{"id":1712,"date":"2020-08-13T23:49:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T23:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeviglione.com\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2020-08-13T23:49:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T23:49:59","slug":"robby-krieger-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/?p=1712","title":{"rendered":"Robby Krieger Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

https:\/\/ffanzeen.blogspot.com\/2015\/06\/robby-krieger-beyond-doors-1983.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ROBBY KRIEGER: Beyond the Doors [1983 Interview]
Text by Joe Viglione and Eric Brown \/ FFanzeen, 1983
Images from the Internet
www.robbykrieger.com https:\/\/ffanzeen.blogspot.com\/2015\/06\/robby-krieger-beyond-doors-1983.html


This interview was originally published in FFanzeen, issue #11, dated 1983. It was written by Boston-based musician, music historian (and so much more) Joe Viglione and Eric Brown. \u2013 RBF, 2015




Robby Krieger, guitarist \/ song-writer for the Doors, was, and still is, one of the most influential and creative guitarists in rock\u2019n\u2019roll.


The 1982 Robby is a mellower, wizened musician, not content to stay within the safe boundaries of commercial pop which he helped establish, and which in 1982 \u2013 more than 12 years later \u2013 is suddenly chic and very popular.


In the heat of the Doors revival, Robby Krieger has emerged with a hot band, a surprisingly different direction for those unfamiliar with his post-Morrison works, and a new album on Passport Records, entitled Versions.


We caught Robby\u2019s soundcheck and show at the Channel Club in Boston, on October 23, 1982, and again at the Peppermint Lounge in New York, on the 28th. Along with some instrumental originals, jazzy versions of Doors songs like \u201cCrystal Ship\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019re Lost Little Girl,\u201d there were rocking versions of \u201cLove Me Two Times\u201d and \u201cRoadhouse Blues.\u201d At the Peppermint Lounge, Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult jumped onstage for \u201cRoadhouse\u201d and got the place jumping with his earthy vocals. Thankfully, someone at the Peppermint had the good sense to videotape the night.


Despite the zillion interviews (in fact, MTV bumped this interview up a day and a half) and hectic schedule (like speaking at the College Media Brainstorm 2 Convention at the Sheraton up the street); and being, along with David Johansen, the most interesting guest at that otherwise boring affair, Robby proved to be one of the more easygoing and polite musicians around. Despite that, I was a nervous wreck conducting this interview: talent and legend are hard to take in one sitting.


Special thanks to Robby\u2019s manager, Richard Linnell, for making this possible.


– Joe Viglione, 1983




FFanzeen(* = Joe Viglione): When did you decide to put a new band together and to tour?
Robby Krieger: Well, after I finished the album, I decided to \u2013 to get the album going. I\u2019d get out and tour. That was about a year ago, I guess. It took a while to find the right guys for the band.


FF*: How long did it take to conceive Versions and put it out?
Robby: To do the whole thing, about a year. I took my time doing it. I had a bunch of other stuff I was doing at the time.


FF*: I see you\u2019re still playing slide guitar onstage.
Robby: Not a lot of slide. I play as much as I can. Unfortunately, my slide guitar broke that night [at the Peppermint Lounge, October 28 \u2013 JV] or it was broken. The neck started to get a crack on it.


FFanzeen(# = Eric Brown): That\u2019s the black Les Paul?
Robby: Yeah, the Les Paul. It\u2019s too bad. It held up last night. I hope it\u2019ll be okay for the rest of the tour, but there\u2019s a definite crack in it.


FF*: Why did you produce Versions by yourself?
Robby: If I could\u2019ve gotten someone like Tom Dowd [d. 2002 \u2013 RBF, 2015] or somebody, I would\u2019ve gone ahead with that, but I\u2019d rather not do it myself \u2018cause it\u2019s a lot of work and it\u2019s \u2013 you don\u2019t get the perspective that you really need when you do your own thing. But I\u2019m happy with the way it came out.


