How Wildside Lost Their Master Tapes Before Their Debut Album Was Even Released
Wildside’s Under the Influence gets remembered as one of the last great hair metal records before the whole scene collapsed in the early ’90s. However, the no.1 fan favorite album has a story that many fans probably don’t know: the story about how close the album came to never see a daylight at all.
Bassist Marc Simon recently told Hair Metal Guru that the band’s master tapes got seized by Canadian customs while the album was still being finished. Guitarist Brent Woods had flown up to Canada with the tapes so producer Bruce Fairbairn could mix the record. Somewhere along the way, a mistake on the customs paperwork caused officials to flag the shipment as a commercial delivery instead of personal property. Customs held onto the tapes, and Woods came home empty-handed.
According to Simon, the tapes sat in limbo for months. Capitol Records eventually had to shell out more than $100,000 to get them back. By that point, the Wildside had already moved on from the original plan. Instead of going back to Fairbairn, they brought in Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero to finish the mix.
According to Marc Simon it was just one more delay on a record that had already dragged on through long studio sessions and shifting production decisions, that in the end, somehow it still came together.
Source: Hair Metal Guru interview with Marc Simon. Check out the full conversation on YouTube and give the channel some support.
