Hi Robby and Ed! Before we get into the new record, Robby, I wanted to ask how your concert at the historic Whiskey a Go Go went a few days ago, and ask how has it changed since your time playing there in the 60s?
Robby: The gig was great. Ed played with us and it really hasn’t changed much since the 60s. Even the sound is pretty much the same. The only difference is that they have one of my paintings up near the back booth. That’s been there about 5 years.
What’s the painting of?
Robby: It’s called “Light My Fire”.
I would love to see that one day.
Robby: You can check it out on my website.
I will. You said in the press release that this record had “really made me branch out as a musician”. Why was that? Was it working with great musicians like Ed?
Robby: Yeah, that was the main thing. Before when I did solo albums I would hire the other guys and tell them what to do, pretty much. This time it was more that we were just jamming and having fun and what do you know, a record came out of it. The way it was written was so much different. It was reminiscent of how we did the “LA Woman” album, because we didn’t have any songs at the time, so we needed to write them in the studio and we did that with this one too.
Interesting. How did you meet each other and form the new band?
Robby: Ed and I met through one of the guys in Kiss, Tommy Thayer. Nobody knows who he is. It turned out that Ed lived right near my studio, so he started coming over quite a bit and we would jam. I’d get the other guys to come over and jam and it worked out pretty well.
Cool. Ed, were you the one with the connection to Kevin (“Brandino” Brandon, bass) and Franklin (Vanderbilt, drums) or Robby, did you already know them well?
Robby: I already knew Kevin but not Franklin.
Ed: I knew Kevin a long time too. We actually played in Ben Vereen’s old gospel church together. A buddy of mine was in there before.
How long ago was that?
Ed: Maybe ten years or something.
The opening track, “Shark Skin Suit”, has some slide guitar parts with elements of Indian sitar music. Robby, you once went to Ravi Shankar’s school along with John. What did you learn there?
Robby: I learned the proper way to hold a sitar and tune it and all that stuff. Unfortunately Ravi only showed up once or twice but there was this guy named Hari who was a really great sitar player. The drummer guy would come quite often. Who’s that drummer guy?! John Densmore also came to the school. He was learning the tabla drums. We would go once or twice a week. It was pretty cool. That was right in Hollywood.
This album blends so many types of music beautifully. It incorporates soul, dirty blues, and that jazz-fusion you excel at playing. Do you feel like the album is an amalgamation of all the styles you’ve played?
Robby: Yeah, I think anything you are going to play is going to be an amalgamation of everything you have learned before. And you know, the difference here was that I had these world class musicians putting the songs together. That really made a difference. I think some of these songs could be in movies or television series or whatever.
They are very cinematic. You definitely feel that.
Robby: That’s what I’m hoping anyway!
What was it about Ed that inspired you, Robby, and vice versa?
Robby: Ed was really good at coming up with melodies. He would come up with a little thing, and I would answer it, you know? We do that when we play live too. We go back and forth a lot, which is really fun. I’ve never had a keyboard player other than Ray Manzerek (keyboardist, The Doors) that I’ve really been able to do that with, so that was kind of cool.
Ed: Wow, thanks. You know, Robby is one of those players that really has his own sound. If you listen, you’ll catch the diamonds that sneak through. He will play some things that are just different and unique. Sometimes you have got to sift through things, just like with me, to find something really special. But he’ll have some really special lines and parts that are just unique. The other thing is that he listens to everything. He listens to the band. I don’t want to say jazz attitude but it kind of is.
Robby: Ed is like that too. He really listens. I think we both do which is why we like to play with each other.
Wonderful. Robby, I know you generally don’t use a pick, but you did end up trying it. Why?
Robby: The reason I ended up trying it was because I read this article with Wes Montgomery and they asked him if he had to do it over again, would he have learned to use a pick, and he said yes, definitely. If you ever see a picture of his right thumb you see that. It’s just all gouged and ruined because he used his thumb like a pick. I decided right at that point to learn. I did use a pick exclusively for 5 or 10 years, and then I started going back and forth. So on this album I use half and half.
So you are still using a pick. What do you feel is the difference?
Robby: Well, you can definitely go faster with a pick. Some guys can go really fast with their fingers too. There’s certain things that are easier with a pick. When I played the slide I always used my fingers, it just doesn’t sound right with a pick. If I need to play something really fast I’ll use a pick.
Did you use the 1964 Gibson SG Special on the record? What appeals to you about that particular instrument? And Ed, which keyboards?
Robby: It’s actually a ’67. My original one was a ’64 and it got stolen. I’m still looking for that. I’m missing three or four guitars at least.
I hope you find them. Two of my favourite track titles from the record are “Samosas & Kingfishers” and “Ricochet Rabbit” (which has a Wes Montgomery feel). What inspired the names of each of those?
Robby: Ed came up with those.
Ed: “Samosas & Kingfishers” – Robby was playing that cool sitar melody that has an Indian vibe and some of my favourite things about India are Kingfisher Beer and really good samosas. It’s a blue collar beer but it’s good. Very crisp. “Ricochet Rabbit”, Robby had that bouncy and kind of Wes Montgomery melody. I wanted a funky, bouncy Jamiroquai groove under it, that’s what I was looking for. They have a sort of push off that they do.
Robby: Is that from South America?
Ed: No, Jamiroquai is an English band and they are great. Funky.