FF*: How do you choose your guitars? Why a Les Paul?
Robby: Les Paul I use for slide and the reason I chose that is \u2018cause it\u2019s real heavy; it\u2019s the oldest one they made, which is a \u201954, I think. It\u2019s like a big tree. It\u2019s a Black Beauty. The neck is like a tree trunk. For regular playing, I use the 355 guitar, which is a Gibson. And it\u2019s a mono 355; most of those are stereo. For some reason I found this mono and they\u2019re a little heavier than the 335, so\u2026


FF*: What do you use for effects?
Robby: For effects I\u2019ve got a Chorus, a Digital Delay, Analog Delay, a Distortion, and a Slow Gear, which makes it sound like you\u2019re using a volume pedal; kinds of cuts off the first part of the note.


FF#: Yeah, I kind of noticed that.
FF*: What kind of amps?
Robby: Twin reverbs, pretty much. I was going to try this Acoustic. They\u2019ve got a new amp out that\u2019s comparable to a twin reverb, but I couldn\u2019t get it working right before the tour.


FF*: How long do you see this band staying together? Another LP?
Robby: It\u2019s hard to say. It\u2019s going real good right now. It could last for a long time.


FF*: You\u2019ll be planning another tour?
Robby: Well, when we get back to L.A., we\u2019re going to start going out again for the rest of the year.


FF*: How did you find your manager?
Robby: Well, I\u2019ve known Rich Linnell for a long time. He went to school with my brother. He ended up promoting some Doors concerts when the Doors were playing. I\u2019ve just known him for a long time.


FF*: What is his function as a manager? And what do you see as the role of a manager for Robby Krieger?
Robby: He\u2019s got to work with the record company, with tours, promoters, agents \u2013 he\u2019s the buffer between me and all these types of people. Plus he has to be creative in thinking of different ways to get me working.




FF*: How about the creative moment with Robby? Do you have to put yourself in the right frame of mind to create a great song, especially songs like the old Doors hits of which you wrote a major portion?
Robby: You can\u2019t put yourself in a mood. It\u2019s pretty hard, unless you have the right drugs [laughs], but usually it doesn\u2019t happen that way. You have to be in the mood.


FF*: Do you turn the recorder on?
Robby: Usually I don\u2019t \u2018cause I figure anything that\u2019s good enough to be a song I\u2019ll remember when I play it. Although I think I have forgotten a lot of good songs so I have started using a recorder lately.


FF*: What do you think of the stage of the art of recording today? Do you have the same feeling that you did about production when you approached a record in the \u201860s as you do now?
Robby: It hasn\u2019t really changed that much. The tape recorders are basically the same. I haven\u2019t tried the digital stuff yet. That\u2019s more gimmicks now, but you can only use them in certain instances, I think. In fact, I recorded this album 16-track, which I hadn\u2019t \u2013 I\u2019ve always been using 24 for years. Everybody has but \u2013 I figured I could get better sound by going with a 16-track with two-inch tape because you have more space on each track. Since I wasn\u2019t having vocals I know I wouldn\u2019t need that many tracks anyway. We did it on an Otari 16-track machine.


FF*: You produced the Tan, a Californian band?
Robby: They\u2019re from Santa Barbara, actually. They\u2019re sort of like a New Wave surf band. They\u2019re really good.


FF*: Did you see them in a club or did they approach you?
Robby: \u2026I played with \u2013 I had this group, Red Shift, in L.A., for a while, and we played opposite them on a bill in Santa Barbara one time. It turned out my friend was managing them, so I happened to get involved with them.


FF*: I\u2019ve got a couple of albums here that you might remember [two Butts Band LPs on Blue Thumb Records \u2013 JV]
Robby: A-ha!


FF*: I remember you guys played the Performance Center in Harvard Square, Cambridge (MA). It no longer exists; it\u2019s now a shopping mall.
Robby: Really, that\u2019s too bad.


FF*: How long did the Butts Band last? I know there were two different albums.
Robby: Well, it lasted for two albums; two or three years. As you said, there were two different bands, one with some English guys. John Densmore [The Doors drummer] and myself were the nucleus of the group. Then we decided that was too hard to keep together so we went ahead and formed an American version. And we got caught up in record company bullshit. Blue Thumb got sold to U.A. or something like that, and we just sort of got lost in the shuffle over there. It\u2019s too bad; we had some pretty good songs on both those albums.


FF*: I really like the Other Voices and Full Circle albums by the [post-Morrison] Doors. What are your feelings on that material?
Robby: I think there\u2019s some good stuff on those albums. I think we probably shouldn\u2019t have come out so soon after Jim\u2019s death with those. Maybe the public wasn\u2019t ready for it yet or \u2013 probably should\u2019ve waited about five years or so.




