The Doors’ Robby Krieger will release his first solo album in 10 years this spring, The Ritual Begins at Sundown. Ahead of the LP’s arrival, the guitarist also shared the first single “The Drift.”
Krieger’s first album since 2010’s Singularity was influenced by another classic rock icon, Frank Zappa: The Ritual Begins at Sundown was co-written and produced by Zappa collaborator Arthur Barrow, features Zappa alumni among Krieger’s backing band and also boasts a cover of Zappa’s “Chunga’s Revenge” on the tracklist.
“I was hanging out with my buddy Arthur Barrow and we had some songs we had been fooling around with then we got some other friends involved,” Krieger said of the new album in a statement.
The Ritual Begins at Sundown also leans heavily on Krieger’s love of jazz music. “When I wrote songs for the Doors, it was always the music first. I think you have to have some musical ability to really understand jazz,” Krieger said in a statement. “When I was young, I didn’t really understand it. It took me a while. I was going to the clubs with John Densmore — before the Doors — to really get an appreciation of jazz. We used to go see Wes Montgomery, Roland Kirk, Miles Davis, stuff like that. At first, I didn’t really get it, but after a while, it sank in and I always loved it after that.”
Krieger also explained how, after the Doors, he fell in with many of Zappa’s collaborators in Los Angeles, including trumpeter Sal Marquez. “After the Doors, I started becoming interested in jazz and started hanging out with a guy called Sal Marquez,” the guitarist said. “So, we put this band together and that was the first Robby Krieger band and we played at the Whiskey A-Go-Go with Don Preston, Zappa’s keyboard player.”
Barrow, Krieger’s long-time collaborator, then “started hanging out with Don and with Zappa, Don was in my band so we decided to put Arthur in charge of the mixing at the Whiskey for our shows, that’s when I first met him in the Seventies.”
The Ritual Begins at Sundown arrives April 24th via Mascot Label Group’s imprint the Players Club.
The Ritual Begins at Sundown Tracklist
1. What Was That?
2. Slide Home
3. The Drift
4. Chunga’s Revenge
5. Hot Head
6. Yes, the River Knows
7. The Hitch
8. Dr. Noir
9. Bianca’s Dream
10. Screen Junkie
