WEBVTT - QLS Classic: John Densmore 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:07.960 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio all Right. 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:12.479 So this season we had Chuck d on first and 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.079 some popping conversations that I hope to have ongoing with 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:20.160 his platform and mine. Chuck just released an album, Dope, 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:24.160 with no other than John Densmore of the Doors, and 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.000 John has already been on QLs back in twenty twenty one, 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.000 where he spoke to myself, La Fonte, Sugar, Steve, and 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.280 Mate Bill about music, politics, and the creative process of 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.400 the One of the Wee Jim Marson. So check out 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.879 John and Chuck's album, and also check out this classic 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:55.320 episode of QLs en joy. Oh oh, there's Joe, I 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:57.280 having already already. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:58.000 Oh let's go. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:00.480 How you doing? 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:01.000 Hey? 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:03.960 Good to good to be here with you. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.640 Oh hey, I don't know, I don't know if you 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:08.000 can see this my. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:13.200 Wardrobe, I see it. Thank you? He sat in with us, Yes, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:13.960 I remember. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:19.040 Remember Is it because of COVID that that the roots 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:20.399 are pared down? 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.920 Yeah, it's because of COVID. We can't state law says 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:32.240 that only uh six people out of eleven uh are information. 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:34.360 So that's how it is. I got okay. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.039 Well, I used to love that the tube of duplicating 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:39.959 the baselines that sent me right to. 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:47.039 Nor nice lower. Yeah, that's cool crap since we already 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.280 talking when we start the introduction. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:52.640 this is quest Love Supreme. My name is quest Love. 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.080 We have Teams Supreme with us. We gotta fine take 0:01:55.120 --> 0:02:00.640 a low Happy New Year, Happy New Year. This is 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.360 also the time that I'm not pluralizing the word year. 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:08.360 I always say Happy New Years, and I've been corrected 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.520 one too many times. Sugar Steve, Hello. 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:14.680 Hello, how you doing everybody? Hi John? 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:16.320 It's kind of weird for me to say hello to 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:17.639 you because I see you every day. 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:19.040 So yeah, I'm pretty sick of you too. 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:25.920 Let's move on, okay, Yeah, happy run off with the 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:30.160 Sugar Steve really is a live episode. Yeah, paid Bill, Yeah, 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.120 man's with us as well. How you doing good? Have 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.880 you run off? Day good? Yeah? Happy? Yeah? 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:35.200 Yeah? 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:40.079 Happy? Whatever you said day layah, yes as well, that's right. 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.440 Happy fifty month, my friend. Oh you're right with me. 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.400 There's okay, you're still nineteen. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:48.720 Yeah, No, I mean I'm not. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:50.520 Yes, I'm right with you as far as our birthdays 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.160 on the same day, but it's your fifty you know. 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:53.720 What I'm saying. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:59.240 Yeah, anyway, all right, So our guest today, y'all. Our 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.359 guest is huge man, Yeah, very huge. He's a member 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.680 of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he's 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:11.120 literally from one of the most influential bands of all time, 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.360 The Doors have sold over one hundred million records. That's 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.480 nothing to stuff at. Their music and their influence still 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:21.400 resonates to this day. Yes. I don't know if you 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:22.040 know that, John, but. 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:25.919 Those were actual records too, not I. 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:27.200 Better check my royalties. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.560 Yeah, yeah, we're on the verge of an aswer, you know, 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:30.720 as pay back today. 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:31.720 It'd be good for John. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:36.040 Not not to mention. Our guest is also an author, actor, playwright, 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.680 Grammy Lifetime Achievement War Winner recipient, and we are extremely 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:43.840 honored to have him talk shop with us today and 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.800 his illustrious career. Please welcome to Court Left Supreme. John Dinsmore, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:51.920 drummer of the Doors. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.560 Hey, yo, thank you, and and I'm not dead. 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.920 Yes, a good start. 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:01.800 Congratulation, Thank you, thank you. 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.400 That's an achievement. We're all right now. Where are you 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:05.000 right now? 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.760 I'm in my office slash rehearsal room, you. 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.280 Know, Okay, I meant like, in what part. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:17.080 Of the world. I'm in Laky where I was born, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.760 my mom was, My mom was born here in nineteen 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:26.600 oh four. But we're not native. The Chumash Indians are 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:28.159 the first. People's got to get. 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.320 That, right, You better credit, you better get it. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:36.160 Yeah, So listen, I want to say, I'm really pleased 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.840 to be doing this because, you know, Quest and I 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.760 are in the same tribe, a tribe called drummers. