Kinks Tribute - Chocolat interview

Here’s the latest installment in the Kinks Tribute series. This time we’ve got answers from YsaeL, the bass player from Chocolat. Have a listen to their track “Sois Belle” from Piano Elegant:

Sois Belle by Chocolat

-Why are YOU doing a Kinks tribute?

I work with chantale (drums in sunday sinners) and she told me about the show… since we never really play covers we thought it could be interesting to try… plus we usually sing in french so its a “double defi”…

-What period or practices of the Kinks inspire you most? Big leather capes Kinks, or?

I have no idea what they were wearing but we really like the “face to face“ album

-If the Kinks could cover one of your songs, which one would you have them cover?

I would like to hear the kinks do “ton appartement”

-What sort of kinks does your band have?

We have no drummer since one year…

-If you could take the Kinks out on the town for one night in Mtl…?

I’d probably just bring them in my garden… make some tea and stare at them.

-If the Kinks hadn’t been banned from the US for 4 years in the ’60s how would the world be different?

They were banned in the US? How did that happen?

It’s interesting actually, and seems not totally clear, based on some interesting articles from 1969, found on Dave Emlen’s site…

http://kinks.it.rit.edu/misc/articles/kinksin.html
http://kinks.it.rit.edu/misc/articles/scourge.html

“It wasn’t that we didn’t want to come back,” said Ray Davies. “We weren’t allowed to come back. There were permit problems. We did want to come back a few months after the last tour.

Ray didn’t want to discuss what the problems were. It wasn’t because of drugs. In England the Kinks are known as hard drinking bunch. At one press reception they were seen chasing a journalist down Fifth Street after they had gotten into a fight with him at a press reception. The Kinks maintained their reputation of boozing and brawling.

British pop music observers say that Ray and his brother Dave often fought on stage. Their angry antics during the first U.S. tour got them in hot water with the American Federation of Musicians who then barred them from further appearances here until the Kinks apologized.

Ted Dreber, assistant to the President of the American Federation of Musicians, could not find any reference to the Kinks on file. But he did say that, in general, the Anglo-American musician’s reciprocity agreement allows either union to withhold permits for a group if they behave badly on stage or fail to show for scheduled performances without good reason.

Davies said: “I’d like to tell you about what happened but there are some things I don’t want to talk about. It’s very difficult and we’re lucky to come back.”

The Kinks Konvention
May 10, 2008
Les Saints
30 Ste-Catherine Street West, Montreal, QC [MAP]
514-875-5757
Tix are 7$ available at lots of places including Phonopolis and Admissions.com