Ray Davies wants to reunite the Kinks

The Kinks are 'three quarters of the way' to regrouping, but it all hinges on the health of Ray's brother Dave, who feels a reunion would be like Night of the Living Dead
The Kinks ... Somebody in the band - possibly Dave Davies - forgot to tell Ray about their new peach-coloured uniform. Photograph: Getty Images

There's only one thing standing between the Kinks and a reunion, Ray Davies said this week, and that's his brother Dave.

The Kinks are "three quarters of the way" towards a reunion, Ray Davies told BBC Front Row, explaining that his brother Dave's health is the only remaining challenge. "The stumbling block is my brother because he was seriously ill recently and whether he feels ready to do it," he said.

Dave Davies, who played guitar for the Kinks, suffered a stroke in June 2004.

Despite these issues, Ray emphasised the band's general good health. "The amazing thing is that the Kinks are the only band of that period where the only original members are still alive," he said.

Talking to reporters earlier this year, Dave Davies wasn't quite so enthusiastic. Whereas Ray now celebrates the living-ness of the Kinks' members, Dave described them as zombies. "It would be like a poor remake of Night of the Living Dead," he said of a reunion.

Yes, Dave Davies may be the only thing standing between the Kinks and a reunion - but his attitude may be more of an issue than his health. "Ray has been doing Karaoke Kinks shows since 1996," he wrote on his website in January. He also disparaged his brother's songwriting skills. "I wrote a song called 'Where Pigs Fly [and] Ray wrote 10 songs out of it."

In spite of the Davies brothers' cantankerous relationship, the Kinks were one of the biggest rock bands of the 1960s, scoring numerous chart hits including You Really Got Me and Waterloo Sunset. The group last performed together in 1996.

Ray underlined this week that he would want to write new material for any tour. "The thing that would make me decide yes or no would be whether or not we could do new songs, even if it's four or five," he told Front Row. "But I couldn't do it just for nostalgic reasons."

"My pitch to the other guys in the band - because I'm really for it - was what would we have written if we hadn't have had our first hit, You Really Got Me? What if we put ourselves in that situation, what would have happened?"

Then again, Dave Davies may be more interested in imagining what would have happened if Ray wasn't in the band.

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