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.719 Yeah, we are, you know, And I just. 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.279 Yeah, I love that. You know, you're the leader of 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.400 the roots and not a lot of drummers or leaders, 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.279 and and it makes me think of you and Lionel 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:01.400 Hampton or Art Blakey and the jazz Messengers, you know 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:05.320 who I saw many times, or Chico Hamilton, who I 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.560 stole to ride cymbal bell beat from. 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:12.159 You know, so wait, how did you pull that time out? 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.400 Please tell tell our audience who Chico Hamilton is, please, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:16.920 because nobody ever talks about him. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.240 He was a wonderful jazz cat in the early sixties 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.520 and I saw him as a teenager. I think Charles 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.719 Lloyd was playing with him, and uh man, you know, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:30.400 I heard a real cool thing. And I later I 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.440 put it in the end. You know, you steal from 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:34.240 the best. 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.159 Right, exactly flattery I was. I was going to say, though, 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.080 you're you told me at Fellin that your your weapon 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:45.880 of choice wasn't initially the drums. You started out, you 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:47.120 said as a piano player. 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:52.479 Yeah. Yeah, that's in my new book My Mom is 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.320 the first chapter, because she encouraged me to play piano, 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.640 and I just was crazy for music and I wanted 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.720 to play any instrument. And then I got into junior 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.840 high and there was no piano in the band or 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:11.359 the orchestra, and I chose clarinet because I thought, you know, 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.440 Benny Goodman's cool whatever. And I had braces on my 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.039 teeth and they said, no, no, no, you can't do that. 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:20.520 You're trying to push him back and they're going to 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:25.040 come out with that instrument. So drums. Yeah, so I 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:26.560 owe my career to the dentist. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.960 Oh so you're saying that adults encouraged you to play 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.440 the drums, because normally, in my situation, adults drums are 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:42.160 always the last resort of every drummer because their parents 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:43.720 don't want them to make noise or anything. 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:45.920 I got you, now, My parents were okay with it, 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.960 but quest did you have one of those black rubber 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:54.839 pads a drum pad? You know they bounced back, but 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.320 they have no sound, and that's what you got to 0:06:58.320 --> 0:06:59.800 do when you're too. 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:05.000 Loud, right exactly. Well even that, I'll say, like my 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.640 first two years of taking drum lessons, you know, my 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:14.600 teacher had like this this shiny Ludwig drum set and 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:20.120 also a practice pad next to that drum set, and 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.160 we would just walk to the practice pad and I 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.280 would ask him like, wait, when do I get to 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.920 play those? And he's like, You're not ready yet. So 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.480 like for two years I had to play on that 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:35.280 practice pad, almost like it was like torture for you know, 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.040 to sit there in front of that drum set and 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.320 not even touch it for the first two years. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.840 Yeah, no, same deal with me. I was told if 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.760 I took private lessons, I'd get better, and so I did, 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:51.040 and I was surrounded by drum sets on the damn 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:52.520 practice pad with the teacher. 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.000 Who's your north star as far as drumming was concerned, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.200 Like you know, because I mean you were the rock era, 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.760 the modern rock era, so it wasn't like you have 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.760 tales of seeing anyone that modern musicians see now, So 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:10.680 who was your north Star? As far as like like 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.240 who would have been your Beatles on Sullivan movement? As 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:15.920 far as like that's what I want to do for 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:16.320 a living? 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:18.560 Elvin Jones. 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:20.840 Wow, great. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.160 I got my fake ID in Tijuana and went to 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.840 Shelley's man hall, which the door man looked at and said, 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.679 this is fake, but come on in, you know, and 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.360 I saw Coltrane many times. 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:37.720 Oh my god, God, I wanted you to say that 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.679 your fake ID, said Elvin Jones on it. 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.599 What was that like to see like people that we 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.040 take for granted. I don't think we've ever had a 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:51.960 guest on the show that I saw Coltrane? Yeah, that 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.679 seen like gods and you knew they were gods then? 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:57.240 So what was that like for you to see? 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.720 All right, Well you can read all about it. Hey, 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:05.120 new book, The second or third chapter is on Elvin. