Dave Davies:

Or The Confessions Of A Kink Krazy

By Steve Bedney

Guitar Stars - April 1979


It was late in the Kinks' 1975 Schoolboys In Disgrace tour. Along with a few other Kink Krazies, I wandered down to The Warwick Hotel in New York to meet the boys from the band that had been making it happen since the first British wave of Rock 'n' roll washed across American soil.

We weren't there very long when Dave Davies approached us. Dave has long been a rock innovator. His raw, gutsy approach to making it all happen on the guitar separated him from the pack yet he has remained strangely unknown and underrated as a musician. He originated the fuzz guitar on the band's recording of "You Really Got Me." It was he, not brother Ray, who has long since evolved into the band's front man and chief songwriter, who originated The Kinks. Ray joined later.

Dave approached us, looking uncomfortably embarrassed. "Hi," he said, his voice coming out as nothing more than a high squeak. "The show's good." we told him. "Yeah, it's kind of fun to do" he replied. I handed him a stack of pictures taken during one of the Schoolboys shows. "'What's this, a souvenir?" he asked, and began looking through them. There was one picture of Vincent Price in the pile. "'I heard you and Ray liked him," I said. "Yeah, we were going to produce an album with him, but it didn't come off."'

Another one in our group held up a tape recorder. "I've got a tape of your studio album," he said. In surprise, Dave looked at him. "Where'd you get that?" he asked amazed. The solo album has long been something Kinks fans have talked about and hoped for. His first attempt at writing, "Death of a Clown." had been a hit back in the mid-sixties, and audiences still requested it at every show. Recently, The Kinks have added it to their repertoire in a medley with their classic, "A Well Respected Man." After hearing a bit of the tape. Dave noted that "The sound's not very good is it?"

"Will you ever release a solo album?"

"Maybe."

We are interrupted by the band's manager who whisks Dave, and by Ray, who walks by us with a smile and a shrug into the elevator. The Kinks have since gone on to Arista Records from their concept era for RCA, and have had two consecutive hit albums and their first top 40 singles since 'Lola.' A movie of Preservation. Ray's political opus about tyranny and power struggles, is planned.

Dave still remains underrated, but he is gaining recognition. His soloing is as gutsy as it was 15 years ago, often seeming as though there were nothing he couldn't do on the guitar. Whatever he does, he does well and makes it look painfully simple at the same time. And he enjoys doing it with a fervor that floods over any concert audience.

By Steve Bedney, Guitar Stars - April 1977

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