Posted 9/2/2022
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
In the fall of 1973, four eighth-grade students brought their guitars and drums to their Perry Junior High School dance to provide live music. Nearly 50 years later, three of those guys still are making music together, plus, one now has his children and grandchildren in the band, too.
Mark Einck and his wife Karen both grew up in Perry. They still have their primary home there, plus a second home at Lake Panorama they purchased 24 years ago.
For that dance, Einck wasn’t a regular member of the band. It was Jim Wuebker and Joel Wilson on guitars and Larry Nichols on drums. They played mostly Beatles, Moody Blues and other songs from the 1960s and early 1970s.
The hit movie “American Graffiti” had just been released, and its theme song was “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets. Another popular song on the radio was “Angie” by the Rolling Stones. Einck, who played guitar, had learned those two songs, and the other three boys asked him to get up and play them at the dance.
“Those songs went over so well, I ended up singing and playing them three times that night,” says Einck. “The next day, the guys asked me to join the band. They soon recruited a friend to play bass and another to play keyboards, and the band PHYX was officially formed.”
That summer, the bass and keyboard players left. Rather than continue with three guitar players, Einck made the move to bass. His dad worked for a finance company that had just repossessed a Fender Precision Bass for $75, so he had his bass guitar.
The first public performance for PHYX was in the spring of 1975 at the St. Patrick’s gym in Perry. Their first big payday was July 4, 1975, at a small bar in Yale called The Place. The band was hired for $180, so each member made $45.
“That was huge for us,” Einck says. “Since none of us were old enough to drive, the parents who had pickups were our road crew. We played several more private functions that year and were making a name for ourselves, but we needed a real PA system.”
Parents drove the band members to Victor’s House of Music in Des Moines, where they picked out a new Peavey PA system, complete with monitors and microphones. The price tag was $2,000.
“That was way more than we had between us,” Einck says. “At a meeting of all four sets of parents, it was agreed Joel’s dad would cosign a loan from the bank, with open payment terms. Every time we played, we put that money toward the note.”
The guys were getting their name out, and while playing around Perry was OK, they finally booked a gig in Westside for homecoming in 1976 and were asked back in 1977. They also played for Boone’s homecoming in 1977.
“Things were going great and then one month before we all graduated in 1978, Larry quit school and moved to Florida,” Einck says. “We played one last gig with Joel taking over the drumming duties and Shaun Stokely joined for a short stint on keys. That gig was the night before I left for college at Buena Vista, and Joel went to DMACC. A month later, Jim got married, and we didn’t know if we’d ever play together again.”
Toward the end of the college school year, Wilson had found a young guitar player and a drummer, both still in high school. When Einck got home from college, those four resurrected PHYX for a second run. At the same time, Wuebker hooked up with a drummer, Dana Keenan, and found a bass player, and their band was Gemstone. The two bands played together for the next three years.
PHYX bought an old school bus and converted the front of it to a living area, with the back for the equipment. They played for proms, homecomings, weddings and community events, as well as the bar circuit. With Einck and Wilson still in college, only weekends were available, but the band usually played somewhere three out of four weekends.
While the two younger members wanted to make this their living, Einck and Wilson didn’t. After a final bash in May of 1982, the two younger band members left for Oklahoma, and Einck and Wilson went to work.
Later in 1982, Wuebker and Keenan were not getting along with their bass player, so they called Einck and Wilson to see if they had an interest in joining them.
“I was an accounting major, but my minor was in music,” Einck says. “After a couple of jam sessions together, the remnants of PHYX and Gemstone combined to form Rukkus. The first time this band played publicly was at my and Karen’s wedding reception in June 1983. We only played four songs, but we were ready to do more.”
When Van Halen came out with “Jump” in 1984, the band decided they needed a keyboard. Einck bought one, and the band incorporated “Jump” and other new songs into their repertoire. The band wouldn’t have a full-time keyboard player for another 12 years or so, because he wasn’t born yet.
Rukkus bought a newer bus that is the subject of many stories the band members still share. For instance, losing the brakes in Fort Dodge, having the transmission stuck in low gear at the Botanical Center, blowing a tire coming home from Ames, and having the exhaust system break off at the manifold in Atlantic.
In the spring of 1988, Einck was offered a new job, which was more demanding of his time. He also was going back to school that fall at Drake University to work on his MBA. The boys agreed they had had a great five-year run, and they got to go out at the top of their game. After a Friday night at Ferg’s in Grand Junction and a Saturday night wedding reception at Lake Panorama, Rukkus was officially retired.
The four band members all remained great friends and stayed in touch, but family and work took up the majority of their time. However, for the guy without kids, a new band was in his future.
Joel Wilson, better known by now as JC, was one of the founding members of the Flying Marsupials. That band toured from 1989 to 2003, considered one of Des Moines’ favorite bands for much of the 1990s. Their first gig was a wedding reception, but they only had enough material for half the show. The Rukkus boys agreed to play the first half of the gig, and the Flying Marsupials played the second half.
Rukkus was asked to play for drummer Dana’s uncle’s birthday party. The problem was, Wilson was already booked with the Marsupials. A young kid who had taken piano lessons for the last seven years and had become a really good lead guitar player stepped in — Einck’s son, Ben. Ben became a permanent member of the band at 14 and was the keyboard player first and foremost. But if Wilson was with the Supes, he was the lead guitar player.
Rukkus slowly accumulated enough gear to do larger shows and began playing six to eight times a year through the end of the 1990s and into the new century. Mark’s daughter, Emily, began singing with the band in the early 2000s.
