Jim Morrison warbled to ‘cancel his subscription to the resurrection’, and then left us on July 3rd, 1971.  Dave Brock and Wild Child turned both the Paramount and Gramercy Theatres into the Whisky A Go-Go on August 8th and 9th respectively, and brought Jim back in a way he might not have ever dreamed possible.  Brock was in the running to play Jim in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors, and did play him in 1992’s film ‘Death Becomes Her’. Dave Brock’s representation of the Lizard King is so skilled and visually accurate that if Morrison hasn’t been cloned, it made it seem a good idea to check for contents in the grave at Pere Lachaise Cemetery.  

Dave Brock    

Dave Brock was chosen to star in The Jim Morrison Rock Opera by the show’s producers, who were no less than the late singer’s sister, Anna Morrison Graham, and her husband.  After his stint in the show, Brock formed Wild Child, and carved a legendary niche recreating the bands’ performances.  The production was so spontaneous and precise, former Doors Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek added Brock to their own band.  No less than Doors member Robby Krieger said that, “Wild Child is as close as you’ll get to the real thing.” Brock handled lead vocals for the former Doors from 2010 to 2013.

Audio effects opened each show with sounds of choppers, bringing to mind Francis Ford Coppolla’s 1979 film ‘Apocalypse Now’. At the Paramount, the show opened with Break on Through, and the musical portals of perception seemed to take the crowd back to 1967 and Southern California.  Hello I Love You, Love Me Two Times, and Twentieth Century Fox followed in quick succession.  The band then barely let the audience catch their breath before launching into Berthold Brecht’s Alabama Song, moving straight into Willie Dixon’s Back Door Man.  

At the Gramercy, New York City’s grit and the darker theatre led to an appropriate ambiance for the show.  This evening opened with Roadhouse Blues, and the bulk of the crowd chose to dance in front of the stage, rather than take advantage of the seating at the rear of the venue.  Audience members drank ‘Break on Throughs’, and sang and danced along to the numbers.  The band found a groove from the get-go that takes many groups half a show to find.

   

Brock told L4LM that, ” I formed this group with the intention of having a great band. Not one that just looked like the members of the Doors with mediocre musicians. We don’t wear costumes or recite pretend banter in between songs, as if we were the doors back in 1968. The focus is on the delivery and performance of the music and re-creating the original sound with the exact same instruments that the doors used. Fans want to hear that music relived live on stage as it was. Most people that come and see us never had a chance to see the doors or may not of even been alive at the time they played.

As the band ripped through numbers including Touch Me, Riders on the Storm, Crystal Ship, Love Her Madly, and Light My Fire, it once again seemed to be the autumn after the summer of love.  By the time The End was played as an encore, some grizzled veterans and a new generation were convinced that they had mysteriously seen Jim in his prime each evening.  Each player in the band impressed with the mastery of their instrument at different parts in the festivities.

 

 “We are brand-new in the East Coast market”, related Brock. “But there of a lot of fans here that have seen or heard of us on the West Coast. So at the beginning of the shows there have been some skeptical eyes in the audience, but that all vanishes after the first or second song”. From keeping our eyes on the audiences, L4LM couldn’t agree more. “We look forward toward next shows and Silver Spring, Baltimore, Boston and New Haven. We plan on  coming back in the spring.”

Dave Brock

Band members include Brock on lead vocals, Kit Potamkin on Keyboards and bass, Gene White on drums,  and Pat Hennessy on guitar.  Brock added, “We are traveling right now on a pretty strict schedule. Seven cities in ten days spread across the East Coast.” The tour concludes on August 17th at Toad’s Place in Connecticut.  Live For Live Music loved Wild Child two times this week.  If you ever get the chance to see them live, don’t let it pass you by.  We are left wondering if perhaps Brock will handle the vocals for the remaining Doors Robby Krieger and John Densmore at some point in the future.  We certainly hope so.           Words by Bob Wilson,   Photos by Wayne Herrschaft

The group’s website can be found at: wildchild.info