WEDNESDAY 13 // Let’s Plague A Game

Ah, to be 16 again – pissing Saturdays away in video games and apple bongs…

…Setting as many things on fire as humanly possible, and relishing in the true sense of rebellion when you snuck past the seccies at an 18+ show (and remember, there’s no such thing as deleting your browser history too many times). The majority of us weren’t doing much of anything special when we were 16, but that was far from the case for Joseph Poole – better known today as Wednesday 13. It was 1992 when a 16-year-old Poole started shredding in Mizery (which later evolved into Psycho Opera), trading maths exams for math-y solos and study halls for sweaty stages. But as much of a badass as Poole was back then, not even he could escape the age-coming pitfall of saying some epic cringeworthy shit.

“I just came back from my UK tour where we played acoustically, and at one of the shows, someone brought me a bio of my band that I wrote when I was 17 – that I hadn’t read since I was 17,” he says. “It was ridiculous; I could just see myself writing it in my parents’ bedroom. It was like, ‘We are a psychotic rock ‘n’ roll band! But we’re not like anybody else! And we’re gonna take over the world!’, he laughs. “Actually, it wasn’t even the world, it was ‘we’re gonna take over the United States,’ because I didn’t know there was anything outside of the United States. It was embarrassing, but at the same time, I had that theory back then of, ‘I’m gonna do this!’ And here I am – I’ll be 40 in August and I’ve still got that theory; I’m gonna do this!”

Sixteen albums into his career and showing no signs of slowing down, Poole (who we’ll refer to from here on as Wednesday) chiseled himself into the goth-rock scene as an unabashed icon. Monsters of the Universe: Come Out and Plague is the sixth album he’s released under the Wednesday 13 banner, but surprisingly enough, it’s his first concept album. And, as it turns out… It’s not even supposed to be.

“Now that the album has been out for a year – the whole idea of doing a concept record was the last part of the process. I started writing all of these songs, and I sent demos back and forth with our guitarist – basically when I send him demos, he finds things with it, like, ‘Alright, you’re playing that part really terrible. Let me do it.’ But the thing was, I knew that the subject matter for this record was not going to be the typical Wednesday 13 lyrics – zombies, graveyards, the campy lyrics – I wanted to do a bit more of a serious thing; I’d been reading all of these conspiracy theory books, and I read about some horrifying things that blew my mind.

“I felt like I’d just reached my limit with horror movies and comic books – things that excited me back then. I started reading about these conspiracy theories, and I found some truly disturbing things, and I wanted to sing about them. I started incorporating some of the subject matter from those things into the songs, and when it was all said and done, I listened to the record and I was like, ‘Man, this is a pretty dark record. Is it too dark for Wednesday 13 fans?’ So I made it into a story; I put the songs together, and the story kind of formed into a concept at the end. I call it a ‘concept’ because I honestly didn’t know if fans were going to accept it.”

Considering the near-unanimous acclaim the album achieved, we’d say the 2015 opus was a pretty stellar success on that end. The record was especially well received Down Under, where fans have been clamouring for a tour since the moment CDs hit – and then promptly flew off – shelves. “Honestly, next to Japan, Australia is my favourite place to tour,” Wednesday enthuses, sharing in the excitement that his first Australian tour since 2013 is just under two weeks away. “Every show we do, we do things a little different,” he continues. “The tour that we’re bringing to Australia this time is totally different to what we were doing the last time we were there.”

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 The last record had that dark, heavy, evil vibe to it, and I just want to get weirder. I want it to be like a David Lynch movie where you’re just like, ‘Woah!’ I want it to give you chills.

[WEDNESDAY]

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Touring isn’t the only hype surrounding Wednesday 13 right now. Despite LP 6 being just over a year old, Wednesday promises fans that new music isn’t too far over the horizon.

“I’ve been writing for the new Wednesday [record],” he teases. “Our plan right now is to come to Australia and do these three shows, then we come back, recover from our jetlag and detox from all of the partying we’ll do in Australia. Then we start rehearsals, we do four weeks in the US, and then we’re going to spend July and August writing and recording the next Wednesday 13 record, which will be out in the first quarter of 2017. Right now, I’ve been doing things totally different. I used to do demos – I would record them and send them back and forth with the guys, but now, we’re just playing the music in front of each other. This will be the first record that we’re actually going to do everything together as a band. We’re taking the entire summer off so we can do that, and I’m really excited.”

Since breaking away from Murderdolls in 2004, Wednesday has strived to make each of his solo records weirder and heavier than the previous one. It’s an effort that’s undoubtedly paid off, and one that truly reflects the meaning of genuine artistry (in that all the good art is weird as fuck. That’s just basic knowledge.) Comparing 2005’s Transylvania 90210 to Monsters is a clash of two (similar sounding, sure, but) completely different artists. Making each record with as weird and heavy as possible is Wednesday 13’s dead serious mission. As he explains, it all comes down to creating a genuine experience for the listener.

“When I say weird and heavy, I mean weird and heavy,” he booms – you can actually hear the exclamation marks bouncing around in his voice; it’s spectacular. “And I don’t mean ‘heavy’ as in black metal or anything like that; for me, it’s just a vibe. Every record to me is like a movie. When I put an old school horror movie on, I want to be taken on a rollercoaster ride, and I like my records to kind of have that vibe too. The last record had that dark, heavy, evil vibe to it, and I just want to get weirder. I want it to be like a David Lynch movie where you’re just like, ‘Woah!’ I want it to give you chills. I want the record to come out and punch you in the teeth, and then it goes into a dark corner and drags you off. It’s like a funhouse.”

So, with genre seeming to bear no influence on Wednesday’s ability to conjure the ‘vibe’, we come to an important final question: does this mean we may one day see a Wednesday 13 pop album?

“Never. Fucking. Ever. I don’t have any desires to do a pop album,” he laughs. “It blows my mind; someone sent me last year’s stats on who sold the most records, and I saw the metal records – Slipknot had some impressive numbers, Manson had a comeback and it was awesome… And then I saw the pop charts, and it was like, ‘What!?’ It was like three million, compared to Manson’s 150,000 or whatever. It’s crazy how people listen to this pop music, which, to me – I hear it in the mall, in restaurants, and I just can’t believe people would listen to that!”

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WATCH: Wednesday 13’s video for Keep Watching The Skies

WEDNESDAY 13 MONSTERS OF THE UNIVERSE AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Thursday April 14 Melbourne, Corner Hotel 18+

Friday April 15 Brisbane, The Brightside 18+

Saturday April 16 Sydney, Factory Theatre 18+

Tickets on sale from tickets.destroyalllines.com