The Duke of Spook has returned once more from beyond the grave to reveal the Necrophaze! The latest album from the masters of horror rock is set for release on September 27th but before that, the band hit Australia alongside Static-X and Dope this month. We talk to the main man himself about the new album and what fans can expect down under.
Andrew: So hows things with you? How has the tour with Static-X been going?
Wednesday 13: It just wrapped up in the States here last weekend, it was 6 weeks. It was great, it went by too fast but luckily it starts back up in Australia in just a couple of weeks.
Andrew: Yeah we’re looking forward to it! It’s such a great lineup, Static-X, Wednesday 13 and Dope, it seems like quite a fitting package. Are we expecting the same sort of show that you’ve been doing in North America?
Wednesday 13: Yeah the response and the reaction in the States has been overwhelming so I’m hoping the same for the Australia tour. Every time we do a tour we always add a couple of new things so we’ll see if this upcoming Australia tour will change from this last US run, we’ll change it up at least a little bit so we’ll see what happens.
Andrew: We saw you last year with Davey Suicide so how did that run go?
Wednesday 13: It was great again! Every year we’ve been able to come to Australia and tour with the record so again, never a disappointment in Australia. The fans there are maybe the best in the world, they’ve never let us down so we’re super excited to come back. This is our first time coming back as a support band outside of the Soundwave festivals so we’re excited, we’re doing Adelaide and Perth on this run which is something we don’t normally have on our schedule.
Andrew: Yeah that’s right so we’re definitely looking forward to that as we are west coast based in Perth and we’ve been missing you guys for a number of years so it’s good to see you on this side of the country.
Wednesday 13: Yeah it’s great. Again every time we come to Australia we want to play as many places as we possibly can and we’ve only been offered the east coast side of Australia every time we come through. So always dangling that carrot going, ‘Well if you guys do better you’ll go to Perth man’. So this worked out with Static-X and we’re able to come there so we’re excited.
Andrew: Awesome so you have a new album coming out in September called “Necrophaze”. I love the title, where did that name come from?
Wednesday 13: It was, like most things, someone will say something funny or the title will come up off a joke or someone saying, ‘Oh that sounds cool’. This time someone was like, ‘You’ve been writing these necrophillia songs since you started, how much longer can you do this? And I’m like, ‘Well I guess I’ve been going through a necro phase for a long time’, so the Necrophaze kind of came from that title. Then I wrote it down and it looked cool, had a certain piece around the story and imagery around it and here we are.
Andrew: Yeah and there’s always a “theme” to your albums anyway but there’s really something going collectively together on this one with a lot of visuals happening. What was the idea for this record initially?
Wednesday 13: To capture the atmosphere and art and just idea of when I was growing up and a cool horror movie came out or a cool album came out and I’m like, ‘Let’s mix the two’, because I kind of represent both of those things. Because it was kind of like, ‘Let’s make the ultimate rock n’ roll horror movie soundtrack looking or sounding thing’ and that’s what this album is and we’re the perfect band to do that and something I’ve been doing for quite a while now. I tell people all the time, Wednesday 13 the first album, we started in 2004-2005, it’s been almost 15 years so it’s just been a work in progress and I feel like with this record and this lineup of musicians I’ve had for so long, we’re finally to that level where it feels complete.
Read the review of Necrophaze here
Andrew: Yeah definitely and speaking of, the last album “Condolences” which came out a couple of years ago was fantastic, I loved it and I thought it was probably one of the best albums you had done. It was also quite heavy as well which I guess you’ve kind of been leaning more towards for a number of years now and really sort of bringing heavier elements into the music.
Wednesday 13: Yeah and that just comes from the rest of the guys in the band and plus everything we all kind of listen to, everybody collectively we like a lot of the same music but each of us kind of have our own little favorite bands that we kind of favor and that comes out in the instrumentation on the record. Our guitarist Roman has all his different influences, I’ve got mine, our drummer’s got his so it’s good weaving all the different styles in and that was something I couldn’t do back on the earlier records because it was sort of me playing most of the instruments and now I’ve got guys that can play and I can sort of work more on what it is that I do and that’s sort of painting the picture and forming it. So yeah like I said it’s finally complete after all these years.
Andrew: So it sounds like it’s a more collaborative effort between everyone in the band I suppose.
Wednesday 13: Absolutely, it definitely helps when I’ve got likewise musicians on the same page and they know where I’m going or what I’m talking about and they can take the music and do their thing. It’s better when I can sort of steer the ship but I’m not the guy doing everything, I’ve got a good team and we all know our place and what to do and it works out. I get to be in a band with my best friends and we get to dress up like rock n roll superheroes every show, it’s a horrible life I tell ya!
Andrew: [laughs] And also you have a whole bunch of guests on this album as well, Alexi (Laiho, Children Of Bodom) and Christina (Scabbia, Lacuna Coil) but one notable name which is not surprising which I guess is a long time coming is Alice Cooper is on the album as well which that must be a thrilling thing to have.
Wednesday 13: Oh absolutely, I mean having Alice on our record was the prize of the goal. I think as a young kid growing up and getting Alice Cooper to be a part of the record, I can’t even express in words. It’s overwhelming and luckily Alice has been a supporter of Wednesday 13 and Murderdolls since we started, he’s taken both bands out. We’d actually mentioned to him before about doing the intro on previous Wednesday records and it didn’t work out and I think it’s all for the best that it didn’t because now is the perfect time so everything worked out the way it was supposed to.
Andrew: Yeah definitely and he must have been a huge influence on you growing up.
Wednesday 13: He was and still is. Probably the only artist that I don’t get bored with and there’s still things that I will find most new to me or new old video or new footage of something that he did and I’m like, ‘Woah he did that too’. I owe him everything or there would be no me if there was Alice Cooper.
Andrew: I managed to see him live a couple of years ago when he came to Australia and just an amazing show and for a guy that’s been doing it for as long as he has, it’s really inspirational to see someone really keep that consistency going for so long.
Wednesday 13: He’s good at being a bad guy. He’s the ultimate villain, he’s the ultimate showman and he’s gotten good at what he does and it shows. I mean he just owns it, he’s always been good at it but he’ll tell you that he’s better at it now than he ever was. I like to look at Alice in the same line of Dracula, he’s only getting better with age. He’s more knowledgable and he’s more dangerous and deadly the older he gets.
Andrew: Well thanks again for your time man, really appreciated and we will see you very soon!
Wednesday 13: Awesome man we’ll see you soon.
STATIC-X + WEDNESDAY 13 + DOPE August 2019 Australian Tour
Thursday 22nd – Brisbane – Eatons Hill
Friday 23rd – Melbourne – Croxton
Saturday 24th – Sydney – Metro Theatre
Monday 26th – Adelaide – The Gov
Tuesday 27th – Perth – Rock Rover
Tickets From: https://metropolistouring.com/
