Crystal Ship
( The Ultimate Doors Tribute)
They’ve performed all over the United States with their Doors Tribute Show.
And their lead singer Eddie Racci who portrays Jim Morrison performed internationally with a previous Doors Tribute group he was in – “ Break On Through”.
And Eddie shared the stage with Robby Kreiger!
Robby said” Eddie has sung with my band countless times and Eddie has a real powerful voice”.
New York Sounds Magazine wrote” Crystal Ship is all the things a good tribute band should be. He looked like Jim Morrison and he had every sway, tilt, leer and growl down to the leather pants”.
You can’t get a better Review than that !
Eddie Racci spoke with us about “ Crystal Ship”.

Q – “ Crystal Ship” seems to have had success from the get go. Is that because of all the Doors fans or your tribute show or both?
A – I’d like to think it’s a combination of both. I like to think we represent the band itself the way we appreciate the music and legacy of the Doors. I like to think we represent it the right way. It is the 60th Anniversary of the Doors. There’s always been ebbs and flows with the Doors where it’s been selling really well. I think we’re in a time like that again. It’s probably a testament of that as much as anything else.

Q – Where are you based out of?
A – We’re kind of from all over. I live in Brooklyn, New York. My guitar player lives in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. My drummer is in Philadelphia. Sometimes we play with a bass player. Sometimes we play with a full horn section, but all those guys are pretty much Jersey based.

Q – Rehearsals must be hard!
A – Yeah, (laughs)

Q – But, maybe at this point you don’t need to rehearse.
A – It depends. It’s funny we were just listening to a full recording somebody sent us from like two years ago, the first time we had played with the horns and 90% of those songs we had never played before. We did a full set with them. They were rare songs. Songs we didn’t try before because they didn’t sound right without the horns. Those we had to rehearse , especially the horn section. Those guys are reading off charts. You have to be spot on.

Q – You were in another tribute group to the Doors – “ Break On Through”. Did you put that group together and how successful was that group?
A – I put that group together back in ’94. It was around for about 5 years. Basically the heyday was from ’94 to ’99. At that time maybe from ’96 to ’99 I think we played more shows than anybody at that point. We basically played from New York to California. We toured all across America. The last tour, we actually did 35 shows from San Francisco all the way to Tulsa.
A couple of times we re-united and did a couple of shows in Puerto Rico in 2001 and then eleven years later after that in 2012 was the last time we played a Summer tour throughout all of Europe.

Q – You probably studied Jim Morrison quite a bit didn’t you before you ever set foot onstage ?
A – Yeah, well I was just a big fan always. From the time I heard them immediately their music came alive for me, hearing their music. I didn’t know who Jim Morrison was until going deeper and deeper into the music. When I was a kid the biography ‘No One Here Comes Out Alive’ came out and I read that. Then it was just the same thing most fans do, follow the videos, and movies of ‘em. So, it was just kind of natural that when I decided to sing he was my main influence. I guess just being a fan was really how I got the mannerisms onstage.

Q – How did you know that you could pull off a Jim Morrison portrayal? Did someone say” Eddie you kind of look like Jim Morrison and you kind of sing like him”.
A – I didn’t start singing until I was in my mid 20’s. I didn’t know I could. I had been writing poetry and songs that I just had an interest in and gave it to a friend who was a musician and he said’ Why don’t you try singing?. I didn’t think I could. He kind of coaxed it out of me and that led to us forming a Classic Rock band and my confidence grew. Then it was always natural within that band.
We were always doing 5 or 6 Doors songs. Everyone that saw this band and we didn’t play that many shows, it got me my first indoctrination into music. They said ‘You sound like Jim. You should start a Doors Tribute. ‘ About 6 months after that I started ‘Break On Through’ and literally less than a year later I quit my job and we sent full-time. I’m glad I decided to retire from it.

Q – What job did you quit?
A – At the time I was going for my Masters in Health Care Administration. I was with a medical billing co. I was like a regional rep. for them and I was trained to be a Healthcare Administrator, but I never did because obviously I went in a different direction. I went full-time with the band.

Q – So you knew how to keep healthy on the road. Too bad Jim Morrison didn’t learn that.
A – (laughs) Well, I don’t know about that.

Q – What was it like being onstage with Robby Krieger?
A – Oh, it was an honor and a privilege. I sang with him numerous times, five or 6 times through the 90’s. It was great. It was almost like trying to forget you’re onstage with a living legend, who wrote a lot of the songs. He wrote a lot of the ‘hits’ which people forget, from ‘Light My Fire’, to ‘Touch Me’, to ‘Love Me Two Times’ and ‘Love Her Madly’. It was a lot of fun. Definitely a bucket list moment for me. I can’t say enough nice things about Robby. A tremendous musician. Jim would say he was the world’s most under-rated guitarists and songwriter.

Q – What are your bookings look like these days?
A – We’re pretty busy. We got a lot of gigs coming up. By the end of this year (2025) I think we’ll have done in the neighborhood of 75-80 shows. A little less coming in for 2026 only because we’re taking some vacation time and we’ve got some personal stuff. We’re not going to play as much but we’ll still probably play 50-55 shows in 2026. We just haven’t scheduled them yet.
We basically play from New Hampshire or Maine down to Florida. We’re always gonna play where we’re based out of. It would be the Tri-State area. We have a good following in Pennsylvania, in the Bucks County area, and Massachusetts. We try to play the Upstate New York area too. We’re playing Albany in January ( 2026).
January, February and March is usually a busy time for us. It’s worked out where we’re playing all these outdoor shows in the Summer, but we feel like the music and the theatre type atmosphere during the Winter is where the show works best.

Q – So when July 3rd rolls around every year and you’re playing this Great Adventure Arena, do you honestly believe in your heart that Jim Morrison died on that day in 1971?
A – I believe so. I’ve read all the conspiracy theories. I think at this point it would be hard to believe that he faked his death and is living in Africa or something along those lines. There was a recent documentary that he’s a maintenance man up in Syracuse, New York. (laughs).
I didn’t like the documentary. I didn’t believe any of the theories, but that’s just my personal opinion. I just thought it went off the rails a little bit. There were some things that were disturbing that I didn’t like hearing, but that’s just one person’s take on it.

©Gary James
Official Website: crystalshipband.com