QUICKFIRE with Ray Davies
Career plan B? Gardener, teacher, part-time preacher, pacifist, activist. As a child you wanted to be… Alone, but watching the crowd. Earliest memory? A packed room in the house where I grew up, with people standing over me, smiling. I could smell freshly baked bread. Last meal on earth? Something that doesn’t give me indigestion – maybe pasta. I eat every meal as though it could be my last. Dream dinner party guests? Anyone who has really loved me, plus my ancestors and descendants – it would probably end in a brawl! Advice to your teenage self? Avoid signing anything. Best memory of your Kinks days? Driving through London in a van in 1964 after we’d made ‘You Really Got Me’ – our first number one. Cat or dog? A dog because it needs me, a cat because it can The Kinks frontman on bumping into Dalí and trying to find an exotic jam look after itself. I’ve had both over the years, but I was particularly fond of a wirehaired fox terrier called Alfie. Secret skill? Making something from nothing. Starstruck moment? Bumping into Salvador Dalí on Fifth Avenue, New York, in the 1970s. I was an admirer of his work when I was at art college. Big break? My spine, an injury I got playing soccer as a child. Career highlight? There are so many, including the first time we played ‘You Really Got Me’ live in a small club, our last gig at the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert in 1995, playing at the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony, and winning an Olivier Award for my musical Sunny Afternoon. What did you have for breakfast today? Toast, gooseberry jam and coffee – I’m always on the lookout for a new spread or exotic jam. Biggest inspiration? Fear, hunger, the next project. Where would you time travel to? Back to the beginning. First record you bought? Something by Howlin’ Wolf, which I actually persuaded my brother Dave to buy for me to save my pocket money. Most extravagant purchase? A Bentley that I never drove. Biggest regret? Being persuaded to sign a terrible contract when we were starting out, which still has an impact. Celebrity crush? As my song ‘Celluloid Heroes’ says, ‘Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star’. Philosophy? I don’t really have one, but I would say, ‘Listen to my songs – they are smarter than I am’. ■ Sunny Afternoon, based on the music of the Kinks, is in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre on 21-25 March. Details at sunnyafternoonthemusical.com