Artist Profiles / Music Opinion and Commentary

Brothers at Arms – Ray and Dave Davies

randydafoe29 Comments

We all know the great album Brothers in Arms from Dire Straits, but sometimes those brothers are “at arms” rather than in them. In a part two of the mini-series Max, from PowerPop, talks about the “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em” Siblings of Ray and Dave Davies of the legendary band The Kinks.

Ray Davies was born in 1944 and Dave in 1947 in Muswell Hill, North London. One of the granddads of rock’s sibling rivalries starts with the Davies brothers. Ray Davies, as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of The Kinks, often clashed with his younger brother Dave Davies, who played lead guitar in the band. Their tumultuous relationship was fueled by creative differences, sibling rivalry, and personal conflicts. The two have admitted coming to blows many times right before shows.

Ray Davies is known for being a perfectionist and prickly at the best times. Dave is known as a free spirit who likes to go with the flow. The Kinks were formed in 1963 by the brothers and included Peter Quaife and Mick Avory. Their first success came the following year with worldwide hits such as You Really Got Me, All Day and All of the Night, and Tired of Waiting for You all top 10 hits in the UK and America. The Kinks never got to the level of The Who, Beatles, or Stones. One of the reasons was because they were banned for 4 years from touring in America for using non-union roadies during a tour. Another rumor was bad behavior, but it seems the non-union help rings truer.

They were the youngest in a family with 6 sisters. At age 13 Ray was thrilled by being gifted a guitar by his 31-year-old sister Rene, but she died the same night. Dave, got an underage girl pregnant when they were both 15 and the parents kept the couple apart. Dave remembers fighting Ray and he knocked Ray down once and thought he seriously hurt him. He goes over to check on Ray and Ray pummeled him. Nice.

When Ray got married in 1964, he made Dave the best man, but Dave was smashed and could not function at the wedding. At Dave’s 50th birthday party…Ray came in and smashed the cake and left. In 2013 they got together again and wrote some songs in Ray’s kitchen in harmony. It only lasted a short time. They started an old argument over the song.

‘You Really Got Me”. Dave said that yes, his older brother wrote the riff and the song, but he cut a slit in the amp speaker to make that sound. Ray refused to acknowledge how important that sound was to the success of the song. Underneath it all though they do love each other and protect each other from
other people. They are not above fighting with each other though. In 2021 there was a statement by the brothers that they were going to regroup and record again. We can only hope that they make it to the end and finish it.

29 thoughts on “Brothers at Arms – Ray and Dave Davies”

  3. ‘Aaaaand in the blue corner, Roughhouse Ray, over in the red corner, Dangerous Dave… Yes the Crazie brothers are once again all set to knock seven bells out of each other… Ray, are you ready to grrrrrumble?’ They do have a history don’t they?

    I loved Daves’ single ‘Death Of A Clown.’

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  4. It’s crazy how many sibling rivalries there have been in music. At the same time, it’s remarkable how many of these bands or duos managed to make such great music despite all the fighting.

    For a number of years there have been rumors that Ray Davies and Dave Davies are talking to each other and wouldn’t rule out a Kinks reunion. While on some level that could be cool, what I really hope is that the two brothers will be able to fully overcome any remaining bad blood and spend time with each other and their families while they still can.

    And, hey, if once that has happened they decide to do a reunion tour, even better! Sadly, I’ve never seen the Kinks, so unless ticket prices would be obscene, I would seriously consider seeing them.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I bet the tickets would be prohibitive just because of the cost of mounting such a thing I’d imagine. A band I very much got into in the 70s and 80s but never saw them either.

      Like

      Reply

  8. Thanks Randy…I always thought they deserved recognition at least equal to their three peers. The Who were very British as well but made that jump.
    It’s funny about the brothers…they fight like other brothers do in some ways…it’s just a fight injected by fame which escalates it…and one of them is one of the best song writers of his generation.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. Two brothers who should live in separate countries ! They made some great music though & Dave probably contributed more than Ray acknowledges. I believe Dave couldn’t stand Mick Avory either & got him kicked out of the band against Ray’s wishes, did he not?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment