Prescott Niles On Recording The Knack’s Live Album Two Weeks After September 11 And The Doors Connection

The Knack have released a historic recording of the band live from 25 September 2001, recorded just two weeks after the September 11 terrorist attack on New York City and Washington DC. They also had a close connection with The Doors’ co-founder Ray Manzarek.

The album The Knack Live At The House of Blues 2001 was released for the first time this week for Record Store Day on 23 April.

Prescott Niles, the bass player for The Knack, recalled the show and the mood of the audience for Noise11.com.

“The vibe in the room … if we had been in New York I’m sure it would have been a very different atmosphere. In Los Angeles, in a way we were removed from it. The shock was still here. I make a comparison to today’s world. The audience at that particular time were exuberant to come and see us play. After playing live shows after the lockdown there is a different kind of heaviness. It’s a pandemic verses a shockdemic. There is a different type of heaviness, pandemic vs shockdemic, if you know what I’m saying with the towers coming down. It was an exuberant crowd, even after a tragedy”.

‘Live At The House of Blues 2001’ shows The Knack also playing some fun covers. According to Prescott, “’Break On Through’ and ‘Tequila’, we were jamming one day at rehearsal. Doug was a big Doors fan. Somehow we started doing ‘Break On Through’, same chord changes. Periodically we’ve done that and I’m glad it’s on the record”.

The Knack had a close association with The Doors’ keyboard player Ray Manzarek. Prescott says, “Back in the early days when we played the Troubadour and all the LA clubs we were lucky enough to have musicians come and jam with us. Ray Manzarek had known Bruce Gary our drummer. We did ‘Love Me Two Times’, we did ‘Break On Through’, we did ‘Soul Kitchen’ and ‘Whiskey Bar’ to close the set”.

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