Living legend Ray Manzarek is best known as a co-founder and the keyboardist of The Doors. If he did nothing after the death of Jim Morrison he would still be highly regarded. But Manzarek has directed feature films, done spoken word and written novels. Now he can add another feather into his cap with his recent publication of a historical fiction novel called Snake Moon. With a cover by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Snake Moon takes place in 1863 deep in the backwoods of Tennessee. A family that is unaware that the Civil War is taking place sets a chain of events in motion that awakens restless ghosts.
Buy Snake Moon
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you start writing the screenplay that Snake Moon is based on?
Ray Manzarek: My co-writer on the screenplay, Rick Valentine, and I met in 1990. We were pumping iron at the local gymnasium and we got to talking. He is a big film buff so we talked about movies. He was working on a script based on [Mikhail] Bulgakovs Master and Margarita which is a fantasy/realistic novel set in Russia. In it the devil comes back with his little troupe of people to stage a ball for his most illustrious denizens. He needs a girl and that girl is Margarita, who is the girlfriend of the writer of the book. Rick took that 450 page Russian novel and reduced it down to a 135 page screenplay. I thought that was so impressive.
DRE: Are you guys around the same age?
Ray: No, everybodys younger than me.
DRE: Is he a fan of your music?
Ray: Oh yeah. Hes a Doors fan.
DRE: Thats true. Who isnt?
Ray: Well, John Densmore is not. Not at this time anyway, only as it existed in the past. He is a man who is stuck in the past.
DRE: What was the inspiration for the screenplay which led to the book?
Ray: Thats one of those things that just comes out of the unconscious. All of the sudden, there it is.
DRE: Are you a history buff?
Ray: Yes and no. I obviously had to do a lot of research and make sure facts were correct. Ricks a Civil War buff too so between the two of us, we nail it.
DRE: What made the Civil War a good setting?
Ray: In all honesty I have no idea. It was one of those things that seemed to be good. It did have to be an American story. We couldve set it in World War I France but its a couple of American guys writing an American story. It was a milieu we were the most familiar with.
DRE: Was it inevitable you would do a ghost story?
Ray: [laughs] Sure, ghost stories and the darkness and that whole dark side of things is interesting.
DRE: How personal is the story?
Ray: It wasnt personal at all. It was a totally made up piece of fiction. But what is personal is the fact that theyre living in that little veil of Eden where its almost paradise. Thats very personal because I try to live my life in a place that is almost paradise. Im living in the Napa Valley.
DRE: What happened with the screenplay?
Ray: We couldnt sell it because Cold Mountain had killed off all Civil War stories so it was ridiculous even taking it around. We took it maybe to one or two places and they said, Civil War stories? Thats out. That rock and roll guy? What the fuck does he know?
DRE: Were you looking to direct it?
Ray: No after [I directed] Love Her Madly, I quit. God was that hard.
DRE: I havent seen the movie.
Ray: No one has.
DRE: Were you unhappy with the way it came out?
Ray: No, it came out fine. Its a small movie about three college students in love with the same girl. A sculptor, a video artist and a teacher of drama who 20 years before won a Pulitzer prize for a play and is now a reprobate and a drunk. The girl inspires them all, but drives them all mad and a murder has been committed.
DRE: Did being Ray Manzarek help you get in the door to show producers the Snake Moon script?
Ray: Sure, The Doors open the door. Oh, I love The Doors. Let me see the script. Civil War? Out. Even if youre in the Beatles. I dont care. At that point I said, All right. Im just going to novelize this. I novelized the whole thing all by myself.
DRE: Who would you like to have directed Snake Moon?
Ray: It didnt matter. Id be there saying yes, no, yes, no to the best of my abilities with a director who might then at one point say, Get out of here. Get off the set. Dont tell me how to direct. Thats what Oliver Stone said to me. He said, Dont tell me how to direct.
DRE: You were on the set of The Doors?
