Gary James' Interview With A Friend Of Jim Morrison
Warner Davis



It's another case of being in the right place at the right time. The group, Timber was on the same record label, Electra Records, as The Doors. Warner Davis was part of that group, Timber. Warner Davis crossed paths with The Doors' members, including Jim Morrison. He has never talked about those times to anyone in the Press. Now, in this exclusive interview, Warner Davis talks about Los Angeles in the 1960s, his friendship with the guys in The Doors and their charismatic frontman, Jim Morrison.

Q - Before we talk about your past, let's talk about what you're doing these days. Are you doing anything musically these days? Are you a working musician at all?

A - Yeah. I still practice every day. I play with different bands around San Diego. I don't want to really join a band because then you're obligated to all the jobs they get. This way, if I don't want to do that particular thing, you can pick and choose. But whenever Jack Tempchin wants me, then I just absolutely say yes because I've been playing with him for more than fifteen years on and off. He's a pretty famous songwriter. In fact, he's got another album coming out. He's got two or three solo albums coming out and they're great. He wrote "Already Gone" for the Eagles, "Peaceful Easy Feeling" for the Eagles. He wrote "The Girl From Yesterday" and "Somebody" for the Eagles. All the Glenn Frey solo albums, he wrote most of them with Glenn.

Q - You released two albums with Timber, didn't you?

A - Yes. The first one was on Kapp Records. That was the first company Elton John went with. Then after that we went with Elektra for the second one. The first one was called "Part Of What You Hear" and the second was "Timber. Bring America Home".

Q - Was Timber your first group?

A - Well, prior to Timber I played with a group called The Comfortable Chair. Here's the deal: It was a Bob Hope / Jackie Gleason movie and they wanted to get The Doors. Jim Morrison told them to get The Comfortable Chair to do it. He didn't want to do it. It just wasn't his thing. So, that's how we got to meet Norman Panama, who was the director of the movie and we got hired to be part of the movie. It centered around our band. Bob Hope's daughter was in our band and Jackie Gleason's son was in our band. Jackie Gleason was a big record producer.

Q - Jackie Gleason! He was a big star! I really liked him.

A - My dad did too. He would want me to get him some Coors beers. That was kind of cool. I got to talk to him. I never got to talk to Bob Hope because it was all business. His money was behind that movie at Paramount. So, I got to talk to Jackie Gleason a few times. He'd always be in his dressing room and he would be going through his lines. He'd say one line ten times and the next line ten times. I could hear him do that inside his little car that was inside the big warehouse. They all had their own little cars. I thought that was kind of interesting. He was a real nice guy. He loved piano. I remember that about him. But anyway, that's how we got to know Robbie (Krieger) and John (Densmore) of the Doors. I got to know Robbie really well. I got to hang out with him. About a year ago, (2017) I went to see him at The Belly-Up. He said they're getting ready to go onstage and after he wanted me to come backstage. After the concert was over I couldn't get backstage because the new management had these big bouncers who said, "You can't go back there." So, I finally left. It was one of those things. I was kind of disappointed. But, he supposedly is going to be down here again at one of these venues, Robbie is. I was talking to Robbie one day about Jim. I said, "Did he ever live in San Diego?" He said, "Yeah. His dad was in the Navy." I said, "Wow! That's pretty cool." He said, "Don't say anything to Jim about it because he doesn't feel good about the fact that his dad was in the military. He isn't on good speaking terms with his dad." So, I never did say anything. Many, many years later, maybe four or five years ago, we were in Best Buy and we saw a book on The Jim Morrison Scrapbook. I opened it up and I couldn't believe all the stuff in there. I didn't realize that Jim lived in San Diego. He lived four houses over from me. In other words, thirty-five yards from me. I remember him when I was a kid, but he was older than me by maybe three and a half years. Older guys didn't hang around younger guys. But, I knew who he was. He didn't look at all the same way. When I first saw Jim Morrison I said, "He reminds me of somebody." It was just one of those things. I thought to my self, what a coincidence! Now, my brother was in Hollywood before me. He played with everybody. He played with Lee Michaels. He played organ on Lee Michaels' first album, "Carnival Of Life". That was such a wonderful time. My brother was the organ player in Lee Michaels' band. Their drummer was back in Detroit. So, Lee Michaels said (to me), "Why don't just just come and play with us? We've already got a drummer, but you need to learn something." I said, "Sure, sure." So I came and kind of practiced with them. I didn't know hardly anything. When <>Comfortable Chair came around I knew a little bit more and I started practicing. First thing that happens is we get that Bob Hope movie, which is kind of cool. But, getting back to Jim...

