Dave Davies, best know as the guitarist of the Kinks, and brother of band mate Ray Davies, is back with two exciting new projects, one a film and the other a CD. While Dave has never been as famous, or outspoken as his brother Ray, he is a creative man who sees the world much differently than his older sibling. Where Ray is quick with a joke, a prolific songwriter and a bit of an egomaniac, Dave is more withdrawn, shrouded in mystery and metaphysical in nature. Davies has taken brave steps in his personal life, coming out of the closet as a gay man, and later, with his recovery from a debilitating stroke that left him unable to play music or even get out of bed for a period of time.

The new projects released by Davies showcase not only his new attitude towards life but also his newfound creativity. Dave has opened up, realizing that fear of failure is a waste of time. “The older I get, the more ideas I get. I think I have become more relaxed about things too. I don’t mind if I fail. I have the confidence to get it wrong.”

His film, Mystical Journey, is a cathartic look back at his life. “It’s a project that my son, Martin, and I put together. The film is semi-autobiographical,” Davies explains, “For some time now I have wanted to make a documentary based on my spiritual life and the metaphysical beliefs I have outside of music. The film traces back my early experiences with spiritualism and life after death. When I was eleven, my sister died and it really changed how I felt about the world. It troubled me when I saw them take a body, put it in a box and stick it in the ground.”

The openness Davies displays in the film will captivate viewers, whether it be a nostalgic trip back to the family home or the admission of Dave’s mystical gifts, “I think it [psychic ability] was always with me. My mom would tease me about it. I remember a time my Auntie was over and I walked into the room and I knew she was upset and that she was going through a bad time. I can pick up feelings from other people. It actually created a lot of confusion for me growing up.”

The confusion Davies felt nearly had career lasting effects as he came close to walking away from the Kinks. In the film, Davies recounts an experience with a fellow spiritualist, “There were a couple times in my musical career where I thought about leaving music. It was about 1971 or 1972 when I seriously thought about taking up median-ship, which is kind of like channeling. I was very heavily into that aspect of spiritual work. I met a guy in Brooklyn who was a medium. I told him I was thinking about packing it all in and becoming a medium. He told me that I would be crazy to do that. He told me that music was very spiritual and that it all goes hand in hand and that I could do a lot of healing with music and reach a lot more people.”

Like the film, Davies latest musical undertaking, The Aschere Project, is a family affair, “It is a musical endeavor that I put together with another one of my sons, Russ. He has been involved with electronic music and trance music for a number of years. We decided to pool our resources and come up with some ideas. The CD is titled Two Worlds.” The conceptual album is something Davies hopes will grow beyond a simple CD release, as the storyline is, literally, out of this world, “It is about two people who are in love but are trapped on opposite sides of the galaxy. We have met with some theater producers and we would like to do a musical; it really lends itself to a stage production. I would even think it would work as a ballet.”

Dave admits that working closely with his sons has been rewarding, albeit different from working with his brother. “When Ray and I work together it is very much us against the world. We always felt a little bit like we were fighting the world, which helped the music. In the very early days there was an awful lot of pressure to have success, as you didn’t want to be a flop. American audiences warmed to us because they were less fickle. If you flopped with an English audience then you were finished,” Davies continues, “In America you had the opportunity to build things up and get a following. I think we had great persistence. I come from a big working class family. I think it was very much a question of surviving. Coming from that kind of motivated background helped us to keep going even when things didn’t work out. We had about four or five times where we could have broke up.“

As Davies has learned firsthand, life’s most important lessons come from its harshest blows, just as life’s most important messages can come from places one would least expect. “I was in a rehab unit with people who were ill with terrible crippling illnesses. The ones who had the most popular outlook on life got better quicker, or at least were able to come to terms with their situations. There were people who had much worse physical limitations than I did who really were inspiring to be around. I will never look at a person in a wheelchair the same again. I look at them with a lot of respect now. They were very strong and very spiritual people.”

As a result of his tragedies, Dave Davies has learned to be a more patient man, able to trust in his art and his mystical nature. “I feel really great. I am more creative now than I was leading up to the stroke. I have found that a lot of the mystical things I learned over the years really helped me to recover. My whole world turned upside down and my background in meditation really helped me. The first day I could walk they made up a little place in a room where I could go meditate. I was equipped to deal with the problem because I had the proper information. I was very fortunate in that aspect. I knew how to train the body and mind on how to be more positive.”