Wednesday 13 is nothing short of an icon. For so many, his music has been a constant presence in their lives, a soundtrack through the toughest struggles and brightest triumphs. With a new album, Mid Death Crisis, ready for release on 25 April 2025, we can feel the adrenaline surge.
I greet Wednesday 13 over Zoom. He was calling in from his tour bus parked in Sacramento, California, on the morning of his next show. Without missing a beat, we dive into the conversation, starting with my go-to icebreaker: What did you have for dinner last night? He reveals his choice—a “nice cut of steak,” setting the tone for a hearty chat.
April 2025 is shaping up to be a monumental month for both Wednesday 13 and his fans. Along with the arrival of Mid Death Crisis, this month also marks the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking debut album Transylvania 90210.
To celebrate, Wednesday 13 is currently touring across America, delivering electrifying performances that honour his legacy and showcase his evolution as an artist.
With such a rich history spanning two decades, I wondered how the writing and recording processes have evolved. “It’s always changing,” Wednesday 3 says. “Every year is something a little different, different ways we’ve recorded. Sometimes in studios, sometimes we do stuff at home and off the road. This time, I went back to what I did in the beginning, went in a studio and recorded.
“Just did it old-school way this time, which is what I prefer. Looking back on it all, it was a lot easier. A lot more fun, and I think I put a better record out because I was in a more comfortable environment. Not doing it at my house, being able to go somewhere and leave and not just be surrounded by it all day, was a big help this time.
“So, everything’s different every time. I just always adjust things to make things as comfortable as I can for myself to have a good recording experience.”
When performing old classics like Bad Things or even something from Frankenstein’s Drag Queens, Wednesday 13 says there is still a buzz, but it is a different buzz. “Before when I used to play those songs, no one knew them back in the day,” he says. “So to play them 20-plus years later and see a reaction. The reaction I wanted to get that long ago is just such a cool feeling and just knowing that people know that older music is a good feeling.
“Every night we play these older songs, I can see it light people up when we play a deep cut. It’s as fun for me as it is for the audience. I enjoy watching their reaction to the song.”
I completely understand how he describes the fans lighting up and enjoying the classics. I have been to scores of Wednesday 13 or Murderdolls gigs over the years and I still get a great buzz with every new album release.
It is quite a heavy cycle of tours and new music. Being constantly on the go, I want a better understanding of how he manages to keep up with such relentless energy.
“Well, it’s my job,” Wednesday 13 says. “People go to work every day. This is what I do. It’s just done in a different way. I go out for two months at a time, and then I come home for a month, where people go to work every day, and they come home. This is just another way of working and it just looks a little busier, I guess, to some people when they see the block of things.
“I think if most people wrote out their schedule and put it on a tour poster, it would probably look way busier than what I do. I just stay busy. It’s how I make a living. It’s how my band makes a living. We all do this; it just helps that I love doing this, so it doesn’t feel like a job.
“So when I say it’s a job, it doesn’t feel like a job for me, which is why I wanted to get into this rock ‘n’ roll business in the first place, to never have a job. So, as long as it doesn’t feel like a job, it’s not a job. I love what I do, and I’m fortunate to be able to travel all over the world and have fans in every part of the world. I’ve been able to do that for a long time. Luckily, I can keep it going and I think I’ve been able to keep it going because I stay so busy and I’m always touring.”
Having discussed anniversaries and general creativity, I broach the new record Mid Death Crisis. It feels more of a throwback to the older material and I’m curious to learn about the inspiration for the record and its themes.
“I didn’t know in the beginning what I was gonna write,” Wednesday 13 says.” I hoped I would capture the blueprint of the first album, Transylvania 90210, and get in that mindset and write in that style. I think I got pretty close.
“I didn’t wanna imitate it or repeat it where it was just doing that over and over again. I wanted to do something new but still have that as inspiration. As far as the material, I don’t think it’s really any different than anything I’ve done before. There’s no new ground. There’s still your, Return from the grave songs.
“I focused on what I think I do best. I try to make a catchy song and make fun lyrics to go along with it. I definitely had the whole first album in spirit and I think I came close to getting out in that world. I think fans that were happy with my first three albums will really hear a lot of that in this record.”
