Wednesday 13 Returns to the Show to Talk New Record, Rockstar Encounters, Success & more!

Episode Transcript
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THEME SONG (00:05):
Heavy stars, rock and rolling through the cool
guitars. Chucks, got thequestions digging so sharp,
peeling back layers, hitting theheart.

Chuck Shute (00:20):
How you doing? Man, good. Yeah, sorry if it looks
like I'm looking down, because Iusually have a monitor up here,
but, oh, right, my cat knockedit off and broke it so well,
that's what cats do, right?
Yeah, you have cats, right? Youhave a couple.

Wednesday 13 (00:36):
I love cats. Cats, I don't I don't mind it, like my
cat knocked something over. Iusually don't mind. And I'm
like, That's my cat. Anybodyelse knocks over? I'll, I'll
hunt you down.

Yeah, how do you know? How do you handle that on
the road? You have cats at homeand then, or do you bring them
on the road? Or do

you not own No, no, my, my, my lady is at home
with with our one inside cat,and we have one inside cat, and
we have a two outside feral catsthat we take care of and feed,
along with many other localanimals that just come by our
house for food, and raccoons andpossums. That's crazy. I live in

(01:15):
Burbank, California, and I'veseen more wildlife there than I
have in North Carolina, where Ispent a good part of my early
life. I was

gonna say, Yeah, because I thought you moved to
LA. I was like, this, this is inLA, no

man, it's crazy.
Soon as the sun goes down, it'sjust like, it's crazy, raccoons,
possums,

everything, because it's by that, like Hill or the
Palisades, the mountains, orwhatever. Yeah, so

it's, it's interesting. We got wild
parrots. It's quite the natureshow in my backyard. I love it.
I'm excited to get back thisweekend parrots. How that wild
parrots are growing Burbank,just like the ones you see in
the movies, the the green ones,the your standard parrot is
they, they're, they're, they'rethere. Now,

did they they must, somebody must have brought those
from somewhere, and then theyescaped. We have a similar thing
from Arizona. Yeah, somebodybrought some tropical birds, and
there's some park you can go to,and they're just there because
somebody brought them.

Yes, yes, somebody, I looked it up. They
basically came there a whileago, and they just started by,
you know, started doing theirthing, and now they're
everywhere,

yeah, so you must see all sorts of crazy shit just
traveling through the countrytoo, on the road. I mean, I saw
that video the other yesterdaywhere there was a, there was a
goose that was, you guys werehaving an encounter with that
was protected. It

continued again this morning. We basically just
parked our bus. We, you know, wehad a day off yesterday, and our
driver was sleeping, so our buswas parked, and duck was
protecting its in the mom, Iguess is having babies and in
this parking lot of all places,and anything that got within 20
feet of it, it would just chargeit. And it was interesting day

(03:02):
off. Yeah,

I think they're having a problem with that over
in the West. Was that inMichigan or Illinois? Illinois,
okay, yeah, cuz I read somearticle today that said they're,
they're rounding up all the allthese extra geese, and they're
gonna

Michigan. I did not know I need to watch the
news. I Yeah, it

was, like a weird news story that I was like,
what? That's crazy, so I

don't know. Now, I believe it. Believe the hype,
folks,

that would be a cool song. There's probably,
like a song there or somethingthat's like, there

is, I yeah, there is, yeah. I have a song. I have
a I have an old song in myTransylvania record where I say,
not send the noose baby duck,duck, goose. And tonight, when
we play that live, it's going tohave a new meaning.

Yeah. How do you come up with these songs? Is it
just, I mean, I know you're abig horror fan, obviously, I
know you're a hair metal fan, soand you have your influences,
but how does it just come to younaturally? Or do you have to
kind of sit down and forceyourself to be inspired?
Sometimes I don't force

it anything. Force sucks for me and I, and if I, if
I know I forced it, I don't, Iknow it's for it's, it's got to
be natural, right, off, right,just off, just, yeah, it's just
got to flow. And usually whenanything like that happens, it
makes me laugh. And there's thisrecords, a perfect example of
just did flowing naturally andme going up, that's it. I got

(04:23):
it, you know, and I was able tonail it on, on, on each song on
this record. I feel like

did you? Did you have any CO writers? Because I
know you said something aboutparting ways with your long time
guitarist. So did you work withnew guitarists? Or you mostly
write by yourself? I

wrote the entire record by by myself, just
because I wanted to do it thatway, not and it wasn't an ego
thing. It was literally a I justwanted to go back to the
beginning of my career. Youknow, this is my 10th album,
2020, years of doing. Okay,that's my, my first album. And I

(05:02):
wanted to go back to what I whatwas the ingredients on that
first album. It was me in abasement by myself, with my own
thoughts, and I didn't have anyideas to bounce it off. It had
no other bad no members. Therewas no Wednesday 13 band. It was
me, and I wanted to prove tomyself, 20 years later I could
do that again. And being that myguitars had left the band, I was

(05:25):
like, alright, well, this is aperfect opportunity to do that,
and I'll prove it to myself. Andthen I ended up playing guitar
on the entire record as well. Soyeah, I just basically, I wrote
all the music, and once I hadthe music together, then I
brought it to my band, and thenwe, we arranged everything and
went in the studio. So my band'sa very much, very big part of
this recording and everything. Ijust the initial idea was

(05:49):
started with me by myself.
That's

amazing. How long does it take you to typically
write a song? Because you alwayshear these stories, like some of
the biggest hits are like, Oh,we just, we wrote that song in
five minutes. It was the firstsong we thought of.

