Ray Davies

“see my friends” Introduction

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Still friends with people he went toschool with, Ray Davies lives only amile away from Muswell Hill wherehe grew up. He may occasionally beseen walking up the road, or in acafé drinking a cup of tea. At onceordinary and extraordinary, RayDavies is quite possibly Britain’sgreatest songwriter.

Raymond Douglas Davies grew up ina large family in Fortis Green duringthe post-war period of the 1950s.These were hard times and Londonlacked some basic necessities butRay remembers his childhood fondlyas sunny and bright with plenty ofspace to play and enough to eat.With younger brother Dave helearned to play music, inspired andinfluenced by the black Americanblues of Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy

Waters and John Lee Hooker. Hisolder sisters had boyfriends whobrought their own records to thehouse; romantic war-time songs, big-band music and a variety of othersounds. It was a magical educationfor the young Ray Davies.

From left to right: Dave, SisterGwen, Ray (standing), niece Jackie.

Fortis Green

6 Denmark Terrace - The Davies family home

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Ray Davies is one of rock’s elder statesmen.August 2014 marks 50 years since his bandThe Kinks had their first hit record.

For his 13th birthday Ray waspresented with a Spanishguitar by his sister Rene.

Ray Davies

“see my friends”

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He had been admiring it for a whilein the Les Aldrich Music shop onFortis Green Road. Rene lovedmusic and especially loved to dance.Later that same day and against herdoctor’s advice she went out to the

Lyceum ballroom in the West End,where she suddenly collapsed anddied on the dance floor. Many yearslater Ray would write Come Dancingin memory of his sister. It is

difficult to think of asong with a more heart-rending backstory. It is an indicationof just how deeply personal the songsof Ray Davies are.

Ray attended WilliamGrimshaw School (nowFortismere) in Muswell Hill,and after school he practisedhis guitar, taking lessonsfrom his brother-in-law.From 1962 -1963 Raycompleted a foundation yearat Hornsey College of Art.He then enrolled on atheatre design course atCroydon College of Art.Working Class culture was

becoming fashionable in the visualart world, but Ray was moreinterested in music. He began

playing guitar andharmonica in a West

Indian rhythm and blues band inSoho. Dave Davies had alreadyformed a band with their schoolfriend and bass guitarist PeterQuaife, when Ray returned home tojoin them.

In December 1960 the Daviesbrothers played their first proper gigtogether at the Clissold Arms publichouse, opposite where they lived inFortis Green. Although not yetcalled The Kinks, this was theinaugural public performance by thecore of the band. They played aninstrumental by Ray, which wouldlater form the basis of Tired ofWaiting for You, one of their manyhits. Various gigs followed includinga residency at the Athenaeumballroom in Muswell Hill Broadway.

Encouragement and Initiation

William Grimshaw School 1956

Athenaeum ballroom,Muswell Hill

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Former ‘Teenage Rage’ singerLarry Page was engaged as theband’s manager.

He had confidence in their energyand recognised Ray’s song-writingability. They signed to the Pyerecord label in 1964 as The Ravensbut they were swiftly steeredtowards a ‘kinky’ appearance andname change. Page thought callingthem ‘Kinks’ suggested sexualambiguity and would gain themattention and notoriety; somethinghe himself had been good at in the1950s. So, The Kinks they became.

The Kingsmen’s version ofRichard Berry’s Jamaicanballad Louie Louie was anunexpected hit in early1964. The relaxed vocalstyle with a throbbingguitar probably gave Raygreater confidence abouthis own style of vocal melody,as Dave Davies recalls they playedthe record constantly for a time. AnElpico ‘little green amp’ bought

Ray Davies

“see my friends”

locally and used by Rayand Dave for practice,

featured significantly in thedevelopment of The Kinks’ sound.

