Interview with WEDNESDAY 13 in London

Wednesday 13 Halloween show 2012

Koko, London

It's a dark, cold night in London tonight, fitting for anyone's Halloween. However, this isn't just Halloween... it's the return of horror punk master Wednesday 13 ON Halloween! Primal Noise are about to enter the fortress of the KOKO and have a chat with the man himself! Here goes...!

Primal Noise: First we’d like to talk about Spook and Destroy, what made you want to go back and remake some of your old songs?

Wednesday: You know, I've been playing them for so many years, when I go back and listen to some of my old music, which, I don’t listen to my stuff that much, once I record it and put it out I don’t usually go back and listen to it for a while, but you know, over the years, I have such a big catalogue of songs like a lot of people are into my old band Frankenstein Drag Queens (From Planet 13) and I go back and listen to some of those songs, I know where I was mentally when I went in and recorded that, some of these songs were recorded in like, one take, no fixing any little tiny details or anything like that, and I’m the biggest critic of my own stuff, I’m always like ‘ahh why did I do that?! I shouldn’t-a did that’ and then again, over the years, some of the songs, we kept playing them and they kinda developed… I think they developed themselves even more so… I wanted to go back and revisit em, and when I hear a song like ‘Mr Mother Fucker’ or something like that compared to the original, of course I still love the original, but it’s cool to hear how it’s changed over the years. So it’s like a new one, then again if I could hear the Misfits go back with Danzig and re-record all of those songs I would wanna hear it! You know?So I think my fans would want hear some of these old songs too because some of them don’t have the best recordings, and now with technology we can go back and record stuff and make it sound amazing as opposed to in 1997/98 when I was recording on a low budget and it sounds like it’s on a low budget, you know what I mean, and we’re kinda reviving ‘em.

Primal Noise: Moving on to your upcoming full length album The Dixie Dead is there anything you can tell us about this album? What are your hopes for it?

W13: I can tell you lots about it! It is my favourite album I’ve ever recorded! I think it’s my BEST I’ve ever recorded! Not to discredit any of my other stuff or anything like that, it’s just you know, when you just do something sometimes and you go ‘man this feels right’ you feel like you did something the right way, we knew that immediately. Like, we had a lot of songs and we had demo’s of it before we went into the studio, well I thought ‘this is gonna be cool’, but when we went in and started hearing how the songs starting taking form from the demos we were just like, really getting goose bumps, we’re like ‘man this is really good!’ So uh, so uhhh yeah. Next year is 2013 which is an awesome way to… you know… I mean next year is MY year and I feel like I made my best record, and The Dixie Dead, I think for me, I think it’s a good mix of what everyone has known from me over the years. I think this album will be an excellent sequel to my Transylvania album, and also a good sequel to the last Murderdolls record. So if we could smash that together, I think that’s a good way. But again…I don’t know how to judge my music sometimes. People hear it certain ways, I hear it different ways, but I think it’s a super cool record and I can’t wait for it to come out. I wish we were playing it tonight but we have to wait.

Primal Noise: Who are your musical influences? Who did you listen to growing up?

W13: Um.. the same stuff I still kinda listen to. I mean, the reason I do what I do period is Alice Cooper. That was the first thing I saw. When my mom mentioned Alice Cooper, I went “Who is she?” And then she proceeded to tell me “He’s the man who bites the heads off of chickens and snakes!”. As a kid I was like “I need to find out who this guy is!” So I started investigating Alice and that was pretty much what turned me on to music. I was already into horror films as a kid, but my music outlet was nothing! I didn’t listen to music, I didn’t care about music, I liked it in movies! I heard little soundtracks, I loved the Rocky theme, I loved things like that, but... when I saw Alice Cooper, I went “Wow! It’s like a horror show with music!” It just changed my life! But Alice didn’t do it all the time, he would do it a little bit and then he would sing about other things, but I want to do that ALL the time! I wanna be Halloween 24/7, 365 days a year, and that’s kinda what I do!

Primal Noise: If you could tour with any band, alive or dead, who would it be?

