WEDNESDAY 13
Questions asked by Steve Newell (with odd buttings-in by Jon Wilde), added to Rock Realms 7th April 2009.
Wednesday 13 is the lead singer of the Murderdolls, Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, Bourbon Crow and his own self titled band. Steve (and Jon) caught up with Mr. 13 before his gig at The Brook in Southmapton on the 2nd of April.
Jon: Before we start, anything you do or don’t want us to ask?
W13: If I don’t like it I’ll just give you a dumb answer :)
Steve: That’s fine, some of them are going to have dumb answers anyway! Okay, one you’ve probably been asked many times before: Wednesday 13, where did the name come about from?
W13: It was kind of a combination of Wednesday Addams from the Addams family, and the Munster’s address is 1313 Mockingbird lane. I just kind of put them together. I wanted a futuristic weird name like Ziggy Stardust or something like that. I didn’t think anyone out there had a name with Wednesday or 13 in it, so just went for that: been using it since ’95.
Jon: What do you actually get called? Are you Mr. 13...?
W13: Everyone calls me ‘W’... for short. That’s what my nickname is around here (gestures to band mates/crew).
Steve: All the songs, and the lyrics of the songs you do are based around 50’s horror movies. Is that something you’re really into, or just something you take inspiration from?
W13: I guess a huge part of everything I’ve ever done is based on horror films. I’ll be watching a movie and hear someone say something and make a song out of it. You know, that’s pretty much where it all comes from. Not any particular type of horror movie, I write about every genre.
Steve: Right, slightly off the wall here... Favourite type of sandwich...?
W13: I, er, don’t really eat sandwiches!
Steve: What do you eat on the road to keep you going?
W13: I like chicken – fried chicken (laughs)
Steve: Have you got any unfulfilled ambitions?
W13: No, actually, I pretty much chase a lot of things around. You know, doing this is something I set out to do and did. I’ve got a country band I do as well, on the side. If I could conquer that... if I could tour with that and make a living off that it would be nice.
Steve: If you weren’t in the music business is there anything else you would like to be doing?
W13: No, I don’t think so... I never really had any plans to do anything else.
Steve: You ever been in trouble with the police?
W13: Yes...
Steve: That you’ll admit to...
W13: Yeah, ‘stuff’. Dumb decision on my part and I got caught. So, yeah, I paid my dues. I’m totally a pro cop kind of guy though. I’ve got a lot of friends who are cops. Actually... I always thought if I wasn’t going to be in a band I’d be a cop, so, yeah...
Steve: If you could be a cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
W13: Probably Bugs Bunny, ‘cause he’s a smart ass.
Steve: Okay, and if you were a cartoon bloke and you had a choice of shagging Daphne from Scooby Doo or Penelope Pitstop, who would you choose?
W13: Daphne, for sure.
Steve: Why’s that?
W13: She’s always been the hottest cartoon lady... until Lois Griffin from Family Guy came along.
Steve: Do you not think that Penelope, being a little bit posh, might be a bit dirty on the side?
W13: You never know... I think Daphne was dirty... I believe :)
Steve: Okay, going back to the music, just trying to get an idea of the timeline between the bands, you solo work etc...
W13: I started playing in bands when I was 15, and I was 19 when I started in Frankenstein Drag Queens and I did that from ’95 up until 2001... I think we did our last show in 2002. Then I went straight on to Murderdolls 2002/2003, then the Wednesday stuff started in 2004.
Steve: So whose idea was the Murderdolls? Was that you, or Joey?
W13: It was a combination of me and Joey together. He called me up. He was a really big fan of Frankenstein Drag Queens and said he wanted to do something similar to that. We basically took songs from that and songs that he had with his other band. We pieced the band together, found the members, we knew it was going to have an image. The whole black and red idea... we all kind of showed up with red and black hair and I was like, hey, we should start doing our outfits in red and black with an army kind of thing. (laughs) Yeah, not a whole lot of thought went into it. It just kind of happened.
Steve: So whose idea was it to cover the Billy Idol track, White Wedding?
W13: That was mine. I did that in a band prior to Frankenstein Drag Queens and I showed Joey a video of it and kind of the idea of how we did it, then he took that and did the whole arrangement that way.
Steve: So, are there any future plans for the Murderdolls to do a follow-up?
