{"id":991100,"date":"2026-05-28T23:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/991100\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T23:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:34:20","slug":"the-attempted-murder-that-derailed-the-kinks-in-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/991100\/","title":{"rendered":"The attempted murder that derailed The Kinks in 1965"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

Credit: Bradford Timeline<\/p>\n

Thu 28 May 2026 19:00, UK <\/p>\n

Fittingly, given their reputation as harbingers of youthful rock and roll rebellion back in the 1960s, The Kinks<\/a>\u2019 tenure as a band was rarely harmonious. Even during the peak of their early success, in fact, the band\u2019s anarchic, impaired, and argumentative tendencies risked killing the band forever, along with its members. <\/p>\n

As the history of music has taught us time and time again, having two brothers in the same band is a pretty reliable recipe for disaster. Right back to the early existence of The Kinks, the group was routinely overshadowed by the vicious sibling rivalry<\/a> between Ray and Dave Davies. Given the constant power struggle, resentment, and petty arguments between the two brothers throughout The Kinks\u2019 existence, it is a wonder that they managed to stay together for as long as they did\u2026 The Kinks finally threw in the towel in 1997.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, then, that sibling rivalry often boiled over onto the stage, and during the peak of The Kinks\u2019 early successes, their tireless tour schedule certainly didn\u2019t help matters. While the brothers\u2019 ongoing feud derailed a handful of shows, though, it never plunged the band into a situation involving an attempted murder charge or the back of an ambulance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ray Davies wasn\u2019t the only person that Dave Davies was feuding with, though. From the mid-1960s onwards, the guitarist also found himself at odds with drummer Mick Avory to an extent that turned bloody during a 1965 trip to Cardiff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As was typical for The Kinks during that rather busy stage in their existence, fresh from the success of top-ten singles like \u2018Set Me Free\u2019 and \u2018See My Friends\u2019<\/a>, their show in Cardiff had an undercurrent of fatigue and rising tensions even before the group had set foot on stage. Impressively, the Davies brothers managed to quell their rivalry for the night, but the same could certainly not be said for the guitarist and Avory. <\/p>\n

Reportedly, the night before the gig at the Capitol Theatre in Wales\u2019 capital, Davies and Avory\u2019s differences exploded into a physical fight, which the guitarist lost. Undeterred, though, Davies decided to destroy his bandmate\u2019s drum kit during the band\u2019s performance. In a fury, Avory took one of the now-detached cymbals and launched at Davies, slicing his throat in the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although clearly an accident, albeit one with a certain degree of malice behind it, Davies was quickly rushed to the hospital, where he required 16 stitches on his neck and head. Meanwhile, a rather panicked Avory fled, with Ray Davies later telling Wales On Sunday, \u201cThe police wanted to do Mick for attempted murder.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luckily for all involved, Davies survived his injuries<\/a>, and Avory didn\u2019t get charged with attempted murder. In fact, the pair continued to form a core part of The Kinks until Avory\u2019s eventual departure in 1984, by which time the tensions between him and Davies had reached boiling point on multiple occasions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, it didn\u2019t escape Ray Davies\u2019 mind that their show in Cardiff, which lasted all of two songs, might have been their final gig: \u201cThat could have been the end of The Kinks right there,\u201d he once shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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