All these are the five minute songs, most of them,
I mean, with the exception ofone or two, and if anything is
any longer it's a 10 minutesong, like it's really was no,
not a lot of stuff. I mean, Idon't spend days and days and
days working on something. Now,if I have a riff or something
that may be around for a bit,and it eventually turns into

(06:25):
something. But for the mostpart, I wrote all these songs in
one setting, you know, like acouple of these songs, like the
no apology song, that was a songthat just came out of the blue.
The band was I the band guyswere coming over to the house to
work on the other songs I'dalready written, and I made that
up waiting for them to show up.
And I'm like, Oh, we're going todo this one today. And the same

(06:46):
thing with the in misery songthey I was waiting for the band
guys to come over, and I wrotethat in the middle of them
driving over, and I'm like, Oh,well, now we're going to work on
this one. So this stuff camepretty fast. The music did. I
worked on the lyrics. You know,I didn't write all the lyrics
completely. I'll get an idea ora melody, but the lyrics are

(07:07):
finalized, usually later, lateron the music and all the melody
and stuff is kind of, is all, isall there? First

Interesting, yeah, so you mentioned in misery.
That's a That's a good one. Iwas curious about the lyrics of
that one. Like, what is that?
It's like, you bring out theworst in me. I'm in misery. So
completely in misery with you.
Is that about a person or athing? I

mean, well, you know? I mean it's not
necessarily. I mean, there's somany love songs, and if you take
the lyrics in misery and reversethem, it's a love song. You
bring out the best in me withyou. I know I will achieve. My
song is you bring out the worstin me with you. I know I'll
never achieve. It's just anegative song. It's like, I was

(07:51):
like, This is my anti love song,but yet it somehow sounds like a
ballad for my music. So that'sall it is. It's someone you
know, that's and there's been,there are couples like that. I
There are people that are thatare horrible for each other, and
they stay together, and they'remiserable together, and they
know it, and they love it. Soit's an observation, but it's

(08:12):
literally just an oppositesreversed kind of song. It's my
anti love song. Yeah,

I love that one. I love the some of these songs,
like, when the devil commands, Imean, that was, I could just
hear myself singing that alongat a concert. Is that going to
be what you're performing live?
Or, oh yeah,

that's, that's the fourth song on the set on this
tour. And and I knew, I knew it.
I mean, I knew that song wasgoing to deliver live. I
imagined it. I imagined when Iwrote that song, I put myself on
the other side of the stage inthe audience, and go, What would
the audience do with this? Andthey're going to do exactly what
that chorus is. And every nightI set that song up, and the

(08:50):
crowd sings the entire chorus,and we even added up what we
call the quiet riot. Come on,feel the noise breakdown. So an
extra hell Satan, 666. Has addedhim to the live version of that
song

that is funny, yeah? Because I was like, Oh
man, I don't know. I'm singingalong in my car. I can't imagine
that the show that's got to bereally fun,

yeah? And then you go, and then when you go, ice,
really catchy. It's really fun.
And that's for my kind ofaudience. But would you take the
average person, or someone likemy mom, she heard something like
that, she would be repulsed. Oh,my God, there's they're singing
hell, Satan, sick. You can't dothat. So

the alder buttons, right? Is that? I mean, does
that even, does that even? Is ita thing anymore? Because I know
when I grew up in the 80s and90s, like that was a thing.
Like, people were burning OzzyOsbourne records and stuff that
was a big thing. Like, no, youcan't talk about Satan. And now
I feel like the line has beencrossed so many times. Like, no,
does anyone?

You would be surprised. I was like, you. I
thought nobody cares anymore.
And I wrote that song. That songis in a fun tongue in cheek way.
I literally wrote that songbecause my mom. Mom was, was so
was so afraid in the 80s that Iwas going to be possessed by
this rock music that I listenedto. She, she, you know, she was
repulsed by the by the exorcistmovie, a horrified her, and she

(10:10):
thought that was going to happento me through rock music. So I
wrote this song as if I could goback in time and plant a
Wednesday 13 album in mycollection, and my mom would
discover it and open it up. Andif I could have had just like
Ralphie on Christmas story whenhe took the Red Rider BB gun ad
just placed for his mom to see,that's where devil command

(10:31):
lyrics would be, and she wouldread it and be, oh, my god, she
wouldn't have to guess, becausethe lyrics say exactly what. Cuz
the lyrics she would readthrough my stuff, she would had
to guess, oh, is that? Are theysaying something about Satan?
There it was all guests, butlike, this is something is
spelled right out. So it was anode to my mom back in the 80s.
Kind of fun in a in a fun way,

yeah. Do you try to lean into that, sometimes, with,
like, controversy and stuff?
Because obviously, like, youknow, Marilyn Manson, some of
these guys, they, they reallytry to, like, push the
boundaries. Do you try to leaninto that, or you just want to
do? I

mean, I used to. I used to. That was a whole point.
Shock rock, shock somebody dosomething. You know, with me, my
shock value was, was the wordfuck. I use it in my all my
songs, my most popular song, asI love to say, Fuck. That was my
shock value. Because when Iwrote that song, and I started
playing that song back in theday and bars in North Carolina,

(11:27):
I couldn't get anybody'sattention on stage in the in
these bars, you know. And whenwe would play that song,
everybody, everybody in thevenue, would turn around and go,
are they saying that? That'scatchy. I love it. I love to
say, Fuck so. But and AliceCooper, I opened up for him for

(11:48):
the first time, and his audiencedid not like me at first, and
when I played, I love to say,Fuck. His audience was comprised
of older people and young, youngkids, and they were putting
their the older kids, parentsare putting their hands over
their kids ears when we wereplaying the song, and Alice

(12:09):
loved it. He was like, he toldme, he goes this. He goes, I cut
my head off on stage, and get areaction. He goes, and you just
got the same reaction by doingthat. That

is funny to think about, yeah, because, like, for
me, I'm just, like, it takes alot. I mean, you, you toured
with, you guys, toured withcradle filth at one point,
right? And I had Danny filth onthe show, like, I mean, he did
something where he was, what washe doing? He was in the Vatican,
and he wore, I think he woresome shirt where it was like a
nun getting her head chop. Itwas something crazy. I can't
remember, probably,

no, I don't go no, I don't go out looking for
trouble. This is I do this at myshow, my records. I can do what
I want on that. But as far aspushing the envelope, you know,
I'm finding now that my audienceis is the teenagers have
discovered Wednesday 13 atmurder dolls. Now my front row,
my front three rows are, areteenagers, yeah, so I do VIPs

(13:07):
every day I meet these, these,these young fans, and they're
telling me, you know, my, my, Igot in trouble for listening to
your music, when the devilcommand, command scared my
parents. I got in trouble forwriting this, you know, in my
class. So writing this on mynotebook, I wrote, God is a lie
on my notebook. They're like,you know. So it's still, it

(13:29):
still works. So I didn't thinkit did till I met my younger
fans. But those lyrics, youknow, I've always wrote lyrics
to scare people's parents, andI'm glad that it's still doing
it, yeah.

I mean, because I feel like some you almost have
to have some sort of shock valueor controversy these days to get
I mean, Molly crew, I feel likewas the king of that stuff. Like
they always drunk, stirred upthe press and everything to get
controversy. They were reallygood at that.

They were my biggest influence. They taught
me. They they put me on the pathof doing this. I learned. I
learned from the best.

Yeah, have you? Did you ever have encounters with
them? Or you

ever a friend and a fan of murder dolls? And
Wednesday 13, he interviewedmurder dolls back on our
comeback, he did one of the veryfirst interviews with Joey and
I, and he's been a long timesupporter. When he was doing
brides of destruction, he wasvery much influenced by murder
dolls, which is just crazy, youknow. And he was, he was helpful

(14:29):
in getting me sober back in theback in the day, when I first
realized I had a problem. And soNikki has been a influence on me
in many ways, and I, I owe him alot that's

crazy to think of, like, how much of a 180 he's
done, you know, like he wasjust, he was the that image was
all partying and driving.

I was, yeah, I was telling someone the other day,
someone, I can't remember, who,where we were at a venue, and
someone started bashing onNikki. Six in a in a, in a fun
way to go, and because Nikki sixtakes the the bashing of him not
being a technical bass player,and I brought up the argument,
and I said, Well, name anotherbass player that's as in, that's

(15:14):
been as influential as as Nikkisix, but not being musical like
how many people do I see at aconcert every time I travel the
world? There's a Nikki six inevery single town, at least two
or three looking dudes that havehis hair have a little the
piece. They play bass in a localband, and they pretend to be

(15:35):
Nikki six, and they work, andthey got the hottest girls. And
every town around the world,that guy wins. He wins. He's
laughing all the way to thebank, and he's a good bassist,
and he's a great songwriter. Andthat guy, you know, he gets a
bad rap, but he's made, he'smade some, some of the music of

(15:55):
my memories, you know. So my, myhat's off to Nikki six. Oh,

yeah, same. He's definitely a bucket list guest
for me. So do you don't thinkthat? Like, because I think the
controversy now is they'resaying he wasn't playing the
bass at the shows. It was, itwas taped or something, not that
he couldn't play it, but maybeit's just because they were
moving around so much. Or, like,I mean, do you think there's any
truth to that?

I don't know. I don't even, I don't really even
even care that guy is like Isaid, he's been such a big
impact on my life, you know, andthe way people perform now, I'm
finding that we're kind of oddman out. We still do it the
classic way. Most bands, newer,even the older ones are, are

(16:37):
following a pattern of of justdoing a lot of things that
aren't. It's not classicanymore. It's just a lot of
people play to tracks and and,and the music's becoming a
little unhuman. And I think themusic sounds great with what
they're doing, but it's just, tome, it just loses some of that,
that heart and soul that's inand what I grew up on, yeah,

you need the mistakes for it to sound
different. And a lot of timestoo. I like when you go to a
concert, and I remember, like,seeing Metallica back in
Seattle, back in the 90s and andit was, it was like, heavier, it
was faster than the records, andthat made it cooler.

Yeah, I think. And I'm not bashing on on new music,
I'm just saying what what soundsright for me, what I do is what
I like I sound the way I wantmusic to sound to my ears.
That's what I what I do. But Ithink music is coming to to such
a bottleneck that it's going tobe too perfect, that

(17:38):
everything's going to getsimplified again, and punk will
become, or that, or the or theidea of what behind punk, and
just being simple, where you cango into a room and play music
and write music the way it wasback in the day, I think that'll
become a new thing again, eventhough it's not new, but it'll
be new to to the kids.

You think so, yeah, it seems like it's just it's
hard to stand out, like peoplesay. You know, back in the day
there was, you had to get arecord label. Now, anybody can
make a record and it can soundgood, but it's like, hard to
like, how do you stand out? Youknow? I mean, this is great. I
mean, obviously you're doingpress for it, so hopefully, you
know, that helps. But is thereany other way to really stand

(18:20):
out, other than just making agood record,

I don't know. I mean, you know, staying on tour
and and proving that you canplay the the music. For me, I
always try to deliver a solidrecord, and then I want to, you
know, improve on that live anddeliver it and make it feel even
better. And so for me, the liveexperience with my band is is

(18:45):
something I think people need,need to see to truly appreciate
it, because we really bringthese songs to life live, and I
think we play them better thanthe record sometimes, or at
least as good as the as thealbums. Yeah, and we strive to
do that. It's important to us toplay this, and we do it
ourselves. We're not, you know,there is no no tracks or

(19:07):
anything. We have segway, wehave an intro, we have segways,
but our bands, our vocals,everything is, is, is all live
and real.

Yeah, would you ever, because you mostly do
headlining shows, do or have youdone like, a package tour with,
like, you know, two or threeother bands, big name bands, not
just openers.

Oh yeah, we do a lot of those two. I mean, I, you
know, I'm currently on myheadline tour, but, you know, we
have tours where we play withcradle to fill for we're one of
four bands, or something likethat. And so, yeah, we tend to
do those things in a certaincertain areas itself, and it's
good to do that too for us, too,to go out and play in front of
different audiences. Yeah.