Q - Not just yet. You're a drummer then, correct?

A - Right.

Q - Timber got this record deal with Kapp Records and you guys started playing where?

A - The Troubadour. We became the house band at the Troubadour for a lot of other acts. They liked us so much on Hoot Night. Monday night, all the record people were looking for new groups and the guy who owned The Troubadour really liked Timber, so we got to open for a whole lot of other bands, which I thought was pretty cool.

Q - Like who? Give me some names.

A - Livingston Taylor, Seals And Crofts, Neil Diamond. That was great too. Some of this stuff is so nostalgic. Neil Diamond was great and his drummer was Ron Tutt. Ron Tutt was also Elvis Presley's drummer. He was his main drummer. I talked to him and I said, "What was Elvis like?" And he goes, "Well man, when you're with Elvis and you're in a room and a bunch of people are in the room, everyone is only looking at Elvis. There's no social event, people walking around. The King is there and everybody is looking at him." (laughs) I kind of got a kick out of that. It was kind of cool and Ron Tutt was a really great drummer. I liked the way he played. When I got to be around these great drummers I was just starting. I got really lucky. I don't feel I had major talent, although I'm pretty talented now. Back then my parents had both died a year and a half apart and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I saw my brother is playing in bands in Hollywood. So, we'd go up on the (Sunset) Strip all the time. One night we went into the Sea Witch, which is near 77 Sunset Strip, maybe a door up. A lot of groups were playing there too. I went in there and Jim Morrison was sitting in with another band and he was dressed in black and he had his back to the audience the whole time. (laughs) I thought that was weird. But that's the first time I got to meet Jim Morrison.

Q - Would Kapp Records have seen Timber then at The Troubadour?

A - No. I was in Comfortable Chair before I was in Timber. At that time I wasn't even in Timber. That was prior to getting into Timber. I went with my brother to get into Comfortable Chair, the first band I really played with. Then after that I got into Timber. It was a couple of years later. i got into Timber around 1970, something like that. I got into Comfortable Chair the last six months of 1967.

Q - Was Timber already signed with Kapp Records?

A - No, no, we weren't. We just put the band together and we practiced a lot at my house. The guitar player knew me. I talked to him all the time. They got interested in me. So I jammed with 'em. They liked it. They came up to Malibu where I lived and we practiced out in our garage. I had a separate garage from the house in Malibu on Bush Drive. We got really tight there. We played a few places and finally we got to play at Host Night and different people saw us and that's when this one fella, I can't remember his name, with Kapp Records, and he just signed Elton John to Kapp Records. From Timber is sort of how I got into The Troubadour. Then we played everywhere. We toured around Canada. We played all over the place. It was really a great band. It was my favorite band. Comfortable Chair was pretty good too, but it didn't stay together very long. It was one of those things. With Timber, our first album was on Kapp Records and our second album was with Elektra Records. We started on a third one and the band just kind of fell apart. The girl left the band. Then I moved back to San Diego after that.

Q - Did Jack Holzman sign you to Elektra Records?

A - Probably. We were not put in high regard with Elektra because I looked at all the other bands I played with and another buddy of mine who was in Show Of Hands at Elektra Records and they didn't even mention Timber because they were so pissed off. They just put all this money behind us. They had an album. They wanted to do another album, but they wanted to change producers. They wanted to get another producer. Well, the girl in the band felt guilty because she really liked the producer's wife, Lea. Everybody was friends and she thought that was totally unfair, whereas as George and Wayne said, we've got to do whatever the record company (wants). We'll come back and try another producer. It was one of those kinds of things. While I was in Timber, that's when Jim Morrison had passed away over in France. I don't know what the true story is. I know what Robbie told me really happened.

Q - Save that thought for just a little later on in the interview. Tell me what you remember about Jim Morrison when you were a kid.

