“Siouxsie tried out her newfound kung fu on me and barged me in the back. That was enough – I walked out and Kenny came with me”: A brawl ended John McKay’s tenure with Siouxsie and the Banshees, but not his influence on a generation of players

Steve Severin, Siouxsie Sioux and John McKay of Siouxsie and the Banshees perform on stage at the Rainbow Theatre, London, England, on November 20, 1977.

A master innovator who gained merit from guitar greats including the Edge to Robert Smith, John McKay embarked on his post-punk career after a friend convinced him to ditch his paintbrush, leading him into a two-year tango with Siouxsie and the Banshees.

“It was obvious I wasn’t going into a degree course in art,” he says. “I was thinking, ‘What the hell am I going to do?’ For this to appear out of nowhere was perfect.”