Well, I think one way to get people to listen to
you that maybe hadn'toriginally, weren't fans or
whatever, but now they'lldiscover you, is is that these
collaborations, like you've got.
Amy down, yeah, the song, no,maybe some faster pussy cats
fans will discover

you absolutely.
That's a whole other audiencethat came over with with Tammy
audience, and I, and I knew thatwould happen, and I, and I've
had some of those people on myradar already. I think people
know, you know, but I think thisreminded them that I still do do
it and, and, yeah, and havingsomeone like Tammy, you know, I
have another collaborationthat's that's coming out later,

(20:29):
later in the year, or maybe thistime next year, I'm not sure,
whenever it's coming out, withsome other people, and just a
lot of lot of different stuff.
I'm looking at differentopportunities just a branch
beyond my fan base. I've alreadyestablished I'm always looking
for that guy in the back of theroom that's got his arm crossed.

(20:50):
It's convinced he doesn't likeme. But does it secretly know
I'm his favorite band?

Yeah. What about because I know you've done a
little bit of acting. Do youfeel like that helps get your
name out there and get people todiscover your music by putting
yourself in movies. I

did, I haven't did any acting. I did, I did the
soundtrack stuff, but I do. I doa weekly podcast. It's pretty
popular with my friend Jason,and that's opened up a whole
other world of people at myconcerts too. Like I said, the
teenagers have discovered me.
Someone ran an article on me theother day in blabbermouth,

(21:28):
something I said when said thatsome guy was saying murder dolls
was his favorite band and hedoesn't feel we got the we
didn't get the the recognitionwe deserved. And I made the
comment. Well, maybe we haven't.
Maybe it's not here yet. Maybe,maybe people haven't really
discovered the band. Becausewhen I see all these young kids

(21:49):
that are hearing murder dollsfor the first time, six months
ago or a year ago, you know, if,if that quadrupled, you know,
who knows, murder dolls could bebigger than it ever was, and
it's not even a thing anymore.
It happened with all the otherbands, sex, Pistols, Ramones,
all these bands are almostbigger than they ever were in
the beginning just because oftheir legacy. So who, who knows
time is? Time does crazy things.

(22:13):
And so I think that band isappreciated, but it could still
have its day in the in the sunto come.

Yeah, just, do you think you're overlooked as a
front man and because you've gotthe stage presence, the look,
the cult following the music? Imean, do you think that some
people are just not seeing it?

I don't know. You know, I don't question the I
mean, I guess I could sit aroundand go, Oh, why? Why am I not?
Metallica level, why am I? Whyam I not? But, you know, to some
people, I am, I am theirmetallic I am their guns and
roses, and I'm okay with that.
I'm able to tour the worldpretty comfortably. I make a
living off this. I don't go homeand pull my hair back and work

(22:52):
another job, and this is what Ido. I do this, and I did this
for 23 years now, and if this isas good as it gets, I'm okay
with it. This is I'm living, I'mliving my dream. And, you know,
20 years into my career, and Istill got doors opening and huge
stuff on the horizon. My recordjust I scored with my fans love

(23:15):
this record. They fucking loveit. And and I'm excited, I'm
rejuvenated. It's who would havethought. And I'm turning 50 next
year. This is a, it's a good, agood time to be me right now.
Yeah,

what do you think the secret is to that success
and continuation is just, Imean, obviously I know you're
sober, so that's got to be apiece of it that, yeah, that's
not getting in the way andclouding things.

Yeah, the party lifestyle. I loved it. I did it
and I did it really good,really, really good, but it it
wouldn't work the way I functionnow, so I don't do that anymore.
But someone asked the other day.
They said, what motivates you?
And I think with me saying thatI'm comfortable where I am, I
never made it to Metallica levelin my mind, so I'm always still

(24:09):
trying to get somewhere betweenwhere I am now and Metallica
level in my mind. And I thinkthat makes me want to keep doing
it and I keep doing it harder,and I want to get there. So I
thought I would get there in my20s, maybe my 30s, and here I am
still reaching for it, goinginto my 50s, and I still got the

(24:32):
fire, and it's okay. Who knows?
Man, maybe I'll get my hit songwith the rest of the world in my
50s. That's great,

yeah, it's weird to think about that stuff. Like you
look at Dave Mustaine, who wasin Metallica, and then he got,
you know, he left, or whatever,and it seems like he still
thinks that he needs to bebigger. And it's like, Megadeth
is huge. And it's like, no, but,but, but I

under, I understand that now about Dave
Mustaine. I used to, I used tothink the same way and go, Well,
how did he but it's always goingto make him want to be better.
And I think that's why he's keptthe edge over Metallica.

Oh, you think he, he is have the edge. I don't

want to say that, but from from my years. I dig, I
dig mega death riffs. I liketheir I feel like Metallica
still. Metallica is doing whatI'm doing now. They're kind of
chasing nostalgia sometimes, andwant to go play older riffs and
I and that's awesome, whereasMegadeth is still exploring and

(25:39):
still coming up with stuffthat's that's due when they did
symphony of destruction and theCountdown to Extinction record,
they were changing the game, youknow, musically so. But for my
years, you know, I dig, I digMegadeth and I like Dave
Mustaine. Voice, it's very AliceCooper. I want to say I heard an

(26:02):
interview where Dave Mustainesaid he imitated Alice Cooper,
and it sounds like it to me. Iget compared to Dave Mustaine
sometimes by people. They go,Oh, they never heard me.
Wednesday, 13. Sounds likeMegadeth singing over ghost
music. That's an interestingthat's what someone said about
one of my songs that decompose.
I think, yeah, I know it's

interesting. You say Countdown to Extinction,
because that was one of myfavorite records when I was a
kid. I would actually, I wouldput in terms of the entire
record, I would say that'sbetter than the Metallica Black
Album, my opinion.

