A Side Hustle As The Doors

We all know by now that it’s getting tougher to make a living as a musician. While tools for producing music have gotten cheaper and more accessible, the ways to make decent money as a professional in the music industry have been drying up.

Alex Marshall and Joanna Yee write for the NYT about the members of acclaimed British indie act Field Music trying to pay the bills. Despite working regular jobs and playing in a band recognized by Prince, they were having trouble making ends meet. They decided they could put a few extra bones in the bank by… gigging as The Doors.

Called themselves The Fire Doors, the group plays shows covering the music of the seminal LA band from decades ago. David Brewis, one of two brothers who are core members of Field Music, got their start covering classic rock, but ended up playing their own music that seems like the opposite side of the rock spectrum. As they looked for ways to augment their finances, becoming a tribute band started as a joke, but became real after looking into the possibility.

David researched Britain’s tribute band circuit and found that there were already three well respected Doors acts: the Doors Alive, the Doors Rising and the Strange Doors. But he thought that Field Music’s members, along with David Hyde on drums, could recreate the band just as well, if not better.

It’s hard to listen to Field Music and imagine them doing The Doors. Brewis sounds more like he's about to blurt out "this is not my beautiful wife" than claim to be the lizard king. But their gambit has been successful, and fans of the classic rock band have been effusive in their praise.

The band I always pictured doing songs by The Doors was The Cult.¹ Singer Ian Astbury’s Jim Morrison fixation was never far from the surface. Indeed, Astbury became the official vocalist for The Doors of the 21st Century in 2002, which featured original band members Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek.