Interview with former WildSide guitarist Benny Rhynedance

Sleaze Roxx: Brent seemed to be one of the main songwriters for the debut album. Do you think that it was his departure or the arrival of guitarist Bruce Draper, or something else, that led to the band’s sound changing so much from the debut to the second record?

Benny Rhynedance: The three main songwriters for ‘Under The Influence’ were myself, Woods, and Drew Rosenfeld. We wrote some great songs together. Without just one of the three of us, most of it couldn’t have materialized. We had co-writers with Paul Stanley of KISS, Jim Vallance, and Axl Rose, but it was always us three guys since the later ’80s. Brent wrote music only. Drew wrote lyrics only. I wrote both music and lyrics. I was the ballad guy, and could write sappy love lyrics all day long. Always a good utility writer and melodist, I could read, write and chart music. I was the band nerd from way back! Drew would get “lyric block” and have me finish up songs. Brent would have a chorus idea but no verses. I’d come up with whatever was missing. “Hang On Lucy”, “Just Another Night”, etc… “Kiss This Love Goodbye” is one of my favs that Brent and I wrote, and still is / should be a country hit ballad.

After ‘Under The Influence’, and before Woods quit, he went REALLY heavy with his musical ideas, like industrial metal heavy. Too heavy for WildSide. Didn’t sound like us. I wasn’t down with it. He left not long after.

In ’94, Bruce Draper who joined us from Geffen’s Graveyard Train, was a cool guy, a bluesy rock player but kind of detested hair metal. I think he thought of WildSide as that kind of band. I played one show with Bruce and he brought an interesting Jimmy Page kind of vibe to the band. My exit was right after in summer ’94. The change of WildSide from a hard rock / arena style rock band to a grunge band was all Drew and Bruce on their own. It was released through some producer’s Mastercard financed indie label. Some liked it, some hated it. Most don’t know it ever existed.

Sleaze Roxx: You recently made a comment on Facebook that there would likely never be a reunion of the original WildSide line-up, which turned into an article on Sleaze Roxx. The other four guys have reunited apparently for “reunion” shows at three different points in time, in 2004, 2010 and 2016. Why won’t you take part in a reunion show with the others?

Benny Rhynedance: I’d be surprised if the other guys do any other shows. The number one question at any of these random  four to five reunion shows has always been, ‘Where’s Benny?’ [Laughs] True. The three of us just don’t understand each other any longer, and precisely what each of us are about now. We are slowly pushing 30 years later, and there is anger there that is way too strong for this amount of time passed. I don’t understand it. Kind of a shame and a waste of energy in my eyes. 2022 should be the next round of two reunion gigs in Salt Lake City. I’ll be ready for the call. Ha!

I always wanted to take part, but I wasn’t invited, or even in touch with Drew or any of the other guys since 1994. They all live in LA. I ended up in Las Vegas and eventually back to where I grew up in the Seattle area. 2016 was the closest we ever came to a full original line-up reunion. I was back in the band for about two minutes when Drew and I were talking. Then I wasn’t after Woods got involved [laughs]. Just didn’t materialize. I wish the band still sounded like it once did, but it just doesn’t now.

Sleaze Roxx: It appears that you and Brent have not really spoken and/or connected since his departure from WildSide. Why is that and isn’t it time to bury the hatchet?

Benny Rhynedance: I haven’t spoken to Woods since 1993. He’s moved on and has had success as a session guitarist and touring player. I suppose that burying the hatchet is something that could be done, on paper, but now, at this point in the game? Naw. There really isn’t any reason to. I just don’t care anymore. I’m past it. There are some people in life that you can never make like you, no matter how hard you try, politely kiss their ass, or for whatever history you’ve shared. To some people it carries no value. For me, nothing wrong with moving forward and away from the past. It’s the only way to progress in life.

Sleaze Roxx: WildSide were scheduled to play at the Hair Metal Heaven Festival back in August 2017 but that appearance never materialized. What happened?

Benny Rhynedance: That whole deal was strange. Fans at Hull were saying that event organizers told them that WildSide couldn’t get into the country because of customs problems? Drew Rosenfeld said they were never truly inked to play and never even got on a plane to the UK. I believe that. Woods was definitely playing the festival in another group. The details were sketchy but it seems as if the promoters were confused with conflicting statements.

