Interview with WEDNESDAY 13 of GUNFIRE 76
January 2010
By Lena Lamoray
GUNFIRE 76 is the new band from the musical mind of WEDNESDAY 13 (MUDERDOLLS, FRANKENSTEIN DRAG QUEENS FROM PLANET 13, WEDNESDAY 13). WEDNESDAY 13 wanted to change it up a bit and put together a no frills and to the point pure rock band. WEDNESDAY 13 submitted to an interview to talk about his new band, GUNFIRE 76 so read it and check them out on tour and try to nab one of those special edition cds.
Lena: GUNFIRE 76 has been labeled as a 70’s glam band. What elements lead to its classification as that?
WEDNESDAY 13: I guess that was in the press that it’s a 70’s glam band and that scene was based around image. It definitely has some 70’s qualities and I kind of based it on
the stuff I grew up on which was KISS, ALICE COOPER, SEX PISTOLS and that kind of stuff so I guess it has a 70’s vibe to it. As far as the 10 feet high hair it’s not really like that.
Lena: So, it’s not going to be a jumpsuit and chest hair showing kind of band?
WEDNESDAY 13: No, not at all. We have more common with the SEX PISTOLS.
Lena: We are talking more punk 70’s glam?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, it depends on how you look at it. It’s more like the SEX PISTOLS and NEW YORK DOLLS so you can say it’s glam or it’s punk, I don’t really know. It’s somewhere between all of that.
Lena: What is going to be your stage attire?
WEDNESDAY 13: Probably what I wear every day. I look like I’m about to go on stage every day. It is nowhere as thought out and contrived as my WEDNESDAY 13 solo stuff or any of that was. It is going to be fun to take the album out on tour and see what happens.
Lena: Are you going to be wearing basic makeup like just a bit of eyeliner?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, just basically what I wear every day. It’s not going to be that drastic of a change.
Lena: Will you be using props like in WEDNESDAY 13 or are you doing a whole new approach?
WEDNESDAY 13: The whole think is just going to be all about the music and the live band so no props or crazy stage shows just the band and the music and that is pretty much it.
Lena: Are you going to be doing a full US tour because I noticed that you have no dates near me?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, we are splitting it up and doing the West coast first and then we go to the UK and then in the middle of January we are doing the rest of the US which would be the West coast, the Midwest and your area and then Australia and Japan.
Lena: Do you have any funny or scary tour stories from your previous tours?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yes, all of them. Every tour you go on something stupid happens. I can tell you my horrifying tour story last time that it cost me almost four thousand dollars to get all the equipment from England to Japan. That was a very fun thing to find out about when you get to the airport. Funny stories well, it’s constantly a cluster fuck , what I do , and every story is usually funny and bad at the same time.
Lena: I know that JOE LETZ filled in for a couple of dates with WEDNESDAY 13 so how much fun was it working with him? I am required by law to ask a JOE LETZ question.
WEDNESDAY 13: That was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I was on a ton of pain killers and stuff during the time he played in the band and I barely remember it but we are still good friends. We were just texting each other yesterday. He’s a good guy.
Lena: Yeah and he’s an amazing drummer.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah!
Lena: What was it like working with TODD YOUTH?
WEDNESDAY 13: Very quick. Basically, we just started talking about the idea about GUNFIRE 76 and he came to me with an idea and his band was opening up for WEDNESDAY 13 and we hung out. Once we got off the tour he sent me a couple of ideas by email and I would send lyrics back and we worked on the project for a little bit. At the end of the day when it came down to it he wasn’t able to tour with the band so he just contributed through co-writing a couple of tracks. We didn’t get to work in the studio or anything like that.
Lena: Are you looking forward to performing live as just a vocalist and not be stuck behind a guitar?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, I’m nervous about it too because a lot of people that play guitar and are the front man as well kind of rely on that guitar as sort of a crutch and I have done that over the years. It is a challenge to not look like you are naked onstage to those people that are used to you playing guitar. It’s a challenge but I am looking forward to changing it up a bit. There are times when I just don’t ever want to be just the front guy and I want to play guitar and then this past year I didn’t want to play guitar at all I just wanted to be the front man. It’s kind of a love hate relationship with it. I’m looking forward to it and kind of not at the same time.
Lena: Are you going to work on some more stage moves? Some splits?
WEDNESDAY 13: I guess, if that’s what you want to call them. I’m working on my dance moves. Yes, I’m going to work on some splits and high air kicks.
Lena: Have you ever seen SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS?
WEDNESDAY 13: I’ve heard of them and I may have seen a video. Are those guys good kickers.
Lena: Oh yeah, that guy (JUSTIN TRANTER) is great he does everything and in high heels.
