Ray Davies has suggested that the Kinks may soon be reforming, even if it is without his brother Dave, who remains opposed to the idea.
The 60s giants of Brit-rock initially went their separate ways 15 years ago, with Dave Davies, the younger of the brothers, wanting nothing to do with any reunion ever since.
However, in an interview with Q magazine (via The Guardian), Ray Davies said that he is willing to regroup the Kinks without his sibling, saying, “We’ll do it without him if we have to. The music is the issue.”
He added, “I’m a little more based on planet Earth than certain other members of my family.”
It was actually Dave Davies who founded the band in 1962 with bassist Pete Quaife. When Quaife died in 2010, Ray made moves towards a reunion concert only to meet resistance from Dave, who referred to such ideas as ‘karaoke Kinks’ and indeed that a reformation would be like ‘a bad remake of Night of the Living Dead‘.
Ray Davies remains enthusiastic in the face of his brother’s refusals, though he does understand him, saying, “Even the mafia get together and make up when someone dies… I can understand what [Dave’s] trying to say. I think it’s a reference to comebacks in general.”
In the meantime, Ray Davies is still suffering with the gunshot wound he received in 2004 after being shot by a thief in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“To put it politely, I don’t think [the wound] was handled very well at the time,” he said. “Partly because the hospital was busy, and partly due to the nature of the wound.
“It’s been pretty bad, actually. I got quite sick before Christmas from residue that is still in the leg and which formed a clot. It made me quite ill and I was hospitalised for a bit.”
