Dave Davies - In The Spotlight
By Diana Clapton
Faces - February 1984
It's been 20 years since "You Really Got Me"
and its raw, raucous, feed-back-funked guitar solo forged the Dave Davies "style."
The song went to No. 1 in England and broke the Kinks in America before beginning
a life of its own, eventually covered by Van Halen as a super-screamer.
Now that the Kinks are hot again with "Come Dancing," the original is getting
lots of airplay. "When I hear it on the radio, I cringe," says Davies,
"but it's still fun to play live."
The glamour-puss lead guitarist, whose brawls with big brother Ray set their stage
style for years, has grown up into a fine solo performer. His new Chosen People is
actually the dream come true, a dream set forth by Ray in "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy."
Six years ago, spatting to the point where Ray thought his brother might leave the
band, and seeing John Gosling and Andy Pyle depart, Ray wrote the song to encourage
Dave to stay - but "do other things on his own, as well."
The affection which Dave showed by bringing Ray into the band he founded at age 15,
has lasted through over 20 years of petulant pranks. The two became something like
rock's answer to the Katzenjammer Kids. Punches and pot-shots were de rigeur. Dave
would take free-form solos and challenge the band to keep up. Once, Dave stood by
coolly as his besotted brother - whose booze hassles ap proached legend - crashed
into a nearby bank of amps.
Around the time all this got them banned by the American Federation of Musicians,
fans were coming for the combat as well as the music; on any level, a Kinks concert
was a combus tible event.
"Even through my arrogant youth," the still-boyish Dave recalls, 'every thing
mattered desperately. Even I still criticize myself for caring too much."
How did he learn to deal with pressures and frustrations? "Only through work.
I finally wrote a song about the process, for my second album - 'Too Serious.' Wrote
it in a pub one after noon; then things started falling into place.
"But I never actually took myself seriously as a songwriter until a few years
ago. I'd always been a guitar player, expressing myself through sounds. I was writing
poetry all through the 70s, then hiding it away. A miserable decade - not a great
time for the Kinks.
"But I'm much happier in the 80s," Davies says brightly, "and much
more comfortable with my music - even the singing. Y'know, I've been singing through
me nose for the last 15 years!"
Chosen People is a carefully crafted, highly sentimental album, al most a letter
from a beloved friend. "The simple message is that we're all chosen," Davies
says, "because we've survived - we're still here. And so we have a responsibility
to everything else in the way we live. Everything matters."
But how has he survived? How can this personal intensity be maintained without causing
the classic rock burn out? "Rock tragedy has a lot to do with drugs," Davies
says, "and people dragging you down. I'm a great believer in personal, private
time - I must have a few hours a week when it's just me. Even if It comes to locking
myself in a hotel room somewhere.
"I heard a story - I think it was about Prince - how he wouldn't see visitors
after a certain performance. I say, fine. He had to give out all that energy onstage,
and he was trying to preserve himself. I say he might just survive because of that.
The others said he was an asshole. But I got my energy from, oh, walking around the
street, walking into art galleries. I don't let myself be drained away."
Now the first single, 'Mean Disposi tion,' is a big wow on MTV, and Davies continues
his guitar innovation. "I've re-found the acoustic guitar," he says, "after
years. Used with the elec tric here, it makes the song very rock and roll without
being heavy. It made a wonderful video. But I really wrote the song stalled in traffic
in London. That tremendous frustration! I often find it difficult to express direct
emotion, but not here. Actually, I like the mobility of driving and find it very
... creative.
"I'm writing my first screenplay now, and I work out the script by talk ing
out the action with my girlfriend. I always write my songs from single images that
come to me. I see life in terms of pictures.
"Live performance is the most pre cious part of my career for me. There is nothing
in this world like getting out onstage and having the kids go crazy," says Davies.
"But more and more, I've come to admire film and video as a form of expression,
a very logical pro cess. If a song starts out as an envisioned image, it seems right
it should end up on film. And I know Ray's thinking the same way."
By Diana Clapton - Faces - February 1984
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