by Mark E. Waterbury

Born in Augusta, Georgia, Wes moved around a bit as an "Army brat" before settling for a good portion of his life in Chicago. The music bug munched on him at an early age. "My older sisters played records all of the time," Wes recalls. "I got bit by it; got into Kiss when they were big, then moved onto Judas Priest and Ozzy, and then got into punk in a big way. Now I'm into everything. I'm one of those geeks for music. I'm stuck." Wes started playing in cover bands first as a drummer and then later as a guitarist and vocalist. He continued to play in a number of bands, extending through his time at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He spent two years there in pursuit of a communications degree before deciding to return to Chicago, where the band he was in was playing frequently anyway.

Wes did have some peripheral involvement in the music business; working at Wax Trax Records in Chicago as well as working for some radio stations. His main introduction to the business end of music was while he was with Triple Fast Action, who's album "Broadcaster" was released on Capitol Records. He performed many business tasks including bookings and getting the band exposure in radio and media. The band hired David Fry as a manager, and Wes continued to help David with the business aspects of Triple Fast Action's career. "A lot of what a band needs to do is common sense, really," Wes notes. "I did everything and anything I could do to help us succeed - anything that I thought made sense. If you need to book a show, you figure out how to do that. If you need to get on the radio, you figure outhow to do that. You need to sell records....you just do whatever it takes."

After leaving Triple Fast Action, Wes joined the band Local H a guitarist for a brief period of time. He also delved into the production side of music producing the first two Jimmy Eat World recordings. In 1999, Wes received a call from David Fry, who was in New York managing Cheap Trick. The timing of David's call could not have been better for Wes. "Playing in bands had run its course, and I was just dejaying in clubs and drinking too much. When (David) called, I figured it was a great opportunity to go to New York. I knew I would be good at this." Wes moved to the Big Apple and joined David as a co-manager in Silent Partner Management. He had already learned some of the aspects of management from his days with Triple Fast Action, and under David's mentorship, began to learn the finer points of the business. "When you are on a major label, you figure things out pretty quickly. It would be a great requirement for every member of every band to do an internship at a management company before they sign a record deal." Along with Cheap Trick, Silent Partner also worked with the estate of Joey Ramone after he passed away, and also had previously worked with Blues Traveler. Since Wes came on board, they began to work with his former bandmates Local H, and Kevin Tihista who had played with Wes in Triple Fast Action. They also work with a band called Thedamnwells from New York who they are overseeing a major publishing deal for, and a baby band from New York named Suffrajett. Cheap Trick provides a good anchor for the company who had managed to keep things going on a steady plane during Wes' tenure, which has been during a general downturn period in the music industry. "It's a struggle in this business and it's a huge challenge. Just to get people to pay attention, you have to be extremely consistent and persistent, and believe in what you are doing. It takes a long time for people to notice sometimes, and that's when a lot of bands or managers give up."

Wes still does a little bit of songwriting and producing in his spare time. His main concentration and passion now lies with helping the bands at Silent Partner realize or continue their dreams, and that aspect is quite satisfying for him. "Being involved with music and still listening to music is great. There are some stupid little headaches sometimes, but working with bands like Cheap Trick is amazing, and working with new bands to help develop them and make something out of nothing is awesome. If you are going to work in this business, you have to follow your heart, stick to it and work with the music you believe in, not just follow trends.You have to be yourself and not get caught up in all the dumb BS and weirdness, because then even if you make money, you won't feel good about it. I really love what I do now, with both the development side and working with the veterans."

Wes Kidd's advice for musicians: "Just kill for it. There are ten million other bands who want to do what you are doing and are probably doing it better. It has to be the only thing you care about and if it isn't, you shouldn't be doing it because a lot of other people deserve it more. You have to be great and I tell my bands this all the time. You have to be better than any band you have ever seen. Then people will pay to come see you, and the labels pay people to go find bands who can sell tickets. If you sell five hundred tickets in your crappy little town where you're from, someone is going to realize that your band knows how to turn music into money."