WEDNESDAY 13: Wow, I will have to check them out.
Lena: Yeah, they are crazy talented.
Lena: Name one thing that you like that would surprise everyone?
WEDNESDAY 13: I like the tv show FRIENDS. I own all the boxed sets of every season. People may not know that about me.
Lena: How about the GOLDEN GIRLS?
WEDNESDAY 13: I don’t own the boxed sets but I am a GOLDEN GIRLS fan.
Lena: I pegged you as a GOLDEN GIRLS fan.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, I don’t own the boxed set, yet but someday.
Lena: How did you assemble your live band?
WEDNESDAY 13: It’s just like anything I’ve ever done where unfortunately, it’s not a band from my hometown where we can get together three times a week and rehearse. It’s never been easy like that for me. I’ve always found guys and people that live in other states and it sucks to fly people in but with this GUNFIRE 76 thing I wanted to find players more than anything. In the past I always checked out people’s looks to see if he would fit in where as this time I looked for more players as opposed to the image and I got lucky and I have some good looking gentleman to play with that are also really good players. That has been a really good thing. It’s a bit more technical although I hate to use a word like that but I definitely needed some players for this as opposed to my previous stuff.
Lena: It is really hard to get good looking people that can actually play.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, that’s the tough part. Look good or fake it.
Lena: Any guest stars on the album?
WEDNESDAY 13: Nope just me, I’m the only guest star on it. It would have been easy to do that. I’ve met a lot of friends over the years and there were always people here and there where you would say it would be cool to get this guy on it but every single time it comes down to recording I’m in such crunched time in getting things done that I don’t have any time. On my last record, SKELETONS I had planned and booked ALICE COOPER and he was supposed to do the intro on it and when it got to the time to do it we couldn’t make it work. That’s always a bummer but oh well.
Lena: It’s always tough working with other people’s schedules.
WEDNESDAY 13: Trying to get someone to go in and record when they are in another state is a whole ton of money and then there is that question if their appearance is really worth all the extra money that you put into it. There are a few people that it is worth doing that but some people, no it’s not worth it.
Lena: Can’t they just send you the tracks?
WEDNESDAY 13: It’s me sending them the tracks to sing on and then they can send it to me but you may not get the best performance and then trying to match it up with my vocals. It doesn’t work that easy.
Lena: I know a lot of people have home studios and can work it out on their own.
WEDNESDAY 13: Right.
Lena: Is your album available in cd or just digital downloads?
WEDNESDAY 13: It is available in both and I didn’t make a deal with Hot Topic like I did with my last one. There is a limited edition that has a kind of chrome foil cover that is different than the regular disc.
Lena: That’s good. CDs are a dying art. So many people are just doing downloads and missing out on the creative packaging.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, a lot of people don’t really care about it. I have to do stuff for people that actually care about it. I’m a fan of both. I’ve bought stuff off of itunes and I buy CDs. I think it’s good to have a physical product in front of you to look at. I made the album artwork pretty boring because I didn’t want to do anything over the top like in the past so it’s a pretty normal cover but the inside is a booklet that I’m pretty excited about because it’s full on color and not like anything else I have ever put out before.
Lena: Do you have a lot of pictures in it?
WEDNESDAY 13: There is not one picture of me in it which is something that I did on purpose. There are a lot of photos of things and stuff that represents the things on the record but there are no photos of me whatsoever which is something that I have always wanted to do. I’m really trying not to base the whole band on being an image.
Lena: Yeah, I saw the whole article about your hair and how you removed your dreads and all that stuff.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, people were a bit bent out of shape about it.
Lena: I think you look better with normal hair.
WEDNESDAY 13: Well, thank you. It feels a lot better. I had them for eleven years and I did my time with them so they are gone.
Lena: They have to be itchy?
WEDNESDAY 13: It wasn’t so much that it just got to a point that I was just keeping an image up that I wasn’t happy with myself and I was keeping it for the sake of other people because you think they are going to not like another look. I just got sick of being a slave to the look so I chopped them off.
Lena: Are you going to be touring with ACEY SLADE’s band?
WEDNESDAY 13: I haven’t spoken to ACEY in awhile. Right now we are just booking our January run and I have a couple bands in mind and nothing official. I haven’t heard from ACEY or what his band is doing.
Lena: They are kind of like a gothic rock band.
Fan question: What inspired you to do GUNFIRE 76?
WEDNESDAY 13: I guess I just got bored with what I was doing. I mean, when you do something for as long as I have and have been on tour so long as I normally do and you play the same songs and do the same thing every single day for like four or five years it will start to wear on you. It’s going to wear on you physically, mentally and just everything. I remember the last tour I was on I was so fucking burnt out on everything I’ve been doing and was like man I am just going to go home and write different and change everything up and when I got home that’s when everything changed. I started writing this record and I cut my hair and I got rid of things that I was fed up with basically as a result of boredom and just needing a change.
