the American market before their contemporaries the Rolling Stones. By early1965, as Page began preparations for an American tour, the Kinks were among the most popular British Invasion groups in the United States; their first two singles in the country had each reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while their first US album was moderately successful, reaching number 29 in the magazine's Top LPs chart in March1965. The band and their management viewed a US tour as the next pivotal step in their career, something which would provide them a major opportunity to establish an international audience. In mid-February1965, while returning to Britain from the first leg of their world tour, the Kinks visited the United States for the first time. When the band appeared on the musical variety programme Hullabaloo to promote their recent single "Tired of Waiting for You", they drew the ire of trade union officials for initially refusing to join the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), a requirement of their television appearance. "Tired of Waiting for You" subsequently reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it their third consecutive top ten single in the US. To capitalise on the nation-wide publicity of the band's television appearance, their US label Reprise Records rushed out a second album, Kinks-Size, which peaked at number 13 in June the same week the US tour commenced. Tensions among the Kinks were elevated following a violent inter-band dispute on at a concert in Cardiff, Wales. Amid longstanding hostility between the two, lead guitarist Dave Davies verbally insulted drummer Mick Avory, and Avory in turn struck Dave in the head with his hi-hat stand. Dave was hospitalised following the incident and received 16 stitches in his head, while Avory fled the theatre worried that he had unintentionally killed his bandmate. The Kinks briefly considered replacing Avory with another drummer, but the band's management and publicist forced Avory to downplay the incident before the press and reject rumours about his possible leaving, so as to avoid police charges. At a group meeting on 28May, Page convinced the band to continue so they could fulfill their commitments, including the upcoming US tour. Page later recalled needing to keep the group separated on their tour bus, sitting in the middle while the brothers Dave and Ray Davies were placed at opposite ends from Avory and bassist Pete