PETE

From www.kindakinks.net, the source of info for all us Kinks people left in the world:

Monday, 13th April, 2009
2:20 pm - Pete Quaife is taking himself out of the picture, with regards to any sort of Kinks reunion:

"I know that this might sound self centered but I have had enough of the transparent, overblown nonsense of what they call 'showbusiness'. This is where I want to be. Surrounded by my own friends and family and able to put the past behind me. As it is, I am more content and happy, painting the Danish countryside and seashore, talking with peers and relaxing as a pensionist should!"

Pete appreciates the support he has received from fans over the years, but he now wants his privacy. He hopes that fans and the press will respect this and no longer attempt to contact him.

Ah, Pete.

A little background for you non-Kinks fans. Pete Quaife was an original member of the Kinks, the bassist in the band, sang a little, was there with brothers Ray and Dave Davies and drummer Mick Avory from the very start in ol’ Muswell Hill, North London. Those four guys went through the fire of becoming worldwide pop stars, creating music that became deeply influential and touched many millions of people. But in 1969, Pete left the band and never returned. He had briefly retired from the Kinks once before in 1966 after a serious car wreck, but came back to work on what most fans and critics believe were the band’s finest albums. It wasn’t enough for Pete to stay.

Pete has a big personality. All four of them do. When they were all pulling in the same direction, it was magic. When ego and exhaustion and inexperience and immaturity reared up, disaster. Pete, garrulous, dramatic, a natural raconteur, and nobody’s fool, often gave interviews in the band’s early days, more erudite than the teenage Dave Davies, less dry-humored and mush-mouthed than Mick Avory, and more outgoing than Ray Davies. But rather quickly the spotlight turned towards Ray, and remained there as he morphed from a shy pimply young man singing marginal blues covers into an extremely-gifted songwriter and a compelling and charming front man. His talent was utterly undeniable, backed by a very steely drive to do things his way.

You could ask all four men how things really were and why everything turned out the way it did, and you would get four different stories. Blame and bitterness hand in hand with an obvious respect for each others’ talents. It’s a rather sad combination to see, forty years past the breakup of the original band. It is my opinion that Ray Davies was extremely hurt by Pete leaving the band, like he abandoned ship, and he never forgave him for it. The Kinks continued on for many years, Mick Avory holding out between the battling Davies brothers until 1984, the band playing together the for last time in 1996.

So Pete has spent nearly all his life either in the Kinks or in the shadow of the Kinks, despite moving on with his life and becoming a graphic artist. The questions never stopped: would he ever rejoin the band and reunite the Kinks, be that wonderful thing that people loved so much? Forty years of questions about what it was like, and questions about Pete’s old school pals, one of whom became very wealthy and deeply admired. I can see why he has finally, at age 65, tired of it.

I was too little to see Pete play with the Kinks, and I very much regret that I never had the chance to meet him in person. I did have the great experience of speaking with him over the phone and writing back and forth for awhile when he began work on his book, Veritas, a fictionalized account of the 1960s Kinks, his take, his voice heard. Pete sent me his huge first-draft manuscript to read over, edit, and proof, and to give my opinion on character development, flow, etc. It was an honor. The book remains unpublished, sadly. I hope that he finished it, and I hope sometime he can return to it fresh and try again to get it out to the public.

But I suspect he will not. In just those few words from him above, it is clear to me that the sadness and bitterness is still there, enough that he finally had to pull the plug on any connection with the band or the music business. There was never going to be a Kinks reunion at this point. The brothers, also in their 60s and both having gone through life-threatening injury and illness, are still unable to get along enough to work together. Pete, on kidney dialysis since 1998, hardly needs to step into the same old misery. There just would never be enough return for him. It was never really about money, or fame, although that surely came into it, admitted or not. It was more about respect and peace of mind, priceless things. As strong a unit as those four guys were, as much joy as they gave people, it simply wasn’t enough to keep them working as a functional unit, and even the memories of when it was good, nostalgia, sentiment, recaptured youth, are not powerful enough for any of them to truly set aside their resentments to see if they could play together, even once more.

Pete, I am sorry I will never get the chance to shake your hand and thank you so much for being a part of something that was so very important to me. This will have to do. I wish you great happiness and an endless supply of paints and brushes, a comfortable stool to sit on, and the most lovely seashore sunsets…many, many more of them.

The Kinks -- "Starstruck"