W13: Um… again, I’ve been really fortunate to play with a lot of people I like. With Alice Cooper, I’ve toured with him for years now, and he’s actually a good friend of mine. Recently this year I got to play with Marilyn Manson, which was a really cool thing, for years I’ve been a big fan of him. We played with Rob Zombie a few years ago. So for me, I guess, I’ve been fortunate I’ve played with a lot of my heroes… but, I guess the one I haven’t yet would be KISS. Even though it’s KISS in this day and age, just to say I played with KISS would still be a notch on my belt. KISS again with Alice Cooper – the two bands that changed my life. I mean, my brother gave me the KISS dolls for my birthday and I had no idea what they were, and I was like “This is coolest looking thing!” So I made KISS attack my GI Joes! Then my brother would play their records for me, and they were, y’know, larger than life. KISS to me is like Spiderman and BATMAN are for certain people, they are my comic book heroes. Again, KISS and Cooper, without them you wouldn’t have this look or what I do or anything.

Primal Noise: Best and worst show to date?

W13: Best and worst show… Best show... I don’t know, I played a lot of super cool shows. Um, my Halloween show in London a few years ago was pretty amazing. It was great for being Halloween and it was my first show out of the states on Halloween. We had the band Hanoi Rocks supporting me on that date, and again that was another band that was a big influence on me and I didn’t understand why they were supporting me? I was like “This should be the other way around!” So that was a pretty cool moment, for me to see this band that I used to have on my walls playing in front of me, it just blew my mind! The audience in London that night was amazing! It's why we’re back here for Halloween tonight, because that show almost overwhelmed me so much, I wasn’t expecting it to be like that; so when I watch back videos of that night, I kinda feel like I’m a deer in headlights a little bit, so this show tonight is revenge night for that. We have our stage perfect, we have tricks, we have everything. TONIGHT will be the best show!
But, worst show? … I’ve played a lot of bad shows! I’ve played so many I don’t really know where to start. Trying to think… Probably the…. Well a weird show … I’ve knocked my teeth out on stage a couple of times and I’ve had to keep playing with a half of a broken front tooth... And I’m trying to cover it up and not look like a hillbilly. So you know… that always sucks! I knocked my tooth out on a Friday night and I couldn’t get to a dentist until Monday so I had to put wax on my teeth, so those were kinda worst shows, but they weren’t bad shows, I just felt like an idiot! But there’s always been shows where you’ve been sick, or your guitar player’s about to die, so y’know, those are kinda the bad shows but I don’t think the fans really notice that much. I’m sure I have been guilty of putting on a couple of bad shows for people at some time, but I don’t do that anymore. I go out and give everything I can and it is what it is so… I try not to do bad shows anymore.

Primal Noise: Okay that ties in nicely to our next question which is, Has anyone ever hurt themselves on stage?
W13: Ohh Fuck… Well, the teeth thing, I know this sounds crazy but, that’s sorta normal (laughs). As far as getting hurt yeah, I mean it was scary, we’d just came from Australia… I was just telling the guys in the band this story, when I was in Australia last time… Before that in 2010 I was playing guitar, I ran over to the side of the stage and I was squatting and looking at the crowd and threw my hair back and didn’t realise the monitor was above my head and I smacked my head, I saw stars and kinda fell on my knees, and everyone just thought “well he’s being weird” and I touched my head and there was nothing but blood and I’d never busted my head before so I was like, “but I have to finish the song!” so we’re playing “I love to say Fuck” and I’m trying to wrap it up! And everyone’s all “Yeah! Fuck!.... Fuck!... Fuck!...” so I’m like “Alright everybody, yeah! I love to say Fuck, I love to say fuck… fuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! Okaythankyougoodnight!” and I run off stage and I’m like freaking out and I couldn’t see and I ask my bass player “Nate, Nate! how bad is it?” and he’s like “Oh fuck! It looks bad, dude!” But the thing was, I was sweating so much that it was like pouring it down my head so, it had actually closed up before the end of the last song so it was just a quick gush and then it stopped … so yeah that kinda freaked me out because I didn’t wanna be in a foreign country and have to get my head stapled up. But we’ve had everything from, y’know… you trip on stage and twist your ankle or fall off of something, like I have this big like box that I stand on at the front of the stage, I’ve been on that before and kinda went to the side, totally missed it and fell on top of Roman , so I try to be aware of … I try not to go on stage drunk anymore so uhh… I’ve learned my lesson.
Primal Noise: It’d probably hurt a lot less though…
W13: It did…! It DID help the pain! But I’ve also realised that I was probably falling BECAUSE I was drunk so… nip that in the bud and be done with it so…

