What was Ray Manzarek like to work with as a producer?
As a producer, he was extremely encouraging, reassuring, a cheerleader, a tough taskmaster, a great guy to party with, and really smart and funny. He made us feel like part of a legacy; like he was passing the torch on to us on some level, and that was awesome. Back then, it seemed like a very interesting choice for a punk band to work with him… It was a very controversial choice, as you can imagine. A lot of people got really angry at us, because he was a hippie, and they were The Doors. But the thing is, from 1969 to 1976 was only seven years. So the punk thing and the hippie thing were very intertwined. …And there are all these layers of darkness in the Doors’ sound. Oh god, they were the darkest band. What’s the difference between The Doors and X? Not very much, if you think about it. So, yeah, it was controversial, but it makes so much sense now, looking back at it. Yeah, I’m a Doors fan. You’re accompanying yourself on this tour. How long have you been playing guitar? Since t