Robby: I have never heard of them.
Ed: That track made me think of one of my favourite cartoons as a little kid, Ricochet Rabbit, Sheriff, bing bing bing! Or as they say in Brazil, bingy, bingy, bingy!
[Laughs] I love the alliteration of the title. I actually thought of Jamiroquai’s music several times when listening to this record, because of your keyboards.
Robby: Wow, I’ve got to check him out.
Definitely. Which track are you each most proud of and why?
Ed: That’s kind of a hard one. Maybe “Killzoni” because it’s funky and mean at the same time. I feel like I managed to play outside a melody that’s memorable. Robby came up with the cool B section melody on that that kind of brings it back in. It’s probably that one. I don’t know, our DNA is all over this thing, so I think we’re partial to a lot of them.
Robby: “Contrary Motion” is my favourite. It starts out with this guitar thing that I made and then Ed came up with this amazing melody that goes with it. His melody goes up and my chords go down, which is why it’s called “Contrary Motion”. It’s an unusual slide part that’s not blues. I think it’s our best song. I don’t know why we didn’t put that one out as a single.
Ed: Yeah, it would have been good. Maybe in a little while. He’s playing a cool slide guitar part over a southern rock groove on that one. Because of his slide playing, it doesn’t sound like Duane Allman but it makes me think of that cool Allman Brothers stuff. It’s like he has picked out a couple of parts to double with me in that one A section. It’s a pretty special tune, definitely, I think it will be a band favourite.
Will we see it played live at some point?
Robby: Well, we hope so.
Robby, you are still ever evolving and expanding existing stylistic boundaries, which is progressive. Looking back, as well as today, did you ever think of The Doors as a progressive band, or yourself as a progressive player?
Robby: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean we were different than anybody. I was surprised that so many people got it, you know? We were pretty weird, man. “Whisky Bar” and songs like that. Not many had ever heard that.
It defies being pigeonholed, much like this new record.
Robby: So you like it?
Yes, I really like it! I like how funky “A Day in LA” is. It starts with that bass and builds up nicely.
Robby: Thank you. That means a lot to us.
Ed: Kevin came up with that bass line. That inspired my wacky organ melody. I wasn’t thinking. As soon as you start thinking you start stinking!
[laughs] Is that your approach when you are jamming together, don’t think, just feel?
Ed: You don’t want to think. You can try to lead yourself in a certain direction. Maybe I can go a little Latin, or maybe I can head towards this kind of feeling, mode or whatever. I’m a self-taught player so I’ve not studied with books. You don’t want to think you want to feel it, as music should be. Otherwise music becomes paint by numbers or something.
I feel the same about photography. Following the feeling is where the magic happens, and the magic is all over this record, for sure.
Robby: Wow, I really appreciate that.
Looking over your career as a whole, which records are you most proud of, both with The Doors and without? But let’s exclude the new one from the choices!
Robby: Ah, it’s this one, this one [laughs]. With The Doors, I think “LA Woman”, or the first album, it’s pretty hard to beat that, just “The Doors”. After The Doors, I really like that first Butts Band. Me and John Densmore formed a band with Phil Chen, have you heard of him?
Yes, he played with Jeff Beck.
Robby: He played with Ed and I for years up until recently, when he passed away a few years ago. He was in the band and this guy Jess Roden, who is a really good singer-songwriter. We did an album and recorded half of it in England and half of it in Jamaica. It was pretty cool stuff.
Why did you record in Jamaica?
Robby: Phil was from Jamaica, and he wanted to see his Dad one more time before he passed away. He was sick, and it was on the way home. Reggae was just getting big at the time. It was the early 70s and we met Chris Blackwell (English record producer) and he let us create it in his ranch up in Kingston. We got to record it where The Wailers recorded, and Jimmy Cliff, at Dynamic Studios. We also recorded in London at Olympic Studios, where The Beatles recorded.
Cool. Is there anyone you haven’t worked with yet that you would like to?
Robby: I have always wanted to work with Bob Dylan, but he never calls me! He was my hero when I was growing up. I must say I’ve always been disappointed in his music after his big success. He went electric and that was cool but I wish he had done some better electric stuff. I could have helped him.
When you hear his music can you imagine guitar lines over it?
Robby: Yeah, the early stuff. It always used to annoy me that he would play his early stuff in later years and he would always change it. You get tired of doing it the same way all the time I suppose.
How about you, Ed?
Ed: One thing I would have loved to have done, but he’s gone, is work with Antônio Carlos Jobim, which is before my time. My family is Brazilian, and one of the things my family grew up listening to was bossa nova. It’s jazz and it’s groovy and it’s elegant. It’s got a classical element and I haven’t been able to play it with that many people but it’s natural for me. We’ve got a mutual friend and we have a little idea, I want to talk her into doing a bossa nova record. Robby, you probably know who I’m talking about. Just a wonderful singer. The other one would be Marco Mattoli, who brought back bossa nova and samba. There’s a lot of people I would like to work with but those are the ones that are close to my heart.
What comes next? Will there be another record for the band?
Robby: I’m sure we’ll make another record but after this one we have another record, that Ed and I made with Phil Chen, who we spoke about. It’s an instrumental reggae record. I think that will be coming out next.
Text: Anne-Marie Forker
Photo: Robiee Ziegler and Jill Jarrett
First published in Norway Rock Magazine #1/2024