Well-schooled in jazz and blues, Raycame up with the opening notes toYou Really Got Me on the piano,which Dave developed into aninspirational crude, metallic riff on hisguitar. He then slashed the speakercone and turned up the volume todeliver a rather dirty but curiouslyengaging sound. It was the inventionof ‘heavy metal’ and it did not existanywhere else in 1964.

You Really Got Me was The Kinks’third single and a last chance withPye. Ray’s confident vocals and Dave’sbold, jagged guitar sound fired thepublic’s imagination. It reached thetop of the charts in the UK and laterthe top ten in the USA. The Kinkssimply took off and proceeded todeliver a string of hit singles.

Inspiration and Arrival

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Ray Davies

“see my friends”

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The lyrics seem to allude to thedeath of a loved one and it wasthe first western popular song toincorporate an Indian Raga.Others were listening carefullyto Ray’s original ideas and acouple of months later TheBeatles brought out NorwegianWood featuring a sitar.

Like many bands, The Kinkswere driven by a sibling dynamicthat increasingly turned tohostility. Being really onlyinterested in receiving validationas a songwriter, Ray tended towithdraw from public attention.Dave by contrast embraced famewith outrageous gusto. They fought

constantly, often on stage, makinglife miserable for other bandmembers. As a consequence TheKinks found themselves banned

from performing in the USA forover four years during the 1960s. Itwas the time of the ‘British Invasion’and they were effectively cut offfrom the main rock music market.Ray recounts drummer Mick Avorysumming up the reason for the banas ‘a mixture of bad management,bad luck and bad behaviour’.

Ray proceeded to concentrate onwriting sensitive songs that werelargely populated by the charactershe had observed in his suburbanneighbourhood. From studying theguitar fingerwork of Chet Atkins totaking inspiration from the songs ofanother country music legend, HankWilliams, he pushed himself tocontinually expand his craft. RayDavies was gaining a reputation for aparticular type of songwritingsophistication.

Determining Direction

From left to right: Ray Davies,Dave Davies, Peter Quaife andMick Avory

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Ray Davies

“see my friends”

The Golden Age:1966 to 1972

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He ran the song by his father wholiked it, not least because he couldimagine himself singing it in thepub. It proved to be the biggest hitof 1966 and was sung by the Englandcrowd at Wembley Stadium duringthe world cup final.

The Kinks music, having veeredbetween being raucous andsomewhat otherworldly, became

generally more introspective. Fromthe mid-1960s to the early 1970s thesingles and LPs were critically verysuccessful but often failedcommercially.

The band gained a reputation forsongs and concept albums reflectingEnglish culture and lifestyle, drivenby Ray’s observational writing.Albums such as Face to Face,

Something Else, The Kinks Are theVillage Green Preservation Society,Arthur, Lola Versus Powerman and TheMoney-Go-Round, Part One andMuswell Hillbillies, along with theiraccompanying singles, are consideredamong the most influentialrecordings of the period.

Kinks biographer Nick Hasted assertsthat the 1967 single Waterloo Sunsetis a song that ‘still casts a spell’.Certainly it has remained an anthemfor London, with the closingceremony of the 2012 OlympicGames seeing Ray Davies step out ofa London taxi and sing the song tothe world in celebration of ourcapital city.

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Ray Davies

“see my friends”

KONK

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The Kinks began recording full-timeat Konk in 1973 for their projectPreservation: Acts 1 & 2. Konkthereafter remained their mainstudio. The exterior of Konk featureson the cover sleeve of albums GiveThe People What They Want (1981)and State Of Confusion (1983).

The Kinks launched their ownrecord label which they also calledKonk. Alas, the complexities of

commerce prevented it from being amajor player but it carried a numberof singles and LPs for a few shortyears in the 1970s. The Konk labelstill survives today in associationwith re-releases.

The Konk studio came to publicattention again in 2008 whenEnglish indie rock group The Kooksrecorded a No.1 album there, whichthey called Konk. Konk is regardedas one of the few truly great studios

left in London with aportfolio of major clientsincluding Thin Lizzy, The BeeGees, Depeche Mode, TheStone Roses and The ArcticMonkeys.