Sleaze Roxx: Reading your series ‘The History of WildSide’, it seems that there was a real sense of disappointment that ‘Under The Influence’ didn’t go platinum and take the band to that coveted next level of success. Looking back now, do you still feel that way or are you happy with what was accomplished in the very tough grunge era?

Benny Rhynedance: WildSide was a straight up hard rock band. We stopped any guyliner or Aqua Net after 1987. Not glam, not hair band. Yeah, I know I had hair three feet long, but still! Our focus was on creating well crafted anthemic rock hits. We paid our dues on the Sunset Strip in the mid ’80s for years. We played everywhere. Did it by the book. It took four years after arriving in Los Angeles to get a record contract for Drew and I. We worked hard. We learned the business of music. Our lives were about one thing — getting to the highest level we could in the hard rock game. We could do this because it was possible at that time. Signing a $2 million / seven album career contract with Capitol, one of the biggest and most prestigious, time-honored major labels on the planet was more than anyone could have hoped for. No disappointment there.

Having Paul Stanley from KISS, and master songsmith Jim Vallance contribute to our debut was humbling. There are no words to describe what working with legendary rock producer Andy Johns was like. Having Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero mix our record was amazing. These producers were responsible for some of the greatest and most iconic rock albums of all time. Basic tracks at A&M Studios Room A? What? Jesus! Overdubs and guitar at 5150 in Eddie Van Halen’s house for a few months? What the fuck? Let me say that again… hanging out at 5150 for a few months. Heavenly. The famed George Marino at Sterling Sound mastered the debut? The whole package was a Bugatti. How is it that Capitol could not sell this record to the public? We handed them a solid 9.9 out of 10. It was an easy gold medal, top of the podium winner for us. Van Halen wanted us to get our record out fast and open their ’91/’92 tour. Van Fucking Halen! How could ‘Under The Influence’ fail? Simple… no one factored in that the industry had been pumping out this same formula with rock bands for 15 years. The market was flooded with 100 bands that were very similar. It became a parody of itself. The kids had heard enough. They wanted an anti-hero. Kurt Cobain walked through that door.

Looking back now? I marvel at all the band achieved and have a deep sense of pride about how far I got in LA. I have a real appreciation for the journey we embarked on to get to the level WildSide made it to. We went so far and defied so many horrible odds that were against us. How many bands ever get a recording contract with a major label? How many musicians ever get to be on the same playing field as their idols? How many guys ever get to hang around at the house for months of someone that changed the musical landscape of rock guitar and how it’s played, a person they idolized, and one that shaped the path of their hard rock life? Ed Van Halen was the most pleasurable person and most accommodating musician I’ve ever had the pleasure of hanging around with. But he didn’t remember me in 2004 backstage in Vegas. ‘You’re who? Wild What?’ and then denied that WildSide ever recorded at his house. ‘Oh no, only Van Halen at 5150, ever…’ No. Ha! Ed rules! Still love him. Hey, it was 2004. Ed was in his “dark years” then and just a little messed up!

Sleaze Roxx: In Part IV of your series ‘The History of WildSide’, you shared that you were a cocaine addict from 1989 to your near death experience in April 1993, and that you’ve been clean ever since. Do you think that your cocaine addiction had a negative impact on WildSide during that time and if so, what was it?

Benny Rhynedance: I was definitely a young 20 something “party-favor” partaker! Uh, along with WildSide and everyone else in Hollywood! 1980s Los Angeles? Sunset Strip? In a rock band? The streets looked like a ski resort there was so much coke in the gutters of that town. As for most bands back then, when you got a little money, power, and fame, things began to come easy. Women? Everywhere. All sorts of new friends? Yep. Guys giving you free weed or whatever? Pitfall. Around every corner. More guitars, amps, and gear endorsements? Check. Bigger shows, more people chanting your name, tons of admiration, bouncing breasts, even idol worshipping? Yep. The hard part is trying to recognize where that imaginary line is that separates after show party and real life, and not buying in to the hype of people telling you how awesome you are all the time. For WildSide, most of the time we hung out on the party side of that imaginary line, 24/7. It was fun there. Thing is, it’s not sustainable, and it’s a young man’s game. The longer you roll the dice, the higher your chances are of losing it all. I found that out the hard way in 1993, teetered on the edge, but learned my lesson from it. Clean and sober for 26 years.

