Wednesday 13

Wednesday 13

Joseph Poole, better known as Wednesday 13 (born August 12, 1976), is a rock musician from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is most famous for his role as the frontman of the Murderdolls. He has also played in several other bands, including Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Wednesday 13, Bourbon Crow and most recently Gunfire 76.

Poole currently resides in Landis, North Carolina. Poole is a huge fan of campy horror movie parodies and mildly macabre TV shows such as The Munsters and The Addams Family (the latter being the source of his "Wednesday" moniker), which influence his tongue-in-cheek lyrics. He also created a set of cartoon characters with his wife called the Thirteen Dead Kids, which was released as a clothing line. A book was supposed to be released, though this was halted due to Poole's touring schedule and the lack of publisher.

Musical career

Psycho Opera and Maniac Spider Trash

Poole's musical career began in 1992 when he played guitar in the band Mizery which later became Psycho Opera which featured guitarist Abby Normal, drummer Jeff Washam, bassist Michael Patrick and lead vocalist Todd Cage. Poole left the band to form Maniac Spider Trash as lead vocalist alongside Abby Normal (again on guitar) and Michael Patrick (also filling his earlier role as bassist), they were joined by Sicko Zero on drums. Poole fronted the band from 1992 through 1996. The band released one EP entitled Dumpster Mummies on Dead Hell Records in 1994. This was followed by an album titled Murder Happy Fairytales in 1995 which remains unreleased. The band then disbanded. Dumpster Mummies EP will be re-issued 5th October 2010.

Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13

Main article: Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13

Poole went on to form the Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, which included Maniac Spider Trash's guitarist and drummer; Abby Normal and Sicko Zero, respectively. The band featured several different guitarists, bassists and drummers over the years leaving Poole to continue as the only original member. Sicko Zero was the last member to quit the band. Shortly after Poole was forced to form another line up before joining The Murderdolls. Poole not only formed FDQ, he also wrote and produced every album. Between 1996 and 2002, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 released five studio albums and six EPs with various revolving members. They were also featured on tribute albums for Alice Cooper, and Sweet. Poole stopped performing as FDQ in 2002 when Poole joined Murderdolls.

In May 2006, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 announced their reunion, which was followed by a tour with one of Poole's idols, Alice Cooper, and a box set of the band's complete discography, entitled Little Box of Horrors. The band featured Sicko Zero on drums and former FDQ guitarist Abby Normal on bass. The band broke up once again shortly after the box set was released.

Murderdolls

Main article: Murderdolls

Poole was contacted by Joey Jordison of Slipknot with the intention of joining Jordison's new band, Murderdolls. Originally formed as a collaboration between Jordison and Tripp Eisen of Static-X, Poole was revealed as the driving force of the band after he switched from bass guitar duties to lead vocalist and frontman.

The Murderdolls released one EP in 2002, Right to Remain Violent, to promote their forthcoming album of the same year, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls. Most of the songs on the album were rerecorded versions of songs by Poole's previous band, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13. A total of two singles were released from the LP including a cover of Billy Idol's White Wedding. The album reached #40 on the UK album chart.

Murderdolls played their last show on January 17, 2004 in Corona, California. After this they went on an indefinite hiatus with Jordison returning to Slipknot. Since this hiatus begun, both Poole and Jordison maintained that the band did not split up for good, and that they would return to record a second album together in the future.

In February 2010, whilst embarking on a solo tour in Australia, Poole spoke with Drum Media saying "Right now, it's the worst week, and I keep getting asked that question: 'What are my future plans? The next step after this?' It's kind of hard to say. We're possibly going to do another Wednesday record, record it in the summer and have it out around Halloween. Or the other option is... we're in talks right now to do another Murderdolls album. So right now I don't know which of the two is going to happen, of course if Murderdolls is possible then we have to do that, it's gotta be the number one priority." He adds "It's just talks right now. The whole Murderdolls thing, it's the band that me and Joey put together, and right now we're having the same conversations that we were having in the very beginning of the band, 'What direction, what kind of music are we doing this time?' All the small talk stuff like that, so it's far away from getting in that room with the full band or something like that - right now we're just trying to get a game plan together."

In March 2010 Jordison officially revealed to Kerrang Magazine that Murderdolls had officially reunited with him and Poole working with producer Chris ‘Zeuss’ Harris. Joey said about the reunion “It’s been an ongoing conversation between Wednesday and I from 2006 until now. We were bored with everything out there, and thought we had something to piss people off and shake things up. Everything is such a product or a fucking formula these days... Fuck formula! Fuck the norm!”

Wednesday 13

After the Murderdolls went on hiatus in 2004, Poole went on a solo tour of the United Kingdom in March 2004, called the "Graveyard A Go-Go" tour. For his live performances he was joined by members of Florida horror punk band Death Becomes You, though this was not meant to be permanent.

Poole returned to North Carolina in June 2004 he began to put together a more permanent band, with whom he would perform with under the Wednesday 13 name. He brought in a former Frankenstein Drag Queens member Ikky on guitar. The band took heavily influenced by the likes of KISS and Alice Cooper, while at the same time not straying far from Poole's previous horror punk related projects. In September 2004 Ikky was replaced with Matt Montgomery also known as Piggy D. Together the Wednesday 13 band toured Europe in November 2004 on the "Look What the Bats Dragged In" tour, some of the dates were supported by English rockers Viking Skull.

