Strange Daze

Bio:

This site was created to let old fans and family members of the L.A. Doors Band "Strange Daze" view what the band members have been doing with their lives, to view old photos, videos and recordings of the band.

This is Mike L recollecting the early days. I was looking in the local musician's paper for a gig. I had just left a Jazz Fusion/Prog band called "Erehwon". This was late 1980. Randy had an ad looking for people who knew The Doors material. I called him up, and we met at his apartment. We immediately knew we had something going, and he asked me if I knew any guitarists, as he knew Ron. I did, and that was Forrest, who was the guitarist in Erehwon. We also added a bass guitar player, Eric Reichter. Our first practice gig at a club was a disappointment, since no one was there, and we were ready to call it quits. Basically, the bass player was not that interested, and if a bass player in a rock band doesn't have their heart in it, it is as bad as the drummer doing the same. Fortunately, Ron had the enthusiasm and the chops. So, I said, I'll play Key Bass, as I had already 15 years of playing Doors material under my belt. We got a Key Bass, and the story of Strange Daze, and it's offspring such as Wild Child begins. Our first real gig at the Valley West was sold out............to be continued with videos, music, posters, schedules, and tales from on the road and even J. Eric Friedner's boiling of intestines, brains, and guts while we were trying to practice....Ugh!!!!

This is Ron. I met Randy through his brother Don and his girlfriend Julie when we were all in North Hollywood in 1979. Don was a very cool aspiring actor and I'm sure he still is hard at it. Randy had a cool old Austrailian Shepard dog that followed him to construction sites. I worked for him once in a while. We hit it off immediately. We played in a Neil Young type band called Legessy with Steve the Bass Player before he had the idea to do an all Doors band. He would play 8 tracks, albums, and cassettes of all of The Doors music for me. I'd just shrug my shoulders since all I cared about then was Neil Pert from Rush. I listened to Frank Zappa albums continuously then. I soon found out what a complex and jazzy drummer John Densmore was. The style was much more of a challenge than I'd expected. We enlisted Mike and Forrest as Mike mentioned. We busted Forrest out of college at Cal State Northridge to be a rock star. I quit my job designing and building Aircraft at Lockheed. Can't tell any more or you and I'd be dead. Eric was an okay bass player. Much cooler with the key bass. Once we hooked up with these two youg attorneys, Bill Berrol and Jay Cohen, we had a plan and excellent management. The very first show sold out. Almost every other show sold out from there. It was a wild ride. We had Frankie Avalon's son open the very first show up for us at the Valley West Concert Club. More later.

Mike Again.......Got in touch with Forrest, and yes, the whole band is back communicating. Just a personal opinion.....After hearing all of the Doors tribute bands from Crystal Ship to Wild Child, I still say we sounded the best. I will be capturing the Golden Bear gig on HD Video, and then converting to YouTube Format in the next week. I can also clean up the audio, and post on the sound portion of Strange Daze.

Lily reminded me that when Randy lost his voice for awhile, she filled in for him at the practices at Friedner's. The Low C was rough for her since her lowest note was the E above that. That was for the beginning of "Crystal Ship". This was also great practice for her singing in Noble Gas, as she is still at it. ..

Member Since:

October 23, 2007

Members:

Randy Baker on Vocals, Mike Lutgen on Keyboards and Key Bass, Forrest Penner on Guitars, Ron Redifer on the Drum Kit

Influences:

The Doors, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, Electric Prunes, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, The Animals, Spirit, Love, and Bo Diddley

The Doors - Live in Europe 1968

Randy Baker interview with Dan Zelisko

Strange Daze Live Golden Bear 1982

Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception Randy Baker - Live television Broadcast 1986 with Danny Zelisko

Sounds Like:

Those Doors Dudes Not to Touch the Earth (Doors) by Strange Daze Come out Tonight Touch Me Hello I Love You & Love Her Madly People are Strange Insanity Break on through Changeling

Record Label:

Unsigned