Primal Noise: Tell us something really weird or crazy that’s happened to you whilst on tour
W13: Weird or crazy… um… Huh… I’ve had a lot of weird and crazy things happening all the time… not anything that’s necessarily good to talk about. Maybe we’ll come back to that question, I don’t want to take up too much time trying to think cuz I have a lot of weird stories, I mean, there’s some stories I wanna say and it’s weird, but I don’t want the fans to think “Ohh he’s making fun of me!” Not that it’s weird! It’s just, for example… I’ll tell you this story real quick: Not disrespecting my fans or anything, actually the fan that did this is SUPER awesome and now I know the story now, it just caught me off guard. We were in Germany and someone came up to me, the girl that sold merch for us, she said “Wednesday, someone gave me this package for you, I think you need to check this out” So I open it up and it was a letter, saying how big fans they were and that they had included a syringe and a vial and they wanted me to take my blood out. They wanted to make a necklace for her and her friend with it or whatever. At first I was like, I’ve never had anyone ask me for that. I was kinda SHOCKED, then I was like “Well that’s…. that’s pretty cool…” They’d sent me a clean needle, they didn’t send me this like dirty needle. They were legit and wanted me to do it, and once the shock had wore off I thought “this is pretty cool, I’m gonna play along…but I’m not gonna take my blood out… ” So I went over and we had a refrigerator with some like Cherry juice in it; so I took the syringe out and filled it full of red so it looked cool y’know, just to play along with it, and I sent it back, I autographed a picture… the whole thing and sent it back to them. Of course they knew it wasn’t my blood and whatever but they laughed about it. I met those fans after that and they were super cool, but that was kinda strange at first to be like “Who wants to have my blood around…?” But then again, it shows the dedication of my fans and how much my music means to a lot of people so that was kinda like really strange, but also really cool, y’know?

Primal Noise: Do you have a favourite country to play and why?

W13: Well I’ll be honest, the UK has been very good to me ever since I came over here in 2002 for the first time. It’s been great because it’s never died down, again, it’s never blew up to where I’m playing arenas or anything, but I’ve kept this cool, cult following. My fans are rabid for what I do, I love it! The UK and Australia right now, especially in Australia my music is really taking off because I’ve been working really hard there the past couple of years – we just came from there and all our shows were sold out and that’s something that never ever happens to me! I hear “Hey your shows sold out!” and I’m like “Huh?... Am I being Punk’d?…. Aaaashton? ? ” (laughs).

Primal Noise: What’s your favourite movie, game and book… and why?
W13: Favourite Movie… any genre of movie?
Primal Noise: Yep!
W13: Cuz people always ask me what my favourite HORROR movies are all the time, and I’m like *says in a fed up tone*“Texas Chainsaw Massacre……” So, ‘The Jerk’ with Steve Martin. It’s one my favourites. We ALL quote it, all the time.
Favourite book… Marvin K. Mooney by Dr. Seuss is my favourite book. “You can go by bus, you can go by cow, Marvin K. Mooney, will you PLEASE go now?”
All of us: *laughs*
W13: Just… I love it. I used to… every time I’d go to the Doctor, or the dentist... that book was ALWAYS in the dentist office and I was terrified, I would just read it and be like *in a terrified, self-comforting sort of way* “Marvin K. Mooney… Marvin K. Mooney… Marvin K. Mooney…” That should be my hotel alias; Marvin K. Mooney.
Primal Noise: Not after this…! *laughs*
W13:*laughs* Well… yeah! So… favourite book, movie and… what was the other one?
Primal Noise Game.
W13: Favourite game… Umm.. like video game?
Primal Noise: Yeah.
W13: You know what, I don’t really play a lot of video games. Roman actually talked me into buying an Xbox, I think just because he wanted to play it at my house when he’s there… *laughs* But uh… the Batman: Arkham City game was really cool cuz you know… Roman taught me how to play it, I was like Atari – Frogger , even this was too difficult for me. He was like “You gotta play this!” and I was like “How do I, I don’t know how to operate this!” He says “Be Batman! What would Batman do?” And then I started kicking everyone’s ass and I’m like “Hell yeah… I’m Batman!” So that’s a pretty cool game for me. Again, but I’m still, probably a bigger fan of Frogger! *laughs* and original Mario Bros. I can kick that games ass!
Primal Noise: *laughs* Atari….
W13: And Mike Tyson’s Punch Out too!! Somehow I still remember the password in my head to get to Mike Tyson, but I can’t remember anything else. Like I don’t know my mother’s birthday, but I know the password to Mike Tyson: 0073735963 gets you right to him!
Primal Noise: People are going to be testing this now! *laughs*
W13: I know it! I promise, it’ll work! There’s a game called ‘Contreau’ (????) You can get ultimate life, which is: UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, A, B, START gives you ultimate life! I know! I should’ve gotten more out of it in my youth!

