|
Drummers - Mick Avory
(The Kinks)
Michael Charles Avory (born February 15, 1944 in East
Molesey, Surrey, England) is an English musician, best known as the
longtime drummer and percussionist for The Kinks from their formation in
1964 to 1984.
Biography
Before the Kinks (1962-1963)
In 1962, before he joined The Kinks, he briefly played drums for The
Rolling Stones. He played their first show at The Marquee Club, but his
tenure did not last long. He was subsequently replaced by their current
drummer Charlie Watts.
Work with the band (1964-1984)
Main article: The Kinks
Avory was hired by the Kinks (who had just changed their name at that
time from the Ravens) in January 1964, after their management saw an
advertisement he had placed in the trade magazine Melody Maker. Despite
his ability, early Kinks' recordings (including hits such as You Really
Got Me) commonly did not feature Avory on drums; producer Shel Talmy
hired more seasoned session drummers (most notably Clem Cattini and
Bobby Graham) for studio work well into 1965, with Avory commonly
providing supporting percussion. After the summer of 1964, Mick played
drums on virtually the majority of Kinks recordings. The first album to
feature his drumming was Kinda Kinks, though his most brilliant moments
would come on the albums Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur .
His last recorded performance was on Word of Mouth, where he was
featured on three tracks, although he had not been an official member of
the band for some time. Avory is also the third member behind the Davies
brothers, who had played with all the bandmembers, who have been in the
different incarnations of the band.
Avory was always considered the quietest and most easy-going member of
the Kinks lineup and was Ray Davies's best friend. However, his
turbulent working relationship with guitarist Dave Davies resulted in
many legendary onstage fights. In the most notorious (and widely mis-reported)
incident, at The Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, S.Wales in 1965, Avory hit
Davies with his drum pedal (not the cymbal stand, which, according to
later interviews with Avory "would have decapitated him"), in reprisal
for Davies kicking over his drumkit as revenge for a drunken fight the
previous night in Taunton, apparently won by Mick. He then fled into
hiding for days to avoid arrest for Grievous Bodily Harm. Other times,
fuming, he would hurl his drumsticks at Dave.
Ultimately, the relationship between Mick and the younger Davies brother
would degrade to the point where Avory would leave the band. Later on,
it would seem that Davies and Avory settled their differences, as Avory
subsequently played the drums on "Rock 'N' Roll Cities", a track on the
Think Visual album written by Dave Davies. Mick was asked to rejoin by
Ray, but he declined as he wanted to rest of the non-stop touring,
working and performing schedule for 2 decades.
Leaving (1984)
By agreement with Ray Davies, he left performing and recording with the
band in 1984, after his working relationship with Dave Davies had become
unsustainable.
Ray explained the situation: "The saddest day for me was when Mick left.
Dave and Mick just couldn't get along. There were terrible fights, and I
got to the point where I couldn't cope with it any more. Push came to
shove, and to avoid an argument I couldn't face....we were doing a track
called "Good Day" and I couldn't face having Mick and Dave in the
studio, so I did it with a drum machine. Dave said he wanted to replace
Mick, and Mick had an important sound. Mick wasn't a great drummer, but
he was a jazz drummer - same school, same era as Charlie Watts. I took
Mick out, and we got very, very drunk. We were in Guildford, and after
about five pints of this wonderful scrumpy, Mick said if any other band
offered him a tour, he wouldn't take it, because he didn't want to tour.
And I remember him getting the train back - because he was banned from
driving; it was a very bad year for Mick - and he walked to the station
and disappeared into the mist." Avory was subsequently replaced by Bob
Henrit, former drummer with Unit 4 + 2 and Argent.
Current work (1985-present)
He has continued since 1984 in a management role with the Kinks and
their Konk Studio in London. However he still performed on some tracks
of their sophomore albums like Think Visual and Word of Mouth. After the
band stopped working in 1996, he started playing with The Kast Off
Kinks, along with John Dalton, Dave Clarke (no relation to the Dave
Clark of "The Dave Clark Five"), and John Gosling. He has performed with
them ever since. He has managed to patch up his relationship with Dave
Davies, and now is friends with both Davies brothers. He keeps in
regular contact and continues to manage Konk studios in London. He was
inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the UK
Music Hall of Fame in 2005, with original bassist Pete Quaife and the
Davies brothers.
By April 2004 by request of The Animals, who were about to do their 40th
anniversary tour, Chip Hawkes (formerly of The Tremeloes) was asked to
form a band to tour along with them. This he did and brought together a
true beat-era supergroup. The band features former original members of
British 60's-era groups, including Avory, Eric Haydock (The Hollies) and
Hawkes, who have now combined to perform as The Class of 64 (referring
to the actual year the British Invasion took America by storm), also
featuring guitarists 'Telecaster Ted' Tomlin and Graham Pollock. The
band have toured around the world, and have recorded an album of their
former band's hits, as well as a new single.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Avory
|
