8 June 2026
The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies has admitted American serial killer John Wayne Gacy was “so nice” when he met him.
Dave Davies of The Kinks – 2015 – Photoshot – on stage
Davies made the revelation during a chat on The Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan’s podcast The Magnificent Others, where he reflected on his time with The Kinks, and recited the lyrics from their 1967 tune Death of a Clown.
The lyrics read: “My make-up is dry and it cracks round my chin, I’m drowning my sorrows in whiskey and gin, The lion-tamer’s whip doesn’t crack anymore, The lions they won’t fight and the tigers won’t roar.”
Corgan asked Davies about the inspiration for the song, which the musician said had stemmed from his phobia of clowns.
He said: “That was based on an idea I had. I was always scared of clowns and always worried that I’d write a song about a clown. They are horrible and frightening.”
When Corgan said he had grown up in Chicago, where “serial killer clown” Gacy had murdered at least 33 boys and young men, at which point Davies said: “I met him”.
He continued: “He was so nice, I just couldn’t believe it. Somebody told me that he invited us to the party he gave that night, but I didn’t know who it was.”
However, their meeting took place when Gacy booked the band to perform at Springfield’s Illinois State Armoury during The Kinks’ US tour in 1965 – before Gacy became the “Killer Clown” and carried out his atrocious crimes between 1972 and 1978.
It’s not the first time The Kinks have referred to their meeting with Gacy.
Late bassist Pete Quaife told Mojo magazine back in 2000: ““The local promoter that was looking after us turned out to be a real greaseball. He was polite enough, but a greaseball nonetheless. After the gig, he invites us back to his house. Says he’s got some people coming round and he’s got some booze, so we say, ok.
“We get there, and the place has an awful, sickly smell about it. But he’s our promoter, so we stay there, drinking, ’til about 03:00. When we decide to go, he gets upset, says can’t a couple of us stay? By now, we were beginning to get a bit antsy about this guy, so we took off to the hotel, and that was the last we saw of him.”
Quaife concluded by saying he’s very grateful the band didn’t “end up as mementoes, bricked up in his walls”.
Gacy was convicted of 33 murders, and executed via lethal injection in May 1994.
