John Densmore Talks 60 Years Of The Doors As Told In ‘Night Divides The Day’ Book

John Densmore, the legendary drummer for the Doors, recalls coming across a classic rock station one night that bragged about a contest on who currently has the most money in rock and roll. It made Densmore think about his band’s early years.

“In the ‘60s for a few years there — ’65 to ’67 — we were making music with not the primary motive of getting rich,” he says. “We wanted to say something about society and make a bunch of money if we could?’

“For example,” he later says, “when we had our first giant concert riot where people went crazy, [our singer Jim Morrison] went backstage after and said, ‘Wow, that was great. All right, let’s go to an island and start over.’ In other words, his artistic spirit was so pure, [it] practically killed him.”

Sixty years after the band formed in Los Angeles — and nearly 54 years since the death of Morrison — the Doors’ legacy and influence continue through reissues of their classic albums, previously unreleased live recordings, documentaries and memoirs by the band members. Coinciding with the band’s 60th anniversary this year, Genesis Publications recently released the book Night Divides the Day: The Doors Anthology, a dazzling and lavish visual history of the band featuring new interviews with surviving members Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger and archival commentary from the late Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek.

Among the book’s highlights are rare and previously unseen photos; memorabilia such as ticket stubs, show posters and Elektra Records publicity material; and a complete discography and tour history. In between ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic’s foreword and Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s afterword is guest commentary from Patti Smith, Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr, Van Morrison, Nile Rodgers, Nancy Sinatra and others.

“They’re just beautiful,” Densmore says of Genesis Publications’ previous music titles. “I was aware of Genesis. I had been given a couple of the books and was duly impressed. And then this came around, and, of course, we would do this. It’s the highest quality you can get.”

The new book provides another opportunity for Densmore to revisit his time with the band, which he previously addressed in his three books, including Riders on the Storm. His involvement in the Doors began in 1965 when he and his friend Krieger first met Manzarek at a transcendental meditation course.

“Robby and I were friends in high school,” says Densmore, “and we were experimenting with then-legal psychedelics, but thought, ‘Well, you know there’s always danger around knowledge.’ So meditation would be a less shattering route. We went to this meditation, and there was Ray saying, ‘I hear you’re a drummer.’

“I always wanted to play music,” he continues. “I never thought I’d make a living at it, but I loved jamming. So I went to Ray’s garage, and there was Jim, who’d never sung. I thought, ‘He’s not the next Mick Jagger.’ But Ray handed me [Jim’s] lyrics: ‘You know, the day destroys the night/Night divides the day/Tried to run, tried to hide/Break on through to the other side.’ Wow, that’s percussive. I thought I’d follow this lead for a while. I’m still following it.”

Morrison’s reputation as a charismatic and extroverted performer has since become legend, but at the time of the band’s formation, he was very shy. “So shy,” adds Densmore, “that he wouldn’t even sing. He didn’t have that deep baritone in the garage. He never sang, so he was shy. And over time, he turned into the Lizard King.”

Morrison, Manzarek and Densmore were members of the group Rick and the Ravens, along with Manzarek’s two brothers. “The chemistry between me and Ray was immediate because, eventually, his left hand became the bass player,” Densmore recalls. “But the chemistry with his two brothers wasn’t there. They didn’t realize [Jim’s] lyrics are so brilliant. What a concept — poetry and rock and roll.

“So they went by the wayside and I brought Robby. I asked him to play bottleneck, which had not been done electrically. Robby did it at his audition, and Ray and Jim wanted it on every song, which meant he was in the band. That was when the chemistry hit. The four Doors were born.”

As chronicled in the new book, the Doors’ early performances in Los Angeles, first at the London Fog and then later at the Whisky a Go Go, were crucial to the band’s development and led to their signing with Elektra Records in 1966.

“We rehearsed for about a year,” Densmore says, “but until you stand up in front of people, you haven’t upped the ante,” he says. “It makes you really listen to each other, which is the key to an ensemble becoming more than its parts. [At] the London Fog, Jim was so nervous. At least he was singing now. He would face us like in the rehearsal. And then slowly at the Whisky, he started to turn around and look at the audience and realize he had some power and developed.”

Released in 1967, the group’s classic self-titled album was a major critical and commercial success thanks to such memorable songs as “Break on Through,” “Soul Kitchen,” the haunting epic “The End” and their band’s first number one hit “Light My Fire.” Densmore considers that record and 1971’s L.A. Woman as his favorites. “The two of them are sort of like bookends to our career,” he says. “I like them all. Strange Days was fun. The studio became the fifth Door, in a way.”

Musically and lyrically, the Doors were the moody opposite of the hippie, peace-and-love artists coming out of Los Angeles and San Francisco during the mid to late 1960s. “Jim’s lyrics were darker,” says Densmore. “It was kind of like we were the underbelly of the undeclared Vietnam War. And so at first, I thought, ‘This is dark.’ But now I’m very grateful because Jim’s looking at stuff that people try to hide.”

