Wednesday 13, and his more high profile project Murderdolls, are not known for their subtlety. Dubbed ‘horror punk’, his music mixes violent and moody tendencies with lightly gothic elements, the rapid pace of punk, and occasional sparks of overblown metal.
Tonight, in a show focused entirely away from Wednesday’s solo career (instead he’s performing tracks from the aforementioned Murderdolls and the occasional punchy moment from earlier project Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13), the performance is as ‘in your face’ as you might expect. It’s a style of music that doesn’t often appear in Dublin, at least not at even this level of venue, and yet aside from the music, it’s the gig set up itself that feels unusual
For one, Opium’s sound doesn’t travel well to the back of the venue. In fact, it’s distinctly louder in the toilets, located behind the stage, than it is at the back of the crowd. Not necessarily the worst thing (the front has no such problems) but odd. Second, Wednesday’s merch is priced only in pounds, and can be paid for only in cash (presumably not sterling cash, but we didn’t check). It’s a combination that seems almost designed not to make any sales. And then there’s what we can only assume is a stage front fan, causing Wednesday’s hair to flick around as he stands high above the audience, delivering his suicide-tinged lyrics. That last bit, by the way, is quite cool, making the performance look a lot like it’s taking place in a music video.
The oddities can be put aside, of course, in light of what is in its finer moments quite an enthralling performance, with occasional interludes for stories and most of the tracks greeted down the front with a mix of devil horns and middle fingers. One of those stories is about how Wednesday came to be a member of the short lived but influential Murderdolls. Slipknot star Joey Jordison, the story goes, left a message on his answer phone, and within a few days Wednesday was on his first ever flights, shortly after 9/11, to Iowa to make the record. The name was later picked from a logo doodle in the late Jordison’s expansive journal, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The cult horror punks are very much the focus here, with ‘Slit My Wrist’, ‘Chapel Of Blood’ and ‘Blood Stained Valentine’ all dropped early in what at times feels like a tribute to Jordison. Wednesday is very much the focus, his backing band moody and visually on point, but also static, with the pulsating bass perhaps the stand out.
As expressive as the overall sound is, the obvious criticism of the style of Wednesday’s output is that it becomes samey quite quickly. In fact, the Frankenstein Drag Queens tracks, some of which have quite a pointedly different dynamic to them – often more rapid-fire and more comic than doom-laden – punctuate the set nicely as a break to the same-ish vibe of the Murderdolls stuff. ‘Die My Bride’ and ‘Welcome to the Strange’ are particularly throbbing and sharp.
All in, Wednesday is certainly about the showmanship, which is excellent. There’s a dynamic to this sound that feels like a distinct ‘thing’: it’s not really punk or metal, but somewhere quirkily and distinctly in the middle ground, overdubbed with tales drawn from murderous thoughts and dark corners. Do we like it, live? Truthfully, it feels like in a 40 minute, rapid-fire and dynamic set, it would have been sublime, but in a 19-track marathon the shine does start to come off by the close.
Still, Wednesday 13 sits well outside of the norm of the Dublin gig scene and his arrival could hardly be more timely as we edge into Halloween week. This show wasn’t the most intoxicating, but it was memorable for its themes and its energy, as well as the most well-chosen of encore-opening cover, a snarling version of Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’. Not perfect, by any means, but we certainly welcome the diversion.
