Though his musical skills and interests have always transcended his work with The Doors, at age 71 guitarist Robby Krieger proudly carries on his old group’s legacy. Krieger scheduled a limited run of live dates this spring to do just that.
The Doors were one of the most important and influential bands of the 1960s rock scene. While the band ended for good in 1973, the Doors’ music has remained popular, thanks in part to use in films. Lead singer Jim Morrison died in 1971. Though drummer John Densmore has written several books about his time with and after the group, he is not a regular participant in latter-day Doors reunions. Up to his death in 2013, keyboardist Ray Manzarek collaborated often with his good friend and band mate, guitarist Robby Krieger.
Krieger’s current-day activities include leading an all-star musical aggregation called Jam Kitchen; that group’s repertoire features some songs from the Doors’ catalog, but their versions are significantly different than the originals. “We do all kinds of stuff, mostly instrumental,” Krieger says. “And we do change them up quite a bit.”
But that’s contrasted by the approach Krieger is taking on his namesake band’s current tour. “On this particular tour, since it’s the 50th anniversary of the first Doors album being released, we’re going to stick to the original arrangements as much as possible,” Krieger says. “So we’ve been working pretty hard on getting everything very much like the record.”
