Kink's farewell to music
By Martin Ford
AS one of
Broxbourne borough's favourite sons puts down his bass
guitar after a career spanning almost 50 years, former
Kink John Dalton looks back on his life as a bona fide
rock star
 A recent swansong show with the Kast Off Kinks - the band
that reunited John with other former members - at
Broxbourne Civic Hall brought to an end a career that
began just down the road in Cheshunt 49 years earlier.
However, his story begins
even before taking to the stage.
"My claim to fame is that I
went to school with Cliff Richard," John said, revealing
that the ageing crooner, three years John's senior, was
his prefect at Cheshunt Secondary Modern School. Fame
came a lot sooner for Cliff, however.
After enjoying local
success with Danny King and The Bluejacks, and playing
alongside The Who with Mark Four, John gave up on a
music career.
"I thought we weren't going
anywhere so I stopped playing," he said.
However, he was approached
by a former roadie to audition for The Kinks, to stand
in for an injured Pete Quaife in 1966.
"I didn't want to do it at
first, but he persuaded me. I thought, 'It's the chance
of a lifetime, you've got nothing to lose'."
John related his first
meeting with the band: "There was Mick (Avory) tapping
away, Dave (Davies) was lying flat on the floor, Ray (Davies)
came in with a couple of singles he was supposed to
review and threw them out of a window - it was all a bit
frightening."
They said, 'What are you
doing this afternoon?' and we went straight to the
studio to play Top of the Pops!"
After contributing bass to
hit track Dead End Street, John returned as a permanent
member in 1969 when Quaife quit the band. He stayed with
them for the next seven years.
"The Kinks played their
best live music in the early '70s. You've got to work,
and we toured 12 weeks, three times a year. When you're
not touring you're recording - we recorded four or five
albums a year."
Seminal Kinks tracks
recorded in that time include Victoria, Shangri-La and
the evergreen Lola.
In 1992, the Kast Off Kinks
reunited John with two other ex-Kinks, original drummer
Mick Avory and keyboardist John Gosling, plus Dave
Clarke on vocals.
"We've always been friends, and it all started off at the Civic
Hall when we had an offer from the Kinks fan club 16
years ago. They asked us, so we got together."
The band played conventions
and charity shows to raise funds for the Leukaemia
Research Fund, after the disease claimed the life of
John's third son Matthew at the age of six.
However, John ended his
professional career with a bash at his home, which saw
Ray Davies drop by.
The idea was to get as
many of the musicians I have played with and perform a
little set with each band through my years."
And his highlight of the
last 49 years?
"My grandson Declan, I
absolutely love him to bits - he's greatest thing that's
happened to me."
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