Iron man of The Kinks
Article published in Rave magazine – December 1964
Ray Davies: The Kinks Leader: Pop-Pickers, just suppose you could offer a star at the top of his tree the chance to get away from it all. Give up the crowds, the adulation, the fame and the mobbing to live on a remote island with nothing but a guitar for company.
Who’d do it? Who’d give up stardom and all its glitter to be an unknown once again? Do you know a star who would? I didn’t until my doorbell rang loud and clear the other afternoon.
The firm, insistent ring echoed, round my flat and startled the cockney sparrows on the roof garden. At the door was Ray Davies, leader of the Kinks.
“Hi, Alan”, he said, and shook hands. Very firmly and with a smile as wide as his interests—which range from singing, playing guitar, acting, football and songwriting to way-out girls.
We’d both worked on the same shows before, but we’d never had time to sit down for a real natter. I’d always regarded Ray as a strong, forceful type. A born leader. And I soon found out I wasn’t wrong.
As we settled down for our chat, I thought I’d try him out on that bit about getting away from it all. I figured, pop-pickers, that Ray might be the ideal guy to ask.
Ray Davies: The Kinks Leader
“Ray, I said, “Suppose I was a rich and influential person and I offered you the chance to go to a faraway island to study classical guitar. And the condition was that you practised for six hours a day, seven days a week for three years. What would you say to that?”
It didn’t need a moment’s thought for Ray to come up with his reply.
“Alan, I’d love it”, he said, his strong, supple fingers working to emphasise his enthusiasm. “I’d jump at the opportunity even if the Kinks were at the top of the charts that very week.
“But do you know what? I’d promise myself that at the end of the three years I’d be the very best guitarist in the world. I love all the stardom that surrounds the Kinks, but I’d give it up to better myself.”
He’d give up his home, his friends, his fame—to challenge the unknown in a search for perfection!
“I didn’t want to stay at the top and have it made for the rest of my life,” he told me as we got the coffee ready. “I hope I’ll still be struggling when I’m 40 years old.
“Do you know, Alan, I’m friendly with a photographer who, to me, seems to be at the top of his profession. Really, though, he’s struggling.
“He’s at the top, but he’s in debt. He fights to keep his head above water. Don’t you see-struggling makes him take good pictures!”
That’s when the determination of Raymond Douglas Davies hit home, pop-pickers. A determination which he told began nine years ago when he was just eleven years old.
Ray Davies: The Kinks Leader
I wanted to know if the Kinks are really as wild and unconventional in private life as they are on stage. “No, we conform,” Ray emphasised with a shy smile.
“We feel our music is different, but we’re not the sort of blokes to rebel for the sake of it.”
“Someone gave me a Spanish guitar” he said, a slow grin spreading round his dark, handsome features. “I practised for two years, solid. After that I got an amplified guitar and fell in love with the sounds I could make and the power that boomed out.”
“I didn’t know I’d be earning my living playing the guitar”, he said seriously as I filled his coffee cup.
“I thought I’d probably end up as a draughtsman or something like that.
“I’m quite good with my hands. I love sketching girls eating or dancing.”
I thought it was time to turn the conversation back to the Kinks as they are today. “Are you all good pals with each other?” I asked Ray. “What would happen, for example, if you did go to that faraway place to practise?”
“A few months ago we thought we were a closely-knit unit, Alan”, he replied. “We realise now that we weren’t.
If one of us had left we wouldn’t have broken up. It’s different now. We’ve got a sound and we’re successful. The group couldn’t go on if any changes were made.”
Ray heaved his 6 ft frame up from the couch and crossed to the piano. He tinkled at the keyboard. “What do you think of this?” he asked, running through an idea he’s got for a song.
“Right now, songs are all about boy meets girl. I think that pretty soon this theme will fade out-but have you got any idea what’s going to replace them, Alan?”
I had to admit I hadn’t.
Ray dug deep into the biscuit tin to find some plain chocolate crackers. “Would you ever give up being a Kink for any other reason?”
“No—not even to act”, he replied. “I’m very keen on acting and drama. When I’m singing, it’s just like being an actor. You’ve got to vary your make-up and style to suit each song. Being a Kink is an art—only I’m dabbling in sounds, not pictures.”
By this time I could see that Ray Davies is plainly a confident, purposeful guy with a firm, no-nonsense jaw, a ready smile and a sense of humour that makes him very pleasant company.
I reminded Ray he was due at a rehearsal and he stood up to go. Really smart in blue corduroy jacket, pink tab-collar shirt and grey mohair trousers.
“Ray, what’s in pop for you” I asked as we walked to the door. It was a question I had wanted to ask him all afternoon.
He pressed the button to call the lift and turned to me. His grey-green eyes, so often burning with ambition, twinkled and smiled.
“When I walk on stage and see rows and rows of people who have paid to come in and see us, it makes me work very hard for them”, he said.
“That’s the precise moment every night that makes me determined to give a good show.”
That goes for all of us, pop-pickers. We may yearn for that Desert Island. But could. we do without the friendship that you pour across the floodlights? Or give by a cheery wave from a bus?
All right? Stay bright! See you after Christmas—in Rave—out December 31. I’ll be Heart-to-heart with another pop star.
A smile flickered across. Ray’s face. “We have some crazy times,” he said. “We were travelling through Halifax the other day and Pete Quaife had his head stuck through the car window. He was pretending to have been kidnapped, yelling, ‘Help, kidnap!’
It was great fun watching people’s faces.”
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GEAR! 