Well, think about, I say this about mega that's why
I lean toward, toward Megadeth,the the song, symphony of
destruction, yeah, that I alwayslove that riff, uh, dead in
Hollywood by murder dolls. Iwas, I was trying to do
something like Mega death. It'sme trying to do mega death in my

(26:57):
own way. And that's my littlenod to Megadeth. And then I
found out later that JohnCarpenter, the Halloween thing,
the dead thing, is him trying todo the exorcist tubular bell
sound and that same spirit. Wow.
So that's why I picked megadeath, because riff wise, they

(27:18):
they fit in my world, and I andthat dead in Hollywood riff is a
little nod to that. I mean, whenI met Joey, he goes, Man, that
riffs cool. I was like, yeah,it's kind of mega death, right?

Yeah, isn't that funny how, like, it's almost so
it's okay to everybody rips offeverybody, right? Everything is
influenced from somethingabsolutely, yeah, absolutely.
And I think that's what's socool about and then you're
reinventing and that's what Iwhen I listen to this new
record, that's what I becauseI'm a hair metal fan, and I
hear, like a lot of yourinfluences, I It sounds almost,
there's a lot of songs thatsounds similar vein to Skid Row

(27:52):
slave to the grind, like it'sgot that. And punk like, kind
of, and fast energy, kind of,like sleazy vibe. I love it.
Thank

you, and that's what I I went back to what I
think I do the best, and this iswhat I do the best. That's Skid
Row sound. That's my roots.
That's what I started off doing.
That's what I wanted to soundlike. I sound this way because I
tried to sound like SebastianBach. I loved Alice Cooper and I
loved Skid Row. And listen to myvoice. I am a mix of Alice

(28:22):
Cooper and Sebastian Bach. Thatis what I I dreamed it and I
somehow sound this way. And thisrecord reflects my roots. I went
back. I There's a there's a nodto skid row on the record. I
say, oh, oh, say, can you screamon one song, which is a nod to
their VHS they put out back inthe day. And every one of my

(28:45):
records there's a Alice Coopersnarl on there. I do it on at
least two or three songs. What Icall I got to do an Alice on
that song.

Yeah, Skid Row.
It's interesting situation now,because they don't have a singer
where they reached out to you,would you take that job?

I'm good friends with Rob the drummer of Skid
Row. He was in my side projectgunfire 76 and he and I have
talked before. He knows I'm ahuge fan. I think back in the
day, drunkenly, I was like, I'llgo try out for Skid Row. I know
I can make my way through aportion of those songs, but to

(29:25):
do them justice, Sebastian Bachset the bar as high as anyone
could ever do and ever will do.
I wish that band the best ofluck. I think they will find
someone that'll that'll balanceit out. But I mean replacing
Sebastian Bach, and then whatthat sound is to people that

(29:45):
grew up on it, it's it'sirreplaceable, almost. It's an
unfortunate thing for them. Andthey had a good guy with Eric.
Eric was a good vocalist thatwas the closest, I think they've
came to. To Alice, to Sebastiansnarl, or his, or his, you know?
But, yeah, Sebastian was thebest man that guy was at one

(30:07):
point, and when back in the day,he was David Lee Roth level,
Elvis Presley level, rock star.

Yeah, no, he was my favorite. That's like when I
first started getting he's theone that got me into rock, I
just thought he was and he couldhit two notes. It was insane me
too.

My girlfriend was was obsessed with him, and I
went, Ah, I wish. Wish he likedme like, like him, right? I
tried, I tried, and that's nojoke, man, like he's a he and
Tammy down and Alice Cooper, allthose guys are such influences
on my sound and look andeverything, not just musically.
They was like, I had to becomethem. Yeah,

well, and you mentioned the videos like I
loved, Oh say, can you scream inroadkill? Like, did you just
watch those? And I just, like,wanted to hang out with them. I
was like, dude, these guys looklike they're having so much fun.
Like, I want to hang out with afun thing to do.

They taught me how to do this. I basically went on
tour and reenacted those videoswith with my band. I'm still
doing it today. I'm doing it.
It's exactly that's that my oldfriend ran, who was on my first
album and my bourbon crowproject. I love him, yeah. He's
Yeah. We always talk about, yougo, Oh man, we're going to do an

(31:23):
old say, can you scream? Talktype video, or we always refer
to, oh, you know, have you seenthis movie? Oh, it's like an old
say, can you we just refer tothat, because that's our
reference of just a good a goodtime, you know? And I love that
stuff.

Yeah, he's your buddy that you did bourbon crow
with, right? Yep, yep,

yeah, he's my long time friend. He still lives in
South Carolina, and, yeah, he'sRay and I are like, brothers.

Yeah, he was telling me a story that, like,
when you guys played with AliceCooper, that Alice brought you
guys back on stage to sing,which it was one of the the big
hits. Yeah,

on his, on his on we played on Halloween night
with Alice, and I think he endedthe show with schools out, or
whatever his final song was. AndAlice doesn't really talk, but
he introduced us and brought usout on stage. And I was good
friends with his band, and Iremember, like, Damon Johnson
picked me up and his hole to be,like, in the, the the Ozzie

(32:24):
Randy kind of pose. And there'sa picture we have somewhere of
that. It was just a cool moment.
It was a victory moment forrain. And i Because, you know,
that guy was our childhood hero,and he just caught us out on
stage, and, you know, we justfinished a tour with him. It
was, I've, I've had aninteresting, crazy, crazy ride,
you know,

yeah, for sure, is there other, what other moments
did you look back on? Or like,wow, that was a crazy like, I
mean

thing. I mean, when, when he put it, when he
put it in, you know, peoplelike, when, when I say, like,
people in that situation, like,people like Alice Cooper. I
mean, I've been in the situationwith Guns and Roses. You know,
Axl Rose taking murder dolls ontour for in Europe, and wanting
to hang out party with us andand hanging out with with him

(33:11):
backstage. And, you know, justcrazy stuff. I remember
Metallica, I'm speaking to themearlier. I remember being at the
Download Festival, and I gotreally drunk and got lost. I
couldn't find the tour bus, andthere was 200 tour busses
backstage, and it was dark andit was raining, and all I could
see was headlights and I wasthere was no cell phones, and

(33:34):
I'm lost. I'm literally walkingin the mud. I'm late for bus
call. I don't even know how toget in touch with anybody. And a
van pulls up beside of me, andthe door opens, and a big cloud
of smoke comes out, and LarsUlrich pops his head out and
goes, Hey, you play with Joey.
Where is he? And I said, I don'tknow. I'm trying to find him.