In 2005 after touring, Poole released his debut album "Transylvania 90210", and made a promotional video for the track "I Walked with a Zombie", the video depicted the band members in footage from the original Night of the Living Dead horror movie. Following the albums release the group embarked on a tour of the United Kingdom; "Tour from the Crypt". Also in 2005 they played on the main-stage of Download Festival at Donington, the group also opened some shows for their idol, Alice Cooper around Halloween of 2005.

Poole parted ways with Roadrunner Records, before signing a new deal with Rykodisc, with whom he released Fang Bang, the follow-up to "Transylvania 90210", on September 12, 2006. The European version of the album contains a cover of Motorhead's "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." The Japanese edition features the same track listing as the European CD, along with an extra bonus song: "Good Day to Die". The American edition features "Burn the Flames", a Roky Erickson cover as it's sole bonus track.

Skeletons was released on April 29, 2008, available exclusively through Hot Topic locations in the United States. It was released in the UK on May 12, 2008 by DR2 Records a new subdivision of Demolition Records. The album was heavily promoted on the social networking site, Myspace.

On November 14, 2008, Poole released his first live album entitled Fuck It, We'll Do It Live. The CD/DVD package was recorded in 2008 at Crocodile Rock in Allentown, Pennsylvania. For distribution of this album, Wednesday 13 chose to release it exclusively through Hot Topic, just as he had for his previous album Skeletons.

Bourbon Crow

Main article: Bourbon Crow

Since 2005 Poole, under the Alias of Buck Bourbon, has also maintained an outlaw country side project: Bourbon Crow, which features former Wednesday 13 bassist Rayen Belchere (Kid Kid) under the alias of Jessie Crow. Wednesday 13 was in contact with former drummer Jeff Washam from Psycho Opera and was going to tour on the East Coast project. Scheduling prevented JW from doing the tour. The band released their first album in 2006, titled Highway to Hangovers, and their second album Long Way To The Bottom was released in 2009.

Gunfire 76

Main article: Gunfire 76

Poole teamed up with Todd Youth (of the The Chelsea Smiles) to write and record a CD with, as Poole has mentioned in interviews, a more of a rock sound and without any horror themes, under the new band name; Gunfire 76. Rough mixes of the albums title track Casualties & Tragedies were uploaded onto the bands myspace on August 12, 2009 for the fans to get an idea of what the band sounded like and the album debuted on October 6, 2009. Gunfire 76 are currently touring December with Bullets and Octane in the first blood tour.

Discography

Maniac Spider Trash

• 1994: Dumpster Mummies
• 1995: Murder Happy Fairytales (Unreleased)
• 2010: Dumpster Mummies (Reissue)

Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13

• 1996: The Late, Late, Late Show
• 1998: Night of the Living Drag Queens
• 2000: Songs From The Recently Deceased
• 2001: Viva Las Violence
• 2004: 6 Years, 6 Feet Under the Influence
• 2006: Little Box of Horrors

Wednesday 13

• 2005: Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying, and the Dead
• 2006: Fang Bang
• 2008: Skeletons
• 2008: Bloodwork
• 2008: Fuck It, We'll Do It Live

Bourbon Crow

• 2006: Highway to Hangovers
• 2009: Long Way to the Bottom

Gunfire 76

• 2009: Casualties & Tragedies

Filmography

• 2008: Weirdo A Go-Go
• 2008: Fuck It, We'll Do It Live

Tours

Continuing the horror comedy theme, the tours Poole headlines often sport humorous names:

Date	Tour name	Regions	Named support
March - October 2004:	Wednesday 13's Graveyard a Go-Go	United States Europe	Engerica
November 2004:	Look What the Bats Dragged in	Europe
April 2005:	13's April Ghouls	United States Europe	The 69 Eyes
April - May 2005:	From Here to Horrorwood US'	United States	Deadstar Assembly
May - June 2005:	European Tour (Festivals)	Europe
September 2005:	6 Feet Down Under	Australia
September - October 2005:	Damned in Japan	Japan
October 2005:	Haunted Halloween	United States	King of Creeps, Alice Cooper
November 2005:	Tour from the Crypt	Europe
July - October 2006:	Till Death Do Us Party World	United States Europe	Sign, Betty Curse
January - February 2007:	Wednesday 13's American Werewolves	United States	Vains of Jenna
March - May 2007:	Wednesday 13's American Werewolves	Europe	McQueen, The Poisoning
June - July 2007:	MonsTour	United States
October 2007:	Ghouls on Parade	United States	Trashlight Vision, AntiProduct
November 2007:	U.K. Fan Bang	Europe	McQueen
January - March 2008:	All American Massacre	United States	The AKA's, Creature Feature
May - November 2008:	SkeleTour	United States Europe	Sign
Feb - March 2009:	For Those About to Rot	United States	Dommin
March 2009:	March of the Damned	Japan Europe	Glamour Of The Kill, The Chelsea Smiles
February 2010:	Valentine's Massacre Down Under 2010	Australia

External links

• Wednesday 13's official website
• Wednesday 13's MySpace