Wednesday 13 + DarkC3ll + Witchgrinder
The Corner Hotel, Richmond
14 April 2016
Review by Callum Doig
Photos by Sofie Marsden
Horror punk hasn’t lost its touch, it still packs a solid punch even with the small amount of artists that base themselves in the genre. Wednesday 13 is one such artist that’s keeping the spirit of horror punk alive. The man we’ve known as the frontman for undead entities such as Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Murderdolls and Bourbon Crow is a regular visitor to Australian shores, and it was apparent that he had would return in support of his latest record Monsters of the Universe: Come Out and Plague, again with the support of Witchgrinder and DarkC3ll, who both toured with him the last time Wednesday appeared in the country.
God knows how many times I’ve reviewed Witchgrinder, but they haven’t even come close to losing their spark. Their new line-up, still fronted by main man Travis Everett, pulled out numerous tracks from their latest record Haunted and their debut The Demon Calling, as if the new members had been in the band all along. Even as an opening band, Witchgrinder can still engage a big crowd.
I remember my first time seeing Wednesday 13 with DarkC3ll in 2012, and it was one hell of a show. But, this time, I think DarkC3ll reached their peak as the main support act. Ripping out a number of favourites such as Bang! The Un-United, Hate Anthem and Six Hundred & Six Six, DarkC3ll could get just about anyone in the venue in the mood for singing and dancing. Any Wednesday 13 fan would have known DarkC3ll from their 2012 appearance, and they would agree with me when I say that they’re a perfect match and a great curtain raiser to Mr. Motherf*cker himself.
Wednesday 13 soon arrived on stage, launching into Keep Watching The Skies, and performed other brand new tracks including; Astro Psycho, Serpent Society and I Love Watching You Die. And of course, Wednesday threw out a number of classics such as The Ghost of Vincent Price, Skeletons and My Sweet Homicide, along with a few Frankenstein Drag Queens covers that included I Love to Say Fuck and Scary Song.
Though they may not take on a full theatrical experience, Wednesday 13 place their crowds in what feels more like an actual singalong and rock n roll experience than a lot of other bands can execute. It also seemed as though Wednesday 13 had their patrons possessed by demons to maniacally, let loose in the pit as if they were the ones orchestrating the crowd into going completely wild over their horror punk sounds. In particular, with their encore set in stone, Wednesday 13 maintained a ceremony of dedicated fans screaming to Calling All Corpses, Bad Things and the final and title track off the new record; Monsters of the Universe.
To see Witchgrinder and DarkC3ll support Wednesday 13 again seems that Wednesday has them as his solemn choice to keep as his Australian tour mates from now on, which I think is great. I don’t think Wednesday 13 could’ve picked a better line-up for this show, to be honest. As far as Wednesday goes, he and his ghoulish troubadours aren’t losing their willpower or skills to put together a great rock n roll show.
