Although rumours of a Kinks reunion have been around for a long time, only one member of the original band still regularly tours in the UK…
REVIEW by Ian Woolley
Mick Avory (Kinks)
That member is drummer Mick Avory whose been there from the very start when he joined the Davies brothers in 1964. For the next 20 years, he would see the band catapult itself to be one of England’s most influential and popular bands.
During the band’s 32-year career, there were some changes in personnel, Pete Quaife, the original bassist, was replaced by John Dalton in 1969, and keyboard player John Gosling was added in 1970. Following the two Johns’ departure in the late 1970s, Jim Rodford became the Kinks’ bassist (after a short tenure by Andy Pyle) and Ian Gibbons took over on keyboards. Original drummer Mick Avory left the band in 1983, to be replaced by Bob Henrit. Mark Haley played keyboards for a period in the late 80s/early 90s.
Kast Offs at the Boston Arms (2019)
The Kast Off Kinks formed in 1994 to keep the music playing on, and it is what the name implies.
The original line-up consisted of the band that played Lola (apart from Ray and Dave) – Avory, Dalton, and Gosling – together In 2009, the line-up became the band that played Come Dancing.
Avory, Gibbons, and Rodford (respectively the Kinks’ longest-serving drummer, keyboard player, and bassist) – still with Dave Clarke covering for the Davies brothers.
Jim then became very busy playing with The Zombies and Argent, so John Dalton was persuaded out of retirement and went on to play very regularly with The Kast Off Kinks.
We caught up with Mick backstage at Christchurch’s Regent Centre where they have just embarked on a 30-date tour.
I asked him how did the idea for the Kast Off Kinks come about?
“It was John Dalton’s idea to put it together for charity back in 1994,” says Mick. “His son died of Leukemia and so he decided to start up the band for the Kinks conventions every year so we could collect for the Leukemia Fund.”
Fellow original Kast-Off member Dave Clarke adds “I was in a band with Mick at that time and we were playing some Animals, Hendricks, and Kinks songs and so it was logical when Nobby (John Dalton) was looking for someone to play in the band, I was kind of there. I played at his 50th birthday party.”
For the record, when they lost Ian Gibbons in 2019, John ‘Nobby’ Dalton decided to retire for a second time from the band.
“His last gig with us was at the Boston Arms just before the pandemic,” added Mick.
“We did do another gig in 2021 but it was very weak as we didn’t have everyone on board. Last year we did one which was very much better and John Dalton made a cameo appearance. After the gig, he was full of beans.”
Lead guitarist and singer Dave Clarke has been a member of the Kast Off Kinks since it was formed almost thirty years ago. He has made three albums with the Noel Redding band, two solo albums as Dave Carlsen and the Dream Machine, one with Jimmy McCulloch, and several others including Mick Avory, Dave Rowberry, Tim Rose, and Keith Moon.
The present line-up with Avory and Clarke is keyboardist Mark Haley (who was a member of the Kinks from the late 80s and early 90s) and Mike Steed who plays bass. The latter did several gigs with the band around 12 years ago at several festivals as he was in Ian Gibbons’s band at the time. Mick adds dryly “Nobby had nobbly knees at one time so he had to stop!”
If tonight was anything to go by, the sell-out crowd enthusiastically loved the quartet’s 24-song performance. You Really Got Me, Sunny Afternoon, Lola, Days, Waterloo Sunset, Come Dancing, David Watts, Dead End Street, and All Day And All Of The Night are but a handful of the great songs of their extensive set.
Whilst Clarke can never replace the original unique vocals of Ray Davies, his expert guitar riffs and delivery are as close as you’ll get to that Kinks sound. Mark Haley’s excellent keyboard skills add an extra dimension to the rest of the present lineup.
Mick Avory
Adorning a Union Jack jacket to sing “Dedicated Follower Of Fashion”, the whole crowd cheered when the drummer came out to join the trio center stage. As Mick Avory approaches his 80th birthday, seems the Kinks drummer isn’t ready to hang up his drumsticks quite yet.
The current tour isn’t a proper tour ‘per se’ as Mick explains. “We’ve decided to do around 30 venues that are easy for people to get to. These days there seems more traffic and more roadworks everywhere.”
Staying in Dorset, their next gig will be in Shaftesbury on 18th March. For tickets, go to Shaftesbury Arts Centre.