Robby Krieger Promises 60th Anniversary Book ‘Shows You a Lot of the Hidden Doors Stuff’

The Doors’ story, strange days and otherwise, has been told many times to date — by writers, by filmmakers, by the band members themselves in their respective memoirs. But the new Night Divides The Day: The Doors Anthology book puts all of their accounts (and more) alongside each other for the first time ever.

The opulent, coffee-table sized 344-page book was created by England’s Genesis Publications, in partnership with the Doors camp, as part of the group’s 60th anniversary celebration. Featuring about 800 photos and other illustrations (many never before seen), the tome includes new interviews with surviving members Robby Krieger and John Densmore, along with material from the autobiographies and archival comments from Krieger, Densmore and late members Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic wrote the foreword, while Van Morrison, Alice Cooper, Patti Smith and others join members of the Doors’ camp in offering commentary throughout the book.

Key events in the band’s history are recounted in depth — including the making of each album, the legendary Hollywood Bowl concert in July 1968 and the March 1, 1969, Dinner Key Auditorium show in Miami, after which Morrison was arrested for profanity and indecent exposure. And for gear aficionados, Night Divides The Day is awash in images of guitars, keyboards, drums and even Morrison’s microphones and harmonicas.

“It really shows you a lot of the hidden Doors stuff that a lot of people don’t know about,” Krieger, who published Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors in 2021, tells Billboard. “Just seeing the old pictures — a lot of pictures I’ve never seen, which is pretty cool. And reading a lot of interviews, stuff that I’ve forgotten all about…To go back in time and read the original stuff that you might have forgotten about or had the wrong idea of, it is nice to have everything in one (book) like this. I think it’s really done well.”

Krieger is also happy that in addition to the limited edition — 2,000 copies signed by the guitarist and Densmore, with a 7-inch vinyl single featuring rare demo versions of “Hello, I Love You” and “Moonlight Drive” and other memorabilia for $495 — there’s also a standard book store edition, which weighs in at $75.

“I think over the past sort of 10 years Genesis has been doing this more and more with selected titles,” the company’s Nick Roylance explains. “With the amount of work that goes into a book like this it’s nice to share it with a broader audience and…share their story more widely. It’s really lovely to do the limited edition that’s so special for those fans that can afford it; it’s a different experience of the book. But it’s genuinely meaningful to make it more widely available.”

Genesis was introduced to the Doors’ world via A Guide to the Labyrinth: The Collected Works of Jim Morrison, featuring poetry, lyrics, essays and unpublished notes that the company published in May 2022. “We started there and got to know the archives and what we were working with photo-wise,” recalls Night Divides The Day editor Megan Lily Large. “So we had an idea of what we wanted with the design, and then it was just what (the Doors) wanted to tell with the text…We wanted to present their stories as authentically as we could, through their own words, through their own archives and give readers an insight they might not have been afforded until now.”

Lily Large considers the gear photos to be among the book’s holy grail content; some of the instruments had to be tracked down in private collections. And getting Van Morrison’s fresh remembrance of Jim Morrison joining him and his band Them during the last night of a 1966 stand at the Whisky A Go Go for “Gloria” and “The Midnight Hour,” filled with praise for Morrison’s performing chops, was a particularly rare get.

“I think he was quite excited to see the photos” from the performance by Whisky photographer George Rodriguez, Roylance says. Lily Large adds that, “We had these great photos of both of them, so we reached out to Van — ‘Have you seen these? We would love to get a couple of words from you, if we can, even a quote.’ And he came back with a full piece. My favorite part is when he describes Jim as ‘a brother from another mother.’ Which is quite a shock.”

Night Divides The Day is one of a number of projects for the Doors’ 60th celebration, which began last November with Rhino’s High Fidelity audiophile vinyl The Doors 1967-1971 and a Record Store Black Friday vinyl edition of The Doors — Live in Detroit. That show is also part of a series of concert releases from the Doors’ own Bright Midnight label from 1967-1970 streaming for the first time. The group acquired a recently discovered two-channel stereo recording of the final show with Jim Morrison — albeit a disappointing night on Dec. 12, 1970, at the Warehouse in New Orleans — that it’s working to turn into an official release.

“That’s gonna be coming out one of these days,” says Krieger, who was joined by Densmore on stage May 3 at during his monthly Doors album show at the Whisky. “We’re trying to get that together. We know there’s a tape that exists; that’s half the battle right there. I haven’t actually heard it, but I heard it’s pretty damn good, quality-wise.”

Krieger is staying busy with his own work as well these days. He’s planning a second album by the Soul Savages to follow up its 2024 debut, and he’s already recorded a rock-reggae album, featuring the late Phil Chen on bass, that he hopes to release this year. Krieger also guests on “Black Mamba,” the first single from The Revenge of Alice Cooper — a reunion of original band members who became tight with Krieger and the Doors during the late ‘60s in Los Angeles. “That was fun,” he says. “We would hang out together quite a bit back in the day. That (song) was right up my alley.”

Meanwhile, Krieger says he plans to keep enjoying the Doors anniversary celebration – and see what may transpire in the future.

“It’s amazing,” he says. “Even 20 years ago, the 40th anniversary, I was telling people I couldn’t imagine this happening. The only ones that have beaten us are the Stones and the Beatles, pretty much. There’s plenty of groups out there who were formed around the same time as we did, and they don’t have the (continuing) interest that we do. It’s definitely (because of) the songs, the words and the music. It was just an amazing combination of people, the four of us, who came together, and it probably happens once every 60 years. We don’t take it for granted.”