Rhinoceros (band)

Rhinoceros
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	Rock
Years active	1967–1970 2009
Associated acts	Blackstone Iron Butterfly Jon and Lee & The Checkmates
Website	www.rhinoceros-group.com (Tribute Site)
Past members	John Finley Michael Fonfara Danny Weis Doug Hastings Alan Gerber Jerry "The Bear" Penrod John Keleihor Billy Mundi Peter Hodgson Duke Edwards Larry Leishman Bernie LaBarge Mike Sloski

Rhinoceros was a rock band established in 1967 through auditions conducted by Elektra Records, rather than organic formation by musicians. The band, while well respected in many circles, did not live up to the record label's expectations. It was also poorly received by fans, producing a slow selling debut album and two even less successful LPs before breaking up. However, at least one reviewer has commented, "Despite the fact that the band could not live up to the expectations that were raised by Elektra Records' publicity machine, Rhinoceros' contributions to rock still deserve more credit than subsequent rock histories give it."

The concept of band formation by third parties was popular in the mid- to late-1960s. Such bands as The Monkees (for whom Stephen Stills had auditioned) and Moby Grape were established in this manner during the 1966-1967 period.

Paul A. Rothchild, then Elektra Records' talent scout and house producer, and fellow producer Frazier Mohawk (formerly Barry Friedman), decided to individually sign talented young musicians and form them together into a group in this fashion. While Mohawk had been instrumental in coordinating band membership for what became Buffalo Springfield (encouraging Stills to form Buffalo Springfield following his Monkees audtion), the establishment of what became Rhinoceros involved a more formal third party role.

Rothchild and Mohawk initially invited twelve musicians to audition in September 1967, at Mohawk's house in Laurel Canyon. Included in this initial group were Doug Hastings (guitar) and Alan Gerber (keyboards and vocals). A second audition was held at a Los Angeles motel in November 1967, where approximately twenty musicians were reviewed. After this meeting, John Finley (vocals) and Danny Weis (guitar) were chosen to work with Hastings and Gerber. Finley and Hodgson were both former members of Jon and Lee & The Checkmates, a band which Rothchild had expressed an interest in signing as early as 1965 that had broken up in September 1967.

Weis had been an original member of Iron Butterfly and played on their debut album. Hastings had been a member of Seattle's renowned Daily Flash, and briefly served as Neil Young's replacement in Buffalo Springfield, during one of Young's departures from the group. Other members of The Daily Flash were invited to audition for Rhinoceros, though only Hastings was chosen.

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