Dave Davies Announces a new Tour and CD release!

“We had great success with “You Really Got Me” and “All The Day and All The Night” and “I Need You” and “She’s Got Everything;” there’s quite a few Kinks tracks recorded that have my guitar sound on it. The Kinks music was very varied, it’s not just hard rock, it’s a mixture of many things really.”

That was then, this is now and Dave Davies is back out on the road with a new album, a revived passion and a show in Red Bank at the famed Count Basie Center for the Arts.

“Decade” is the newest release from this hall of fame musician who was voted one of the “Top 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” by Rolling Stone Magazine. Davies style set him apart from others during The Kinks hay day so it’s no surprise that this new offering makes what’s old new again.

“It’s a collection of unreleased recordings I made in the late ’70’s,” he readily explains. “I got together with my sons Simon and Martin; it was their idea of putting out the material after all this time. I’ve been carrying them around for years and never took the project seriously enough to have them properly released and now after all of this time we decided that it’s the right time to put them out. I’m very excited about the project, its gotten some really good reviews and it’s quite a unique idea.”

So what exactly is it that makes it so “Unique” and why now? What made him revisit material he hadn’t released years ago?

“It’s unique in the way that they are unreleased recordings that have never been released before. It was really the idea of my two sons who got the idea about releasing them because they thought that the recordings were just too good to sit on a shelf in the attic. My sons were really the inspiration that got my interest in this project. It was great working with them; Simon is a musician who has worked professionally in the recording industry over the years as a producer and an engineer and as a professional and he really wanted to delve into these recordings and we really had a lot of fun doing it.”

The making of a record can be tense and stressful, especially when opinions vary or ideas clash; how did Davies handle these moments while working with his sons?

“The thing was that when we started going through the tapes, I said, I don’t know if I can do this it’s too emotional. Then Simon said, “Let me have a go at mixing it, I’ve got some ideas” and he brought new ideas; it was the impetus that got me interested in it really. So I suggested that he do it which took a lot of pressure off of me because sometimes when you’re too close to an album or a piece of music you can’t see the wood from the trees; you know? Sometimes it takes someone else to give a more objective view to make it work. Sometimes you lose all objectivity, it’s hard to be a critic of your own work sometimes; a lot of the time.”

Davies launched his spring tour with an April 9 show at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, NJ and will be doing a series of shows in the northeastern U.S. Next up is April 12 in New York and then April 13 at “The Basie.” 

Backing Davies are an old friend and a drummer with a New Jersey connection.

“The line up that I’m using at the moment is a three piece. My bass player is a dear friend of mine that I’ve known for many years; a guy called David Nolte. He plays bass and sings and plays keyboards as well and my drummer is Dennis Diken who used to play with the Smithereens; I really enjoy playing with those guys. I quite like the three piece, sometimes it’s more powerful and a tighter sound.” 

“I love the Count Basie, I played there on the Pat DiNizio celebration after his death and that was a special night; it was very touching. I’m really looking forward to going back there, the show will be a rock show. There will be songs of mine and songs from The Kinks that I’ve cherry picked; I’m very excited to be back on the road again. My shows are a mixture of old and some new songs thrown in; there’s old, new, in between really. I play, “You Really Got Me” and “I Need You” and some older songs, I try and mix it up if I can.”

Armed with past success and history on his side and a new disc lighting his future path; does he ever look back and wish that he could’ve done anything differently?

“I can’t imagine, we all have regrets but I tend to be optimistic in nature and I tend to like to move on, I don’t get too down. I’ve been doing this a long time, you’re always going to have low times, nights where you don’t feel as good; you’ve got to be optimistic. Life is too short, you’ve got to try and enjoy it and have some fun and try and entertain. You’ve got to entertain people and mix in the heavier songs with the lighter songs; you’ve got to mix it up.” 

To find out more about Dave Davies or purchase tickets to the show, please visit www.davedavies.com .