(33:55):
And he said, Come in with me,and I hop in a van, and I'm in a
van with Metallica, and they'relooking for Joey Jordan, and
they found my tour bus. And Iwalk on the bus first, and
everyone's pissed because I'm anhour late for our bus call
because we have to get to thenext show. And I walk in, and
Joey's like, where the box? Andsoon as I walk in, Lars Ulrich

(34:16):
walks in behind me, and Joey'slike, what? And I was like, I'm
sorry, I'm late, but I broughtMetallica. And then we stayed
another three hours and almostmissed the show completely
because they partied. So thoseare the are the crazy stories
that I've accumulated in my inmy career. There's many, many

(34:38):
stories like that.

That's fucking crazy. So wait, so Metallica,
Guns and Roses, Nikki sex, youmentioned So did you ever, you
said you're friends with Rob thedrummer of Skid Row? What about
Sebastian? Did you ever meethim? Or I bet

Sebastian a couple times. We have a lot of mutual
friends, but I don't, I don'tknow Sebastian. I. Well enough
to have any crazy party stories.
I think we're both kind of pastthose days, but if we would have
ever crossed paths maybe 1015,years ago, oh my god, we could
have done some damage. I knowit. It's been a crazy story,
but, uh, but I've met most ofmost of my heroes, and most of

(35:15):
my heroes know who I am by name.
It's a crazy thing. Like, Ireally have achieved my my
dream, and and, and my, myheroes. They know that I, I wear
my influences on my sleeve.

Yeah, that's amazing. Do you think, I mean,
do you think it's just, it's,you continue to do it too? Like
it's just all this hard work andjust keep churning out and just
keep making records and keep ontouring, is that, is that a big
piece of it? Because some peopleclash and then they disappear.

I don't know anything else to do. I don't
like, I like the when this touris over with, because I've been
out for a long time, I'm goingto enjoy going home for a month,
but by the end of that, end ofthis month, I'm going to be
ready to go out again. I knowit. I know it. It's just, I'm
I'm like that. I like recording.
I like putting new music outthis. This keeps me busy, and it

(36:08):
doesn't feel like work to me,even though I do work hard on
it, it doesn't feel like workbecause I enjoy it. But I don't
know, man, I just I I'm in agood place right now and and
I've really delivered a strongrecord, like, My fans are just,
they're hyped about it, like,it's, they like the singles, but
they like the everything elsebetter. Yeah.

I mean, obviously, when you got when you joined
murder dolls, like, I wouldwould you say that's like, your
big break, like, you kind ofmade it at that point, you're in
a band with Joey Jordans, andthen it's just you've continued
it on. But so to get to thatpoint, because Joey sought you
out because he liked your otherband, right? Like so that band
up first, right? How long did ittake you to go from when you

(36:53):
start music to when you get thatcall from Joey? How many years?
How many years that was? Joey

called me when I was 25 and I started playing
music when I was 15. So 10years, so 10 years of me
starting to play my first show,recording my first demos. And
then my band, Frankenstein dragqueens, recorded four albums,
starting up when I was 19 yearsold, and we recorded the very

(37:18):
last one. Right? I just finishedrecording it right when Joey
called me. And so, yeah, I spent10 years trying to learn what I,
what I, how to do this and kindof, you know, I was holding the
Wednesday 13 name since, like,1995 and I, I, that's where I

(37:40):
was at that point. So, so, yeah,it took me about 1010, years to
to get my get my big break. Didyou ever

think in that 10 year period? Did you ever get
disillusioned and think ofgiving up or just quitting? And
I mean, did you have those?

I mean, yeah. I mean, I, yeah, definitely. I
mean, I, I thought, right beforeI got out of high school, I got
in a rip magazine, and I got incircus magazine and the rock on
the the up and coming bands, andI was convinced, soon as I got
out of school, here's a tour busrecord deal, boom, it's going to
happen. Well, it didn't happenat all, and I had to get a job,

(38:21):
and it sucked, and I hated it somuch that fired me. I was like,
Man, I gotta get out of here. Iwant to just so I just really
focused on my band and and keptbuilding that. And that got the
attention of Joey Jordan, andthen he had a record deal, and
he had his name already in the,you know, with with flip notch.

(38:42):
So it was, it was a easyinvitation to say yes, you know,
just because I had, you know,been struggling all those years,
and he was my, he was my ticketout of there. Wow,

that's so it's just so inspiring. I love hearing
stories like that because, like,it inspires me to keep going.
Because I, you know, when I as apodcaster, like, I fuck up all
the time and have badinterviews, and then you're just
like, God, maybe it's justfucking quit. And then you hear
stories like this, of peoplethat it's like, you just kept
going. I and

the same thing when murder dolls came to an
end, when Joey went back to slipknot, everybody that was in the
band, you know, Ben, Eric AC me,we all were faced with the harsh
reality of this is over with fora while. What do you do now? And
what I was doing before that wasa regular job, and I'm like

(39:33):
that. I'm not going back tothat. So I went in my basement
and wrote Transylvania 90210,that's what I did, I want? And I
wrote all those songs prettyquick, and I was already signed
a road runner, and I went to himand said, Hey, will you put this
out? And they said, no, okay,I'll find someone else to put it

(39:53):
out. And miraculously, someonehit me up. Said, I they want to
release a Wednesday, 13. And boxset on my old band. And I said,
Okay, well, how would you like aWednesday, 13 album? They said,
Okay, and they offered me acontract, and then I presented
it to Road Runner because theylegally had my name. And when I
presented them that contract,they said, Oh, somebody else

(40:16):
wants you. Well now we'll takeit, and that's how I got my
first record deal is becausesomeone else wanted me and they
didn't want to give it up.
That's so weird. They originallytold me, No, yeah, but, but I'm
not bagging on Road Runner, thatI love it, that they took my
first album because I was whereI wanted to go anyway. So I
basically just got my way. Ijust had to have someone else
show some interest. So it'sjust, it's been a crazy story.