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:09.400 So you know, I knew there was magic. I mean 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.480 I didn't know that I was seeing iconic, that people 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.080 were going to be just legendary, you know, but I 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:20.440 sensed just I don't know, there was fire and energy, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.199 like I couldn't believe the conversation. Elvin would have with Coltrane, 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.440 they'd just be you know, he'd keep the groove, but 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.800 he'd be riffing off him all the time. And you know, 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:32.679 it gave me a little courage now and then to 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.400 riff off Jim Morrison, you know, to fuck around with 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.960 what he's saying and you know, keep the groove. But 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:44.280 you know, Elvin, he's my man. And so after Coltrane died, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.600 I saw Elvin. Well, let me back up, all right, 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.959 So my my idols are in the dressing room at 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.640 the jazz club, and the bathroom is right next to 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.080 the greenroom green room, and so I went to the 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:02.160 bathroom a lot because they right around the corner, you know. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:07.640 And I was afraid to say anything. But later after 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:14.240 Coltrane died, I I introduced myself to Elvin, and then 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:19.040 I had I have three self centered memoirs, and the 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.120 first one, Riders on the Storm, I gave to Elvin 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.480 and I quickly said, hey, man, I wrote in here, 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.520 you gave me my hands, you know, worried that he 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:30.440 would be condescending, this jazz giant, and he was so 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.559 warm and friendly, and I saw him many more times, 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.960 and I took his symbol bag to the car towards 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.440 the end of his life. So we're talking to real 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:41.440 mentor you know. 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:43.920 What was it about his playing? 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.840 Because a lot of homies I went to school with 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.040 that were in the jazz department, they all like just 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.360 swore by Elvin Jones. So if you could explain to 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.440 kind of a layperson on what was it about his 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:58.760 drumming technique that just made him so amazing? 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.800 I think they called it poly rhythms, you know. I 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.760 mean he'd have the pocket. You have to have the pocket, 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.080 of course, but he was continually playing triplets and all 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.280 this shit all going on all the time, like churning 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:18.480 up an rhythmic egg beater, and it sounded like he 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:19.960 was going to fall into his kit. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:20.400 He was. 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.920 It was just but he didn't, you know, I don't 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.480 know that's how I describe it. 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:31.640 You know, with your clear love for jazz, did you 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.680 ever actually play jazz in a serious way? 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.400 Yeah, A few years back I had a group called 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:43.840 Tribal Jazz, which was a jazz quartet or quintet with 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:49.240 two African drummers, which was really fun because you know, 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:54.400 I'm trying to integrate Senegalese rhythms into a drum kit, 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.960 you know, so it rearranged some brain cells. It was good. 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:02.720 And what about back when you were younger, did you 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:03.600 play any jazz then? 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:07.480 Well as a kid like crazy and then I stumbled 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:09.800 into this rock band. 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.360 I say it worked out pretty good. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:20.199 Well, let me let me ask, because yeah, like was 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:24.000 there musical snobbery in the sixties to the level of 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:26.160 where you know, like it was a big deal for 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.160 like Leonard Cohen to say, like I actually like the 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:30.480 Beatles like that sort of thing. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:31.360 I see? 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.600 Was it was it a struggle back then to win respect, 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.360 Like did you care as much or just were you unaware? 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:43.880 Uh? Back then the whole country was polarized into four 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.760 and against the Vietnam War, kind of like today's kind 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:52.480 of polarized, you know, and you know rock and roll 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:58.280 was against the war and a sort of liberal bent, 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.040 and so you were either for that or you know, 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.160 I would say that country music kind of represented the 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:10.760 other side. But the last chapter I got in this 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.640 book is on Willie Nelson, And you know, I'm looking 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.160 for the soul in any genre. You know, I can 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:21.599 get fed by if you're if you're saying something truthful 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.560 and if it's in a simplistic form. It doesn't matter. Man. 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:30.360 In fact, in my old age, I've learned that if 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:36.080 I put the right symbol crash in the exact right spot, 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.680 it can be as powerful as you know, in my 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.080 twenties when I showed all my shit or when I 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.920 had more chance, you know what I mean? 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:48.920 What was the what was the modern music scene like 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:54.720 in Los Angeles in the mid sixties before yeah, before 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.439 you guys really got established, Like was Whiskey Go Go 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.760 a thing sort of before you guys came along, or 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.920 like what was Yeah, it was just a modern scene. 