Wednesday 13
Wednesday (aka Joseph Poole) is heading to Australia for an April East Coast tour.
Recognisable as the front man for The Murderdolls he’s played in other bands such as Maniac Spider Trash, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Bourbon Crow, and Gunfire 76. The tour will have a strong leaning to the new album Monsters Of The Universe: Come Out And Plague as Wednesday 13 discusses in an interview with Across The Ocean about the upcoming tour.
Hi Wednesday!
Yeah, you got me… It’s early there right? [Yep]
Are you looking forward to another Australian tour?
Yeah man, we’re super excited! It has been a couple of years since we’ve been there so we’re super-stoked to be coming back.
Do you think there’s any chance of sneaking over to Adelaide and Perth?
I’d love to man, we took what was offered to us and I’m sure the promoter has their reasons for not doing Adelaide or Perth. For me, of they offered me a month long tour of Australia I would take it. So it wasn’t how many shows but what was offered to us and we’re thankful we got those. Hopefully next time we can include those places and I have loved playing those places which we had the chance to do on the Soundwave tours.
It’s a sad story how Soundwave ended up hey?
Yeah, yeah!
What sets the Australian fans apart from the rest of the world?
I don’t know, I wish I knew the secret and I would tell them to follow the path to the people of Australia because they are awesome. It is just a different breed of people and their reaction to us is awesome, I don’t know but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Australia is very accepting for what I do and has been for years. When we announced this tour Australians went crazy for it and all the meet and greets sold out immediately. It’s going to be fun.
Is there anything you look forward to the most when you tour Australia?
Every place that we play is great and unfortunately when we get there we only have just enough time to arrive, adjust to the jet lag and go ok let’s get to sound check, play and then fly off to the next city. We don’t get much of a chance to site see unless it is like Soundwave where you get a couple of days off to see things. Our headlines are very quick but every time we play in Melbourne or Sydney, every place is different, every place is insane, crazy, hell raising shows we get to do back to back. When we look back it will all be a blur, it will be fun time!
Do you think it is easier touring with a new album like Monsters Of The Universe: Come Out And Plague?
Yeah, it definitely is a lot of fun to get out with a new album and play those new songs live and see how they translate with the people. This record has been out for a year now and we toured the States last year as well as Europe and the UK. These songs really translate well live with the audience and it is really cool to see that reaction when we first started playing them.
With such a strong reaction to these new songs was there an inclination to go back in the studio and record more new material?
That’s how I am always whether the reaction is good or bad. I’m always ready to start on the next record. Every record inspires me to the next and I am really passionate about my records and I put a lot of thought and heart in to it. Every record that I put out I think I’m really proud of that but I think that I could do better. The focus with every new record is to really step it up and that’s what I feel like I have done with this Monsters record that it was a giant step up from the last record from the production, band and just everything clicked on this. It sounds like a unit as opposed to my earlier albums where it was just me playing most of the instruments not having a really solid line up which I’ve had for so many years now.
Sounds like you’ve set the bar pretty high for the next album?
Yeah, it is a challenge but a welcoming challenge. I’m not scared by it, that record inspired us as far as ideas and things we have I think we’ll have more than what we know what to deal with. The next thing we do after this will be a different record and we’ll continue on that path. It will probably get heavier and weirder. I like it when I don’t have to follow a set of rules, every record I have done is different and I think my fans accept that from me now. I think they know that to expect something different from the last. That’s fun for me and all the other artists I’ve looked up to over the years would do the same thing which is not as cool. I want to be the artist that does something different every time.
What drives or influences your creativity?
It is a combination of many, many, many things. I’m inspired now by looking at bands, movies and bands inspired by our music, that constant goal of wanting to be better at what I do. I think a lot of artists are in decline and over the years start falling by the way side. I’m slowly climbing that ladder because I’m not at the top of it yet. That is the drive that keeps me going.
How do you measure success as an artist? Is it happiness doing what you’re doing? Album sales? Chart positions?
It’s a pretty cool job, not having to answer to anyone and being in a band is what I’ve always wanted to do and I’ve been lucky to have an audience that has allowed me to do that. I’m most fortunate to have that.
Does the music industry frustrate you?
Things are always changing and it isn’t like it used to be back in the day where to get a record you would go to the record store. We buy it, open it, put it in and listen to it and now it’s all downloads, sharing, trading which is frustrating but the upside to it is that people will listen to your music, you don’t have to buy it because they’ll listen to it anyway. I guess you are being heard but at the same time you want to be paid your work and things like that. It is something that you have to work with and not much you can do about it. It’s here, it’s a monster and a machine and you either work around it or with it.
What do you see as the next big challenge for yourself?
The challenge for me is survival in this industry year to year. It is constantly changing and it is tough to be a band, make it, tour and stay on the road… That’s one of the challenges and staying positive about it! I want to get better, be better at what I do and take my band to the next level playing bigger places where people know who I am. It’s like my work is never done, the path to happiness for me is still a struggle. I still in the garage of my parent’s place, I’m still doing that and still in that DIY space because no one is going to do it but myself. That’s where my vision is.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
