My parents were hip. Oh they were hippies too, they were. Well hell, they still are pretty hip. Musically speaking anyway. While I don’t know their entire range of what they love musicially I do know that stuff they listened to crept into my little brain as I was reared. Unfortunately I don’t remember any moments that relate to a band known as the Kinks. However, stuff I learned at music school certainly brought some of that into focus for me.
Oh shit, I let it out that I attended a music school. Hmmm, lets ponder this for a second, did you or did you not already know this factoid? I don’t actually hide the fact that I’ve gone to music school. A couple of the really. I also took classical guitar lessons and theory classes at University. I’m the kind of person that loves to know something inside and out so that I can truly fuck with it. Bend it to my will and make it do things that I want it to do. At least that’s my evil plan.
So, where did I really first hear about the Kinks? I don’t rightly know and it doesn’t really matter. Point is, I know who they are and I’m familiar with some of the bombastic hits they had in their day. If you’re not familiar with them put your Google bar to use and type in The Kinks Music. I’m quite sure there’s a plethora of sites that can keep you busier than a bee in a honey hive. In order to save you a little bit of time, the two main characters in their story are Ray and Dave Davies. A couple of brothers. Pretty long story between them.
For one of them, I’m merely a footnote in their life. To the other, I’m actually non-existent. Who am I kidding? Even in the one whom I’ve had a brief brush with, I’m still non-existent and here’s why. A couple of years ago I was given the chance to open at a fairly major venue in Southern California known as The Coach House. Lots of great musicians have played there and it’s a fine setup. The band I was asked to open for: Dave Davies of the Kinks. Hell, who wouldn’t want to open for a rock legend? I jumped on the chance.
Here’s what happened. The band hopped in the van I had. We drove down to the venue and rolled up slightly early. Always a good thing to be there before on time so that you’re not rushed. I walked in looking for the stage manager to find out the situation. I finally found him and he was running around like a madman with his head cut off because there was an issue with the setup for Mr. Davies. I realized the stage manager was sweating bullets for no good reason so I told him, hey we’re here to have fun and play some good music, you just let me know when you’re ready for us.
The stage manager turned to me in all his exasperation and let out a sigh and said thank you for being cool. We’ll certainly make it up to you. I said, no problem. Eventually they got the issue worked out for Mr. Davies and we were given our time for a sound check. From there it was off to the dressing room to get changed and have a little snack for going on.
One thing I can say is that opening for someone who has had some hits is pretty cool. Why? It means a good audience that is there to enjoy some music. The thing you have to hope for is that they’ll be receptive of you. Lucky for us it was a good audience and they ate us up.
My oh my, I’ve started running off at the keyboard again. Bringing this into focus… I came across today’s song and my first reaction was oh no. Generally speaking if that’s my first reaction to something then I immediately press next. I go through so much music to find things that I’m often very quick to judge. The one thing I will do is wait for the vocal. That is going to always be the factor that allows me to keep going. Lucky for Plans and Apologies that something about that very first vocal line kept me in and stopped my mouse finger from heading on.
There was a very familiar quality to the vocalist. That quality was my memory in the making of what The Kinks must have sounded when they were practicing their newly sketched songs. There are no clues illuminated in my mind as to whether or not this was the immediate influence for P&A. Heh, that’s like T&A only different – geez I digress again. While, I wasn’t instantly turned on by the guitar sound, or the recording for that matter. It changed after I got through it. The light bulb went on and I understood something about what it was that I at least felt they were going after. How’s that for a crazy weird grammatical sentence? Was I vague enough? In other words something about it Really Got Me and moved me past the Should I Go and into the Should I Stay.
In the end, this was one of those rare cases where my gut instinct got bypassed and I decided screw it, I’m enjoying the song. Now I think you should too. Ooh, you could buy it now on iTunes and within a few months you could probably upgrade to the non-DRM version for just an additional $0.30 (in the U.S. anyway). Show Plans and Apologies some good lovin and that all the good times haven’t gone.