Primal Noise: Okay, If you had a random career change and were starring in a movie, what Movie would it be and who is your character?

W13: Um… Well I mentioned ‘The Jerk’ and I really like the character that Steve Martin plays, Navin, was his name. That would be a cool thing.But again my ultimate favourite character that would represent what I do is Beetlejuice. He’s still my favourite, y’know? He was scary when he was being scary and when he was funny he was fucking hilarious! I liked how he balanced that, y’know? You didn’t know how to trust him, you’re like “Alright, he’s kinda funny, but he’s also kinda fucking crazy…” So I like to think that people think of me in the same way like “That guy’s kinda funny but he’s also kinda weird…” So yeah, Beetlejuice would be my guy.

Primal Noise:Okay so let’s talk about your other projects. Since you’re focused on Wednesday 13 right now is everything on hold with your other bands, or are there any plans for the those in the future …?

W13: Yes. I mean, the reason I did other projects was because I took a break from doing Wednesday. In 2009 we did our UK tour which was the last Wednesday tour I did. I then started doing the Gunfire 76 thing, just because I got burnt out on what I was doing. I’d been through a revolving door line-up. I’d had how many guys in the line up at the time and they’re all friends of mine, but again y’know, we kinda parted ways and stuff. At that point I needed to get away from the Wednesday stuff. So I started doing the Bourbon Crow thing and Gunfire, then Murderdolls came back around and I did that, then last year when I did ‘Calling All Corpses’ it was kinda like reinventing myself again. It was kinda like going back out and seeing and trying the Wednesday stuff all over again. But I saw that the fans were all still there waiting on me, so last year I really got into being Wednesday again, and now I feel like it’s better than ever! And I’m excited about doing things again so everything’s kinda taken the back burner for that, so I’m really focused on doing Wednesday now. Just at the time I needed to step out from it a little bit. Now I got my head together I feel more creative than I have ever been.
Primal Noise: I really love Bourbon Crow, It’d be good to see a tour.
W13: Oh, thank you! Again, I think, the ultimate thing, I’ve told Rayen (Belchere, Bourbon Crow partner) this, before you see a Bourbon Crow tour , what I would like to do one day would be an ‘Evening with Wednesday”. I could do a 'Drag Queens' set, I could do 'Gunfire', I could do 'Bourbon Crow'… It’d have to be in a town where everyone’s there. It’d be cool y’know? To do a set like that, a whole evening with; like a 3 hour set, take a little break and have THIS guy come in, and then maybe have an old member that played on one record to come and do that. Would be cool to come back because I think now with all the past members I had, whether there was drama before, everything’s cool now. I feel like all my enemies are… Well there are no more enemies anymore, and the stupid drama kinda stuff and all the guys I’ve played with during the years, like Rayen and all that. Not that there was ever any drama with me and Rayen, but it’d be cool to come back and have him play on a song like that. So that’s one of my ideas in the upcoming years, I guess… I don’t wanna say years… sounds too far… but it’s an idea I have, I’d wanna do an evening with… and that’s when you’d probably see the Bourbon Crow thing. It’d be fun!

Primal NoiseOkay, what’s your guilty pleasure?