(40:40):
I'm going to write a book oneday and tell stories like this,
because there it's it literallyis filled with craziness like
this all around the world, andmost of my heroes are littered
into it, everyone from who Imentioned today to people that I
haven't mentioned, and typonegative and and newer bands,
Lama, God, Papa, roach, justeverybody I partied with and

(41:06):
toured with. Iron made and typonegative, so many stories that
are just insane.

Who's the craziest band to party with? Like, I
mean, obviously, maybe Mollycrew back in the day, but you
know, you didn't party with themin the 80s. So like during your
era, who was the craziest band?
My band

really 100% 100% my band. And different era my
band, when we had the four piecelineup of racy on drums, Eric
and our bassist, snake, was theabsolute madness level. Motley
Crue, the dirt times 10 damn andmurder dolls. The first album

(41:51):
rivaled that too. We were the wewere the craziest, and then we
hung out with other bands. Now,my favorite band to ever party
with was typo negative. That wasmy that was my favorite because
we were all kiss fans. And afterthe show, they would just have a
kiss party after their and justplay kiss music, and we just had
an endless supply of alcohol,and just screaming kiss at the

(42:15):
top of our lungs. And it wasawesome as we hanging with my
friends and one of my favoritebands and listen to one of my
listen to one of my favoritebands.

Wow, yeah, that does sound like a lot. Let's
live the life. I can't wait toread

this book if it ever comes. I need to do one. I
need to and

then they can make it into a movie. Yes, yes. Who
would you want to play you inthe movie?

Oh, man, I don't know, ladies like Johnny Depp,
let's get him lined up for hehe's still holding his age well,
too. So I don't know I, Ireally, I've ever that's a
really good question. I don'tknow who would, who would play
me in a movie? Yeah? I'll haveto get back to you on that one.

Yeah, make it like a mini series, though, that's
what I've noticed. Like with thedirt, I was, it was nice. But I
was like, they really shouldhave had this be, like, eight
episodes. Like, I want to seethe Yeah, like, from, like, the
book is great. Yeah,

the book is amazing. I love the book. Not so
much the movie.

Yeah. Have you read some? Have you read Gary Holtz
book? That one's really good,too. I

haven't. I need to check out some of these books. I
saw that he had releasedsomething recently, and it looks

cool. Yeah, it's kind of, it's almost in some
ways, crazier than the dirt,like, some of the stuff he and
his thing was, like, because hewas in Exodus, and then that
band kind of, like, fell apart,and then he was, like, working,
like, construction or roofing orsomething, or and like, way down
and out. And then he's inSlayer. So it's, like, such a
crazy comeback story. It'samazing. This,

this business, is littered with stories like that.
I mean, it's, it's crazy. That'swhat I just said. No one ever is
is Down and Out in the game. Youmight have periods in your
career that are that are maybelow. I've got them in mind. But
like, I was talking to someonethe other day about Wendy O
Williams with the plasmatics,and how tragic that she took her

(44:05):
own life. But what if she washere right now, she'd be
idolized, I feel like, yes,

by women. You know, that's like, that sucks.

That sucks. And then and a total opposite thing,
Millie Vanilli, that guy thatthat killed himself. The other
other guy, yeah, the other guyin Millie Vanilli plays concerts
now with a full band behind him,and it sounds awesome, but 90%
of the music industry is doingwhat Millie Vanilli did, and

that's what I know because I had, I had a young MC
who's a rapper, and he openedfor Millie Vanilli, and he told
me, he goes, he goes, dude, likeevery band was doing that back
in the day, they're just theones that got caught.

Yes, this is and it's insane to know that that
guy took his life of somethingthat now is not the same. You
know. So it's just just crazyhow life works. So I tell people
all the time they get depressedbecause I'm a victim of doing
that stuff too. Is it's like,it's, you know, you're having a

(45:09):
bad day. You don't have to havea bad life. You know, don't let
it ruin, ruin your day. And,yeah, it's crazy.

Well, that's an irony to me, though. Is like,
you know, you talk about, backto your song, like, when the
devil commands, like, you know,it's like, 666, and like, but to
me, when I was a kid, heavymetal, it was weird. It like,
got out my emotions, like therage and stuff, and I went to
church. I tried that. I waslike, Oh, let me try church and
Jesus. And it just wasn't forme. I'm not saying that it's not

(45:38):
for other people, but, you know,heavy metal saved me more. And
I'm sure that a lot of kids havetold you stories that their your
music saved them. It's,

every day I do my VIPs every day, and they're,
they're packed. And it's, it's,it's teenagers and older fans
that started listening back whenthe first record came out. I
mean, it's a mix. I can't sayit's just those type of but it's
a mix of just people just going,Look, I mean, every day, like
people almost break down andcry, and most of them do cry,

(46:09):
will say that your music gotthem through. They wouldn't be
here without my music. And it'sand that's I used to giggle back
in the day when I first hear it,because I think about my songs
like Rambo and silly stuff likethat, but they're just speaking
like in a hole, that I provide aescape for them with what I do.
And that's so that's a very coolthing. You know? I didn't think

(46:33):
about that, that stuff when Ifirst started doing this. I just
wanted to make music that wascool and people would like, I
didn't think about changepeople's lives or becoming a
soundtrack for people's lives.

