A secret spiritual weekend getaway with Dave Davies of The Kinks

The beautiful brothers with, as someone on YouTube puts it, their 'legendary hair'

I have to concede that I had serious misgivings about the Dave Davies spiritual satsang weekend retreat, particularly as I’d only been a Kinks fan for about two months and had no idea what satsang was. My appreciation of the band had been concertinaed into a tiny time frame. I can testify that you can become a majorly obsessive fan almost instantly, thanks mainly to what's available on YouTube. In fact, I can't imagine why it’s never happened to me before.

Also a little worried that the weekend might be taken over by a ‘guitar bore’, desperate to engage Dave about makes and techniques and whatnot, preventing the rest of us from satisfying our prurient curiosity about his sexual shenanigans, tendency to pick fights and generally outrageous teenage tearaway behaviour.

I certainly didn't have to be warned not to tell anyone about it because, if I had divulged my whimsical plans, my friends and family would probably have had me committed on the spot. I thought they might fret about me being indoctrinated into some bizarre cult and having to undergo months of deprogramming afterwards. I was half-anxious about this myself, an anxiety that wasn't at all allayed by the peculiar payment arrangements, the frankly weird terms and conditions, not to mention the intense secrecy surrounding the whole affair.

But it was a totally surreal and fabulous experience, genuinely the opportunity of a lifetime, although in some respects it bore remarkably little similarity to what had been promised. And the people – I’d reassured myself that the Americans who came over for it must be even crazier than us Brits – were wonderful, refreshingly normal and yet open to everything. Everyone was equally unsure about what they’d committed themselves to and it instilled a great sense of solidarity that sustained us throughout. We were all in this adventure together. And believe me, it was quite a trip.

It’s so hard to reconcile the Dave the Rave of legend with the gentle, emotional soul we met that first day. Mind you, the image of the smiling, affable, angelic youth in promos and TV appearances was totally belied at the time by antics more akin to that of a relentlessly truculent little trollop. I’d excuse it with the fact that a young man’s actions are determined by the limbic system of the brain rather than the more measured prefrontal cortex, except that the Davies brothers were reputed to be punching each other out well into their forties.

And then there was the constant ubiquitous shagging. No wonder he smiled when singing the line in ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ about God saving virginity. Let’s face it he was doing all he could to eradicate virginity from any village in his vicinity …

But back to the Dave of today … . So generous, warm-hearted and unassuming, he seemed a little abashed and awkward as a group of people who’d adored him for decades gazed at him in mute, stunned devotion. But it was difficult to remain in awe of such a fundamentally down-to-earth (yet head-in-the-clouds) kind of guy. Something about him put you instantly at ease.

He didn't look like he could ever hit anyone and that he might break down in tears if you even suggested it; and was at the time happily matched with Kate (now superseded by new love Rebecca), who did the sterling work of organising the whole shebang.

I listened to his somewhat peripatetic musings on spiritual matters with a cynic’s detachment. I don’t really tend to believe in humans as a species that much. Somehow, during the weekend, Dave synthesises a hotchpotch of different texts and teachings into a belief system based on universal goodwill. He’s incredibly well read and patient when explaining things. And there I was thinking the only Eastern text he might have any familiarity with would be the Kama Sutra. Though I suspect he’s got a pretty good working knowledge of that too.

It seems naïve and idealistic but his sincerity is uplifting and inspiring. I've never met someone so completely unguarded. Or someone so charismatic – you can't help being drawn to such a beautiful person and start to trust that maybe the world could change if everyone was a bit more like him. The sceptic inside me begins to falter even though I'm the kind of person who, when everyone else breathes out to expel negative energy, imagines that I’m soaking it all up like some extra-absorbent, suicidal sponge.

Aside from the yoga, prayers for world peace, spiritual enlightenment and so on, we also had the evening concerts. These couldn't have been more intimate or more brilliant. I got extremely hot and thirsty but even if it meant dying of dehydration, I wished these gigs would go on forever.

