Drummer Unhinged Over Doors Reunion

If John Densmore gets his way, the door will be slammed on an upcoming Doors reunion featuring two of his former bandmates.

Densmore, the drummer from the iconic Jim Morrison-led rock group, filed a lawsuit Tuesday to halt the use of the band's name in an upcoming reunion tour featuring keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger.

Densmore says the duo and their new band, 21st Century Doors, are welcome to call themselves "the Windows" or "the Hinges" but he wishes they would steer clear of jamming under the auspices of the Doors.

"I'm sad and hurt that my former bandmates are misusing the logo and the name, confusing people," the 58-year-old rocker told Reuters.

The 21st Century Doors is modern-day pairing of several aging rock icons. Manzarek and Krieger recently joined forces with former Cult singer Ian Astbury and former Police drummer Stewart Copeland to bring the classic Morrison-era tunes back to life for a new generation of music lovers and to their hardcore fans from the '60s.

The new group came together last year, played a couple of warm-up gigs in the fall and a New Year's concert in Vegas. Over the last several weeks, the 21st Century Doors have been making appearances on the late-night talk-show circuit. Their planned world tour officially kicks off Friday at L.A.'s Universal Amphitheater, according to the group's Website, www.robbykrieger.com/doors.

Apparently, the whole thing has lit a fire under Densmore. The new and old Doors alike are knocked in Densmore's suit, which claims they aren't allowed to use the band's name without his permission and demands profits from any future concerts and recordings.

"It's not the Doors," he said. "That's my point here...It shouldn't be called the Doors if there's someone other than Jim singing, y'know?"

Densmore claims that when Morrison OD'd in 1971, the three surviving bandmembers agreed to evenly divvy up all future profits. He says the agreement specifically blocks the use of the Doors name if all three musicians are not involved.

Reps for Manzarek, 63, and Krieger, 57, could not immediately be reached for comment, but Manzarek told Reuters he found the suit to be "frivolous."

He claims they had Densmore's blessing for the reunion, adding that he would be on stage with them if it weren't for a raging case of tinnitus, which is a ringing in the ears. "Well, I assume we have John's blessings," Manzarek said last week. "John's got bad ears and can't play this loud rock 'n' roll stuff and would blow his brains out if he tried to, it'd just be too loud for him. So, John has said, 'Fine, go ahead.' "

Manzarek even thinks the Lizard King himself is smiling down on the reunion from rock 'n' roll heaven. "Morrison would be very happy with this regrouping of the Doors," the keyboardist said. "Because these are Jim Morrison's words, and Jim Morrison's words are now alive and being sung to an audience one more time."

But Densmore begs to differ. Though he says he won't stand in the way of Friday's concert out of respect to the band's longtime fans, he does plan to go forward with his case. "I specifically did not consent," he says in the suit.

Aside from suing his former pals, Densmore is also focusing attention on his own side project, Tribal Jazz, which is slated to release its first album this spring.

The Doors, led by the troubled but beloved Morrison, topped the charts throughout the late '60s and early '70s with hits like "Light My Fire," "L.A. Woman," "Break on Through," "The End" and "Riders on the Storm." They released seven albums before Morrison's death, all of which went gold, and have sold a whopping 49 million albums to date.

In happier days, the three surviving members played with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder in 1993, when the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and came together in recent years to promote a Doors box set and the release of live and rare tracks. They also recruited several guest vocalists for a Morrison tribute concert in 2000.