W13: Yeah, yeah, if you’d asked me this last year I’d have said no way, but there’s actually conversation going on about it now, so, er, so we’ll see. I’m up for doing it so long as Joey wants to do it.
Jon: So what would you say is your main band? You’ve obviously had quite a few bands through the years...
W13: This, this is priority... what I’m doing right here. It’s what I make my money from, it’s what I tour the most for. Everything else, you know my little country project, I haven’t even toured with it yet.
Jon: Yeah, I listened to some of that online earlier, it’s completely different to this!
W13: Oh yeah, yeah.
Steve: So, are there any plans to do a country version of I Love To Say Fuck?
W13: (laughs) I thought about it. We’ll see what happens!
Jon: Maybe do, ‘I Love To Say God Dang?’
Steve: I’ve got to say I Love To Say Fuck is a fantastic song!
W13: Thank you.
Steve: It’s evident that you do like to say fuck. Going back to the ‘Dolls CD, I tried counting how many times you actually said it in the album... I got to 200 and lost count.
W13: Oh really? Yeah, the live version goes on even worse than that!
Steve: Going back to your school life. Were you an academic pupil or kind of always in trouble?
W13: I was pretty quiet up until about 8 or 9 and then really started fucking off in class. Kind of became the class clown. When I got into high school I kind of separated from the pack. I just had a handful of friends. You know, I was the first kid at my school to dye my hair black... so I immediately became the freak of the school. I always wore all black and horror movie t-shirts.
Steve: So you think those times at school really influences what you’re doing today?
W13: I think so. Something to rebel against at school. I got picked on. I would say that translated into a couple of the songs I wrote over the years.
Steve: Is there anywhere or any venue you particularly love to or would love to play?
W13: We play a lot of cool places. We just came from Japan, they’ve got a lot of really nice venues there. I certainly don’t have a favourite one. Sometimes the venue can be ‘not the greatest’ but you can have an amazing audience so... I don’t know, I can’t even answer that! (laughs)
Steve: Anywhere you’d love to play?
W13: I’d love to tour in South America and I’d like to play in Russia, so that’s two places I’ve never played before.
Steve: So, you mentioned about the audience making the gig. Is that the key thing for you that makes a gig special?
W13: Yeah. That’s what a band drives on... on stage. They feed off the audience. You know, if the audience is there ‘staring’ at you it’s hard.
Steve: So what’s the hardest gig you’ve ever played?
W13: 6 weeks opening for Iron Maiden! (laughs)
Steve: What bands were you into growing up? What was the first record you ever bought?
W13: Probably the first rock band I ever saw was Kiss. Just as far as image-wise... by brother had the records and I used to go and listen to those. My brother turned me on to everything. He played Motley Crue for me the first time, then Twisted Sister. We had cable and I started seeing Twisted Sister videos, Alice Cooper, all this kind of stuff. As far as the first album I ever bought... I didn’t buy anything, my parents bought it for me (laughs). I don’t really remember what my very first record was. I was trading tapes and having dubs of tapes. I would dub all my brothers records onto cassette. I would always listen to his... like I said his Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, AC/DC and, you know, I looked at that cover to Highway To Hell, I really thought that guy had horns. My mum tried to scare me with it.
Steve: Have you ever had an experience you would class as paranormal or unexplained?
W13: Er... (laughs)... er, the night I wrecked my car. I’m not quite sure what happened – that’s about as paranormal as it gets ‘cause I woke up without any fucking memory of it... or why I was going the wrong way...
Steve: Probably best leave that one there!
W13: Yeah, yeah...
Steve: What about things like aliens, ghosts, monsters, do you believe in any of that shit?
W13: No, not at all, Not... at... all...
Steve: Do you have a favourite monster, going back to the movies?
W13: I have different favourite genres. I can’t pick one. So far as the old stuff goes I like the Creature From The Black Lagoon. It’s really hard to pick. Frankenstein was great. I love to go see a lot of movies he played in. Then you’ve got the 80’s horror movies: Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, there’s so many cool ones.
Steve: You ever seen Braindead or Bad Taste?
W13: Yes, own both of them. I think they’re awesome. I think Bad Taste is the best out of the two though. It’s a ridiculous fucking movie.
Steve: I think it was Peter Jackson’s first film wasn’t it?
