Wednesday 13: Death Defying
It seems that the world is becoming a more serious, more jaded and fractured place with every given day. With many people trading in their sense of humour and fun for a heavy dose of cynicism and vitriol, with itchy fingers caressing the trigger, looking to cancel each other for any given reason. You then have WEDNESDAY 13, an artist who has remained true to his artistic vision and has made a career out of shocking audiences and entertaining them with his particular brand of dark humour, clever wordplay and ability to toe the line of what is deemed acceptable, whilst still feeling risqué and dangerous.
He has turned his hand to numerous different musical endeavours such as the beloved, and much revered MURDERDOLLS, his early solo outings under the band name of FRANKENSTEIN DRAG QUEENS FROM PLANET 13. However, it is an undeniable fact that his most prolific and successful endeavour has been under the moniker of simply WEDNESDAY 13 with a staggering nine previous studio albums under his belt, and no sign of slowing up with his creative output any time soon. It should come as no surprise to his followers and critics alike that this tenth full length effort Mid Death Crisis is as fun, exciting and downright evil as ever. We managed to get some time with the man Duke Of Spook himself during his busy touring schedule to have a chat about the album, his career thus far and what the future holds.
“I didn’t even know if we’d attempt another album after the first one!” Admits Wednesday. “Originally I was just trying to fill the time in between doing things with MURDERDOLLS, because Joey (Jordison, former guitar player for MURDERDOLLS and drummer for SLIPKNOT who sadly lost his life in 2021) would head back to his band, luckily I got this going and it stuck!”
To say that it ‘stuck’ is quite the understatement. With a career spanning more than three decades, multiple world tours and legions of devoted fans around the world. It seems that the ideas are never hard to come by, and with no active side projects taking up any of his creative headspace it seems that there is no slowing up of the writing process. Something that gives Wednesday all the creative freedom he needs. “I sort of stopped giving energy to side projects a few years ago now and it means that I can experiment more with my own music which is what the past few albums have been,” he explains. “However, the direct approach to the music on this album is a return to my roots and my earlier material. It’s been a lot of fun, and to still be having a fun at this stage in the game is something that I don’t take for granted.”
With a brain that is always going ten to a dozen with creative ideas, it seems as though Wednesday is incapable of sitting on his hands and doing nothing. When approached on the subject of writer’s block (or lack thereof) he is quick to explain that it is an issue that he very rarely suffers from. “I didn’t have any issues with this record. Of course, over the years you have moments where you go to write and come up with nothing, and there are moments like I’m going through right now where I can’t seem to stop writing!”
By surrounding himself at home with collectables, movie posters and other such trinkets it seems that inspiration is never too far away, and rather than turn to these for ideas, the singer has simply immersed himself in that world to the extent that it’s always in his world. “It’d always around, and as a result I’m never too far away from a new idea. I simply have to look around my home and inspiration strikes, and it keeps everything fun and exciting for me.”
With regards to the creative process for Mid Death Crisis the approach was very old school. The idea was to try and circle back to the debut album Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying and the Dead and attempt to capture the raw energy and direct approach that was son encompassed by that release, with the process almost mirroring the beloved album. “I start off by getting the songs to pretty much where I want it, then I take it into the guys, and we arrange it and tweak and build on it until its ready,” tells Wednesday. “For the debut I locked myself in my basement, hashed it out and aside from the drums I recorded everything for that album”. And he makes no bones about the fact that he was trying to replicate some elements of that album, in the hope that lightning would indeed strike twice (it most certainly did, in case you are wondering). “I wanted to see if I could do what I did on the first album and to see if I could do anything close to that again, and in my eyes, I think I did.”
In recent times WEDNESDAY 13 has been digging into the back catalogue of MURDERDOLLS and adding them to the setlist. The nostalgia of which has provided a shot in the arm for these new songs, once again harnessing the headspace that the ghoulish writer was occupying back when the band was at it’s peak. “It was a real trip to see how the songs affected people in the crowd when I rolled them out,” tells Wednesday. “Then when it came to writing I was in that headspace, and it lent itself to the sound of the new material. I wanted to leave an impression, and to write something as meaningful and memorable as those MURDERDOLLS records.”
On that note the singer is very open about the catharsis he feels when he plays those old songs live and getting the chance to revel in the music that he created with his longtime friend Jordison. “He was a huge part of my life, and I make a point to ask the crowd to applause him. Because without him, I wouldn’t be standing in front of all of those people.” The fact that the two musicians created something together more than twenty years ago and it still resonates with people to this day is a testament to the quality of the material and the impact that it still has to this very day. And perhaps Wednesday sums it up perfectly with his simple statement: “music speaks”.
With the new Mid Death Crisis added to his already overflowing armoury of songs, WEDNESDAY 13 is continuing on the road for the majority of this year and onwards. And it goes to show you that if the hunger is there and indeed, the demand. Then there really is no sign of this ghost train slowing up any time soon.
Mid Death Crisis is out now via Napalm Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS121 here:
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