During Ben’s high school years, he and some other classmates formed a group called Feedback, with Eric McLeod as the band’s drummer. In 2010, Rukkus drummer Keenan’s battle with alcoholism was getting the better of him, and McLeod started traveling with the band. While Keenan continued to be the starting drummer, he often would ask McLeod to finish the sets. In 2012, Keenan played his last show with Rukkus at Perry’s Friday Fest, and McLeod took over drumming duties.
McLeod joined the Iowa Army National Guard during his junior year at Perry High School and has served for more than 18 years. He is now based at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Davenport as an instructor pilot, currently mobilized in the southwest United States, and will return near the end of this year.
“I grew up with Ben as one of my closest friends and was a drummer for Ben’s band during high school,” McLeod says. “I was over at the Eincks’ a lot using Rukkus’ drum set for practice and for any performances our band had. Feedback sometimes would play a few opening songs for Rukkus at their performances, and I would have opportunities to play select songs with Rukkus as a guest drummer.
“They are all family to me,” McLeod continues. “It’s been an absolute honor that they accepted me to play drums for them when they could easily have chosen someone else. I really enjoy the genres of music we play and the chance to perform with my family, who are all incredibly talented musicians.”
JC Wilson has vivid memories of the early days.
“We were unassuming about the future; we were just being a band and having fun doing it,” he says. “I don’t remember anyone aspiring to make the big time. We just got together on a regular basis to rehearse and perform because of the camaraderie.”
Wilson is the one band member who has come closest to making the “big time.” Over the Labor Day weekend, he received the 2022 Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He was already a member of the association’s Hall of Fame after being inducted in 2016 as a founding member of the Flying Marsupials.
Jim Wuebker says he and Wilson started playing guitars together when they were 5 years old.
“What got me interested in playing was all the different guitars and amps,” he says. “Throughout all my years, it has been a goal for me to keep on sounding better either with new equipment or more practice. I’ve truly enjoyed trying out different amps and guitars.”
Wuebker says when Mark Einck joined the band, things changed.
“The band now had a different sound, and it was fun playing as a group and playing for people and friends,” he says. “The band became a group of friends I still really enjoy playing music with and have a very close relationship with. They are my closest friends.
“I feel if we hadn’t played together for all these years, my life would have been completely different,” Wuebker says. “But I wouldn’t have changed any of it. Playing with these guys, for our fans, and even someone listening for the first time, is a thrill. My goal is to play until I’m 70, and to just keep having fun and enjoy life.”
Ben’s two oldest sons, John, age 11, and Will, age 10, are both taking piano lessons, and John has ventured to the guitar.
“Like Ben, John and Will have grown up around Rukkus their entire life,” Mark Einck says. “Over the last two years, they both have joined us on stage. John sings and plays guitar on ‘Take it Easy,’ and Will sings ‘All These Things That I Have Done’ by the Killers. They absolutely steal the show.”
A niece, Katie Hermann, is an occasional vocalist. Another addition to the band is Mark’s nephew Nick Hermann.
“Nick is one of those people who can play any instrument,” Einck says. “We asked him to learn the banjo, and he did. We asked him to learn the fiddle, and he did. When Ben jumps on guitar when we need a third guitar, Nick takes over on keys.”
“I grew up watching and emulating Rukkus. I wanted to do what they did,” says Ben Einck. “I started learning piano at age 7 and picked up a guitar at 12. I came home every day from school for years and just played, played, played.”
“As I reflect 23 years later, for them to consider me and eventually accept me as a member of the band, I’m fortunate,” Ben says. “I can’t think of anyone who has a similar relationship with their dad and his closest friends. Their constant openness and attitudes make this band what it is today, 40 years later, and why we continue to book shows.”
Ben admits to “proud dad moments” when his sons John and Will are on stage.
“Neither has fear to get in front of hundreds of people,” he says. “Our 8-year-old daughter Andi and 4-year-old son Henry both show interest in following our footsteps. I’ll continue to encourage their passions and hope to see music flourish for them as it has for me. I hope Rukkus will see another 40 years and honor its founders.”
Rukkus has proven its staying power. In 1984, the band played for a wedding reception for Russ and Lori Hawley at the Starlite in Fort Dodge. In 2013, they played for the Hawleys’ son’s wedding reception in Des Moines.
RAGBRAI made a stop in Perry in 1986, and the city asked Rukkus to perform.
“It was one of the highlights of our career,” Einck says. “We were asked by the City of Le Mars this summer to play for RAGBRAI when it stopped there July 24. But two of the guys had family vacations planned, so we opted for family time over show time. But it’s pretty awesome that 35 years after playing our first RAGBRAI, we still are around to even be asked.”
The band limits its schedule to a handful of gigs a year, but they still draw big crowds. They are regulars at Perry’s Friday Fest in the summer, The Port on Lake Panorama, Fourth of July celebration in Yale, class reunions and private events.
Mark Einck says Wuebker and Wilson are like brothers to him.
“I don’t have a brother, so these guys have really been my brothers for 50 years. It’s rare that we have any disagreements. We were each other’s best men in our weddings,” he says. “I will always be in the band as long as I can sing, although hitting all the high notes isn’t as easy as it once was.”
In 2023, Einck, Wuebker and Wilson will have been bandmates for 50 years, and Rukkus will celebrate 40 years. Given the current lineup of young and old, it seems people will be entertained by Rukkus for many years to come.