Lena: Do you have anything to say to the fans?
WEDNESDAY 13: The same thing I say every time, thank you because without the fans I am nothing. I can’t do it without them so thank you for giving me all you can and for making me able to go out and keep on doing what I love doing.
Lena: So, it’s not going to be a jumpsuit and chest hair showing kind of band?
WEDNESDAY 13: No, not at all. We have more common with the SEX PISTOLS.
Lena: We are talking more punk 70’s glam?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, it depends on how you look at it. It’s more like the SEX PISTOLS and NEW YORK DOLLS so you can say it’s glam or it’s punk, I don’t really know. It’s somewhere between all of that.
Lena: What is going to be your stage attire?
WEDNESDAY 13: Probably what I wear every day. I look like I’m about to go on stage every day. It is nowhere as thought out and contrived as my WEDNESDAY 13 solo stuff or any of that was. It is going to be fun to take the album out on tour and see what happens.
Lena: Are you going to be wearing basic makeup like just a bit of eyeliner?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, just basically what I wear every day. It’s not going to be that drastic of a change.
Lena: Will you be using props like in WEDNESDAY 13 or are you doing a whole new approach?
WEDNESDAY 13: The whole think is just going to be all about the music and the live band so no props or crazy stage shows just the band and the music and that is pretty much it.
Lena: Are you going to be doing a full US tour because I noticed that you have no dates near me?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, we are splitting it up and doing the West coast first and then we go to the UK and then in the middle of January we are doing the rest of the US which would be the West coast, the Midwest and your area and then Australia and Japan.
Lena: Do you have any funny or scary tour stories from your previous tours?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yes, all of them. Every tour you go on something stupid happens. I can tell you my horrifying tour story last time that it cost me almost four thousand dollars to get all the equipment from England to Japan. That was a very fun thing to find out about when you get to the airport. Funny stories well, it’s constantly a cluster fuck , what I do , and every story is usually funny and bad at the same time.
Lena: I know that JOE LETZ filled in for a couple of dates with WEDNESDAY 13 so how much fun was it working with him? I am required by law to ask a JOE LETZ question.
WEDNESDAY 13: That was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I was on a ton of pain killers and stuff during the time he played in the band and I barely remember it but we are still good friends. We were just texting each other yesterday. He’s a good guy.
Lena: Yeah and he’s an amazing drummer.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah!
Lena: What was it like working with TODD YOUTH?
WEDNESDAY 13: Very quick. Basically, we just started talking about the idea about GUNFIRE 76 and he came to me with an idea and his band was opening up for WEDNESDAY 13 and we hung out. Once we got off the tour he sent me a couple of ideas by email and I would send lyrics back and we worked on the project for a little bit. At the end of the day when it came down to it he wasn’t able to tour with the band so he just contributed through co-writing a couple of tracks. We didn’t get to work in the studio or anything like that.
Lena: Are you looking forward to performing live as just a vocalist and not be stuck behind a guitar?
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, I’m nervous about it too because a lot of people that play guitar and are the front man as well kind of rely on that guitar as sort of a crutch and I have done that over the years. It is a challenge to not look like you are naked onstage to those people that are used to you playing guitar. It’s a challenge but I am looking forward to changing it up a bit. There are times when I just don’t ever want to be just the front guy and I want to play guitar and then this past year I didn’t want to play guitar at all I just wanted to be the front man. It’s kind of a love hate relationship with it. I’m looking forward to it and kind of not at the same time.
Lena: Are you going to work on some more stage moves? Some splits?
WEDNESDAY 13: I guess, if that’s what you want to call them. I’m working on my dance moves. Yes, I’m going to work on some splits and high air kicks.
Lena: Have you ever seen SEMI PRECIOUS WEAPONS?
WEDNESDAY 13: I’ve heard of them and I may have seen a video. Are those guys good kickers.
Lena: Oh yeah, that guy (JUSTIN TRANTER) is great he does everything and in high heels.
WEDNESDAY 13: Wow, I will have to check them out.
Lena: Yeah, they are crazy talented.
Lena: Name one thing that you like that would surprise everyone?
WEDNESDAY 13: I like the tv show FRIENDS. I own all the boxed sets of every season. People may not know that about me.
Lena: How about the GOLDEN GIRLS?
WEDNESDAY 13: I don’t own the boxed sets but I am a GOLDEN GIRLS fan.
Lena: I pegged you as a GOLDEN GIRLS fan.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, I don’t own the boxed set, yet but someday.