Wednesday 13 is great creating fun, enjoyable lyrics. He does a great job blending horror and humour. I’m curious how he strikes the balance to keep both without losing the essence of either in his writing.
“I’ve never wanted to be serious with anything really in my life,” he says, “so music was just another thing. It always has to make me smile. When I’m writing a song or, if I come up with a riff first, the riff could be good, but then I go, all right, what’s gonna make it Wednesday 13?
“Usually, it’s putting that little twist on it, making it a little funny. What I say, it’s just like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is my perfect example of comedy and horror. It blended both. It worked, and that’s kind of what I do. If it doesn’t make me smile or if it feels too serious, it’s not for me.
“I’m just able to balance it. I’ve never really had a problem doing that, luckily. Twenty years later, I’m still able to come up with something good.”
That is why fans connect with Wednesday 13 and his music so much. The great job he does, the balance he strikes, the humour he injects.
Obviously, horror is the core of his inspiration. But I wonder, has anything particularly unusual or unexpected led to inspiration for songs and albums. “I don’t have any songs about good ghost stories,” he says. “There’s a couple of things I haven’t written about.
“I wrote about my dreams. I went through a period where I was having some crazy dreams, and I talked about that on some records. But as far as ghost stories or anything like that, I think I’m gonna save those for whenever I attempt to make a movie and write a story because I got some cool things. Not necessarily things that happened to me. Stuff I heard about from where I grew up. There’s nothing better than a hometown ghost story that no one’s ever heard of.”
His lyrics often paint vivid and eerie images. Does he have specific writing rituals or environments that help him channel that creativity?
“My home is pretty much covered in everything I like,” he says. “All my influences and inspirations. I’ve got movie posters and toys. I’m just surrounded by it. Even on our tour bus, I’ve got posters hanging up. There’s something from my childhood all around me.
“So when I’m writing music at home, and I write a guitar riff, I literally just look around my room and stare at a toy or something, and a lot of ideas just come from that. I surround myself, so I never really have to go look for inspiration. What I write about is always around me. I keep myself in my comfort zone.”
There is an intriguing topic we have not touched. The band were recently filming a couple of new videos for the album. The filming happened to coincide with the awful fires that hit L.A., one of which started right on the film set.
Wednesday 13 opens up on the topic and the unusual experience. “We were filming our latest music video, which we were luckily able to finish and it turned out amazing. We didn’t let any of it affect us. We were filming the video during the week of all the crazy L.A. wildfires breaking out every second in Los Angeles.
“Unfortunately a lot of those fires were breaking out due to arson. That seemed to be the case with what happened with our video shoot. We were filming the video, and just right outside of the property where we were filming, there was a fire on the side of the highway. Our first reaction was to leave, get in the car, and get out of there and away from the fire.
“But I went to the fire and saw that it was, in my mind, containable. I jumped over and I tried to start putting the fire out with dirt. There was no water nearby. There were just some buckets. We started using dirt to put it out. My band jumped in and helped, and we were able to contain the fire as the fire department showed up to put it out.
“If we wouldn’t have attempted that, it would have caught the property on fire. It would have ruined our video and would have burned up everything: the props, the gear. I had to try something. I’m glad I did it. It was a crazy moment. It’s hard to believe it happened. We jumped right back into the video and finished filming it. The video turned out so good, you would never know if it phased us at all.”
The video for When The Devil Commands went over the 100,000 views mark really quickly. At the time of this interview it had 123,000 views. The number of fans connecting with Wednesday 13 is really impressive, and the audience is constantly growing. I am certain he must be really pleased with the enthusiastic response from fans.
“I think this is our quickest response to a video,” he says. “Whether it’s new people watching or long-time fans, either way, it’s a good thing to get in the six-figure numbers on YouTube within a couple of weeks of our release. That’s probably the first time that’s happened. Everything feels good right now.
“The last record came out right after COVID, and I think it still had that fog around. Now, everything just feels a lot better. Our next video is out soon. I hope it gets the same kind of reaction.”
In Misery was released three weeks ago and has hit 160,000 YouTube views. “This is probably my favourite video I’ve made in quite some time,” Wednesday 13 says. “It really turned out cool and the atmosphere on it is amazing. We captured that and knowing the fire happened right there too. I got the inside story. It’s in my mind, that’s amazing what we pulled off there.