Ray: Yeah. I said Im not telling you how to direct. Im telling you how to do the story. He said, Ive got three Academy Awards. I said, Ive got eight gold records. Who cares man? I know how The Doors movie should go and you dont know how The Doors movie should go. Youre going to mess it up. The script of yours is ridiculous. Then the movie came out to be ridiculous which is exactly what I told him would happen. He played such mental games. I said, Listen, Ive taken LSD, you dont want to play mind games with me. I took LSD and Ive broken through to the other side. I can see right through mind games. Yeah, lets do that. Lets have some fun. Except for him it was absolutely serious. One male is going to dominate the psyche of another male. Thats what goes on in Hollywood. I thought we were artists.
DRE: I think hes a special case. Maybe not unique, but special.
Ray: Yeah, exactly. Not unique, but very special.
DRE: I recently spoke to Nick Cave about his movie [The Proposition]. Hes written a few scripts and he said that writing scripts is very musical. Is it the same for you?
Ray: Im with him. Definitely with screenplays but not so much when youre writing a book. When youre writing fiction or when youre writing prose, youre writing a read. There is no music going on. But when youre writing a script youre hearing music all the time. Youre cutting on the beat and the rhythm. I couldnt write a script without music spinning around in my head.
DRE: You mentioned that John Densmore is stuck in the past. Do the two of you talk at all?
Ray: No, he sued us to stop us from playing. Robby [Krieger] and I want to go out and play the songs. We got Ian Astbury, who is a terrific singer, to play with us. Weve got a great drummer in Phil Chen and Ty Dennis is on drums. So were playing now as Riders on the Storm. We couldnt even say The Doors of the 21st Century. The judge was on his side.
DRE: Years ago Densmore wrote a piece for Rolling Stone about how he didnt want to put The Doors music in commercials. You and Robby wanted to and he did not.
Ray: You must agree with him. How old are you?
DRE: Im 31.
Ray: Of course you agree with him. Its a good pure position. On the other hand, it doesnt put The Doors on your television set. The Doors are not on pop radio because there are no new records. Little by little classic rock is disappearing and all you can do to get your music to the public is to put it on the TV set. Hit records in other countries are made by associating with a TV show and commercials.
DRE: Here too.
Ray: Yeah man. I heard Muddy Waters singing Hootchie Kootchie Man and selling me a beer. We all drink beer. Hey, we all ride cars. There are a million things we do. Densmore turned down this great Apple computer ad. That was insane. I use a computer. We all use the Apple computer. It was just the thing in his political correct crowd. So thats where we are. We live in a society where products dominate our lives. I consume all kinds of stuff and I dont think theres anything wrong with it.
DRE: When you were my age, you probably would have agreed with him?
Ray: Oh totally. Its the easiest thing for a have not to say sell out. Youre a sell out. I hate those sell outs. Ill tell you this, when I become big and famous Ill never sell out. Then you start to use your brain. You think, Hey, jeez. Its not an emotional thing here. I want to get Doors songs on TV.
DRE: What do you think Jim wouldve said?
Ray: Jim was very smart. If Jim were alive today, he would tell you what I just told you. Jim would say, Listen theres hardly any rock radio. There is Top 40 but were not on it. Theres no classic rock. Thats fading away. A lot of people want to use Break on Through for things. Lets find some stuff that we like. Thats what I told John and Robby, Lets find some stuff that we like. Its a merchandising tool. Of course theres a purity to the music. It wasnt intended to be used for commercials. It was intended to be a moment in time and space, a construct of rhythm and melody and vocals and words. Thats what a song is. Its an ephemeral construction. What you choose to use that thing for is entirely up to you. I think Densmore has a big religious hang up there. Hes looking for purity in a life where it may not exist. But a moment of purity at one time did exist and he wants to keep that frozen like a dragonfly in amber.
DRE: How do The Doors albums sell now?
Ray: Royalty checks are real nice and everythings good. Sales go up and down. Its a real cyclical. There are peaks and valleys.
DRE: Whats going on with your music?
