Sunny delight

Kinks legend Ray Davies on the glory days of the band as his musical heads for the North Wales stage

THE recently knighted Ray Davies has experienced huge success with the The Kinks who rocked a nation and influenced generations.

But the 72-year-old frontman of one of the most important and influential rock bands of the 60s has given us an insight into his compelling background stories through his triumphant musical - Sunny Afternoon.

From sibling rivalry to a changing society and their infamous American tour, the musical – which comes to Llandudno’s Venue Cymru from February 14 until February 18 – explores the highs and agonising lows of The Kinks.

Written by Davies himself and featuring some of The Kinks’ best-loved songs, including You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset and Lola, it tells the story of the early life of Ray Davies and the rise to stardom.

“I was writing another musical called Come Dancing based on one of my songs which was eventually staged and in 2005, I found myself thinking about significant times in my life around the time of Sunny Afternoon,” he said.

“So many things were happening to me around that time: overworked, infighting among band members, lawsuits with managers and publishers that nearly gave me a breakdown and the rest.

“British music was starting to conquer the world and England were on the verge of winning the World Cup. I put all these elements together and wrote a short script.

“It is a coming of age story, it is about sibling rivalry, a changing society, the pitfalls of the music industry, about loss of self, and it is about being on tour with my brother.

“It is compelling on several levels and, of course, it has got the songs as well.”

During the writing of the play, Davies said the biggest challenge he faced was trying to remain objective.

He added: “I think it is quite a compelling story about how I began this journey and the story is important.

“It needs to be a great story for The Kinks fans but also for those who maybe don’t know much about the band, their origins or music for that matter.”

But the Your Really Got Me singer said the play is more of a portrayal of Britain at a certain time in history, rather than a portrayal of himself.

“Once I had got the initial treatment and outline done, I had to detach myself from it and treat it as a piece of theatre for the stage.

“Detachment is good. It allows you to look more at the character development and the issues involved and I could concentrate more on the story. “It is easier to keep going that way. “We were leading the world with music, arts and fashion.

“The classes were merging and it seemed as if we were all as one. As one of the characters says it was “a very special time”.

And despite rumours of Kinks reunions, Davies said it is not something he could do without former costar Pete Quaife, who died of kidney failure, aged 66, seven years ago.

“I often hear rumours of Kinks reunions but we can’t do that of course because we lost Pete Quaife, one of the originals a few years ago,” he added. “I miss Pete and I miss that team effort a lot; I’m not sure it’s something we could do without him. But never say never and one never knows.”

But keeping his legend alive in Sunny Afternoon, Denbigh-born Garmon Rhys, who plays Quaife in Sunny Afternoon, said he hopes to do his legacy justice.

“I just want to do him, his story and his legacy justice when I’m up there playing.

“I think that’s what we all want to do when we recreate a real-life character.

“A lot of bass players have taken inspiration from Pete’s style of playing over the years so it’s an absolute honour to play such a part.”

Turning to the show in Llandudno, Rhys said fans can expect to have “a lot of fun”.

“I’m really looking forward to coming to Llandudno as it’s the nearest place to my hometown - I haven’t done a show here for a while so it’s really exciting and an honour to go back.

“I am pretty certain everybody will be up dancing at the end of the show.

“All the research I have done since getting the job made me realise how amazing they are.

“I had no idea how eventful their career had been from getting banned from America to causing and all the havoc Ray and Dave were causing - they were basically the original Gallagher brothers.

“I think you would struggle to find someone who isn’t a fan of at least one of their songs. David Bowie once said he doesn’t think the Kinks ever wrote one bad song, so if Bowie thinks you’re that good, you must be pretty good.”