Oh, no, that's totally true. I totally
understand that, not from, Idon't know what it's like from
your perspective, because Ican't make music, but as a fan,
I totally understand that. Like,when I was a kid, Guns and Roses
Skid Row. I mean, it was justlike, those are kind of my
friends. Like, in a lot of ways,

they're your friends. And you go back and you
just like on what they say onthat movie Almost Famous, put
your when you're by yourself, goto your record player. Put this
on. Listen to your friends. Andevery night I have a playlist
called hair scare on my Spotify,and it's all of my stuff from
Skid Row to bang Tango to Wasp,to Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper,

(47:24):
motley crew, all that stuff. Andthat's what I listened to, and,
you know, and to to go back onthis, this album, you know, a
year or so ago, when, before Istarted writing this, I was
listening to that same playlist,and our bass player, Troy, said,
Said, Wednesday, what's our newalbum going to sound like? And I
said, like this playlist. Boom.
Here we are, year and a halflater, and there's my playlist.

(47:49):
No,

I love it. I agree too. I do think that a lot of
the songs sound like that. Theone that I was curious about,
decapitation, it almost soundslike a 60s, like Doo Wop, like
you're, yeah, covering a 60s doop song with, obviously, with
metal lyrics and in a metalsound to it. But it's, there's
this back, backing thing to itthat's like a, almost like a

(48:14):
chorus. I love it. It's a greatsong.

It went Beach Boys real quick. Yeah, you know it
just again. It was a silly songin the beginning, and when it
got to that part, it got evensillier. And it was, you know,
anything worth doing is worthoverdoing. And that song was
just excess song. So I'm like,let's just it's a silly song.
It's catchy. And that part was areally cool surprise just how

(48:39):
well it worked. And yeah, it's,it's, it's, so far it's a fan
favorite. I knew it would be,and it was a song that I
literally broke in five minutes

that is so crazy.
Why are all the best songs? It'slike maybe people overthink
them. To my remember

writing that song I was watching a YouTube
compilation. It saiddecapitation compilation, and it
was a bunch of people gettingtheir heads cut off in famous
movies. The main one was the wasthe decapitation scene in The
Omen. And I had my acousticguitar, and I wrote that riff,
and I went decapitation, and Iran the house, and I played it

(49:22):
for my lady, and said, I listento this. And she she laughed,
and she said, that sounds like aWednesday 13 song. That's

That's amazing. I love it to what do you have any
songs that are complicated,like, what's the most
complicated song that you'vewritten? Oh, I

could go, but it'd be on other records. But nothing
on this record was wascomplicated. I don't like I
don't make anything. If it getscomplicated to me, I get
frustrated and I get rid of itgoes away. So anything that was
complicated never, never madeit. There's some, there's
definitely some songs that havesome layers and some different
techniques and stuff. But Idon't know if there's. Anything

(50:00):
that's too complex that I'vedone in my in my past. Alright,

cool. Well, the new album is it? When does it come
out? I got to listen. It's

out. It's out.
It's out. Yeah, it came outFriday, no apologies. Came out
Thursday, the day before, andyeah, it's out. Fans are loving
it. It's still fresh. You know,it's still not even a week old,
and the fans are, they love it.
It's, it's the best reactionbecause, you know, I've had this

(50:30):
record done since last year, asfar as the music goes, and just
to get it out and to haveeverybody praise it like almost,
it's almost too good, the praisethat we're getting from it. So I
knew I delivered a good record.
But I was, I was right. Theyloved it.

Yeah, I think it's the best thing that you've for
me. Like this is, like, right upmy alley. Like it does sound
like that. Your influence is thewhat you call it hair scare
playlist, yeah,

I just called it hair scare because I'm always
that public. Can I listen tothat sounds? No, I think it's
just my just something I've justbeen adding songs to. And it
literally is, like I said, it'sall those bands I mentioned.
It's everything, and from thepopular ones, from like Wasp to
the obscure, more obscure bandslike vain and bang tango and and

(51:19):
tough and those, those bands.
So, yeah, it's just what Ilisten to. And I listen to it
before every show, and I used tolisten to it after the shows
too. It's just sort of my that'swhere I go back to. It's my
happy place.

Yeah, no, I love those kind of I love, like,
dangerous toys. That's, I thinkthat's underrated. I

thought, oh yeah, are are you wearing a dangerous
toy shirt today? Oh no, our bassplayer usually has a dangerous
toy shirt on. They have it ontoday. He's San Antonio. Yeah,

I have a T shirt and a sweatshirt. Yeah, another,
another,

another band. It's a big influence on me. Jason,
the front guy is a friend ofours, and, yeah, man, it's, it's
cool. I'm also friends with allmy hair metal guys too. I'll
become friends with all thesepeople. That's

super cool. Well, awesome. People can get the new
album now. They can. They canbuy a vinyl copy too. I've seen
that comes with, like, all thesestickers and postcards and all
these little gadgets.

Yeah, there's, there's a couple variation. I
think that deluxe version issold out, but there is another
version. There's a color, newcolor version that just came out
recently. So there's differentformats. Check it out, napalm
records, official Wednesday 13com to get all the info, links
to all that stuff. And that'sit, man. It's, it's out, and
I'm, I'm excited for people tohear

it, yeah. And we'll catch you on tour. You still got
some shows left in the the touror more

shows left? Yeah.
And then we're home for a bit,and then we go out on the UK
European trick of this.

Okay, nice. I'll tell my buddy to cut you, and
maybe he can have you on hispodcast too and promote those
shows. Yeah. Okay, cool. Thanksso much. I'll see you Wednesday.
Thank you. All

right, dude, ladies. All right, bye, bye,
bye.

THEME SONG (53:00):
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