Ray: Riders on the Storm will be going out next year for the 40th anniversary celebration of the music of The Doors. 1967 was when Light My Fire, was the number one song in America.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Snake Moon
Daniel Robert Epstein: When did you start writing the screenplay that Snake Moon is based on?
Ray Manzarek: My co-writer on the screenplay, Rick Valentine, and I met in 1990. We were pumping iron at the local gymnasium and we got to talking. He is a big film buff so we talked about movies. He was working on a script based on [Mikhail] Bulgakovs Master and Margarita which is a fantasy/realistic novel set in Russia. In it the devil comes back with his little troupe of people to stage a ball for his most illustrious denizens. He needs a girl and that girl is Margarita, who is the girlfriend of the writer of the book. Rick took that 450 page Russian novel and reduced it down to a 135 page screenplay. I thought that was so impressive.
DRE: Are you guys around the same age?
Ray: No, everybodys younger than me.
DRE: Is he a fan of your music?
Ray: Oh yeah. Hes a Doors fan.
DRE: Thats true. Who isnt?
Ray: Well, John Densmore is not. Not at this time anyway, only as it existed in the past. He is a man who is stuck in the past.
DRE: What was the inspiration for the screenplay which led to the book?
Ray: Thats one of those things that just comes out of the unconscious. All of the sudden, there it is.
DRE: Are you a history buff?
Ray: Yes and no. I obviously had to do a lot of research and make sure facts were correct. Ricks a Civil War buff too so between the two of us, we nail it.
DRE: What made the Civil War a good setting?
Ray: In all honesty I have no idea. It was one of those things that seemed to be good. It did have to be an American story. We couldve set it in World War I France but its a couple of American guys writing an American story. It was a milieu we were the most familiar with.
DRE: Was it inevitable you would do a ghost story?
Ray: [laughs] Sure, ghost stories and the darkness and that whole dark side of things is interesting.
DRE: How personal is the story?
Ray: It wasnt personal at all. It was a totally made up piece of fiction. But what is personal is the fact that theyre living in that little veil of Eden where its almost paradise. Thats very personal because I try to live my life in a place that is almost paradise. Im living in the Napa Valley.
DRE: What happened with the screenplay?
Ray: We couldnt sell it because Cold Mountain had killed off all Civil War stories so it was ridiculous even taking it around. We took it maybe to one or two places and they said, Civil War stories? Thats out. That rock and roll guy? What the fuck does he know?
DRE: Were you looking to direct it?
Ray: No after [I directed] Love Her Madly, I quit. God was that hard.
DRE: I havent seen the movie.
Ray: No one has.
DRE: Were you unhappy with the way it came out?
Ray: No, it came out fine. Its a small movie about three college students in love with the same girl. A sculptor, a video artist and a teacher of drama who 20 years before won a Pulitzer prize for a play and is now a reprobate and a drunk. The girl inspires them all, but drives them all mad and a murder has been committed.
DRE: Did being Ray Manzarek help you get in the door to show producers the Snake Moon script?
Ray: Sure, The Doors open the door. Oh, I love The Doors. Let me see the script. Civil War? Out. Even if youre in the Beatles. I dont care. At that point I said, All right. Im just going to novelize this. I novelized the whole thing all by myself.
DRE: Who would you like to have directed Snake Moon?
Ray: It didnt matter. Id be there saying yes, no, yes, no to the best of my abilities with a director who might then at one point say, Get out of here. Get off the set. Dont tell me how to direct. Thats what Oliver Stone said to me. He said, Dont tell me how to direct.
DRE: You were on the set of The Doors?
Ray: Yeah. I said Im not telling you how to direct. Im telling you how to do the story. He said, Ive got three Academy Awards. I said, Ive got eight gold records. Who cares man? I know how The Doors movie should go and you dont know how The Doors movie should go. Youre going to mess it up. The script of yours is ridiculous. Then the movie came out to be ridiculous which is exactly what I told him would happen. He played such mental games. I said, Listen, Ive taken LSD, you dont want to play mind games with me. I took LSD and Ive broken through to the other side. I can see right through mind games. Yeah, lets do that. Lets have some fun. Except for him it was absolutely serious. One male is going to dominate the psyche of another male. Thats what goes on in Hollywood. I thought we were artists.
DRE: I think hes a special case. Maybe not unique, but special.
Ray: Yeah, exactly. Not unique, but very special.
DRE: I recently spoke to Nick Cave about his movie [The Proposition]. Hes written a few scripts and he said that writing scripts is very musical. Is it the same for you?
Ray: Im with him. Definitely with screenplays but not so much when youre writing a book. When youre writing fiction or when youre writing prose, youre writing a read. There is no music going on. But when youre writing a script youre hearing music all the time. Youre cutting on the beat and the rhythm. I couldnt write a script without music spinning around in my head.
DRE: You mentioned that John Densmore is stuck in the past. Do the two of you talk at all?
Ray: No, he sued us to stop us from playing. Robby [Krieger] and I want to go out and play the songs. We got Ian Astbury, who is a terrific singer, to play with us. Weve got a great drummer in Phil Chen and Ty Dennis is on drums. So were playing now as Riders on the Storm. We couldnt even say The Doors of the 21st Century. The judge was on his side.
DRE: Years ago Densmore wrote a piece for Rolling Stone about how he didnt want to put The Doors music in commercials. You and Robby wanted to and he did not.
Ray: You must agree with him. How old are you?
DRE: Im 31.
Ray: Of course you agree with him. Its a good pure position. On the other hand, it doesnt put The Doors on your television set. The Doors are not on pop radio because there are no new records. Little by little classic rock is disappearing and all you can do to get your music to the public is to put it on the TV set. Hit records in other countries are made by associating with a TV show and commercials.
DRE: Here too.
Ray: Yeah man. I heard Muddy Waters singing Hootchie Kootchie Man and selling me a beer. We all drink beer. Hey, we all ride cars. There are a million things we do. Densmore turned down this great Apple computer ad. That was insane. I use a computer. We all use the Apple computer. It was just the thing in his political correct crowd. So thats where we are. We live in a society where products dominate our lives. I consume all kinds of stuff and I dont think theres anything wrong with it.
DRE: When you were my age, you probably would have agreed with him?
Ray: Oh totally. Its the easiest thing for a have not to say sell out. Youre a sell out. I hate those sell outs. Ill tell you this, when I become big and famous Ill never sell out. Then you start to use your brain. You think, Hey, jeez. Its not an emotional thing here. I want to get Doors songs on TV.
DRE: What do you think Jim wouldve said?
Ray: Jim was very smart. If Jim were alive today, he would tell you what I just told you. Jim would say, Listen theres hardly any rock radio. There is Top 40 but were not on it. Theres no classic rock. Thats fading away. A lot of people want to use Break on Through for things. Lets find some stuff that we like. Thats what I told John and Robby, Lets find some stuff that we like. Its a merchandising tool. Of course theres a purity to the music. It wasnt intended to be used for commercials. It was intended to be a moment in time and space, a construct of rhythm and melody and vocals and words. Thats what a song is. Its an ephemeral construction. What you choose to use that thing for is entirely up to you. I think Densmore has a big religious hang up there. Hes looking for purity in a life where it may not exist. But a moment of purity at one time did exist and he wants to keep that frozen like a dragonfly in amber.
DRE: How do The Doors albums sell now?
Ray: Royalty checks are real nice and everythings good. Sales go up and down. Its a real cyclical. There are peaks and valleys.
DRE: Whats going on with your music?
Ray: Riders on the Storm will be going out next year for the 40th anniversary celebration of the music of The Doors. 1967 was when Light My Fire, was the number one song in America.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
MattBlak said:
I'm with John Densmore. Why would the Doors need to commercialise their music to ensure its survival? Their reputation transcends the need to do this.
I'll bet there are a lot of people who would have said the same thing about many jazz, blues and country artists from the first half of last century.
theworldisfine said:
Ray Manzarek is a fucking shit.
I love the Doors. But I'll have to agree.... Manzerek is a monster of an ass!