W13: My guilty pleasure… Um it’s not really guilty… in the past year, year and a half, I’m really, really into like… I watch the Science Channel all the time. Like I’m really obsessed with Outer Space. Um, I really got into some of the ancient astronomic alien theories kinda stuff. I started watching the show ‘Ancient Aliens’ and that show just blew my mind! I really spend all my spare time now reading books, learning things about them. To me it just kinda debunks our whole history and even as a kid, I always said as a kid “I don’t believe this” and that’s why I got into trouble at school, I was always questioning my history teacher like “But that don’t make sense!” And he’s all “Well, it is what it is” and I was all “Fuck you…” so uhh… so learning about that kinda stuff is super interesting to me. So I wouldn’t say it’s a guilty pleasure, it’s just for me, I love doing that. Anyone will walk into a room like “What are you doing??” and I’m like “I’m listening to this guy talk about blah blah blah!” and they’re like “What... the fuck… are you… doing?” And for hours I’ll just sit there and take this stuff in. I don’t understand it sometimes and I have to go back and listen to it again, but it’s like, I’m kinda educating myself on it. So it’s new for me and that’s what I’m into lately.
Primal Noise: We think that’s cool because we’re into that sorta stuff too, like the ancient Sumerians…
W13: Yeah!! And it’s cool because Roman is into that same kinda stuff so we’ll sit around and get into deep conversations at 3 in the morning and all the band guys are like “What?… what the fuck are you all talking about??” and “Are you serious?? Did that really happen?” and I’m like “well it could’ve happened. It sounds a hell of a lot more convincing than Jesus!” So yeah, it’s interesting, it’s fun learning that stuff. There’s so many things I can’t believe that people don’t talk about, it’s unbelievable that we don’t talk about it. People are like “Well… I don’t want to know what that was…” To me, in America, we’ll have court cases if someone was murdered and it’ll go for years. They’ll find every detail of who was there, what was there and we don’t wanna go back and look at our history and understand, like “Well… this doesn’t make sense…” … “Well that’s what the Bible says!” Y’know? So for me going back and reading these things makes everything clear to me. I don’t have all the answers to it but just, I start to read these things and talk to people about them. it’s cool, it’s interesting. I could talk for hours about it. I think the reason is what happened to me when we were in Tokyo! We were in that huge earthquake that happened in 2011. It was the last Murderdolls tour we did, we flew over to Japan, played one show and then we got stuck there for three days because they had a 9.5 and all that shit; and I was TERRIFIED. I didn’t understand what caused earthquakes, I didn’t understand anything about it. I was in a foreign country and I thought water was gonna be washing me away at any second. So after I got out of that I started paying attention to EVERYTHING around me, I started learning about all these things, so I just basically started educating myself and quit being just a stupid rock n’ roll dude that didn’t care about anything, but playing music. Now I’m aware of everything. Again, it’s just a super cool, interesting thing for me now. Again tonight, after the show I will be watching something on youtube later on with my headphones on.

Primal Noise: Recently I met a girl in my town who's really into your music, and she recommended I watch something, which I've brought, and I wanted to ask you about it.
W13: Okay... Ah, Weirdo a Go-Go.
Primal Noise: Yeah. How did this come about?
W13: *takes the dvd* This is actually, again.... Alcohol is the reason this happened! As you can see me here on the back holding my drink there. This was something in between the records... Um I can't remember when we did this, it was uhh... 2008, when we did this. I had a little downtime, and I was always a big fan of the vampira and Elvira and how they hosted the shows and movie clips, so we had got hold of the movie clips we could use, and I just had this idea and told my manager "Look! I got this idea. We got puppets... and I'll host movie clips and blah blah blah!" and he was like "....alright..." Actually Roman does all the voices for all these animals on here, so he's actually the puppeteer guy. So when you see me... actually the show itself isn't the best part, it's actually the um deleted...
Primal Noise: The outtakes! Oh, we've seen them.
W13: Yeah! So that's the funniest thing cuz like, we'd started filming this thing, we built the set early in the day. We had this giant bottle of Southern Comfort which we were drinking while we were doing this, so by the time we'd finally built the sets and we'd been there all day and... Roman is SO animated with these puppets and the voices, he doesn't sound like him when he's doing it. He's great at it and I would be sitting there with this puppet and having this conversation with this puppet and be like "... this is fucking with my head!!" Cuz I thought they were real! Y'know? So you can see some of those outtakes of the scenes, and I was laughing so hard because I really thought I was talking to people. Again, this was just something stupid, and I like it because it shows I have a sense of humour. There's nothing evil or Satanic or crazy about it, it's just... stupid. We've actually been talking about doing another one. I wanted to do like 'The Real World' where it's like me, a bunch of puppets, and a house y'know? It's like "7 strangers..." and I'm the only human in it. And we also had an idea about doing a part 2 where we go on a Safari, and go looking at animals... *laughs*
Primal Noise: Perhaps mix it and do a part 2 but in a Real World situation... which would be interesting with, what's his name... Cowboy Dan, is it?
W13: Cowboy Dan... Yeah... Dad Gummit!!
All *laughs*

Primal Noise: Okay, our last question is our trademark question, we ask every band this. If you were sent to prison... and this IS a life sentence, who would you want as your cell mate, and why....?

