Dave Davies recalls fighting with his brother in The Kinks
In a foreshadowing of the Gallagher brothers’ Britpop brawls of the 1990s, the founding brothers of The Kinks, Ray and Dave Davies, would frequently clash horns throughout the group’s three-decade run. The brothers founded the iconic British Invasion rock group in 1963 and swiftly became a global success thanks to their early hits ‘You Really Got Me’ and ‘All of the Night’. This momentum was upheld with subsequent hits like ‘Sunny Afternoon’, ‘Lola’ and ‘Waterloo Sunset’.
However, the brothers identify a long-running feud which threatened to disband The Kinks during their early rise to fame. Guitarist Dave admitted that he frequently came to blows with his brother just before taking the stage.
He was recently quoted by The Daily Star as saying: “I am a very emotional person and Ray is more reticent about his feelings, but he was working it all out all the time. We did boxing and boxing was good for training for The Kinks – keep your guard up, a carefully placed right jab. I wish it had been more flower loveliness.”
Ray, who wrote and sang most of the band’s material, further detailed the intense relationship when discussing The Kinks’ infamous 1965 gig at the Capital Theatre in Cardiff. During the performance, violence broke out on stage after Dave kicked over drummer Mick Avory’s kit. The latter proceeded to hit Dave on the head with a cymbal in front of a few thousand startled fans.
“That could have been the end of The Kinks right there – it really had a tremendous emotional effect on me,” Ray told Wales Online. “We were just kids, don’t forget – Dave and Mick were just 17 and 19 back then and forever having a go. I just guess that on that evening, Mick decided to do something about it, and that meant cutting my brother’s head off!”
The incident left Dave with a deep cut on his head, demanding a rush to the hospital, where he received 16 stitches. Meanwhile, Avory fled the scene, convinced he had killed his bandmate.
“Yeah, the police wanted to do Mick for attempted murder,” Ray added. “News At Ten even interviewed him later on that night from a secret location. When they finally caught up with and arrested him, Mick tried to deny it all. But the cops turned around and said, ‘Mr Avory, we’ve got 5,000 witnesses!'”
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