A - Okay. Well, I remember something when I was a kid because I grew up in the same neighborhood. At the end of the street was the Pioneer Church, okay? I went to that church and Jim went there too. I saw him in the neighborhood and I didn't think too much of it. I remember one day there was a canyon behind the Pioneer Church. There was this drainage ditch that went down the canyon from all the streets. Water goes down the curb. It has to go somewhere. It all came to this drainage ditch that went down into the canyon. Well, the water coming out of this drainage ditch, you could walk in it, it's so big as a kid. It's probably like four feet or more. I remember one day Jim was down there, daring people to go up the deep, dark tunnel, no return. (laughs) That's the first time I really had a semi-conversation with Jim Morrison as a kid. I remember he went to our elementary school. He didn't really know me 'cause I was a young kid. You understand the chemistry. The older guys want to hang with the older guys. They didn't want to hang with the younger guys.

Q - He was in the sixth grade and you were in the second grade?

A - Yeah, something like that.

Q - Did you ever see The Doors in concert?

A - Oh, yeah. Many times. I'll tell you a really good story. The Doors were playing at the Hollywood Bowl. My girlfriend, Sharon Marshall called and said come on down. So I did. She was there. I was already hanging around Rob and John anyway. But I went backstage and my girlfriend was sitting on a couch. She said, "Come over here. We're playing Gin. Sit here, baby." So, I sat on the couch and there was another guy. I didn't know who it was. His head was down and there was another girl. They were dealing cards. So, all of a sudden, it's Mick Jagger. (laughs) Mick Jagger looks at him and then they run at each other and started hugging each other, kind of dancing in a circle. Jim said, "Hey man, I dig you." It was like that on and on. They were talking, so glad to see each other and they had just met. I got to see two superstars at the time meet. (laughs)

Q - That's some story! Did you ever see the darker side of Jim Morrison? Maybe when he had too much to drink.

A - Okay. One time. At that particular concert, later they went over, I think The Doors had an office over on La Cienega Boulevard. I don't know if we went there or to another building. Maybe it was somewhere in Hollywood. They had an office party after the concert. I saw Jim in one corner. He had two shakers. He was drinking a lot of beer and he was just playing with those shakers. He didn't talk to anybody. But he did have friends he'd hang out with. That Pam (Courson) gal. I know he really loved his girlfriend, although he did have a few wild affairs on the side. Did I tell you about Janis Joplin?

Q - No. Did you ever see him with Janis Joplin?

A - No, but I heard the story, I believe it was from Robbie. He told me the story that they were doing this concert and she was hanging out with a couple of Hell's Angels at the time. Him and Janis were hanging around his house late at night and all of a sudden one of the guys who liked Janis from the Hell's Angels was coming in. She told Jim to go hide in the house, (laughs) while this Hell's Angel was in the room. I thought it was kind of an interesting story. But I know that he was really in love with Pam. He really was. I went into that famous health food place in Hollywood and I can't think of the name. But I saw him in there with Pam one time and Sharon went up and said hi. He was real nice. He could be real civil. I suppose his downfall was he started drinking a lot of beer and gained some weight. This is my own theory: He was under a lot of stress because he got arrested in Florida, Miami, dancing onstage and they said he apparently exposed his private parts onstage, Robbie said he didn't think he did. He was onstage and he never saw Jim's penis. That's what he told me. But his health was a little bad because of his life. He'd stay out late and drink. At the time he didn't have a house anymore. I was living in a house that first Jim had. Then Robbie had. Then I got it after Robbie turned me on to it. It was a place in Santa Monica. He (Jim) was drinking a lot and was really worried about that bust in Florida. It ran down his health a lot. I noticed when I was in Timber at Electra Records he'd come in with this guy named Babe. Blonde hair. Big guy. He was his buddy.

Q - That was his bodyguard.

A - Okay. So, we were at Elektra Records and he came in. He was coughing a lot and had a horrible bronchial cold, but he wasn't taking care of it. Then when he went to France, this is what Robbie told me, she (Pam) went to the store to get him some medicine. He was taking a bath. While she was gone, he died in the bathtub. But, I didn't know the story. There's a bunch of other stories out there, but that's what I was told by Robbie at the time.

Q - Of course you know The Doors sent over their road manager, Bill Siddons to confirm if Jim Morrison had in fact died. He never looked inside the coffin. So, the world will never know what was inside the coffin. Jim Morrison could have faked his death.