FF*: Maybe, but you were great on the Boston Common in the 1972 Sunset Series [August 17 \u2013 JV].
Robby: Oh, yeah.


FF*: That was just wonderful
Robby: Yeah, when we were in Boston, I walked through that place.


FF#: I remember reading somewhere that when you first started, you used to play Flamenco. When did you get involved with jazz?
Robby: Well, I always liked jazz, so I\u2019d say around \u201974 or \u20185. I got real interested in playing jazz. I met a bunch of jazzer-type guys in L.A., and started learning about it. I didn\u2019t really know enough about playing guitar to play jazz when I started out, \u2018cause I was only \u2013 I started when I was only 16. And when the Doors hit, I was like 19, so I just was playing the Doors\u2019 stuff for a couple of years; about five years there. But then I deicide I wanted to get into it.


FF#: That\u2019s great. On your earlier albums, you could hear the influence. And now it\u2019s really blossomed out. I watched you on TV in Boston, 5 All Night Live [the night previous to the Channel gig on October 23 \u2013 JV]. I didn\u2019t know what to expect from you, but liking jazz fusion myself, it was a pleasant surprise.
Robby: I get kind of tired of it after a while, y\u2019know. Just people soloing for hours and stuff, but I think \u2013 my approach is being a rock\u2019n\u2019roll player going into jazz, which not many people do. Most of your fusion players are like jazz guys, and they try to play rock\u2019n\u2019roll, and it doesn\u2019t come off too great a lot of times.


FF#: There\u2019s a difference. You use real heavy rock\u2019n\u2019roll rhythms under the melodic stuff.
Robby: Right.


FF#: The way you use the harmonies with the two guitars, it\u2019s very \u2013
Robby: Yeah, Barton [Averre, former guitarist with the Knack \u2013 JV], our other guitar player, he can play. Anything you tell him to play, he can play.


FF#: You guys seem to work with a lot of communication. The harmonies are real different. The off meds and the off notes are really \u2013 you end up on certain notes, not harmonies. It sounds terrific.
Robby: We use a lot of sixths in our harmonies.


FF*: It seems like you\u2019re heading in a direction started with Full Circle. It was starting to get jazzier.
Robby: Hmm, a little bit, I guess.


FF*: With songs like \u201cMosquito.\u201d
Robby: \u201cMosquito,\u201d that\u2019s true. You know that \u201cMosquito\u201d was a giant hit in Europe.


FF*: Really.
Robby: Yeah, and South America, \u2018cause I guess it was, y\u2019know \u2013 I spoke Spanish a little bit in there, and people loved that.


FF*: You spoke Spanish in the song?
Robby: Yeah: \u201cno mes moleste mosquite.\u201d


FF*: \u201cGet Up and Dance\u201d [Full Circle] was a minor hit in Boston, and \u201cTightrope Ride\u201d [Other Voices] was a big hit.
Robby: yeah, \u201cTightrope Ride\u201d was good. Yeah, it\u2019s too bad it didn\u2019t really \u2013 there were some good songs on that. \u201cPiano Bird\u201d also was a good kind of jazzy one. \u201cPiano Bird\u201d has two basses on it [The LP credits only one, to Carole King\u2019s ex-husband, Charles Larkey \u2013 JV]. It has one played by Willie Ruff \u2013 who\u2019s like a jazzy guy. He played the upper register \u2013 and this Wolfgang Metz played the lower bass.


FF#: Wolfgang!
FF*: [To Eric] Yeah, Wolfgang, he\u2019s great. He used to play with Gabor Zabo. He\u2019s this little German guy with this really thick accent.
Robby: I liked the souped up version that that (the) Knack song, \u201cMy Sharona.\u201d


FF*: [To Robby] It was a blessing for you that the Knack broke up.
Robby: Yeah, really [laughs]. Well, I knew Bruce Gary [d. 2006 \u2013 RBF, 2015], the drummer, before the Knack ever started, in L.A. So it was kind of natural when they broke up. I\u2019m sure some super group will probably snap him up one of these days.


FF*: Someone like ASIA. Hey, thanks a lot for your time, Robby, and good luck.
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