John Densmore of the Doors Hopes New Memoir Will Mend Fences With His Former Bandmates
John Densmore won a court battle to keep the other surviving members of the Doors from using the band's name on new projects. Now, he's hoping to win back their friendship with a new book.
Densmore says he's mailed copies of 'The Doors: Unhinged,' due April 17, 2013, to both Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger in hopes of mending fences. Densmore and the family of late Doors frontman Jim Morrison were awarded $5 million after the drummer filed a lawsuit in 2003, charging Manzarek and Krieger with having "improperly invoked the Doors' name and images" when the duo toured as "The Doors of the 21st Century."
"My relationship with Ray and Robbie has been rather strained, of course," Densmore tells Billboard. "But at the end [of the book] I write about how I can't not love them for what we created together…So hopefully [the book] is a bit of an olive branch and we can head towards healing."
Densmore even says he's open to performing with his former Doors bandmates again, as long as that doesn't include performing with a Morrison clone on stage. "It can't be the Doors," Densmore insists. "That's like the Police without Sting, the Stones without Mick … I wouldn't go on tour with them and a 'Jimitator.'"