Shropshire Star

Dave Davies: Brother Ray’s knighthood is like a nod to The Kinks

The siblings have had a turbulent relationship on and off stage.

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Ray & Dave Davies

The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies has said there are no hard feelings over his brother Sir Ray’s knighthood.

The veteran rock band’s frontman, 76, was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours in recognition of his services to the arts.

Younger sibling Dave, 73, said the gesture celebrated the entire band, which featured late bassist Pete Quaife and drummer Mick Avory in its classic line-up.

Investitures at Buckingham Palace
Kinks frontman Sir Ray Davies after being knighted (John Stillwell/PA)

He told the PA news agency: “With the Stones it was Mick Jagger, but they didn’t bother with the others. It’s more symbolic than anything.

“It’s like a nod to The Kinks because Ray is the frontman and he wrote most of the songs. It’s more symbolic. I am glad he did.

“I am glad he received a knighthood but I’m still waiting for mine. It’s in the post.”

Since forming in north London in 1963, the Davies brothers have had a turbulent relationship on and off stage, eventually splitting in 1996.

Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One (The Kinks/PA)

They recently reunited to work on a 50th anniversary reissue of their eighth studio album – Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One – which satirised the music industry, the sexual revolution of the 1960s and life on the road.

Alongside a series of remixes, the new album contains intimate conversations between the brothers recorded in Sir Ray’s kitchen.

Dave suggested the pair had been on good terms, saying: “Ray was doing remixes on Zoom with an engineer in a different place, a different area, and then me and Ray were able to meet to do in the kitchen conversations, which form part of the box set.

“We made it work. You have to. The remixes were a lot of fun and the conversations were also great – the kitchen sink things. So we didn’t do too bad.”

The song Lola, which gives the album its name, was written by Sir Ray in early 1970 and recorded at Morgan Studios in London, telling the story of a meeting between a young man and a transgender person in a Soho club, inspired by a rumoured encounter by the band’s manager in Paris.

Dave said it was “curious” how the track had pre-empted the start of a mainstream debate about trans issues.

He added: “It was the newness of the ideas. Since the beginning of when we first got involved in music in ‘63 right through.

“It is like you are searching for an identity musically and sexually as well. It was very much like that.”

The 50th anniversary reissue of the album is out on December 11 on BMG.

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