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.640 Like exactly, No, the Whiskey was mecca and we were 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.200 playing in a little club of blockdown from the Whiskey. 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.640 The night we were fired because there was a fight, 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.200 which we did not cause, but they blamed it on 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:20.520 the band. The booker from the Whiskey dropped in and 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.720 saw us, and she hired us as the house band 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:29.320 at the Whiskey. And it was heaven. I mean every 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:33.000 night the streets were packed with hippies and music freaks 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:38.520 and and every band that came in, I don't know, 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:43.600 let's see Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Van Morrison et. Cetera, 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.600 et cetera. The Birds all, you know, they had to 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:53.040 deal with the opening act. Wow, I don't mean to 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.800 well that sound a little self serving, but we were 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.920 we were different. You know, we were the undeclared via 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.280 non war. We were not singing about peace and love. 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:07.360 We were singing about this is the end, beautiful friend. Man, 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.120 things are there's a lot of lying going on, and 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.040 so you know, we play light my Fire and everybody 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.920 dance and that was really cool. And then we play 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:24.320 the end and it got very quiet, and then people 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.480 had to follow that the other bands, which I mean, 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.960 we were friends with them all, but it was a 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:31.080 really cool scene. 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.920 What were your thoughts on like the postmod kind of 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.960 movement of music, like people that weren't that political, more poppy, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.560 like I guess I still want to know, like where 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.840 they're different tribes or different clicks of did you guys 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:50.160 mess together at all? 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.480 You know? The British invasion was kind of poppy, you know, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:59.520 but then then we all started experimenting with then legal 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:05.400 psychos and the Beatles music got a little darker like our. 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.320 Did you appreciate it at the time, Well, appreciate their 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:14.280 contribution at the time, you know, it's it's from a 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.360 from a person from my generation. We'll be quick to 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.920 lump like anyone that came from the mid to late 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:28.600 sixties in the same bowl, you know, whereas I'm certain 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:34.080 that three four decades from now, you know, somebody will 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.960 look at my band or Fonte's band and you know 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.840 just think like, oh, okay, well, you know, Kanye West outcasts. 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:47.440 You guys are all the same, right, We've talked much 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.560 about each other and that sort of thing. So like, 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.720 you know, were you what are your thoughts on your 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.720 contemporaries at the time, like the Stones, the Beatles, the Who, 0:16:58.320 --> 0:16:58.840 the Kinks. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.360 Let me break it. You know. In the beginning, I 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:04.760 I was a jazz snob, but I was certainly aware 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.280 of the roots of rock and roll, Chuck Berry and 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.399 Little Richard and All and Elvis and whatever. Then I 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:16.480 saw these four mop tops on Ed Sullivan and I thought, wow, man, 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.920 what are they gay? What is this? You know? And 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:27.399 uh then I noticed I noticed their melodies. I thought, wow, 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:31.720 you know, because melodies, man, are they key? I don't 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.560 I don't care if it's heavy metal or country. If 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.920 you got a beautiful melody with a with a cool 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.360 lyric they got to be wetted together. Wow, you got 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.120 great songs, So you know, I knew the Beatles had 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.200 great songs, and we we looked up to the stones 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:49.840 and like. 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.800 That van Were they of an older generation to you? 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:58.840 Because even in my world, like someone that came out 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.399 four or five year years ago, I'll see that as 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:06.280 in hip hop terms, like someone that made their debut 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:12.280 in two thousand and ten even is kind of old. 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.879 Even even though they're not old school, they're considered old school. So, 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:22.199 you know, because of the of the years between you 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.479 guys them starting in sixty one sixty two, was it 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:30.200 still the same fraternity or were they seeing as older statesmen? 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.560 Not older statesmen? But that's what I'm asking. 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.239 Yeah, no, they were just a few years older, so 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.840 they weren't an entirely different genre, you know. You know, 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:45.120 and then as you go along, can you keep making 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:49.479 records that are important? And a lot of folks followed 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:53.640 by the wayside, And we managed to do okay, even 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:57.639 though Jim, you know, he started drinking so much that 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.679 it got quite difficult, you know, Like I got a 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.000 chapter in this new book on Jim and one on 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:14.040 Janis two cautionary Chaplin two cautionary tales. You know, self 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:18.280 destruction and creativity come in the same package with them, 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.800 but not with everybody. 