Celebrating 60 years since their formation, in April this year The Doors are putting out a new deluxe book, Night Divides The Day: The Doors Anthology, a whopping 344-page slab of text and photographs, many unseen, reflecting every stage of their career. Affording MOJO a sneak peek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger offer their thoughts on some of the pictures inside. “We want people to feel how it really was,” they tell Danny Eccleston...
"Jim and I took acid and brought two girls over in the middle of the night just to get back at Ray…"
From left: Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison, John Densmore at the beach house, Venice, 1966. (Credit: Bill Harvey)
Robby Krieger: “Somehow, Ray talked us all into paying for this beach house where he and his wife Dorothy lived, and that was really where we started rehearsing. Jim especially didn’t appreciate that deal too much. One time Jim and I took some acid, and we brought these two girls over there in the middle of the night, just to get back at Ray.”
John Densmore: “The rent thing used to annoy the shit out of me. But from there, we could see planes taking off at LAX. And I’d never been on a plane. I thought, God, someday, maybe, we’ll go see the world and play music.”
"Van started singing Brown Eyed Girl. Nobody had ever heard it..."
The Doors and Them, Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, June 1966. (Credit: George Rodriguez)
JD: “When we were the house band at the Whisky we would play Gloria, so when they played the club we took it out of our set out of respect. Them were our idols.”
RK: “We played a few shows with Them and the last night we talked Van into letting us come on so there were two bands on stage playing Gloria. That night, after the show, we had a party at somebody’s house near the club. Van had brought his guitar, and he just started singing Brown Eyed Girl. We’d never heard it. Nobody had ever heard it.”
"It was kind of scary..."
Jim Morrison (centre, red shirt) at his cousin’s house, 1955. (Credit: David Dutkowski)
RK: “My first impressions of Jim? Well, I remember my try out for the Doors. All the way through the rehearsal Jim seemed normal. Then when we’re just about done, this guy Phil knocks on the door. Apparently they had some dope deal that had gone bad or something. Jim was pissed off, and he grabs the guy, and takes him into the bathroom. All we heard was this yelling and screaming. It was kind of scary, you know? So that kind of impressed me (laughs).”
JD: “I remember Jim coming to a meditation session with the Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi], so you could say the Maharishi put the band together. Jim said, ‘I want to look in his eyes and see if he's got anything.’ I think he decided he had, but he didn’t come to any more meetings.”
"Thank God nobody fell down!"
Billboard promoting The Doors, January, 1967. (Credit: Bobby Klein)
RK: “Elektra Records were into this kind of promo stuff. I don’t think there’d been music advertised on a billboard in LA before Elektra did it with Love, then us.”
JD: “I think us climbing up there was a stunt for the LA Times. Thank God nobody fell down! The LA Times guy said, ‘Why are you doing this? You can't hear a billboard.’ We were replacing some ad for a deodorant or something.”
"The audience were like, What the fuck is this we’re watching?!"
The Doors, San Francisco, spring 1967. (Credit: Bobby Klein)
JD: “Trespassing? Yeah, why not? That’s us (laughs). Flying up to San Francisco to play the Fillmore, that was my first time on an airplane. There was a rivalry between San Francisco and LA. It was interesting playing there, because we come out and we play Light My Fire, and everybody had a dance. Then we’d bludgeon them with The End. I remember looking out into the audience, and there were just gaping mouths. Like, What the fuck is this we’re watching?!”
"I was always worried Jim would bash his head in..."
At the Roundhouse, London, September 6, 1968. (Credit: Ethan Russell)
JD: “It was the psychedelic West Coast sound comes to England, the Jefferson Airplane and The Doors, equal billing. McCartney was out there. It was a good gig. This will be us playing The Unknown Soldier. We developed this execution section in the middle where Robbie would aim his guitar at Jim like a gun, I would do a press roll, and Jim would slam himself down on the stage. I was always worried he would bash his head in.”
All photographs are from Night Divides The Day, created by Genesis Publications. A limited run of 2,000 numbered boxed sets – all signed by John Densmore and Robby Krieger, including the 344-page book, a 7-inch vinyl record with rare demos of Hello, I Love You and Moonlight Drive, and assorted historical memorabilia – are available to pre-order now at genesis-publications.com, and ship in January, price £385.
"It was pretty bad. Jim could have been put away..." Read the full feature with more rare and unseen pictures of The Doors in the latest issue of MOJO, on sale now. More info and to order a copy HERE.