A - You know, I've always felt that possibility. I sensed being around him he was terrified about Miami. I've always felt there was a possibility he's still alive. The reason he went into hiding is just as simple as that. He just didn't want to be confronted about it. At the time he was thinking he didn't know how long this band thing was gonna last. But all he ever really wanted to do was be a poet. That's what he visualized himself as being, a really good poet. He may have just wanted to go incognito and be left alone. I went in one night when The Doors were recording and they needed to get Jim. This girl, Donna Port was there and they said, "Donna, you gotta go pick up Jim." She said, "Where is he?" "He's down on Sunset (Boulevard). You'll be able to find him. No problem. You'll see him down there." I didn't know what they were talking about! I had a red Volkswagen van. So, Donna and me get into the van and go down Sunset Boulevard. We're driving down the Boulevard and all of a sudden we see a whole bunch of chicks in a group. (laughs) And maybe a block in front of them is Jim Morrison. Every now and then one of the chicks would run up to him and say, "Jim, I love you," or whatever and they'd run back. Another would run up. It was kind of funny. I think he got to the point where he was trying to find some inner peace and he sensed that he lost it and I think he lost it when he got busted. If he did go disappear like that, that's my personal opinion. I don't know. I think that's what was inside of him as an artist, to go back and have peace. He loved Pam. He had money.

Q - I've heard that he had quite a few paternity suits against him.

A - I didn't hear that one, but it wouldn't surprise me. He did have women. There were women always coming on to him big time. But, despite him going through all that, at the same time he had this other bedroom in his house of life that he had Pam, harmony, security. I think he liked that a lot. He may have wanted to just go off and be that. "Look, I don't need any of this anymore." His nervous system was full of stress. He did all those albums. He became a superstar. He turned to alcohol. He could still be alive somewhere.

Q - Is it true you use to house-sit for Jim? Was that to make sure no one broke in?

A - No. Jim lived in this place, a block away from the ocean in Santa Monica. Then Robbie took the place and then Robbie turned it onto me. Sometimes girls would come over and they'd want to see Jim. "He'll be back real soon. You can come on in." (laughs) They'd be really sexed up and you could see the nipples through the knit shirts they'd have on. They still had their Gold albums in there for awhile until one of them came and picked 'em up. I can't remember who.

Q - Did you ever get to meet Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix?

A - No. I got to see Jimi Hendrix at The Whiskey A-Go-Go. He sat two feet in front of me. He sat in with The Buddy Miles Express. One night at the Rose Bowl she was playing the Rose Bowl with The Mothers Of Invention. There was a dressing room off the stage somewhere. I went in there with someone, I can't remember why. But I saw Janis there and they looked at me and smiled. "Hey brother!" Then I went to the back of the stage and there's these steps going up to the stage. I was standing right there and Janis walked up and she was getting ready to walk up the stairs and start playing. This girl stopped her, "Oh, Janis. Can I have your autography?" She said, "Sure, honey." She had her cigarette and put it in her mouth and then she took the girl's blouse and opened it up for her boobs to come out and she wrote across her breasts, "I Love You. Janis." (laughs) I didn't really meet her, but...

Q - You were right next to her.

A - Yeah.

Q - Had you asked her for an autograph, what would she have done with you?

A - Well, I would have released my pants. (laughs) Whatever, baby. C'mon! Janis was a pretty wild woman. She was a great, great entertainer too. Jim thought she was great. I know that. He mentioned that in a truck one night. She was wild on stage and he connected with her like that. There's so many beautiful things about that era. A certain aura. A certain force that came over everyone in our country. We had a war going on and everything's turned upside down. It was unbelievable that we got to live through that, so it's good to put it down in writing for the future of mankind.

Q - It was a very special time. People need to be reminded of it.

A - That's right. I believe that, one hundred percent! I try to explain it to kids. Some kids get it. Some kids don't. But it was such a huge, huge time. It was just unbelievable. All those bands created such a beautiful feeling. When we hear those old tunes it's like a mantra in our ear. We go back to that era of time when we first heard those songs and how much happiness we had that we didn't even know we were that happy sometimes.

Q - And we thought it would go on forever!

A - Yes, yes. But it was just like an oasis, man. An oasis of time.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.