Why have you given the new box set your blessing?
It's our body of work. The thing about The Kinks, apart from being in them, is that they're the sort of band I'd be a fan of; they're unpredictable, with varied material.
I know why you asked that; it's not usually in my character to celebrate anything but I did a show recently at the Festival Hall and Mick Avory (the Kinks' drummer) turned up.
I care very much about the various incarnations of The Kinks; the camaraderie. An event like [the release] of You Really Got Me should be celebrated, I think.
You Really Got Me, your first number one in 1964, is widely acknowledged as the start of heavy or hard rock. Were you aware that you were making history?
I knew that we went to great lengths to get the sound of the record to the way we played live. I took great care to do that. We recorded it once as a demo then again at Pye Records but it didn't sound right.
It was the third record of a three-single deal and we nearly lost our contract because I told them all I didn't like the sound of [those initial recordings]. I had the sound in my head.
Dave and I wrote to this distorted sound through the amp but getting it on record was a big issue. So many times when we'd get in the studio they'd tell us to turn the amps down, not up.
The second album Kinda Kinks was funny because it literally had to be made in a week
Ray Davies
Do you remember feeling satisfied with the final result of the track?
We went through a great load of stress with publishers, then the record company said: "Who are these upstarts wanting to re-record something?" We re-recorded it at a small place in Portland Place when we finally got it down. Afterwards, we knew it would be good, a success. It was a process of trial and error but we felt we had something special.
What is your favourite Kinks album from the entirety of your history?
Oh, man. I'm fond of so many of them. Face To Face (1966) is memorable and had some good tunes on it; we were struggling and involved in a lot of litigation at the time. It was the first time I got a bite of writing about real subject matter.
Muswell Hillbillies, because of its transformation of the group, was a fine record. Some albums that we struggled with at the time, like The Kink Kontroversy (1965), I've underrated that, it had songs that had to be written on the session and turned around in a day.
The second album [Kinda Kinks, 1965] was funny because it literally had to be made in a week.
In the RCA years, the albums became more rewarding for me. To their credit, although we were in transition, they believed in us.
Do you have a new solo album bubbling away?
My next record is based on the book I had out last year. There were, like, 50 new songs in that book. I did three new tracks recently at the Festival Hall and I got a good reception, which is promising. The new album is due to arrive next spring. I'm trying out new songs on stage at the moment.
That was the secret, actually, to the sound of You Really Got Me: we played it a lot live. We demoed it, the record company hated it; they didn't understand it, but they couldn't deny that we'd found an audience with it.
Am I right in saying you did a bit of behind-thescenes recording with drummer Mick Avory last year?
Yes, we've got five or six tracks. It would be great to do tracks as [The Kinks] but it's got to be the whole deal: Dave and Mick, but their relationship... I've never understood their relationship. When it comes down to it, we made some cracking records together. I'd like to see that union again.
How do you rate the chances of it happening? You seem reasonably optimistic
They've got to talk. It's as simple as that. My brother is more adamant than Mick; Mick's always been an easy-going sort of guy. It shows in his playing, actually, while Dave's quite an aggressive [guitarist]. It would be wonderful to play with them again. I hate the word reunion, I'm tired of hearing people talking about it. In fact, if you ask about it I'll refuse to answer.
I won't use that word then! So if Dave and Mick shake on it, could it happen?
Sorry, I can't really comment on it any more.
