Every November in various venues around London fans the world over get together to celebrate one of London’s favorite bands…
By Ian Woolley
The Kinks Room
There’s a lot of love around this planet for the Kinks. The songwriting genius of Ray Davies described perfectly the English boyhood dreams and angst of growing up in 60’s London and for one weekend every November certain Kinks fan reunions take place around the area.
Today we chose to pop into the Clissold Arms in Fortis Green which is directly opposite where the young Davies brothers grew up.
The pair played their first-ever gig at Muswell Hill’s Clissold Arms in 1960. Thirty-Six years later, they played their last one in the very same room. Now the pub dedicates the room to the band and the walls are adorned with memorabilia from their heyday.
As a long-time admirer of the band, I’d visited the Davies brother’s pub a few times before.
The first Kinksfan Lollektiv was organised by Geoff Lewis in 2011. He chose the name and invited a few musician friends from around the world for a one-off gig. Olga Ruocco, a larger-than-life lady who helps to organise the night explained how it all started.
The KFK
“For me, it all started organically really. It was the keyboard player Jeff Lewis who invited Patrick Costello over from the States to sing on a Kinks cover that they had worked on and it started from there really. There were no plans then to make it a yearly event. The fans were in London to take part in the annual Kinksfan Konvention on the Sunday, so the KFK just augmented the Kinks experience. It was just a sing-song that became very successful.”
“When George Karageorgis the new pub landlord took over he was doubtful if it would be popular but we arranged for Jeff to bring along his trusty keyboard and he was joined by the Crouch Hill Chorus which convinced George to hold it annually. Patrick came over for the first one in 2011 but as he lives in the States and several of the band live all over the world it was difficult to rehearse for the gig. We tend to do it in our front rooms separately. We used to have a lead singer, but he moved to Spain and found it difficult to come each year so now we all take turns to sing a few songs.”
Back in the day, Olga can remember a few guitars and photos adorning the walls.
“They disappeared when it closed down and a friend and I put up an online petition (which got featured in the local paper) to get the stuff back with the intention to display them at the Queen Alexandra pub over the road in Fortis Green where they were other Kinks memorabilia.”
George read about the petition and asked my friend and I to come and see him. It was just before Christmas and he said that this time next year there would be a dedicated Kinks room in the front of the pub. We were rather doubtful that this would happen but people started bringing in records, posters and other memorabilia and true to his word, a year later George threw this fantastic party to celebrate the Kinks room.”
Ray Davies and Mick Avory attended and it was a very happy and rather emotional evening!”
“Sadly, the Alexandra pub is no more (it shut its doors in 2014) and when George died suddenly in 2017 quite a bit of the memorabilia disappeared with him”.
Ray Davies (in disguise) watches the KFK
Fortunately for Kinks fans the Kinksfan Kollektiv was invited back to play the Clissold Arms and have continued to play there, sometimes with extra appearances in the summer.
And it’s still much loved by the two brothers of the band to this day. Olga added “When Ray Davies was knighted in 2017, he made sure the TV interview was in this pub where their journey started out all those years ago. Ray himself said that he wanted his songs to be played in a pub and we’ve done that for him I think”.
I was fortunate to hold Ray’s coveted gold disc for Village Green Preservation Society three years ago when he briefly visited halfway through the night. A year later it was his brother Dave who parted the waves to the stage to join in a little number.
Patrick Costello of the Kinksfan Kollektiv
I spoke in 2018 with US guitarist Patrick Costello about the Kollektiv. He said “the Kast Off Kinks do their gig on a Sunday afternoon so when we started this off it was like a sing-a-long to remember all the great songs they sang. When Ray showed up that first time, he got to hear me sing one of his songs. That’s pretty cool!”
Kinksfan Kollektiv 2022 (photo credit Quiz Britain)
Unfortunately, Patrick couldn’t make this one or for that matter, Ray and his brother Dave is currently in the States. On social media Dave said, “send my love to everybody, looks great.”
Musicians and singers this time were Wiebe de Haan, Laura Beach, Chris Black, Geoff Lewis, Olga Ruocco, Peter de Haan, Frank Den Hollander, Ep Oosting, Ben Elsendoom, Ian Rhydderch, Keld Nillson and Scott Schenkel.
The packed room of fans sang note for note every song they chose and for those that were less vocal, alcohol certainly loosened the few that were.
And as the night draws on, Olga steps up on the tambourine with the others the Kinks Fan Kollectiv, it’s a rendition Of Dead End Street. A sort of ironic song as this part of Fortis Green will never be that. Olga won’t let it or the Davies brothers won’t let it.
Preserving the old ways from being abused. Protecting the new ways for me and for you.
“See you all at the next one” whispers Olga with a knowing smile.
If you fancy a Kinks walkabout, read our earlier article here.
The full article appeared in the 2021 December issue last year. Back copies are available to order via the website.
POST UPDATE – George died before he finished his autobiography about the history of the famous pub. I was invited to submit a bespoke quiz on the band to be added but I was humbled when the present owners invited me to host it this year before the evening took place. I like to think that George would have given me his blessing.