Category Archives: The Doors Tribute

Huffington Post Interview with Edgar Winter

Light my Fire CoverRBG med res

A Conversation with Edgar Winter

Mike Ragogna: Edgar, there’s a new album, Superstars Of Classic Rock Honor The Music & Legacy Of The Doors, and you played on “The Crystal Ship” with Chris Spedding. How did you get invited and what do you think of this project?

Edgar Winter: I think The Doors are one of the classic groups, and I think we’re all tempted to feel like the time in which we grew up was somehow special, but I really do believe that there were two golden eras in music: The forties and fifties of big band, jazz and swing, and the sixties and seventies of rock. To me, they’re really unparalleled. I was not that familiar with The Doors on the east coast, they were more of a west coast band. I’m from Texas originally and I moved to New York right out of high school and lived there for twenty plus years until my wife Monique and I moved out here to California. So I’m a New York Texan living in Beverly Hills. When the Doors thing came along “Crystal Ship” was still available, and that was one of my favorites so I said, “Hey, I’m in.”

MR: How did this Chris Spedding collaboration happen?

EW: With the modern miracle of Pro Tools all of these things usually end up happening without the usual interaction between musicians. That track was already done and sent to me, I loaded it into Pro Tools and did it. It’s not as glamorous of a story as I’m sure you’d like to hear, but that is the truth of the matter.

For the rest of the interview and others, please visit the Huffington Post website!


Superstars Of Classic Rock Honor The Music & Legacy Of The Doors Feat. Members of Deep Purple, Foreigner, Yes, Rainbow, Mountain, Moody Blues, ELP and Others!

Light my Fire CoverRBG med res

For Immediate Release

Superstars Of Classic Rock Honor The Music & Legacy Of The Doors Feat. Members of Deep Purple, Foreigner, Yes, Rainbow, Mountain, Moody Blues, ELP and Others!

Featuring Todd Rundgren, Ian Gillan, Edgar Winter, Steve Morse, David Johansen, Larry Coryell, Mark Farner, Patrick Moraz, Mick Box, Keith Emerson, Lou Gramm, Leslie West, Thijs Van Leer, Steve Cropper, Rick Wakeman, Roye Albrighton, Nik Turner, Steve Hillage, Zoot Horn Rollo and Others!

Los Angeles, CA – A star-studded syndicate of rock virtuosos have gathered together to pay tribute to one of the best loved and most influential bands of all-time, The Doors, on a new CD release titled Light My Fire – A Classic Rock Salute To The Doors to be released by Purple Pyramid Records on June 24th! Produced by the extraordinarily talented Billy Sherwood, the album features brand new interpretations of classic Doors cuts that defined an entire generation, songs such as “Light My Fire,” “Riders On The Storm,” “Break On Through (To The Other Side),” “Love Her Madly,” “L.A. Woman,” “People Are Strange,” and lots more!

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear some of The Doors’ peers and prodigies tackle these seminal songs. Not one but TWO members of the quintessential prog rock band Yes, keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman and lead guitarist Steve Howe, joined Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan on the signature song, “Light My Fire,” which as Wakeman explains, “has always been one of those iconic tracks that keyboard players listen to because of the fact that there are so few tracks with keyboard/organ solos on them compared to our six-stringed buddies. It’s also a solo area that is totally open to interpretation so whatever you do is not comparable to the original, so it was an absolute joy to do.” Howe likewise enthuses, “I was delighted to play on this album as The Doors were a band I heard a lot as everywhere I went in the late ‘60s their music was playing, at friend’s, in restaurants, gigs & bars throughout London. I’m sure I saw them play at Middle Earth, a then hip club. Then, when the reissue more recently came out, I got totally back into their music, especially ‘Light My Fire.’”

Another keyboard legend, Geoff Downes, likewise extolled the genius of Doors’ organist Ray Manzarek saying, “It was a real privilege to be asked to participate in this project. Ray Manzarek was one of the pioneers of keyboard playing in rock music, and had a major influence on me and many others. His style was totally unique, and an integral element into what made The Doors sound the way they did.”

Meanwhile, renegade guitarist Steve Morse, of Dixie Dregs fame, recollects that The Doors were “a soundtrack, literally, for some of the most memorable times, good and bad, that I experienced as a young teen. Like many of my favorites, they were adventurous, improvising, unafraid of what the media might say, and all with a sort of lyrical freedom that still stands up today.” The Cars’ lead axeman Elliot Easton proclaims, “I had a wonderful time reinterpreting ‘Spanish Caravan,’” a song Easton found both “challenging and very rewarding!” And jazz fusion Larry Coryell concludes, “The Doors were the unofficial representatives to the world for LA, not ‘Los Angeles,’ but ‘LA.’ Their sound – raunchy, cluttered, sassy, leering, kind of mean, and always horny was the sound of LA/Los Angeles itself. How many times circa ‘65-66 did my first wife Julie and I drive through LA on the freeway listening to, say, ‘Love Me Two Times,’ and think that The Doors were the sound of LA just as clearly as Thelonious Monk was the sound of NYC.”

That sound continues to reverberate outward through both space and time, touching each new generation around the globe and keeping The Doors’ flame burning brighter than ever! Producer Billy Sherwood sums it up when he declares, “The Doors’ music will live on forever, and it’s my hope that we’ve paid tribute to the band in the highest way possible.”

1. L.A. Woman – Jimi Jamison (Survivor), Ted Turner (Wishbone Ash) & Patrick Moraz (Moody Blues)
2. Love Me Two Times – Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Thijs van Leer (Focus) & Larry Coryell
3. Roadhouse Blues – Leslie West (Mountain), Brian Auger & Rod Piazza
4. Love Her Madly – Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) & Mick Box (Uriah Heep)
5. Riders On The Storm – Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow), Tony Kaye (Yes) & Steve Cropper (Booker T. & The M.G.’s)
6. The Crystal Ship – Edgar Winter & Chris Spedding
7. Intro (People Are Strange) – Keith Emerson, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter & Joel Druckman (John Fahey)
8. People Are Strange – David Johansen (NY Dolls) & Billy Sherwood (Yes)
9. Touch Me – Robert Gordon, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Steve Morse & Nik Turner (Hawkwind)
10. The Soft Parade – Graham Bonnet (Rainbow), Christopher North (Ambrosia) & Steve Hillage (Gong)
11. Hello, I Love You – Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep) & Roye Albrighton (Nektar)
12. Spanish Caravan – Eric Martin (Mr. Big) & Elliot Easton (The Cars)
13. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) – Todd Rundgren & Geoff Downes (Yes / Asia) & Zoot Horn Rollo (Captain Beefheart)
14. Break On Through (To The Other Side) – Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad) & Chick Churchill (Ten Years After)
15. Light My Fire – Ian Gillan (Deep Purple), Rick Wakeman (Yes) & Steve Howe (Yes)
16. The End – Pat Travers & Jimmy Greenspoon (Three Dog Night)

To pre-order the CD at Amazon: http://georiot.co/216h
To pre-order the album on iTunes: http://georiot.co/Wns

Press inquiries:
Glass Onyon PR
Billy James
PH: 828-350-8158
glassonyonpr@gmail.com

CLEOPATRA RECORDS, Inc.
11041 Santa Monica Blvd #703
Los Angeles CA 90025
http://www.CleopatraRecords.com


Leaders Of The New Psych Rock Movement Pay Tribute To The Original Riders On The Storm, The Doors!

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For Immediate Release

Leaders Of The New Psych Rock Movement Pay Tribute To The Original Riders On The Storm, The Doors!

Featuring The Black Angels, The Raveonettes, Clinic, Psychic Ills, Sons Of Hippies, Elephant Stone, Dead Skeletons and more!

Los Angeles, CA – Doors fans, prepare to have your minds blown all over again! On March 4th, L.A.-based indie label Cleopatra Records will release A Psych Tribute to The Doors, a heartfelt salute to the hometown heroes who put L.A. on the astrological map, legendary psychedelic rock band The Doors! Contributing to this epic tribute are several leaders of psych rock’s next wave of sonic visionaries including Danish indie rockers The Raveonettes, British post-punk revivalists Clinic, and Austin TX psych rock superstars The Black Angels whose fuzzed out version of “Soul Kitchen” is currently available as an “instant gratification” track on the iTunes album pre-order here: http://georiot.co/cnH

Formed at the apex of the 20th century’s most tumultuous decade, The Doors led a musical and cultural revolution, shaking up notions of what rock bands looked like and sounded like. A quartet with electric organ substituting for bass guitar and led by a shaggy-haired hippy/philosopher/poet with model looks, the band released just 6 albums with front(mad)man Jim Morrison, yet those albums contained enough classic songs to inspire and influence a legion of bands. From the sexy tease of “Light My Fire” to the bluesy sleaze of “Love Me Two Times”, not to mention the pioneering experimentations of “Riders On The Storm” and “The End,” the legacy of The Doors endures precisely because their songs transcended time and place, reaching outward and touching artists and musicians generation after generation.

No wonder then that when the call was issued for participants on this tribute album, many – like stoner rock icons Dead Meadow – leapt at the opportunity. “From the very beginning of our band to recording in the hallowed halls of Sunset Sound, where the Doors recorded all of their classic albums, we would listen to the mystical sounds of the Doors for magic. The escapism and dark tunes were a huge influence…It was an honor to be able to reinterpret them…” Montreal’s Elephant Stone likewise enthuses, “When asked to be involved with this tribute I knew I did not want to just play a Doors tune; I wanted to reinvent it…So, we reconstructed ‘L.A. Woman’ as a drone-y psyche tune that maintained the West Coast vibe but with an added dash of Madchester, a sprinkling of Live at Pompeii and swirl of backwards sitar. Mojo rising indeed.”

1. Elephant Stone – L.A. Woman
2. The Black Angels – Soul Kitchen
3. Psychic Ills – Love Me Two Times
4. Dark Horses – Hello, I Love You
5. Camera – People Are Strange
6. Dead Meadow – The Crystal Ship
7. Sons Of Hippies – The Soft Parade
8. Dead Skeletons – Riders On The Storm
9. Wall Of Death – Light My Fire
10. Clinic – Touch Me
11. VietNam – Roadhouse Blues
12. Geri X – Love Her Madly
13. The Raveonettes – The End

Pre-order the album on iTunes: http://georiot.co/cnH

Also available on CD & Vinyl from Amazon: http://georiot.co/1wPB

Press inquiries:
Glass Onyon PR
Billy James
PH: 828-350-8158
glassonyonpr@gmail.com

CLEOPATRA RECORDS, Inc.
11041 Santa Monica Blvd #703
Los Angeles CA 90025
http://www.CleopatraRecords.com