W13: Ohhh.... Umm... I would say Roman. He's my best friend and we're goofy and he would probably make it not seem so bad. Actually it's kinda funny because before he was ever playing in bands with me, I used to bring him on tour. I would call my manager and go "Do we have enough money to bring Roman out? I need to laugh!"
Primal Noise: Aww...
W13 He's always been that sense of humour thing for me, so I think it would be the only way that I could pass my time there, which I hope I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER have to go there. I wanna be a good boy.
Primal Noise: Not to be hobo-sexual then?
W13:No... I don't need to be a hobo-sexual! I'll pass on that. *laughs*
Primal Noise: So you wouldn't have a girl in there, then?
W13: Ooooh, I.... Y..Yeeaaaah... y'know... *laughs* But you know what Charles Manson says, there's plenty of sex in prison! *laughs* But no, I don't know... I think I would want laughter over.. uhh ... THAT!, so... especially in prison.
Primal Noise: Especially since this is life...
W13: Oh... this is an awful question!! *laugh* Hopefully that never happens. Besides, if I had a girl, someone would steal her. Nobody would steal Roman. *laugh*
Primal Noise: *laugh* Cool, thank you so much. Now you can go back and explain to Roman that you want to take him to prison.

Stepping back out into the cold evening is a bit of a shock after being huddled up inside one of Koko's cosy dressing rooms, but not even a nip in the air can keep the costumed loyal fans away. There's a long line of people dressed to impress and waiting patiently for Camden's KOKO to open their doors to them. His guests include the likes of Beetlejuice, gory Nurses, The Joker and of course, zombies! You just know from the crowd it's going to be a wild night!

Once inside, the sheer volume of energy doesn't dissipate. As the crowds are still piling in, the bar is occupied to capacity in preparation. "Right! Let’s get WANKERED!" seemed to be a popular declaration from audience members, pre-performance. If anyone planned to show up at this show and leave it clean, you were planning incorrectly! It was hard to stand still and not get covered in blood! (Fake, we hope!) 10 minutes inside and a very small, innocent-almost looking Silent Hill nurse pulls out a syringe full of fake blood and pours it all over me. I knew from that moment, I must succumb to the insanity, the madness.... and the horror!

Fearless Vampire Killers start off the show with an interesting set. Those audience members near the barrier at the front are all for it whilst preparing themselves for what many have waited all day to see. The rest are still trying to get in as many drinks as possible at the bar, before the main event. True to Britain's nature though, they still give the band a good cheering, because why not. They're supporting their favourite band, they deserve some recognition, even if it's for that alone.

Once those lights dimmed and the track 'Blood Fades to Black' from the album 'Calling All Corpses' begins, the atmosphere changes considerably. Halloween, you say? It seems more like Christmas with the excitement in the room! Band members rushing onto the stage, tease the audience, until the man of the hour himself stands before them and cheers roar to the ceiling of the building. Opening the show by wishing everyone a 'Happy Halloween!' The band then tear right into 'Rot For Me', the crowd is captured already. It's hard not to be. To say Wednesday 13 has a good stage presence is an understatement! I find myself torn between watching the Master at work, or the audiences thrill. Although not your average metal show, a mosh pit is still successfully rolling in the centre of the room, albeit short-lived, the effect is still quite gripping. I’ve had blood splattered on me, why not someone’s beer too? After all, it’s Halloween! If this isn’t the holiday to let loose and live a little while amongst the undead, I don’t know what is! The crowd, and Wednesday 13 seem to have an abundance of energy, feeding off each other as if their lives depended on it.

