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“It’s an idea I’ve had for years and years now and I am only just getting brave enough to actually try to pull it off live,” laughed Wednesday 13 when asked about his upcoming unplugged tour in March. “Back in 2014, I tried it for the first time in the U.K and we did a two week tour titled ‘An Evening with Wednesday 13’; it was really successful and rewarding. It felt good to actually get out there and put on a full ‘Evening With’ show with no opening band and play for over two hours spanning my entire musical career. I told stories and took questions and it was just a really cool fan – based experience. If you are a fan of the band and you’ve followed the band over the years it’s the ultimate; it’s like reading a book about my whole life that’s open to everybody. The idea of Wednesday 13 being acoustic sounds shocking and not what you would expect but it actually works! A lot of the songs I wrote over the years, I actually wrote on the acoustic guitar. That’s how they start out, so a lot of them work and a lot don’t (laughs) but of course we take out the ones that don’t sound good.”
While the notion of watching an acoustic show pales significantly against an all out rock performance, Wednesday says he has managed to tweak the idea and mix things up enough to add excitement.
“It’s me and our guitarist on acoustic guitars,” he explained, “and we come out and do a story-telling thing and play a few songs and tell more stories and do more songs and take questions. I never know how the shows are going to go – I never know where the questions are going to take the songs or where the songs are going to take the questions – so you just never know. It’s always a fun experience and the shows I have done in the U.K over the last two years have been amazing so I think the Australian shows will be just like that if not better!”
To go with the stripped back performance, Wednesday conceded that the stage show is also laid bare but is adamant the feel and vibe they are going for will only be enhanced because of this.
“The stage show is just us,” he laughed. “There’s no make – up. There’s no lights. There’s no creating a stage show or jumping around. It really is just like getting the fans together around a campfire and I am the story teller with a guitar around that fire.”
Through his solo releases and his perhaps more infamous role in Murderdolls, Wednesday 13 has long been known for his love of horror and the macabre, with both of these being very much a part of his musical D.N.A. It is not merely a stage gimmick but rather an integral part of the man both on stage and off and as such, enables him to truly believe in his musical output.
“I think a lot of life experiences growing up made me who I am,” he mused. “I was the typical shy kid from a little small town in North Carolina, which is very country, and was picked on as a little kid and just kind of circled in my own imagination from a really early age. I remember saying to myself ‘I’m gonna be in a band one day and I’m gonna tour the world and I’ll have fans’ and all my life I had people saying I would never do it and I was stupid and it was a dumb idea but I succeeded. I guess it’s more from people telling me I couldn’t do it so I got one over the naysayers in the end.”
“I had an older brother and sister so I didn’t have anyone my own age to play with,” he continued, “so pretty much my best friend was the television. My parents didn’t really have a problem with me sitting in front of the TV for hours watching cartoons and at the time I remember watching things like the Bugs Bunny cartoons and then they would show The Adams Family or they would show The Munster’s and then I got a little bit older and started playing with G.I Joe’s.”
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“I was still watching horror movies in the ‘80’s like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th so I was always fascinated with horror movies and the imagery and I never really saw the difference between G.I Joe and Dracula, they were sort of the same. Then when I started to get into music and started using imagery more for my music and I would always try to make flyers or ads so I would automatically go to my horror books to get pictures. I always included that imagery. I don’t know why it never really made sense, I just did it and that’s just always been the style I’ve been attracted to. It’s been a lifelong thing for me.”
Despite having released almost thirty records over a number of bands, Wednesday says the fire and hunger to continue to musically connect with not only himself but also his fans remains strong.
“There’s still a lot for me to achieve,” he said. “I stay busy and I’m still slugging it out playing small bars. I would love to get our band exposed to a bigger audience where we could play bigger venues so I’m always thinking bigger and bigger. I’m never completely satisfied. I’m satisfied with what I’m doing at the time but I’m just that dude (laughs)… I always want more. There’s still a lot to achieve and this new album we’ve just finished –which will be out next year – is another one of those things that I’m super proud of and the shows that we’re gonna do with this record are gonna give us new things to achieve visually and theatrically so it’s exciting.”
While admitting his love for music is his primary motivator, Wednesday also concedes that it is important to keep producing music in order to keep interest in him and his music constant.
“It’s almost like walking on a tightrope,” he confessed. “You’ve got to be smart and you’ve gotta play it safe and sometimes you can’t take chances because you’ll fall off the rope but you have to try and not fall too hard and get back on it. It’s a great business. When I think about how fortunate I am to be able to do what I’ve done for as long as I have – first off being part of a band like Murderdolls and then solo – and a lot of people don’t survive the solo thing – but I was lucky enough to do just that and get fans from it and keep going from that. I’ve been really fortunate but I think one of the reasons why I’ve been able to do what I’ve done is I’ve really stuck to one thing that I feel like I know how to do and that is to write these kinds of songs and this kind of music. I remember speaking with Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks a long time ago and he said ‘the challenge is to find something you’re good at and then you be the best you can at it’ and that’s kind of what I’ve done. Everything I’ve done has been inspired by people like Alice Cooper and Motley Crue and Twisted Sister but it’s got my own twist to it and I do my own thing. That’s how I’ve been able to survive in this business because I have done my own thing. I’m aware of what’s going on in the industry and the styles. I don’t write songs for radio, I never have, I just do my own thing and I think people recognise that and the small army of fans that follow me around the world enable me to travel and tour. I need them as much as they need me. We’re a support group for each other.”
Written by Kris Peters
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