Kix & Rhino Bucket's Brian "Damage" Forsythe

By Jay Oakley

In less then a week you are playing M3 in Columbia, Maryland and you're pulling double duty that weekend. You're playing with Kix on Friday and Rhino Bucket on Saturday. How did that come about?

I've been playing with Rhino Bucket since before Kix got back together, since about 2000, I think. So I've always been coordinating my time between Kix and Rhino Bucket, bouncing back and forth, and a couple times it's sort of merged. I remember back in the earlier days with both probably in 2006 I actually did some shows around here where Rhino Bucket opened for Kix. That's really hard where we're the opener and I have to do Rhino Bucket and then jump off, change and run back out there in Kix. That's the tough one but like the cruise (Monsters of Rock) M3 is two separate days so it's no big deal.

When it came to those gigs where you were playing the same night, did Rhino Bucket typically play right before Kix?

I'm trying to remember how we did that. I was thinking about that the other day. I think Ronnie's (Younkins, Kix's guitarist) band played between us.

Was that with the Blues Vultures band?

Yeah, Ronnie played and then Kix so I had time. Or was it Funny Money? I can't remember. I don't think Steve (Whiteman, Kix's vocalist) would have don't that though, it wouldn't have made sense, yeah I think it was Ronnie.

With Rhino Bucket coming over from the west coast to do a show like M3 has that been something you've wanted to do? Will this be your first M3 with them?

Yeah, we've been trying to get on M3 for the last two or three years but we didn't have the proper booking agent. Now we have this new guy that's been working really hard, he's been getting us some gigs but it's been really hard getting gigs and especially in the US. I think the only reason we have these gigs is it's east coast and it's Kix country. So that helps.

Other then that Rhino Bucket goes where we can play. We have a little pocket in Ohio that we can go play but it's in Columbus, Akron and that area. And maybe a little in Texas but most of the places we tour is over in Europe.

You live in California, is that where Rhino Bucket as a band is based out of?

Yeah.

When it came to you coming into Rhino Bucket how did that come about?

After I left Kix in the 90s, I moved out to LA and I was sort of playing around in different things. One of the bands was a blues band and Reeve (Downes), our bass player, was the bass player. So him and I, we were playing in this blues band and we branched out and got into this other band together so we played together in about two or three other bands during the 90s together.

We were sort of a team, so right near the end, 97ish, Georg (Dolivo, Rhino Bucket vocalist) came into the picture and we tried to put this thing together that was basically Rhino Bucket but they didn't call it Rhino Bucket, they called it Deep Six Holiday for some reason and it was with a different drummer. We put some songs together and we went out and did a few gigs and that kind of fell apart.

Almost two years went by and Rikki Rachtman (former Headbangers Ball host and radio personality), who was trying to do this Cathouse thing out west in 2000 I think, called Georg asking him to put Rhino Bucket back together and do a Cathouse night. The original guitar player didn't want to do it so they called me since I already new some of the songs.

So I learned the rest of the songs, went and did the gig and I was still kind of hesitant about joining, I don't know why. I don't know what it was but I think after I got out of Kix thing I felt I needed a break for the whole hard rock scene because a lot of the stuff I did in the 90s out there was like country rock and Stones kind of stuff, very laid back. So I wasn't doing the hard AC/DC stuff, so at the time they put Rhino Bucket back together I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that.

I learned the songs for the Cathouse and did that gig, then another gig came up so I figured since I learned the songs I'd do that gig too and then we got the opportunity to do the soundtrack for a movie and write some new stuff. We started writing new stuff and when that happened I was pretty much in. It's pretty much like a relationship. You start going out with someone and then all of a sudden it's been a year and you're still with them. It grew on me and I love playing with these guys.

So when you got locked into M3 with Rhino Bucket you must have been pretty stoked to finally get it.

Yeah, but we only get thirty minutes so it'll be short and sweet.

If you are allowed to say it, do you know what time you are going on?

It's either 12 or 12:30. There's one band before us on the main stage and there is one band on the side stage and then we go on. We're like third band of the morning.

All-in-all, how do you feel about it? Excited?

Yeah, I think I'm more nervous about Kix because obviously that's a bigger show and there's more pressure. With Rhino Bucket there's no pressure. With Kix there's more of a show involved, so with Rhino Bucket it's pretty much stripped down to music. It's straight ahead and get out there and play. So it's not hard.

Do you have anything new music coming out for Rhino Bucket?

Yeah, we have a bunch of new songs. We're trying to find a time to record. 

Brian, thanks so much for taking a second to talk and give us a little M3 preview.

Thank you.