In recent months Konk hashosted a series of well-attendedart exhibitions and is quietlyestablishing itself by providingNorth London with an unusualgallery space.

The Kinks outsideKonk in 1981

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Ray Davies

“see my friends”

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They packed venues across Americaand in 1981 sold out the prestigiousMadison Square Garden.

Popular albums Misfits, Low Budget,Give the People What They Want andState of Confusion followed after.Mick Avory decided to leave theband in 1984 but top rock drummerBob Henrit was able to take over.Groups such as The Jam and ThePretenders released coverversions of The Kinks’ songs,increasing record sales. In the1990s, Britpop bands Oasis andBlur named The Kinks as a majorinfluence. Nonetheless the bandground to a complete halt. Theyplayed their last concert at theNorwegian Wood Festival in Oslo,in June 1996.

First Person Singular

Return to Waterloo was, technicallyspeaking, Ray Davies’ first soloalbum, released in 1985. Themajority of his solo recordings havecome since The Kinks ceased toexist as a band.

Ray released four albums between1998 and 2009: The Storyteller,

Other People’s Lives, WorkingMan’s Café (which gainedgreater airplay and reached awider audience due to a

promotional copy given awayfree with The Sunday Times), andthe uplifting The Kinks ChoralCollection.

Live and Kicking

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Ray Davies

“see my friends”

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Much of the album was recorded atKonk in 2009. It includes a suite ofsongs from the 1968 album The KinksAre The Village Green PreservationSociety, which was Ray Davies’homage to an idyllic and nostalgicEngland – not a bestseller at the timebut now regarded by many as Ray’smasterpiece. One of the mostinstantly striking songs on The KinksChoral Collection is See My Friends.The arrangement with the choirmagnifies the impact of the lyrics tomake it feel like a gospel hymn.

Neighbours and Friends

In November2010 RayDaviesreleased the

highly successful album See MyFriends, revisiting classic Kinksmaterial in collaboration withMumford & Sons, Paloma Faith,Matallica, and other major artists.

Sadly, the original Kinks bass playerPeter Quaife died in 2010. RayDavies and Mick Avory unveiled a

commemorative plaque to Pete thefollowing year at the north entranceto Fortismere School (formerlyWilliam Grimshaw).

There remains the tantalisingpossibility that The Kinks mightreform with the three survivingoriginal members. Ray has said theyalready have sufficient material for acouple of albums.

“I started See My Friends with aband, but I rearranged it after

we’d finished recording it. In otherwords, I cut it up in the studio afterit was recorded. It sounds brilliant!I’m really pleased with it, because

it’s an acapella version.” Ray Davies

Peter Quaife (left) withDave Davies

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Ray Davies

“see my friends”

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In the UK, The Kinks had seventeenTop 20 singles and five Top 10 albums.

They had five Top 10 singles on theUS Billboard chart with nine oftheir albums charting in the Top 40.Four of their albums have beencertified gold by the RecordingIndustry Association of America(RIAA).

1990The original four members of TheKinks: Ray Davies, Dave Davies,Peter Quaife and Mick Avory wereinducted into the Rock & Roll Hallof Fame, with Ray Davies identifiedas, “almost indisputably rock’s mostliterate, witty and insightfulsongwriter.”

2004Ray Davies was awarded a CBE byQueen Elizabeth II, for ‘services tomusic’.

2004Ray Davies won the MojoSongwriter Award, which recognises,‘an artist whose career has beendefined by his ability to pen classicmaterial on a consistent basis.’

2005The Kinks were inducted into theUK Music Hall of Fame.

2006Ray Davies received the IvorNovello Award for ‘OutstandingContribution to British Music’.

2014Ray Davies was inducted into theSongwriters’ Hall of Fame.

Accolades

“Being creative firesme up. I like to think

that what I do with mysong writing

encourages otherpeople to becreative...”

Ray Davies

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