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:32.200 We're we're really good friends with Shep Gordon, who told 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.560 us a lot about the scene in la especially at 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:42.520 the hotel. I forget the hotel and sunset where every yeah, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:47.080 everyone yeah, well yeah, everyone just hungt and whatnot. Like 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.200 this book of the group love and and all those things. 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:55.520 Were you directly like a part of that scene, like 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.240 off stage where you guys sort of. 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.240 Not quite that scene. I'm trying to think of the 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:04.640 hotel too. But but but once you played the whiskey, 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.640 Mario the door guy let anybody in, so we would 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:12.960 all go see each other when we were not playing, 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.800 and so was it fraternity, you know, and we love 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.440 for example. Man, they were really like them a lot. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.200 They were so different. Forever Changes is a masterpiece. 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:29.200 That album, Yeah, Forever Change, Forever Changes is masterpiece. It's 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:31.680 you know, the that's from the Summer I love too. 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:33.920 I mean there was there's just like there's a few 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.400 there's a few albums from from that era that are 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:40.160 just yeah, I. 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.399 Want to get on the soapbox for a second's go 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:48.080 get pissed off when people dissed the sixties as a failure. 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:56.400 Wait, okay, based on everything from the sixties, I. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.080 Mean, there's no progress without the sixties. 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:01.240 I never mind what I was going to say. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.800 I want to hear it. It's feeling that way. So 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:07.160 glad I talked about, Yeah. 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:10.920 Well, there is a perception that like post sixty nine, 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.760 that there was not diminished returns per se, but everything 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.560 was over and everything that was fought for and built 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:21.119 was sort of just washed away. 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:27.520 So well, what were you saying, Well, yeah, the seeds 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.680 of civil rights, the peace movement, feminism all were planted 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:37.840 in the sixties, and maybe these seeds take like a 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:42.639 long time, fifty hundred years for full fruition. So don't 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.439 dis you know, we're on the shoulders of all folks 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:51.160 before and so you know, yeah, progress is not as 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:55.360 fast as we wanted, you know, like ge Obama got elected, 0:21:55.400 --> 0:22:04.560 so there's no more racism, yeah, what know? So But anyway, 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:10.080 and speaking of which, I was hoping, uh, sometime during 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.680 this podcast, I could do a five minute poem for 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:22.600 Stacy Abrams. Oh, because I've been thinking about Jesus. All right, 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:25.800 now I'm not approved before I'm going to approve. I'm 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:31.119 the drummer, not the singer. I've been thinking about Georgia, Georgia, 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:35.440 No Piece of Fun. You're on my mind when they're 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:40.680 voting today. 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:42.240 Everybody, Man, by the time this area as we'll have 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:43.360 the results that we want. 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:44.040 Yeah. 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:46.640 Yeah, but we're going to get that poem too, because 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:48.160 I want to get that old to stay. 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.680 Yes, I was curious to know, man, do you have 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:57.000 to give us kind of a parallel the band that 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:59.880 the Doors and kind of what you guys represented when 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:02.600 you guys came out, Who would you say is probably 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:06.200 the closest modern day contemporary And by modern day, I 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:07.639 mean it could be anyone from the last you know, 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:10.760 twenty years whatever, But uh, that you think kind of 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:13.960 embodies the spirit of what you guys were about. 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:17.960 Oh, putting me on the spot here. 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:20.040 I mean Nirvana would be my guess. 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.000 Really, you know, it was weird though I always thought 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:27.320 the doors were doors are really kind of I feel 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.560 like the Doors are hip hop as far as they 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:30.800 were rebellion is concerned. 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.679 Yeah, yeah, that's good. Okay, Let me let me tell 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:37.640 you something way back, jay Z asked. 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:42.200 For five to one on yeah. 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:44.520 You know, and I was just coming on board. I 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:47.200 didn't know what was happening, and I went, wait a minute, 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:50.480 you know what, huh it's all bitches and holes. No, 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:55.720 you can't have it. And he he writes me a letter, 0:23:56.280 --> 0:23:59.399 and he sends me a Team Rock jersey and he 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:01.359 breaks it down for me and said, man, you know 0:24:02.000 --> 0:24:05.359 we're doing what you're doing, fighting the establishment, going for truth. 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:13.080 And and then I got it. Believe me, I got it. 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:14.880 Along those lines, The Doors is one of the only 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.199