Dark Side Of The Ring Composers On Why They Were "Trepidatious" About Scoring Owen Hart Episode

By Ross Kelly

Dark Side of the Ring had a successful second season that concluded last week with an episode on Owen Hart's death. The series received rave reviews for the music set to the episodes which was composed by Wade MacNeil and Andrew Gordon Macpherson.

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The duo discussed their work on the series and were asked if they were wrestling fans before Dark Side when they joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.

"I was a big fan until about 1997. I used to go to PPVs in the pre-Attitude Era as I got my first guitar in 1997 and that took over my life from that point on," said Andrew. "But getting involved in this show and working so closely with [director] Jason [Eisener], it's definitely been hard not to fall in love with it all over again.

"I grew up in Nova Scotia so a lot of the pre-WWF territories weren't on my radar. So, it's been amazing to discover that world."

Andrew stopped following wrestling at its most exciting period with the Attitude Era starting in 1997. He talked about getting back into wrestling after having missed this period.

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"It's kinda like getting the last book of Lord of the Rings or something. Over the years there's some stuff I caught up on but not in this detail," stated Andrew.

Wade was then asked about his level of wrestling fandom while growing up.

"It was pretty low-key. I wasn't a huge wrestling fan as I didn't have an older brother that got me into it or my friends weren't really into it. But me being a casual fan and working on the show has turned me into a really big wrestling fan," said Wade. "It's impossible to not get caught up in it. To learn about the stories in this capacity, it's so interesting.

"A lot of the stuff I love about music or culture, the fact that you can do these deep dives into the worm holes stuff? with wrestling there's so much to research and cool art, history or characters. With all of this stuff, I'm really into it now."

Both Andrew and Wade are Canadian so the Owen Hart finale episode likely meant a bit more to them. Andrew was asked about that episode and what the Harts meant to him.

"They're national heroes. I remember when the screw job happened but at the time the significance of it didn't dawn on me because I was 10 or 11. When [Bret] did the WCW [finger motion], I was like, 'Ohhhh,'" recalled Andrew. "But Bret was a huge hero of mine as a kid as was Owen. The older Owen Hart theme and the older Hart Foundation themes are two of my favorites of all of the WWF-era theme songs."

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"I think we were pretty trepidatious about working on that one," stated Wade. "For years whenever my bands went and played in Calgary, it was, 'Oh, there's some of the Harts on the guest list tonight.' Over the years I've become pretty good friends with Beans [Bret's daughter] as she's the same age as us and she's come to watch us play for the last 15 years...

"I heard from her after the episode and she said she liked it. She's glad that we were working on it and that people she cares about are doing the show."

He added that when the Harts would come to their shows, they were more famous than the bands and backstage almost became their own area.

Andrew was then asked about any feedback on the show he's heard from VICE.

"To be honest, we don't engage with VICE that much," admitted Andrew. "We speak to Jason and Evan almost daily and they're very close friends of ours. We've been very fortunate that other than the music supervisor on the show, we're fairly insulated. We take all of our marching orders from Jason and Evan.

"I call Jason and congratulate him and he tells me about all of the messages he's getting. There's tons of messages that he gets from the wrestling community that feel good to hear about. The other day he posted that [Owen's family] Martha, Oje and Athena sent him a fruit basket for premiere day and stuff like that warms your heart."

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Dark Side of the the Ring Original Vice Series Music by Wade MacNeil 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 a recent 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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