Lena: How did you assemble your live band?
WEDNESDAY 13: It’s just like anything I’ve ever done where unfortunately, it’s not a band from my hometown where we can get together three times a week and rehearse. It’s never been easy like that for me. I’ve always found guys and people that live in other states and it sucks to fly people in but with this GUNFIRE 76 thing I wanted to find players more than anything. In the past I always checked out people’s looks to see if he would fit in where as this time I looked for more players as opposed to the image and I got lucky and I have some good looking gentleman to play with that are also really good players. That has been a really good thing. It’s a bit more technical although I hate to use a word like that but I definitely needed some players for this as opposed to my previous stuff.
Lena: It is really hard to get good looking people that can actually play.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, that’s the tough part. Look good or fake it.
Lena: Any guest stars on the album?
WEDNESDAY 13: Nope just me, I’m the only guest star on it. It would have been easy to do that. I’ve met a lot of friends over the years and there were always people here and there where you would say it would be cool to get this guy on it but every single time it comes down to recording I’m in such crunched time in getting things done that I don’t have any time. On my last record, SKELETONS I had planned and booked ALICE COOPER and he was supposed to do the intro on it and when it got to the time to do it we couldn’t make it work. That’s always a bummer but oh well.
Lena: It’s always tough working with other people’s schedules.
WEDNESDAY 13: Trying to get someone to go in and record when they are in another state is a whole ton of money and then there is that question if their appearance is really worth all the extra money that you put into it. There are a few people that it is worth doing that but some people, no it’s not worth it.
Lena: Can’t they just send you the tracks?
WEDNESDAY 13: It’s me sending them the tracks to sing on and then they can send it to me but you may not get the best performance and then trying to match it up with my vocals. It doesn’t work that easy.
Lena: I know a lot of people have home studios and can work it out on their own.
WEDNESDAY 13: Right.
Lena: Is your album available in cd or just digital downloads?
WEDNESDAY 13: It is available in both and I didn’t make a deal with Hot Topic like I did with my last one. There is a limited edition that has a kind of chrome foil cover that is different than the regular disc.
Lena: That’s good. CDs are a dying art. So many people are just doing downloads and missing out on the creative packaging.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, a lot of people don’t really care about it. I have to do stuff for people that actually care about it. I’m a fan of both. I’ve bought stuff off of itunes and I buy CDs. I think it’s good to have a physical product in front of you to look at. I made the album artwork pretty boring because I didn’t want to do anything over the top like in the past so it’s a pretty normal cover but the inside is a booklet that I’m pretty excited about because it’s full on color and not like anything else I have ever put out before.
Lena: Do you have a lot of pictures in it?
WEDNESDAY 13: There is not one picture of me in it which is something that I did on purpose. There are a lot of photos of things and stuff that represents the things on the record but there are no photos of me whatsoever which is something that I have always wanted to do. I’m really trying not to base the whole band on being an image.
Lena: Yeah, I saw the whole article about your hair and how you removed your dreads and all that stuff.
WEDNESDAY 13: Yeah, people were a bit bent out of shape about it.
Lena: I think you look better with normal hair.
WEDNESDAY 13: Well, thank you. It feels a lot better. I had them for eleven years and I did my time with them so they are gone.
Lena: They have to be itchy?
WEDNESDAY 13: It wasn’t so much that it just got to a point that I was just keeping an image up that I wasn’t happy with myself and I was keeping it for the sake of other people because you think they are going to not like another look. I just got sick of being a slave to the look so I chopped them off.
Lena: Are you going to be touring with ACEY SLADE’s band?
WEDNESDAY 13: I haven’t spoken to ACEY in awhile. Right now we are just booking our January run and I have a couple bands in mind and nothing official. I haven’t heard from ACEY or what his band is doing.
Lena: They are kind of like a gothic rock band.
Fan question: What inspired you to do GUNFIRE 76?
WEDNESDAY 13: I guess I just got bored with what I was doing. I mean, when you do something for as long as I have and have been on tour so long as I normally do and you play the same songs and do the same thing every single day for like four or five years it will start to wear on you. It’s going to wear on you physically, mentally and just everything. I remember the last tour I was on I was so fucking burnt out on everything I’ve been doing and was like man I am just going to go home and write different and change everything up and when I got home that’s when everything changed. I started writing this record and I cut my hair and I got rid of things that I was fed up with basically as a result of boredom and just needing a change.
Lena: Do you have anything to say to the fans?
WEDNESDAY 13: The same thing I say every time, thank you because without the fans I am nothing. I can’t do it without them so thank you for giving me all you can and for making me able to go out and keep on doing what I love doing.