-Any bands you enjoy today?

All I listen to is the radio, things like the Kaiser Chiefs and the Kings Of Leon. They are good bands, but they usually have a couple of good hits and then you lose track of them! The internet is so saturated with bands that are trying to make it. They all do it the opposite way to the old days, you used to have to go out and get gigs and a following, then try to get signed to someone, now they do all that without plucking a note (laughs). No not really, it’s just that they get the business end sorted first, do all the recording, and then do the gig when they get the hit. They are still talented, but things move on, different sounds come up and different things get popular.

-You hear these days about battles with record labels, is this a new thing or has it always been the case?

There were always differences between what the record company thought was saleable and what we wanted to put out... not always but quite often someone who is the A&R man would say what he thought was best, and it wasn’t always the same as what you thought. They are the business men and you are the artist.

-You were seen as the quiet one in the group back in the day, but do you remember any crazy anecdotes or stories from the touring days?

When we were on tour in America, and we had a guy called Kevin who was the road manager. Kevin was a bit of a prankster, he had this dummy that he would put in different places and it would take you by surprise, it would be hanging around on stage or whatever. One night someone had climbed through onto the roof from another building next door, to watch our show. Anyway, we were all playing away and we saw this figure fall from the roof, we thought ‘oh its Kevin playing his pranks again’, but it was a real person, he must have smoked too much dope or something. He fell 60 feet, it was a big place and we had to stop the show. The guy injured two people a lot more than himself, because they broke his fall. He was lucky to be alive, and lucky that the arena was full; it was our popularity that saved him!

Be sure to pick up the deluxe format of first three Kinks albums, Kinks, Kinda Kinks and The Kink Kontroversy on March 28th.

Female First - Edward Lewis