I still don't remember any of the individual characters in "Fire and Hemlock" (it's been too long), but I remember a sense of doomed brilliance, and...

"the Doors' Riders on the Storm"

...could easily be some kind of meta joke about Jim Morrison's life and death (and, more generally, the club 27). Though, of course, that particular song with its fatalism and gloom would also serve as an excellent soundtrack to the Elric stories.