The Doors drummer recalls Jim Morrison’s ‘psychotic’ behavior in book; knowing

In ‘Estadão’, John Densmore recalls the stories of the legendary band, of classics such as ‘Riders On Storm’, the title of the musician’s autobiography, recently published in Portuguese by Belas Letras

John Densmore He was a rider in the rock n’ roll storm, responsible for controlling the pace of one of the most influential bands in the history of the genre.

As a drummer for The doorshelped design the dark, powerful sound responsible for driving the poetry of Jim Morrisonan erratic figure whose tragic death at the age of 27 expanded his legend and elevated the group’s catalogue to near-mythological status.

If the excellence demonstrated with the chopsticks in classics such as end AND light My FireDensmore became a famous writer. He wrote articles for a number of newspapers – from The Guardian to the Los Angeles Times – and became a best-selling author thanks to his memoir Knights in the Stormrecently launched in Brazil by Beautiful Letters.

And how much of your book influenced Oliver Stone for the 1991 film?

I gave Oliver the final draft of my book, before it was published, and I said, “You have to thank me in the credits.” Oliver liked my book so much that he used about 10% of it. [no roteiro]. I think you need 13% for a screenplay credit. And there was already a screenwriter on the project before Oliver came on board. I knew I couldn’t get a writer’s credit, but I really wanted a big thank you in the credits. So I asked Oliver for a credit, and he was very upset. But when he wrote the credits, maybe at my insistence, he put “Thanks to the book by John Densmore” right after it. [o crédito do] Val Kilmer. I mean, that was a big, big credit. The book came out a few months ago and it got good reviews. But I have to say the movie came out with that credit and a week later the book became a bestseller. New York Times.

Do you like the movie?

You know, you take a six-year career, compress it into a few hours, and blow it up to the size of a two-story building. That’s not reality. So I see the movie as an impressionist painting, and a really beautiful one. I think Val Kilmer should have been nominated for an Oscar. The only thing that bothered me a little bit was that it wasn’t so much about the ’60s, but more about the “tortured artist” type of thing, which is a valid story, you know? But then there was a documentary narrated by Johnny Depp called When you’re weird (2009) and it was more of the 60s So, I think between those two, the documentary really represents the band.

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There’s a curious phrase of yours in the book: ‘Nietzsche killed Jim Morrison’, what did you mean by that?

Wait, did I say that? (laughs)… It was emotional… I mean, I miss this great lyricist who was difficult because he had such self-destructive tendencies. But I loved him so much for his art. And so Nietzsche was this kind of dark philosopher and so I said, “Oh, Nietzsche killed Jim,” just out of frustration and sadness at losing him.

And it took you about three years to pay your respects at Jim’s grave… Why?

So this was a time when there were substance abuse treatment clinics like AA but they weren’t popular. Nobody knew about them. Emminemanother kind of angry but very creative artist like Jim, and Eric Claptonfor example, he had not yet followed this path [de tratamento]. This was right at the beginning. As Jim’s self-destruction increased, I knew there was “an elephant in the room and there was elephant shit everywhere.” Nobody talked about it because Jim was our breadwinner. I didn’t care if we didn’t make another album or two. So to answer your question, there was this resentment and anger, which I would describe as tough love. It took me a few years to really start to regret it and realize, “Oh my God, I had the opportunity to make music with someone who’s up there.” [Bob] Dylan and I were lucky enough to be with him.’ It’s been a bumpy ride, Gabriel. Pretty tough.

There are a lot of crazy stories in the book, but do you mind sharing with Jim the scariest moment you’ve ever experienced?

You’re trying to get to the ground, right?

Just a little…

Well, I initially took Jim to his friend Rosanna’s house, and then I came back later to pick him up, and there was a bunch of marijuana on the table and he was playing with a kitchen knife. I thought, ‘Oh shit, what’s going on here? Our singer is psychotic.’ Luckily he didn’t do anything with that knife.

What have been your best experiences with other musicians outside of The Doors?

Thanks for this question. I have three autobiographies and one of them is called The Seekers: Encounters with Extraordinary Musicians [‘Os Buscadores, Encontros com Músicos Notáveis’, em tradução livre]. Maybe thanks to you I can get a Portuguese translation. I would be very happy. The central concept of this book is that each chapter is about an artist who inspired me. Patti Smith, Elvin Jones, John Coltrane’s drummer, Ravi Shankar, Bob Marley. It just has a little bit of everything. I have a very eclectic background, a melting pot of mixes that made me the artist I am. I was in Jamaica before reggae came to the States. Robby and I studied at Ravi Shankar’s Indian School of Music. Ray and I loved jazz. I remember when we were recording Los Angeles Woman (1970) and we adopted Miles Davis’ philosophy of “fuck mistakes”, contrary to what The soft parade (1969), where we use strings, brass and try to create a Sergeant Pepper’s [obra-prima dos Beatles, de 1967].

Finally, tell us a little about the process of creating the drums for the song “Riders On The Storm”, which is the title of the book.

Well, we were jamming in our rehearsal room and we played this really lame hillbilly song, Ghost Knights In The Sky. And then it kind of morphed into Knights in the Storm. I love the sound of the cymbals on the album All the Blues by Miles Davis. Jimmy Cobb was the drummer and I was looking for that sound for this track. A kind of melancholic, atmospheric sound. And we had a lot of fun doing Dio, because we had these tape recorders with the sound of thunder, that we could put wherever we wanted, and it was always raining. So after Jim sang a verse, or Ray did a solo, we could emphasize it. It was a lot of fun.

Knights in the Storm – My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors

• Author: John Densmore
• Translation: Paul Alves
• Publishing house: Beautiful Letters (416 pages; R$84.17)

Source: Terra

Earl

Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.