“In Misery is not an actual parody, but it’s definitely inspired by the Ed Wood Plan 9 From Outer Space movie, and we have a vampire tribute in the video. So it’s gonna be cool for our fans. I think if they didn’t get what they wanted with the last video, this one is going to be perfect.”
From music to movies and anything in between, I’m curious if there is anyone Wednesday 13 would want to collaborate on a project with. “When I said that our video was inspired by Ed Wood, even though he’s passed away, he was a big influence when I started doing Frankenstein Drag. I like to get it done quick as possible. No matter what, get your goal accomplished.
“I admired that a lot and the Tim Burton film was a great documentary on Ed Wood as well. So he would be the one I would want to sit down, have coffee with, pick his brain and have him collaborate on something. That would be awesome for me!”
Within music, obviously, Wednesday 13 has already collaborated with a lot of artists, but I ask if there is anyone left.
“After I got Alice Cooper on my record a couple of years ago, I don’t have to look for anybody else,” he says. “That was the number one thing for me. I just got Taime Downe [Faster Pussycat] on my new record so I’m really fortunate to have these people be part of my music.
“They were a part of me growing up so those are the things that reward me in this business. It’s not money or getting an award from some magazine or something. It’s just having my heroes and musical heroes acknowledge me and be a part of it. I’m sure there are other people too, but like I said, Alice is at the bar pretty much.”
As for newer bands or up-and-coming artists, the next generation, if you will, Wednesday 13 feels there are not really any bands right now in the same kind of genre that it would work out with as a collaboration.
He was, however, a big fan of one person. “I met this little 9-year-old kid from Los Angeles who plays concerts. His name is Ryder B Goode. He is the next generation of rock ‘n’ roll. This little kid loves the New York Dolls and the Stooges. I’ve never seen anything like it, and he loves my band.
“He just recognises good rock ‘n’ roll. He was at my show in L.A. the other day and it made me realise there’s hope for this type of rock ‘n’ roll going forward in the future. So he would be my one guy that I would want to help out.”
North America have Wednesday 13 until May, and then there are six dates for the UK in July around Steelhouse Festival. “We’re returning to the UK later in the year around November,” Wednesday 13 says, “but those dates have not been announced yet.”
One of my favourite Wednesday 13 memories was in 2010 when Murderdolls played two shows in one day in London. They played a midnight show at The Garage, and later the same day they played Ozzfest at The O2 Arena. For fans, it was phenomenal getting to see Wednesday 13 twice in one day. For me, it was rough with all the partying.
It seems like it was the same for Wednesday 13. “What I remember the most, was we were drunk,” he smiles. “Very, very drunk, after the show, in between the shows. It was pretty much show, party, show. I don’t remember a lot of it, but what I do remember is really good.
“It was a good time and it was pretty cool to be a part of the festival. I still see some videos from time to time. I wish I maybe had a clearer memory of it, but like I said, we were celebrating in between those two shows.”
Wednesday 13 has now been sober for several years. I ask if he feels that it gives him more creativity that he can tap into or if sobriety has not really changed anything musically for him “I was always creative,” he says. “I’m more present, more focused on things and just feel better.
“It was just a thing for me. I didn’t feel good, but I never had a problem coming up with music. Most of those records were probably influenced by being under the influence. So I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’m still feeling creative without it. So it’s just something I did and it worked till it didn’t work.”
For now, it is the US tour. When we spoke, there were 33 shows to go. “I won’t be home till May,” Wednesday 13 says. “It’s a long way to go. We’re really only in the first week of this. So just getting started for a long, long tour. This tour cycle goes for two years.
“If anyone doesn’t see us in their area at the moment, don’t worry. We’ll get there eventually.”
I thank Wednesday 13 for his art and for the joy he brings me and all his fans. We say our goodbyes and that we are both looking forward to the future London gigs.
Wednesday 13’s new album, Mid Death Crisis, is due 25 April 2025 via Napalm Records and can be pre-ordered from here. Tour dates and ticket info are available from the Wednesday 13 website.
