WEDNESDAY 13: After Supporting IRON MAIDEN For Six Weeks, 'I'm Not Scared Of Any Band Or Audience'

Chris Akin of "The Classic Metal Show" recently conducted an interview with horror-punk stalwart Wednesday 13. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his 2017 release, "Condolences":

Wednesday: "My first few albums I still like and listen to them and they're cool, but that was me just starting out and I was pretty much playing most of the instruments besides the drums. Then I've had a solid band now for six, seven years now. So, we've definitely jelled as a band. The 'Condolences' album was one that we really worked on as a band, as a unit, so I think that's why it sounded that way because it wasn't just one-sided where I wrote all the music. I had input from different people and we worked with Zeuss [Chris Harris], the producer. It was something that we needed. It was good to have someone come in and just tweak your stuff a bit because you suffer so long and you get too close to it. You become your judge and jury and that's not really the best thing."

On how "Condolences" has fared for him sales and reception-wise:

Wednesday: "It's been great. Again, we're not a Top 40 band; we didn't do any radio stuff, but we're a working, touring band. We tour non-stop with a record or without if we can, but having this record out and being on Nuclear Blast and doing different tours [helped]. Last year, we started doing a lot more. For years, we were doing our own headline tours and that was mainly because we couldn't afford support deals. We did a support tour last year and got in front of different audiences and that was definitely helpful and has brought a few new faces to our shows and that's why we're continuing this year supporting CRADLE OF FILTH and we have some more support tours we're going to be announcing later this year. It's basically getting us in front of different audiences this year. Then, when the record comes out later this year, we'll start headlining. Then, next year is full-on assault. We're doing everything: touring everywhere in the world. I've already been hearing briefly about that and I'm already getting exhausted."

On supporting the far more extreme CRADLE OF FILTH:

Wednesday: "It's weird. I don't really know where we fit these days. I'm aware of a lot of bands and I'm pretty much up to current with what's going on, but when it comes to us, it's my agent, bless him, but he has the hardest time trying to place us. Where do you put Wednesday 13? 'Okay, what does Wednesday 13 do?' Okay, we could put you with Rob Zombie or Alice Cooper, but they're an arena act and they usually tour with other bands in that vein.' It's so hard to fit me with anyone. For me, CRADLE OF FILTH, I think, actually, fits better probably than most bands they can put us with. CRADLE OF FILTH has definitely been around for a while. They've definitely paid their dues. I remember hearing about them in the early 2000s and late '90s. The cool thing about them is that being a black metal band, they definitely are one of those bands who kind of cross the waters in other musicians and fans have gotten them into them where there are fans who like TYPE O NEGATIVE like CRADLE OF FILTH. They bring out the vampires as well as the black metal people. Then we're going to bring out the vampires and the monsters and the ghouls and everyone else. I think it's a good mix, but yeah, I get what you're saying. It wasn't your normal thing where you'd think we'd fit, but I think people are going to be surprised with our setlist and our show and everything. I think we're going to fit with them a lot better than people would actually think."

On whether he's concerned CRADLE OF FILTH fans won't give his band a chance:

Wednesday: "I hope they're tough because that just makes me play better, harder, meaner. It's one of the things I've told my band: we've headlined for years and years only just financially so we could make it work. We couldn't be a support band. Any time we got the chance to be a support band and play with another audience, it's great because not having people automatically love you is great. I mean, you can get spoiled with that. You come out and everyone is going 'Yeah! I love all your songs and I'm singing along.' But, to have a complete stranger with his arms crossed for the first three songs, but by the fourth song, their hands are up and that's a cool thing. For me, it's a challenge to go out and knowing it's a different audience, we have to fight a little harder. After doing six weeks [in support of] IRON MAIDEN with MURDERDOLLS, I'm not scared of any band, any audience or anything, because, for six weeks, I had everything beside an automobile thrown at me. I'm okay with audience rejection and garbage. I did that before. There's not anything that they could physically do to what the IRON MAIDEN audience did. I'm talking stadiums, 30,000 people telling you to fuck off. That builds character."

On what the secret to his longevity has been:

Wednesday: "There's a million ways to answer that question. I think about that, too. I wonder why other bands faded out. When I go through old magazines and stuff I've collected over the years, I go through old magazines when MURDERDOLLS was on the cover of Hit Parader, you could go through those magazines and there's literally ten percent of those bands still around. Literally. They just went away. I don't know…everyone's got stars in their eyes, like with me when I was a kid. I wanted to be a rock star. I didn't know what it was going to take, but when you get that record deal, if you ever get a chance to get a record deal, you work your life to it and you get a record deal and it comes out and doesn't do anything and you get dropped. Sometimes, it's the ultimate cut-throat, you're done with, your dreams have been crushed. Some people can't recover from that. I think that's when you see a lot of bands, you'll see one album and they disappear. I feel like that's what happened to those bands. Then you got me who, on their first album within — I got signed, a record came out in April, I was dropped in December. I could have went, 'Oh, man. This sucks!' But, I didn't. I kept coming. The same again: Dropped again. 'All right. What do I do now?' There's no time to dwell on the fact or cry about it. You either pick up the situation and move forward or you don't move. A lot of people don't move and I've kept moving forward. Also, I do something that's so different. It really didn't affect what I did. I've always been that weirdo guy. The nu-metal stuff dying never affected me; I wasn't a part of that. I wasn't part of the screamo thing. I wasn't a part of any of that. I just stood alone. I've always toured. I just love what I do. I think that's the main thing. A lot of bands just don't love it as much, obviously."

Wednesday 13's tour as the support act for CRADLE OF FILTH kicks off March 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The tour wraps April 18 in Dallas, Texas.