I mentioned previously that the crowd were dressed to impress for tonight’s main event, but they do not stand alone! Wednesday with half his face covered in black paint, hair half covering the rest, it’s hard to determine where the Wednesday ends and the hair begins. Wouldn’t be rock if it wasn’t for sweat and hair, right?! Speaking of hair, guitarist Roman Surman sporting his one-sided do and dark make-up, it’s hard to NOT find his ability to multi-task astonishing! Playing guitar whilst sweating and managing to successfully pull off a cat-like preening, arm sweep maneuver, to ensure the hair stays in place on that one side, couldn’t have been easy! Somehow though… he pulled it off and still looked like it was planned and executed to perfection, all without losing a single note during his riffs. If only I could pull off such a trick minus the guitar, I wouldn’t have to look like I'd stuck my finger in a plug socket by the end of the evening. These men are masters at what they do!

Crowd and band are captivated by each other and it’s an endearing thing to watch. The dedication of both makes it well worth watching the experience. It’s clear that the man, and his band are worshipped and adored by their fans and the feeling reciprocated. Any prompt or command given by Wednesday is unquestionably followed by the crowd. It’s a connection that transcends the norm. Almost like a cult-following, not too dissimilar to the misunderstood Underground Jrock scene. It may not be understood by all, but those who get it, love it. They thrive on it and nothing will get in the way of the music and the band on stage. Wednesday 13 is a band definitely dedicated. Not just on their adoring fans, but on what they do. Each band member is as exceptionally talented instrumentally, as the vocals of front man and namesake Wednesday 13.

Being familiar with Wednesday’s other project Bourbon Crow; it’s amazing to see the range of different styles and genres he can perform with his voice. Quite soft spoken in normal conversation, and a gentle melodic voice in his outlaw country band, turns into a husk, raspy voice of doom. He has the ability to still sing well in horror form. If he'd wanted, Wednesday could’ve saved his voice a little as the crowd scream along every word of each song, but why on earth would he do that?! He sings at full pelt, boosting the effect of the sound hitting the rafters. I’m slightly jealous I didn't know more of the words before attending, so I could join in better with the sing-along. To witness this connection between band and crowd feels phenomenal.

Songs like “Halloween 13-13”, “All American Massacre”, “Til Death Do Us Party”, “Candle for the Devil” and “I walked With A Zombie” are amongst the most captivating of songs tonight. Catchy and enigmatic, they’re definitely tracks to recommend to new listeners of the band. With the aforementioned ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ drawing to an end, the band take their leave of the stage. However, the audience’s spirit hasn’t wavered in the slightest. Chants of “Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday!” echo throughout the room. They know what they want, and boy were they not finished with him yet! It would appear though, he is not finished with them either as they make their way back onto the stage, to the delight, adoration and gratitude of the crowd. Playing a three song encore, Wednesday 13 knows how to please his audience. Song “I Love To Say Fuck” one of the easiest of his songs to quickly memorize and sing along to, because who doesn’t want to shout ‘Fuck!’ to a crowded room every once in a while?? It’s liberating, so give it a try! Wednesday 13 gives you the perfect opportunity here, and I dare say I took it! When in Rome, do as the Romans do. (Hair sweep on standby!) There's a wail of mixed emotion when Wednesday anoounces the last song of the evening; excitement for the song, but the evening has flown by and is soon to be over. He tells the room “I want bad things to happen to each and every one of you!” before tearing into the popular “Bad Things” to finish off a spectacular night! It’s towards the end of the show that Wednesday proudly introduces each member of the band and the audience show their love and appreciation for all of them. A fantastic end to a fantastic show. So much so, that as I was leaving the venue, all I could hear was talk of the upcoming tour in March 2012 dripping off everyone’s lips. It’s a show that will definitely stay with me and one I’m incredibly grateful I was able to witness. Captivating and intoxicating, I can honestly say I recommend anyone to catch a show in March!

--- SET LIST ---

Blood Fades to Black

Rot For Me

Halloween 13-13

Calling All Corpses

Scream Baby Scream

M.F.T.W.

Gimme Gimme Bloodshed

Home Sweet Homicide

House By The Cemetery

All American Massacre

Haunt Me

I Want You... Dead

I Wanna Be Cremated

Put Your Death Mask On

Till Death Do Us Party

Candle for the Devil

I Walked With A Zombie

--- Encore ---

Rambo

I Love To Say Fuck

Bad Things