Dark Side Of The Ring Composers Reveal Original Name And Concept For The Series

By Ross Kelly

Composers Wade MacNeil and Andrew Gordon Macpherson are the ones behind the music in which episodes of Dark Side of the Ring are set to. There's been talk of the series expanding to other art forms such as music in the future.

The composer duo was asked about the possibility of a Dark Side of The Music when they joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.

"Here's my take on it: ignore the title Dark Side of the Ring for a second. When we signed onto the show, it was supposed to be called Falls Count Anywhere," revealed Andrew. "The concept of the show was that wrestling is one of the only worlds where an artist has to live their gimmick. So, for 24/7 Rowdy Roddy Piper had to live Rowdy Roddy Piper. Heels and babyfaces couldn't sit in the same dressing room and that dedication to the show started to affect reality. Then reality started to affect the show of wrestling. The original concept was supposed to be the world of kayfabe and how it affects reality and how reality affects it. It wasn't supposed to be World's Deadliest Wrestling Shoots or anything like that."

He then pointed out fans who are critical of episodes that aren't that "dark." But Andrew said that the point is not to always tell a dark story, it's about people who made their gimmick their whole reality.

"With doing a music version, a UFC version which is another I've heard or a film version, it's gonna be a lot harder to maintain that aspect of the show. You can make a show about Dark Stories from the Music or Dark Stories from UFC, but the element of Dark Side of the Ring that makes it so interesting is like the movie The Prestige in that the magic trick isn't just what you do on stage, but everything around it," stated Andrew.

"I don't know if that same nugget of intrigue will carry over to other fields. Maybe some part of music you could see, then you're trying to put a square peg in a circular hole. I love the show and would love to see more stories told in a Prestige, cinematic, documentary-style. But the thing that makes it magical is not dark stories. [Directors] Jason and Evan, who love wrestling and this world that is so unique, bringing some light to that."

In addition to being a composer, Wade is also a vocalist for his own rock band. He was asked if the punk rock genre compares favorably to pro wrestling.

"For sure. I think especially a lot of the metal or punk that I like is wrestling-like. My favorite band is The Misfits? and it is wrestling," Wade said while adding that the physiques and face paint of the band is reminiscent of wrestling.

"I think there are cool crossovers with that stuff. There's been some really interesting punk-wrestling connections over the years as you definitely want something hard as nails when walking out to the ring."

Wade was then asked if there are any music stories that could be told through the Dark Side lens.

"What I'm most focused on is helping support the stories that are being told musically. What I wanna do is create music for stuff that I'm passionate about. That kinda comes project by project. We've been lucky in a natural way to meet Jason and work on this. Jason introduces us to a friend of his that he worked on a blood dragon video game with and we make some video game scores," said Wade.

"We keep working on stuff with creative people that are like-minded and that allow us to make music that we wanna make and that support what they do. At the end of the day, that's the most important part. For me, I just wanna play music and don't wanna decide what stories need to be told."

The original music to the Dark Side of the Ring is being released to the public and Wade discussed where fans can find the score.

"It's on all of the streaming services and you can buy it digitally on iTunes or wherever you buy music. The people from Waxwork Records have done this beautiful vinyl that is super-neon and 80s looking. So, it's being treated more like an actual record release," Wade said before adding that the record label has released many film scores including re-issues of The Shining and The Thing.

Dark Side of the the Ring Original Vice Series Music by Wade and Andrew Gordon Macpherson is now available for streaming on Spotify. You can also purchase a vinyl version by clicking HERE.

MacNeil and Macpherson's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.

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