Ray and Dave Davies are reuniting The Kinks for new music

18 July 2019, 09:49 | Updated: 6 October 2023, 15:20

The Kinks are back together and also plan to re-record classic tunes and unreleased material.

Dave Davies has confirmed that he and his brother Ray Davies are back in the studio working on new Kinks music.

The iconic band first revealed their hopes to return in June 2018, when Ray said that he was reforming The Kinks with Dave and original drummer Mick Avory.

Giving an update on the Kinks’ studio work, he told Rolling Stone that they have worked on tracks for their upcoming 50th anniversary reissue of the 1969 album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire).

“That’s virtually done,” Dave said. “It’s a really, really interesting package that’s going to have other songs from that time period like [my solo song] ‘Hold My Hand.’”

Dave also said that the three members, as well as Avory’s replacement on drums Bob Henrit, have been working on re-recroding classic and unreleased Kinks tracks “for a couple of years”.

Lola - The Kinks 1970

“We keep going backwards and listening to a lot of old stuff. Some of that is very good, and some of it needs a bit of work,” he said. “Some we recorded but never used. Others don’t have finished vocals or they need other embellishments.”

On some new Ray Davies-written song, Dave said that they “are really just in demo form now. But good demos. Ray is still dissecting various other material we might use. The intention is to get the work out, but it’s not a done deal.”

In terms of who they may appoint as a bass player following original Kinks bassist Pete Quaife's death in 2010 and replacement Jim Rodford's passing in 2018, Dave said that they have yet to make a decision.

The Kinks broke up in 1996, following years of commercial failures and creative tension between the Davies brothers. In 1990, the original four members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, followed by the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.