Beginning with ‘All Day and All of the Night’ and ending with the poignant ‘Get Back in the Line’, Dave and band treated us to a selection of songs from the Kinks’ extensive back catalogue as well as some of his own solo work (though not enough for me) like ‘The Lie’, ‘Death of a Clown’ (naturally), ‘Are You Ready, Girl?’, ‘Fortis Green’, ‘Rock Me, Rock You’, ‘Rock Siva’ and ‘new one’ ‘Remember the Future’. Other highlights included ‘This Man He Weeps Tonight’, ‘Set Me Free’, ‘Strangers’, ‘Too Much on My Mind’,  ‘I’m Not Like Everybody Else’ and of course ‘Flowers in the Rain’. This is such an incredibly sad and beautiful song, its melody steeped in resigned regret, the vocal both heartbroken and heartbreaking, that some of us were in tears. And so was Dave. And it was all over much too soon.

[‘David Watts’ and ‘Sea of Heartbreak’ were on the set-list but not played. Though I think the latter was played on the second night.]

Afterwards, a group of us post-mortem the day at a pub in town where some people play old 78s of Doris Day on a windup gramophone in the corner, all quite pleasantly shell-shocked by the experience.

I have to feel sorry for Ray. If I can miss his brother so badly after just one weekend in his presence, Ray must feel the absence like a huge hole in the middle of his existence.

As I said farewell and thanks and got a last hug from the little brother, I confessed that when I started ‘I had no idea what I was letting myself in for’ and Dave replied with a heartfelt ‘Neither did I!’

It took a giant leap of faith to commit myself to what sounded like it could be a potentially flaky enterprise, after having only been a Kinks aficionado for such a short period – but I would take the leap again in a heartbeat if Dave were always there to catch me.

Next blog (currently here) features more on Dave Davies and my own peripatetic musings on the Kinks. All Kinks bashful blogs are listed here but I'll be transferring them to blogger gradually, where they should be more accessible.

celluloid villains and heroes: latest casting news on the kinks movie

Dave, Pete, Ray and Mick pensive in the park.

So it’s time to take another gander at progress on the much heralded biopic of the great British band The Kinks.

I'm happy to report that, after wondering in my last blog on the Sunny Afternoon musical if the project had temporarily stalled, things seem to be moving in the right direction again. It hadn't derailed but just diverted into a siding for a spell. Let’s face it, it was never going to rocket along at express train pace.

The fascinating story of the duelling brothers whose musical collaboration resulted in such classic hits as You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset, Lola, Sunny Afternoon and Dead End Street is brimming over with about as much conflict as any screenwriter could wish for.

It’s ideal source material for a drama, replete with bad romances, band brawls, breakdowns, break-ups, comebacks, familial tragedies, feuds, groupies, paternity suits, schoolgirl pregnancies, sibling rivalry, royalty disputes, suicide attempts, transsexuals, US bans.

It would have to be the ‘long-term passion project’ that it has been dubbed, requiring as it does the cooperation of both Ray and Dave Davies in order to succeed. I can only imagine the patience and perseverance this entails, balancing competing demands from all sides.

Ray, hair in a similar style

With Ray based in Highgate, close to where the brothers grew up in Muswell Hill and Dave now domiciled in New York, physical distance is catapulted into the mix, just to complicate matters further. Though perhaps that’s sometimes a good thing – easier to put any problems down to transatlantic miscommunication rather than inbuilt aversion and ingrained enmity. After all, Ray says the story is ‘about two lads who didn’t really fit together’, observing that ‘I never really had a relationship with my brother in a normal way.’

You Really Got Me is in the catch-all early phase of pre-production, according to IMDb. Major casting decisions have been made, for better or worse.

to Johnny Flynn's barnet

The leads are already on board – Johnny Flynn as Ray and George MacKay as Dave.  Both British, Johnny has about nine years on George but both look young enough to play the Davies when success first struck.

Johnny (given name Joe) Flynn boasts an interesting musical pedigree. He fronts a folk group called Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit.

Here is a clip of them performing ‘The Water’, quite appositely, for Radio Kink FM.  

Their songs carry titles like Barnacled Warship and Churlish May, very drama/art school, but also the more down to earth Wayne Rooney.

I think Flynn has something indefinable of Ray about him that means I can see him in the role; and his talking voice sounds a bit like Ray when he was pretending to be posher, like in this interview on an Australian tour.

A brief clip from Hit Scene. 

His grandfather Eric Flynn went to RADA, where he met first wife Fern, and took the lead in many West End musicals. Sons Daniel and Jerome from his first marriage followed their parents’ footsteps into drama.

