Like the legacy of his psychedelic rock band The Doors, keys player and key songwriter Ray Manzarek seems as strong as ever. He's been living a quieter life the past five years, having relocated to California's Napa Valley after spending his adult life in Southern California. But he's animated in interviews and very outspoken about The Doors' past and present. The present includes shows of Doors songs billed as Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors.


It's one of several names original members Manzarek and guitarist Krieger have used since starting to play live again in 2002. Various lawsuits prevented them from using The Doors, and the last name used was Riders on the Storm, after the band's famous song.

"It's a lengthy story, and it's not worth writing," Manzarek, now 70, said from his home. "We've gone back to basics. Riders on the Storm is not basics. Who is Riders on the Storm? Well, it's Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger from The Doors."

From the mid-1970s to 2002, members of The Doors didn't play live. Manzarek, Krieger and drummer John Densmore (who has not played live with the band since the relaunch) immersed themselves in solo and other musical projects. But in 2002, VH1 did a "Storytellers" episode in which the members played songs with various singers, including Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots, Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction and Ian Astbury of The Cult, who ended up touring with Riders on the Storm.

That spark kindled a new fire for Manzarek and Krieger, who went on to resurrect the live Doors show.

"We hadn't played as The Doors since '74 or '75," Manzarek said. "After Jim died, the three of us played together, then we put that to bed. Then we did (1978's) "American Prayer" together and we didn't play together until 'Storytellers.' ... That was fun."

An offer came soon after to play a 100th anniversary party for Harley-Davidson.

"Then we called John, but John didn't want to play, his ears were bad at the time," (he's better now, Manzarek said). "We talked to Ian (Astbury) and he said 'I'm there mate.' The audience loved it and it got great reviews."

Touring followed, and Manzarek said the crowds went wild. Especially in South America, where Manzarek figured The Doors gave the continent's strong Catholic faithful a chance to rebel a bit.

"It's like Doors country from Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego," Manazarek said. "What it is, it's Jim's leather pants. Then there's the whole Freudian section in "The End" -- 'father I want to kill you, mother I want to you-know-what.' It's the forbidden-fruit dream down there."

Still, Manzarek said he did worry about how fans would feel about the band going on without Morrison. After all, to many fans, Morrison embodied The Doors, and his face alone graces some of the band's album covers. Manzarek got over it, obviously, relating the situation sarcastically through an imaginary fan and musician exchange.

"Oh, don't you dare play, don't you play," Manzarek said. "OK, what should I do?"

"I'll tell you what you should have done. All three of you should have killed yourselves after Jim died. That would have been the romantic thing for us."

"To which I can only say 'f-word you.' What am I supposed to do? I love to play, wouldn't you like to hear us play? Am I supposed to be a little fly trapped in amber, then you hold it and look at it? What a joy! Robby and I have so much fun, that's why we're doing it. I don't need the f---ing money. I'm doing this for the fun of it.

"I've had older guys and girls who were around at the (early days of ) the Fillmore (concert venue) come to me and say 'Oh man, thank God you guys are out there doing this, it is bitchin' that you're still playing together," Manzarek said.

"If you want to see Jim Morrison, go to Pere Lachaise. If you want to see Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger play the Doors songs, that they f---ing wrote with a great lead singer..."

Astbury left Riders on the Storm a few years back in an amicable split to rejoin The Cult. Now on the mike is Brett Scallions, who had a couple of minor hits, including 1998's "Shimmer," with his band Fuel.

"He's great," Manzarek said of Scallions, who got the gig through auditions. "He's a lean, mean singing machine. Sometimes he wears leather, sometimes he doesn't. He's got a great voice and he moves around the stage like a panther."

The live band also includes bass player Phil Chen and drummer Ty Dennis. And they're working on new material for a CD to be released in the next year or so.

"We're not going to be playing any," Manzarek assured for the live show. "Who the hell wants to hear a new song?"

The band also is helping Dick Wolf Productions, of "Law & Order" fame, to put out an official Doors documentary, as none currently exists.

"What's great about the documentary is, guess who plays Jim Morrison?" Manzarek asked. "Jim Morrison."

Manzarek cautioned on some inaccuracies in Oliver Stone's 1991 biopic "The Doors."

"It's over the top," he said. "It's a white-powdered tequila take on The Doors, on a psychedelic band. The band is not a white-powder band, it's a psychedelic band. ... And if you don't understand that, what are you going to do? You're going to make Jim Morrison out to be a drunken crazy man. He was a poet, he was an artist, a very sensitive guy. Unfortunately, he got seduced by alcohol."

Manzarek figures The Doors would still be out there playing as the original four-piece if Morrison were alive.

"Why not?" he said. "We don't tour too much now. We'd all be gentlemen of a certain age, and we'd be out there playing every once in awhile."

Of course, Morrison can't make it, as he died in 1971 in Paris. That's the official record, anyway. There are still people who believe he faked his death.

“I don’t know what the hell he was up to,” Manzarek said. “Nobody knows. Only Pamela (his girlfriend) knows. She died of an overdose two or three years after Jim died. There’s no one who can tell the story. The funeral was four or five people. It was a sealed coffin, and in that coffin is supposedly the remains of Jim Morrison. I never saw the body. (Our) manager never saw the body, and I never asked Pamela what happened. I only saw her a couple of times in California and she was just so broken up. I just never had the heart to do that. ... Let’s put it this way. I haven’t heard from the dude in 40 years. He hasn’t called and said ‘Ray, I got a bunch of songs and I’m itching to get back on stage.’ I’m sure he’s gone. That’s the tragedy of The Doors.”

Don't know if this Album thing will ever happen. I mean since the beginning we hear it will be next year and they've been in the studio and all that.
And besides that as Ray stated, who wants to hear new songs? Maybe 1 or 2 per concert, but then it's DOors all the way please
Didn't the official website also annouce an album?

fingers crossed as always on a new album, and I love this "back to basics" approach to the band name.

Well, you can count me in that 1-2% that would love to hear it! I'd even enjoy hearing it live... I wished that they had played something off of Other Voices or Full Circle when I saw them.. "Tightrope" is great and "Ships w/ Sails" is my favorite Doors songs all together...

Agreed, shame I never have been able to be at a show to hear Eagle in the Whirlpool or Forever live, was fortunate enough to be there for Cops Talk and the only performance of An American Express at least

"We hadn't played as The Doors since '74 or '75," Manzarek said.

Is this true or is Ray off by a couple of years

Last live performance was in 1972

Yeah, I got to head Cops Talk.... it was cool to hear. I listened to Love Me Two Times with Ray from 1972 on the ol' youtube... I gotta say... I really enjoyed it.