Wednesday 13 has been a very busy man for the past decade. After a series of gruesome releases with the Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, he jumped in as frontman of the shock rock supergroup Murderdolls. In 2005, he went solo, releasing ‘Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying and the Dead’. Two studio albums and an EP have followed, the most recent being the acclaimed ‘Skeletons’ in the spring of 2008. Constant touring in support of these releases resulted in the live CD / DVD set ‘Fuck It, We’ll Do It Live’.
Earlier this year, Wednesday decided to take a break from his solo band, releasing a new album with his country project Bourbon Crow, which was followed by a short tour in May. Upon his return from the road, he announced the formation of a new project, Gunfire 76. Backstage Axxess sat down with Wednesday recently and got the scoop on Gunfire 76 and all the latest happenings.
Jason: How’s it going, Wednesday?
Wednesday: All is good here…actually just working on some lyrics for the new Gunfire 76 project.
Jason: You beat me to my first question! Tell us a little bit about your new project, Gunfire 76.
Wednesday: Yeah, it’s something to change things up for me, not as much as Bourbon Crow was, but something a little different than what I normally do musically and visually with Wednesday 13. This is pretty much straight up rock n roll in the spirit of New Yor Dolls, old Alice Cooper, Kiss, Sweet, and Hanoi Rocks to name a few. I’m only being the frontman with this and leaving the guitars up to the guys. I’m really excited about it and I think we have a great batch of songs ready to go.
Jason: I read it’s you and Todd Youth (Chelsea Smiles, Danzig, D Generation), right? Do you know who else will be playing in the band yet and will it be a 4 or 5-piece?
Wednesday: Yes, it’s me and Todd Youth at the moment who have been writing all the material. We are piecing the line up together at the moment and have some great candidates, but I can’t confirm anybody at the moment that will fill out the Gunfire 76 line up for certain.
Jason: Do you have a time frame for when the fans can expect the album to be released?
Wednesday: Yes, it will be available in October, worldwide, and we are scheduling a tour for the US and UK in November / December right now with Bullets and Octane from California as support.
Jason: Do you plan to release the Gunfire 76 album yourself or are you going to shop it to labels?
Wednesday: No, we are releasing it on our own in America and licensing it to the rest of the world, so it will be available most places, and we will keep everyone updated on the release and everything as it happens through our myspace and website.
Jason: Awesome, those guys are great too! Are there any other modern bands who you feel can still deliver that “straight up rock and roll” like you said?
Wednesday: I don’t know right off of many, but I’m a fan of Backyard Babies and Danko Jones. They both have written great songs consistently for years.
Jason: Cool. We’ll be anxiously awaiting the album release and tour for Gunfire 76. Switching gears a bit, you recently completed a tour with your outlaw country project Bourbon Crow. How was the tour and do you plan on doing more Bourbon Crow stuff in the future?
Wednesday: Yeah it was really fun. I wish I remembered most of it. It was really nice to go out and do these low key gigs with an acoustic guitar and not have to put on stage clothes and make up, so that was a great feeling. It was also great to see a lot of the fans come out and support it. At the moment we don’t have any plans for another tour in 2009, although Rayen and I have discussed doing some BC gigs as a duo in NC over the summer for fun.
Jason: That sounds great, and maybe you will have a little break from the road until the Gunfire 76 tour. It seems as though you’ve been going non-stop for the past few years. Are you looking forward to relaxing at home for a while?
Wednesday: As always, before a tour is done I can’t wait to get home. However once I’m back home a week or so, I’m outta my mind and I don’t know what to do with myself, so that result is Gunfire 76.
Jason: Throughout your career, you’ve covered a lot of territory – from your own brand of shock rock in your solo work, horror punk with the Frankenstein Drag Queens and Murderdolls, country with Bourbon Crow, and now rock and roll with Gunfire 76. Is there any style other style of music that you see yourself delving into one day?
Wednesday: I’ve covered what I like so far, and I don’t wanna come off as a band wagon jumper. I think I’ve always stayed true to what I love. FDQ, Murderdolls, and W13 has always been based around the bands I love and that I have always mentioned. Due to the recent times of music and everything becoming so labeled with a tag, I basically became the “Goth Guy” and that’s it. However, I feel I’m about as goth as a Polar Bear! I have black hair because of Kiss and Alice Cooper, so if that’s goth “I’m guilty as charged.” I never wanted a tag or to live by a code, and I’m doing just that these days now that I’m free from record company restraints and can do as I please releasing music.
Jason: Well said! It’s getting late, so we’ll let you get back to work on Gunfire 76. Thanks for taking the time to talk to Backstage Axxess.
For more on Wednesday 13, Gunfire 76 and all of his awesome projects:
