The Doors’ Robby Krieger sees a future in music
Rock ‘n’ roll was still a new concept when Robby Krieger first picked up a musical instrument. As a Los Angeles kid in the 1950s, he learned to play the trumpet and piano, but then discovered a revolutionary new sound coming from the likes of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.
“That really caught my ear,” Krieger says of those early days, a full decade before earning lasting fame and influence as guitarist for the Doors. “I used to go down to the boys club — they had a jukebox there. When Bill Haley came out with ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ that was it. Everybody played that song until the record got worn out.”
Soon he was begging his parents for a guitar. Music changed his life early, says Krieger, who would be inducted with the Doors into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a rock elder statesman in 1993. He now wants to help another generation experience its own musical awakenings.
On Friday, Krieger is headlining “Break On Through,” a benefit concert at the Alex Theatre in Glendale for the Music Path, which promotes contemporary music education in high schools. He’ll be joined onstage by some famous friends, including singer John Doe of X, bassist Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots and drummer Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction.
Also on the bill are the Bots, the acclaimed Glendale-based young rock duo of brothers Mikaiah Lei and Anaiah Lei.
“Schools have been cutting their budgets and, for some reason, music is always the first thing to go,” Krieger said during an interview at his Glendale recording studio. “Music is a language just as important as English or Spanish. It’s very mathematical. It teaches you to think in mathematical progressions. It’s a valuable tool for schools that they should be teaching.
“Our idea is to teach kids to get together and play music and just have fun with it. That’s the way people end up playing music all their lives — instead of it being forced down their throats with piano lessons or traditional teaching of how to read music.”
On the wall of his studio are framed gold records and other mementos documenting his successes with the Doors, including the original gold award for the band’s “Touch Me” single. Nearby is an original Joni Mitchell painting of Neil Young, across the hall from a framed collection of receipts signed by Doors singer Jim Morrison in 1971.
“Those are Jim’s receipts from when he was in France,” Krieger says. Morrison never returned. He died in Paris from a drug overdose.
Krieger bought this building in Glendale about four years ago and, with partner and sound engineer Michael Dumas, loaded it up with vintage analog sound equipment. It is Krieger’s first proper studio, which he’s making available to established players as an alternative to the trend toward digital home recording.
“I figured one of these days people are going to get sick of that and want to record in a real place,” Krieger said, standing amid a room full of guitars accumulated over the decades. “I wish I had kept more of my old gear. You can still find it on eBay. In those days, nobody thought of keeping stuff — ‘Maybe this will be valuable someday.’ Never even thought about it. I threw so much junk away.”
Krieger continues to perform and tour with two separate bands — one that plays mostly Doors songs, with vocals by his son Waylon Krieger; and another called Robby Krieger’s Jam Kitchen that plays jazz fusion. His last solo album, 2011’s “Singularity,” was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category.
He’s working on a new solo album, but at the Alex his set list will be dominated by Doors songs. Krieger wrote or co-wrote some of the band’s most famous hits, including “Light My Fire” and “Love Her Madly.” Next year will mark 50 years since the release of the band’s 1967 debut album, “The Doors.”
Krieger and the Doors’ only other surviving member, drummer John Densmore, are discussing various projects and events to mark the occasion. The band’s last piece of new music was the 2012 track “Breakn’ a Sweat,” recorded in collaboration with electronic artist Skrillex. Krieger has since jammed with Skrillex onstage, but he’s less impressed with a lot of other digital music.
Skrillex, he notes, is a DJ and producer who can also play guitar. “The problem with today’s music is that kids don’t really bother to learn instruments,” Krieger says. “Anybody can make music on a computer. And that’s how it sounds, unfortunately. I’m waiting for the next big thing to come out — something that is new and different.”
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What: “Break On Through,” with Robby Krieger and Friends
When: Friday, 8 p.m.
Where: Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale
Tickets: $20 to $50; $125 VIP Pre-Show with meet-and-greet
More info: (818) 243-2539, www.alextheatre.org
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Steve Appleford, steve.appleford@latimes.com
Twitter: @SteveAppleford