The photographs in Night Divides the Days capture the excitement and aura of the Doors onstage, especially through Morrison; certain gigs and tours are referenced in the book, including the infamous 1967 show at the New Haven Arena, where the singer was arrested. “It was like walking the razor’s edge,” Densmore says. “Some nights, he was in a trance. Some nights, he was too drunk. And that part of him increased, which was really unfortunate. But self-destruction and creativity sometimes come in the same package and they certainly did with Jim.”

Morrison’s unpredictable behavior due to his drinking grated on Densmore, which he later detailed in his 1989 memoir Riders on the Storm. “I threw my sticks down and said ‘I quit’ in the middle of recording Waiting for the Sun. And I came back the next day. How am I supposed to give up a life in playing music? Yeah, we had a wild man as a lead singer, but I was so blessed to be able to make a living at something I loved.”

More success followed for the Doors with 1967’s Strange Days and 1968’s Waiting for the Sun albums (which collectively yielded such popular songs as “People Are Strange,” “Love Me Two Times” and “Hello I Love You”). In 1969, the group released the controversial The Soft Parade, which expanded the band’s sonic palette by incorporating strings and brass.

“Ray and I had talked about jazz when we first met,” Densmore says. “We were aware of Miles [Davis] and [John] Coltrane, and we got some sax solos on the album. We wanted to experiment with that. And the critics didn’t like us changing our precious Doors now. But “Touch Me” was number one, so take that! That’s what an artist does — you try stuff and some of it sticks to the wall, some doesn’t.”

The group returned to its blues roots on the next record, 1970’s Morrison Hotel, which was considered their comeback and contained another Doors classic, “Roadhouse Blues.” That was followed a year later with L.A. Woman, which turned out to be the band’s final recording with Morrison. It was a critical and commercial success whose highlights included the driving title song, “Love Her Madly” and “Riders on the Storm,” the latter showcasing Densmore’s jazz chops.

Of his memories of recording “Riders on the Storm,” Denmore says: “When we overdubbed the thunder and rain, it was like playing God. We had the tape machines queued up to various thunderclaps. And then we could just drop one in wherever we wanted, like after a guitar solo or something. So it was really fun creating the sonic natural atmosphere of nature.”

The album was recorded at a time when Morrison was mired in legal turmoil following the band’s 1969 show in Miami in which he allegedly exposed himself. Asked whether the incident may have been a foreshadowing of the end of Morrison — who died on July 3, 1971, in Paris at the age of 27 — Densmore responds: “The razor’s edge again. I thought, “Oh my God, this guy’s going to self-destruct in a minute.’ ‘Oh, no, maybe he’s going to live to be an 80-year-old drunk.’ I don’t know. I knew Miami was trouble.

“Somebody said to me, ‘Hey, if Jim hadn’t met you three guys, maybe he would have died sooner.’ I thought, ‘Oh, my God, what a thought.’ He had this creative energy and he really needed to get it out. He heard a concert in his head, and we helped him manufacture that.”

The book covers the post-Morrison Doors, with Manzarek and Krieger taking up the vocal duties; the trio lineup lasted two albums. “We didn’t want to give up the musical synchronicity the trio had developed, being Jim’s sonic mattress that he lay on top of,” says Densmore. “Ray and Robby tried to sing. I mean, they’re fine, but it wasn’t Jim. And so after a couple of albums, we’re like, ‘Okay.’ Our focal point is gone, and we had other solo projects in mind, so it was over.”

The surviving members briefly reunited to record new music to accompany Morrison’s spoken word poetry for the An American Prayer album, released in 1978. Over the next decades, the Doors’ popularity grew with the inclusion of “The End” in the 1979 Francis Ford Coppola movie Apocalypse Now; releases of Doors compilations and live recordings; the 1991 biopic movie directed by Oliver Stone; and the memoirs penned by Densmore, Manzarek and Krieger.

Today, Densmore remains active in music with his projects, including one with keyboardist Adam Holzman, who had previously played with Miles Davis (His father is Jac Holzman, the Elektra Records founder who signed the Doors in 1966). Densmore’s other project is an “alt-hip-hop” collaboration with Public Enemy’s Chuck D as doPE, an amalgam of the two artists’ respective bands’ names.

As the two remaining members of the band, Densmore and Krieger are keeping the band’s legacy alive not only through this new book but also in public — with Densmore recently guesting with Krieger’s solo band at the Whisky, where they have been performing Doors music on a monthly residency.

“It was really a brilliant idea [by Robby’s band] to do an entire album each month,” Densmore says. “And so I sat in. I wanted to play “Riders” and the one before that is “The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat).” It’s very difficult rhythmically. So I said to the audience, ‘I’ve never played this song live. Wish me luck.’ And we got through it.”

On this 60th anniversary year – amid the release of Night Divides the Day and an upcoming screening of the band documentary When You’re Strange in New York City — interest in the Doors shows no sign of waning. Asked about people’s continued fascination with the Doors, Densmore breaks it down to the core components of the band.

“You got this Adonis-looking Michelangelo’s ‘David,’ who’s full of brilliant poetry, and we just worked real hard to support his vision and get that concert out of his head,” he says. “It’s Ray’s classical and Chicago blues, Robby’s flamenco, my jazz and Jim’s words that made this mixture.”

.Night Divides the Day: The Doors Anthology is now available through Genesis Publications.