Wednesday 13 Interview 11/4/05

R13 catches up with Murderdolls front man Wednesday 13 (W13) on the first date of his UK tour promoting his new solo album 'Transylvania 90210 Songs of Death, Dying & the Dead'.

R13: The new album is out in the Uk today, what have you made of
the press reports so far?
W13: Yeah it's been really really good, they're getting pretty much
exactly what I put into it as far as they're nailing all the influences,
they're always name checking everything from Cooper to Twisted Sister to
WASP, White Zombie, just a big combination of all my influences. So far
I'm extraordinarily pleased, that's a big word for me!

R13:It's been quite a long time in the making
W13: Yeah I started in January of 2003, I had probably at least a
hundred songs or more & had to start shaving them down for when it came
time to record I was like yeah I wanna do this one or this one sucks, this
one's cool, this one sucks & basically narrowed it down to those tracks on
the record.

R13:So how good does it feel to see it released & all come to fruition?
W13: Oh it's the biggest thing man, we put all this work into it doing a video & photo's & just everything & just to finally see that final product in stores & see kids buy it & come up to you & say 'this is the greatest record ever', to me that's the pay off.

R13:Most people of course know you from the Murderdolls, is the solo album something you've always wanted to do or is it more a result of the Murderdolls being inactive & you having to have a creative outlet?
W13: I've always been the kind of guy that's done stuff on my own, even my old band Frankenstein Drag Queens I was pretty much the ringleader when it came to that. Murderdolls I sort of found a partner in Joey & we created the band but I think it was inevitable I was eventually going to do something where it was just W13. All my heroes went pretty much that way, Cooper & people like Dee Snider always eventually stepped out on their own so yeah, I think it was in the making anyway.

R13:I know you get asked this all the time so let's get it out of the way, any Murderdolls stuff in the pipeline?
W13: No. The door's closed but it's not locked. Everybody's doing their own thing, I've devoted 100% of myself to this project, Joey's doing Slipknot, the other guys have got their own bands, if it happens again when everybody's on the right page then we'll do it but as of right know I don't see it. It definitely won't be this year at all.

R13:Tonight's the first date of the UK tour, glad to be back?
W13: I'm excited, I'm really excited to be back except it's the first day show hell! We're just trying to get all our gear together, we get all our gear here & find out what we're missing& what we don't have & it's tough, because you & sound check & then you go out on stage & everything's totally different. The kids are going crazy & you're thinking 'what the hell?! I can't even hear my guitar!' so I'm hoping it's gonna be good & we'll try to be not too crazy on it, just fuckin' go out there & nail it.

R13:How do you think the audiences compare here to the US & elsewhere?
W13: So far I haven't had a lot of chance to play in the US so it's hard for me to compare but if I had to judge it on past experiences from stuff like the Murderdolls it's just different areas. I mean New York City's a cool place, LA's pretty cool, our show in Chicago (which we did along time ago) was the equivalent to a UK show so it's like different breeds of people. You know this town either breathes rock & roll or this town doesn't & the UK has really been my biggest fan base so of course the reaction is way bigger. So it's always good to come back & see a lot of kids & have a place nearly sold out.
R13:Yeah a pretty good turn out from what I saw on the way in!
W13: Yeah we had something like 700 pre-sales.

R13:I was interested to read on your website that you don't listen to anything current & in that sense nothing new had influenced the style of the new album
W13: There really hasn't been anything new that has done anything for me lately, I mean I've got my iPod & it's full of old bands like Alice Cooper, Kiss, The Stooges, New York Dolls. There hasn't really been anything that's come out that has shook anything up at all. There are bands I like but in terms of influencing the new album, I bought the new Queens of the Stone Age record the other week & it's a cool record but I don't think it has any influence on what I'm going to write so I'm still looking for something to come out that's going to knock my ass on the floor but so far I haven't. I try to make my own music that will knock me on the floor!

R13:Did you manage to catch any of the Twisted Sister reunion shows?
W13: No I didn't, I wish I could've but actually we're doing some shows with Twisted Sister in the Summer & then we're doing some shows with WASP & Twisted Sister.
R13:Is that back in the US?
W13: Yeah, I've actually been in touch with Dee Snider, I sent him a copy of the record & he gave it his seal of approval so that's a cool deal.

R13:On the back of that I noticed that you're due to be a guest on Alice Cooper's radio show.
W13: Yep I'm doing that, I'm really shit scared about doing that, I'm flattered as I heard he's a big fan.
R13:Did he approach you to do that?
W13: Actually I got our publicist at Roadrunner & said 'you should really try to set this up' & I didn't think anything would happen but she called back & said 'it's set, Alice is a big fan & he wants to interview you so it's set up for the 29th' & I'm like 'Oh shit'. To me that's the ultimate reward, having those guys that I had posers up off, that I still have posters up on my wall, to have those guys slap you on the back & say 'good job, you're carrying on the whole tradition' is a good feeling.

R13:You've written a lot of songs that didn't make it onto the album, what's the likelihood of those seeing the light of day?
W13: I had our bassist over to the house a couple of weeks ago to hear some of the old demo's & there's definitely a handful of stuff there that I'm sure by the time it comes round to doing a new record, or a soundtrack that comes up, we can just fly off the cuff & do.

R13:Have you ever thought about doing a soundtrack yourself rather than just contributing to one?
W13: Thought about it but then I've thought about a lot of things. I'd love to score a movie & I'd love to write a song for a soundtrack, if they made a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre I could fuckin' write the theme song no problem, I'm such a fan of that stuff.

R13:Do you have a favourite song to play live?
W13: Really this is only our second show playing these new songs. We played a show Thursday night as a warm up gig in America so I don't know, I mean they're all cool, the title track for the new record is a pretty different kind of song so that's pretty cool & the single 'Zombie' is really good, the first song we do in the set 'I Want You Dead' is a lot of fun to do so I don't know, I'll let you know how it turns out!

R13:The video for 'I Walked With A Zombie' is based on the Night of the Living Dead?
W13: Yeah, we were basically digitally edited into it & play in the graveyard
R13:Oh right, so it's actual footage with you superimposed onto it? How did it turn out?
W13: Well we shot it all on a green screen so we really had no idea how it was going to turn out. The guy that did the video said that it took him 2 hours per second to edit that.
R13:Worth the wait though?
W13: Oh yeah, it's amazing & that was considered a low budget video but when you watch it it's 'Woah shit no this wasn't!' so I'm totally proud of it. I've done several videos now & this is by far my favourite. If I don't make anymore then I know I've got one kick ass video in the bag.
R13:Well thanks very much for your time
W13: No problem man
R13:& good luck with the rest of the tour
W13: Thank you, appreciate it

The album 'Transylvania 90210 Songs of Death, Dying & the Dead' is out now & if you missed them on this tour you can catch them at Download 2005.