W13: He ties his belt around his head so his brain doesn’t fall out (laughs).
Steve: What would you say is your most prized possession?
W13: I’m not really into material stuff, I don’t care anymore. I could probably get rid of everything I own, start over again, I’d be fine. Actually, probably my kid. That’s probably the one thing I’m most proud of.
Steve: If you were offered the part, would you consider playing Frankenfurter in the Rock Horror?
W13: I dig the character and I like the movie a lot, don’t know if that’s something I’d want to do (laughs)... but money talks.
Steve: You ever thought about covering some of those tracks at all?
W13: Yeah, Science Fiction/double feature is a great song. We were going to do Sweet Transvestite a long time ago. We used to come out to that... it was kind of our intro.
Steve: Never fancied a thrashy version of Time Warp?
W13: I think I may have played Time Warp now that I think about it. I’ve been playing for a long time and I forget what I’ve played sometimes! (laughs)
Steve: What do you like to do to relax after a gig or, you know, once you’ve finished a tour?
W13: Er, just lying on my sofa in front of my TV doing absolutely nothing at all. That is the best for me. I love just watching movies and getting lost in them.
Steve: Is there anything in life you really hate, any one thing that’s a real bugbear?
W13: I grew up with a lot of hate and I’ve now got it all out of me. I’m pretty laid back. I really hate the way shit's turned out the way it has with security at airports and things like that due to the terrorism. That really sucks – it’s made flying a lot more difficult. That is one of those small things that irritates me. The price of gas going up constantly, fucks me off constantly – my weight, baggage I go on aeroplanes with.
Steve: Anything you’ve regretted in life?
W13: No, not really. I’m one of those guys who believes everything happens for a reason. So yeah, no I don’t think so.
Steve: So, after the tour, what’s next for Wednesday 13 – you said about your country project, getting back with the Murderdolls etc. Anything else in the pipeline?
W13: Yeah, I’ve got a month off when I get home, then I do 3 weeks with my country band Bourbon Crow. Then I’m taking the summer off and I’m gonna write some music and maybe put a different kind of project together, more of a rock ‘n’ roll kind of thing – give me a break from myself. Then, yeah, if the Murderdolls gets brought up I’ll probably go with that. So, yeah, we’ll see. Like I say I’ll take time off touring, relax, and enjoy what I’ve been doing because I’ve been going none stop and it’s beating me to death.
Steve: I suppose get some time with your child as well?
W13: Yeah, yeah. That’ll be great.
Jon: One other question, about Running Down A Dream by Tom Petty... quite an unusual choice, you did an excellent version... just wondered how that came about?
W13: I’m a fan of Tom Petty, and I’ve always done that song, I’ve always liked the lyrics to the song. Yeah, I think it would be pretty predictable if I did a Kiss cover, so I like to do something different and keep people guessing. I did a demo of it and thought it sounded really cool. It’s important to do cover versions your own way... you want to hear the original... listen to the original.
Steve: Any surprise about tonight you are prepared to share?
W13: (laughs) If we can make it through it’ll be a surprise.
Steve: So what are you doing tonight, a combination of Drag Queens, Murderdolls etc?
W13: Yeah, yeah. Every time we put a record out it makes it even more difficult to make a set list.
Steve: With that in mind, do you change it every night to keep it fresh?
W13: I wish! (Laughs) We’ve been playing this same set list for 2 months. We’ve got about 4 or 5 songs we switch in and out but there are some songs the crowd’ll cut our head off if we don’t play. I wish we knew every song from our back catalogue and pick a different set every night, but none of the band lives in the same town so rehearsals are pretty much set for what the tour is. We don’t get a lot of chance to learn new stuff on tour because... I hate sound check and that’s the only place really to learn it. Sound checks are just a quick get in, get out. We didn’t even do one today (laughs)
Steve: Any plans for when you might be back in the UK?
W13: I’m thinking we’ll be coming back around Halloween again. People always want to see me around Halloween... it’s sort of my time of the year.
Steve: Okay, thank you very much. Good luck tonight, looking forward to it.
W13: Cool, cheers.
By the time you read this, 'W' will be chilling on a well-deserved break. Check out the Rock Realms news section for future news on his tour dates, and have a look here for reviews of his recent albums.