So Johnny is a younger half-sibling to Ripper Street and Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn, who back in the mists of time also enjoyed chart fortune as one-half of duo Robson & Jerome, alongside small-screen stalwart Robson Green. 

The pair from the TV show Soldier, Soldier scored a hat-trick of number ones with covers of ‘Unchained Melody’ (top selling single of 1995, in the days when you had to physically purchase something for it to count), ‘I Believe’ and ‘What Becomes of the Brokenhearted’ after being persuaded to sign a recording contract by then little-known Simon Cowell (before he evolved into the savvy music mogul inextricably linked with The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent). The duo also scored two number one albums with their covers of classic hits.

Johnny is currently starring in Hangmen, a play that recently transferred from the Royal Court to Wyndham’s Theatre.

George MacKay

MacKay was born into a bit of a theatrical family too, his mother a costume designer and father a stage/lighting designer. When only ten, young George landed the part of Curly, one of the Lost Boys, in Peter Pan.

The actor most recently featured on the small screen in an adaptation of The Outsider. Personally, I found him distinctly underwhelming in the role of Lewis Aldridge, one that I’d had natural sympathy for in the novel. He seemed to be sleepwalking through the part as if lobotomised, and his failure to change his frankly rather moronic expression irritated me so much that I didn't bother to watch the second part.

George Maguire

His face reminds me a little of a Wallace and Gromit clay animation figure and I submit that he is not nearly attractive enough to play Dave, whose features were all clearly defined. Fans from the 60s all confirm that Dave was the heartthrob of the group.

MacKay singing, but only a little, in Sunshine on Leith

However, the director of Sunshine Dexter Fletcher seems almost to be describing the youthful Dave Davies when he talks about MacKay, insisting:

He does have that 'men want to be him, girls want to be with him' potential. He's cool, he's funny, he's sexy, he's sensitive, he's intelligent and he's good-looking.

I can't see it myself though I'm quite impressed that MacKay is dating Saoirse Ronan.

No caption necessary

George Maguire from the musical bears more superficial resemblance to the youngest Kink and is certainly sexier. Remember, both Maguire and John Dagleish, who played Ray in Sunny Afternoon, deservedly picked up Olivier Awards for their roles.

The only other casting news is that director Julien Temple’s daughter (with producer Amanda Temple) Juno is to play Ray’s ex-wife Rasa. This is a little perturbing to me, not the choice per se, as I'm sure she’ll be fine (and if anything she’s more attractive than Rasa), but because I would have thought that casting the rest of the band would take priority. Juno has enjoyed parts in major features such as Notes on a Scandal and Atonement.

Rasa seemed to have been assigned quite a pivotal role in the musical so this may go for the film too. Ray’s stance on the marriage has mellowed since the publication of his biography X-Ray (reviewed here), in which his alter ego seems to view his younger incarnation as a gullible sap possibly hoodwinked into the whole thing by people on the make. He calls it ‘only part of a series of events happening to me that were completely out of my control’.

Juno Temple

Ray and Rasa

Daughter of Lithuanian refugees, Rasa Dicpetri met Ray as a fan of the band and still a pupil at a Roman Catholic girls’ school in Bradford.  The two became romantically entangled although Ray was enjoying a smorgasbord of, well, let’s just call it ‘other sex stuff’ with groupies and other girlfriends, according to the aforesaid bio. And he may even have ‘played away’ (I’m veering into tabloid territory) with Marianne Faithfull but it’s all artfully smudged by our unreliable narrator(s) so that the full picture is obscured. When Rasa fell pregnant (neither brother seems to have been that au fait with contraception), the pair got hitched fairly swiftly. I get the feeling that Rasa’s parents pretty much insisted on it. And that Ray didn't really have time to object. Or a leg to stand on.

Tom Hughes in Ticking.

Dave had got his first love Sue Sheehan pregnant while both were still at school and the couple were separated by parental intervention, although Dave came to know his daughter Tracey years later.

I still favour Tom Hughes (currently starring in Ticking at Trafalgar Studios) for Mick Avory and Matthew Goode (most recently in The Good Wife stateside and Downton Abbey over here) for Pete Quaife (see previous blog on subject) and pray their roles get beefed up a bit from the minor back-up ones they were parcelled out in the musical.

Hats off to producer Jeremy Thomas and director Julien Temple for keeping the project on track. And here are details of all my blogs on The Kinks so far.

And here is the Wordpress version.