Ray Davies Interview: Returning To The Kinks

On paper, creating an album that boasts the likes of Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Mumford & Sons and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins sounds like an impossible task. But not for Ray Davies. The Kinks frontman was able to round-up all those names and more for his new album ‘See My Friends’, which features re-workings of some of the band’s classic hits.

To celebrate this coming together, Gigwise Editor Jason Gregory caught up with Davies to find out what it was like to work with such a variety of names, what it felt like to revisit the band’s back catalogue and - more importantly - whether there’s still a future for The Kinks.

The album brings you together with some of music’s biggest names, and also up-and-coming acts. How did the collaboration with Mumford & Sons come about?

They heard about the project and wanted to get involved - they must have heard about it on the internet. I looked them up on YouTube and heard some of their music and really was impressed with what they do. They’re a very different band. We played the Hop Farm festival together in Kent, and I saw them live and they were great live - a different band completely to most bands. We spoke afterwards and they said they wanted to do these two songs, so I saw rather than do two tracks why don’t we just do one.

So we arranged some time in the studio and they came in, and we pulled the arrangement together as we were recording. It all went very quickly and there was a lot of camaraderie there. It was great to me amongst a bunch of musicians who have not been put together by a record company or some talent show. They’re a bunch of people who knew one another and had similar tastes and ambitions with their music, so I found that really liberating. They reminded me very much of The Kinks in that period when we were doing the ‘Village Green’ and ‘Something Else’ albums.

When you first recorded songs like ‘You Really Got Me’ I imagine you didn’t ever envisage performing them with bands so far away to the Kinks as Metallica.

I wouldn’t say they were polar opposites, but I know what you mean. It’s more trash metal. But I think there are similarities in many respects. ‘You Really Got Me’ was more blues-driven, but the follow-up ‘All Day And All The Night’ was definitely in the world of heavier metal sounding power chords. Strangely enough, the drum sound on ‘All Day…’ sounds very similar to Lars [Ulrich’s] snare drum sound. I don’t think they’re that poles apart actually.

Did it feel like revisiting the early days of The Kinks then?

Obviously The Kinks were loud but we didn’t have stacks of amps like Metallica. When we recorded the track ‘You Really Got Me’ we did it all live - vocals and instruments at the same time. We’d already had a chance to do it at the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame the previous year, so we were kind of well rehearsed.

Is that what ignited this album because you also discussed the project with Bruce Springsteen there?

I did. Bruce came in and send I’ve heard about this project and I’m really up for it and I want to do ‘Better Things’, so I wasn’t going to argue with him. But it started out with Alex Chilton and Lucinda Williams really. Alex was a friend of mine from America and he played in Big Star. He wanted to do a track with me and he came to London in 2009, and that’s when it all started really. We put down ‘Till The End Of The Day’ with just me on an acoustic and Alex singing. That was the track that got the idea going in my head.

Poignant that this album has come out following his death?

The album’s dedicated to Alex in part. It’s probably one of the last things he recorded.

What were your memories of your time together in the studio?

“We first met each other as neighbours in New Orleans, he lived a few blocks away from where I was staying, and so we didn’t talk much about music over there - just the local characters - but we talked about music on the session. He was telling me how he recorded the song called ‘The Letter’ with the Box Tops all those years ago, and recalling sessions and everything. He was reluctant to talk about his work but after we’d finished doing ‘Till The End Of The Day’ he opened up a bit.”


Did you consciously find yourself having to cater for each acts’ individual style because the album almost reinterprets the songs.

It does and that’s a good point you made. I also produced the record so I had to let the artists express themselves through the songs, and someone I had to tailor what I was doing to fit them. In Bruce’s case it was an exception. There were a few exceptions, and one was Bruce. We just decided to get the back track down and we stood opposite - about six foot from one another - and just sang at each other. There was no finesse, we just sang in our own style.

But with Jackson Browne and Paloma Faith, for example, I had to let her interpret the song. We had to work hard on the arrangement for Paloma and work out how she wanted to sing.

What do you think of her as a singer?

I think she’s an outstanding talent - a great jazzy, soul voice. I think you’ll hear a lot of good things from Paloma.

Are there artists that aren’t on this album that you’d still like to work with?

I wanted to record with Shirley Manson from Garbage because we’ve talked about doing something for years. Pete Townshend wanted to do something but he was away on holiday and we had to finish the album at some point. Damon [Albarn] I’d love to have worked with. There’s a lot of scheduling issues with artists, they’ve got a day here, then I’m going dates, so it’s trying to run all the organizational stuff together. And Paul Weller, I’d loved to have worked on something with Paul, something kind of odd-ball with him.

What did it feel like for you to revisit these songs again?

It helps me stand back. I was a bit concerned at first when I first embarked on the project, but then I stood back and listened to the songs and the songs had new energy. And also it gave me faith that the songs do stand up regardless of who’s performing them.

Was it quite an emotional and cathartic experience?

Cathartic definitely, emotional on occasion.

Have you ever really taken chance to reflect on The Kinks’ legacy, or has recording an album like this helped you to do that?

I didn’t sit down and go: ‘Oh, of course, in the day when we recorded it’ I treated every song as a fresh start, although I obviously listened to the originals. But when I did Snow Patrol Gary doing ‘Tired Of Waiting’ we just started with the song, and doing it on an acoustic first with Gary before the bass and drums really helped.

Do you think that by working with bands like Mumford and Sons you’ll now introduce The Kinks to a whole new audience?

Well I played it with them live at one of their concerts at Hammersmith last week and it seemed like the audience knew both songs already. I think some songs are in the national psyche of people. A lot of these songs are of that sort.

The album will no doubt raise further questions over whether The Kinks will reunite. Is that a possibility?

The interesting thing is I’ve had emails today both from Mick and Dave about various other subject matters, but I think it will be down to Dave at the end of the day but he’s gradually coming round to it. I’ve already put some tracks down with Mick Avery, just some new songs because I like to keep writing new songs. That’s what keeps me motivated, new work, always.

You’ve said previously that if you were to do a Kinks reunion it would have to involve new material. Do you still stand by that?

Yeah I’ll play some old songs, but new songs are what keeps me alive. I think hardcore fans and new fans want to hear new material.

‘See My Friends’ is out on Monday (November 8).