other night about some musicians in Afghanistan and those guys are so happy now that they’re able to write songs about the government or whatever they want to. They’ve been stifled for so long over there. It’s something we all take for granted. Music is one of the most pure forms of expression known to man, and no one should be allowed to stop people from making music.

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