Sleaze Roxx: Congratulations on being clean and sober for so long! There’s been some comments that WildSide in the 2000s does not sound like the WildSide line-up that played on ‘Under The Influence’ including Drew’s voice. What are your thoughts in that regard?

Benny Rhynedance: Definitely hear a big change in the vocals. WildSide in the 2000s, or the 10s, in my personal opinion, is not what anyone remembers hearing from the original line-up of the early 1990s. How could it be? Time has a way of changing things up for an artist. For some it can be in a great way. Some can get better with age. For others, time is a real bitch. It can steal looks and talent. Illness can also rob someone of what they had in their youth. I see a lot of our old friends that are still out there now, and some of them sound insanely good. There are others that aren’t that great. Some are even dead now. The possibility of any aging group to sound good is there, but the work has to be put in.

Sleaze Roxx: What have you been up to since leaving WildSide?

Benny Rhynedance: Since 25 years ago? How much time do you have [laughs]? Well, it feels like about four lifetimes ago. Like anyone else, you experience all of life’s highs, lows and regularity. After WildSide was over for me, I came back down to earth and reinserted myself back into the matrix. Took some time away from guitar in the ’90s, but it never really left me. Now, I play daily and have more guitar gear than I ever had in WildSide. Guitars and amps are a disease. Chasing tone never ends. I’ll be 80 and still playing “Lad In Sin.”

I started and handle all the social media for WildSide since early on in 1998, became the WildSide historian and curator by proxy, and have spoken with fans ever since. That has been such a great thing. When I talk to a guy in Paraguay, Brazil, or Venezuela, or maybe the Philippines who loves WildSide and has the CD, it  just blows my mind. Fans from 1992 that got their kids, and now grandkids into ‘Under The Influence’ stuns me. Mission accomplished. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Soundcloud… all are at ‘WildSideNews’.

My days now are filled with my wife and I raising our young son, building guitars, and design of my line of guitar cabinets. I found a passion for designing and building guitar speaker enclosures that has become a ridiculously satisfying occupation for me. Over the years, my understanding of guitar tone has flourished and my focus on the speaker cab, how it’s made and what’s in it has become an obsession. Let me roll up my sleeves, give me a 4’x 8’ sheet of void-less Baltic Birch, put me near a table saw, router, a dovetail jig, and look out!

Sleaze Roxx: Have there been any discussions with anyone about getting WildSide’s debut album remastered and re-released, and if so, would there be any bonus tracks available?

Benny Rhynedance: There’s was talk a few years ago with Capitol/EMI, but they consider it ‘dead catalogue’ and won’t license it out at all. Why? Because the cost to produce it outweighs the possible sales — meaning a limited buyer audience. They don’t give away anything the way the music biz is now. Besides that, there are so many bootleg versions of the debut online claiming to be a remaster, or bonus version, limited edition etc. It’s mindboggling. All garbage. Low bit rate mp3 files on Amazon or iTunes, CD box sets, digital downloads. None of it is legit.  All CD sets in tin boxes are illegal copyright violation bootlegs from Euro sellers.

Sleaze Roxx: Where can fans old/new connect with WildSide?

Benny Rhynedance: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Soundcloud… all at ‘WildSideNews’.

Thank you Sleaze Roxx and to the more than 10,000 fans online that continue to show interest in my old band. Although WildSide is a dormant old band from a quarter century ago, I still post from time to time on our sites and answer all questions personally. Thanks in advance for visiting WildSideNews online, and stay ‘Under The Influence’! Keep rockin’ everybody. Never let it go…

From Benny: The above interview content, memories, and recollections are 100% based on my personal life experiences as a musician in a rock band in 1980s and 90s Hollywood. It is my sole opinion on what I experienced, provided to fans of WildSide for historic, informational, and entertainment purposes. My description of experiences in WildSide are NOT in any way intended to malign any individual(s), other band members, nor tarnish the reputation of any individual(s) or other band members. I’m simply stating what I recall.