I finally got to see the Murderdolls perform!
Well, okay it was one half of the band, Wednesday 13, performing Murderdolls songs, but that is now as close as I’ll ever get.
So first let’s discuss some backstory.
The Murderdolls was a horror punk band comprised of Wednesday 13 and Joey Jordison.
Joey Jordison of Slipknot fame, and Wednesday 13 has been in several bands (Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Gunfire 76, Maniac Spider Trash), but is most well known for performing as Wednesday 13.
So both had succesful careers at the time, but they wanted to make something a little more camp and horror movie focused, so they formed the Murderdolls in the early 2000s.
They only released two albums, and they were a whopping 8 years apart.
However, that was enough to get themselves a dedicated fanbase, and it’s easy to see why.
Murderdolls songs were very ‘I will do what I want and I don’t care what you think about it’, done in a fun heavy metal style, and with plenty of horror movie references and profanity thrown in.
That’s a winning combination, clearly leading to a very succesful band, right?
Band Changes
The band has been through a lot of drama in their time.
In 2002, they released their first album, Beyond The Valley of the Murderdolls.
The band first broke up only 2 years later, in 2004. Well, okay they didn’t break up, but they both went back to their main music careers and then just struggled to find time to get Murderdolls back together again.
They finally found the time to work together again in 2010, and the result of which was the album Women and Children Last.
While it was another great album (still very camp, but heavier and faster) the reunion of the band didn’t last too long, as they broke up again in 2011.
In fact the last time that Wednesday 13 and Joey Jordison spoke was at the final gig of the Murderdolls in 2011.
For unknown reasons, the two just didn’t speak again after that.
Then sadly, in 2021, Joey Jordison passed away and that was obviously the end of the band for good.
But now, a fitting 13 years since Murderdolls broke up (For the second time), Wednesday 13 is touring performing only Murderdolls material.
I saw him at the Roadmender in Northampton with my sister and our respective partners, and we all relived our angsty, teenage years
Support
There were two support acts for the Murderdolls – South of Salem and Hardcore Superstar.
We sadly missed the first band due to traffic, but arrived for Hardcore Superstar, who were very fun.
They, like Murderdolls, play very fun metal music that is more about chanty choruses than heavy mosh pit music.
Their song ‘We Don’t Celebrate Sundays’ is a certified banger and I suggest you all listen to it immediately.
So that set the stage for Wednesday 13 to perform Murderdolls music.
How did it go…?
The songs
The first song on the setlist was Chapel of Blood.
This was a bit of an odd choice, as it’s slower and less well-known than a lot of their songs.
Yes it has a slow build-up and maybe that’s suitable for a gig setting, but on the other hand, wouldn’t you want to open with something heavy, fast and well-known, to start with a high?
I wonder if it was so the audience had a chance to do photos and videos and then put their phones away for the more popular tracks.
Anyway, after a few songs, Wednesday took us through a history of the Murderdolls.
He explained how he and Joey came together to form the band and how their first album, Beyond Valley of the Murderdolls, was received.
He also told a fun story of how they once supported Iron Maiden on a tour and just how badly it went.
Then after a bunch of songs from the first album, he told the story of their second and final album, Women and Children Last, and then played six or seven songs from it.
And the entire set was amazing!
Wednesday 13 has still got it, his vocals were great, he kept up the energy of the room, and you could tell he was having as much fun as the audience were.
The actual setlist covered pretty much every song from the Murderdolls you would want to hear: White Wedding, Dead in Hollywood, Nowhere.
To be fair, across the two albums, including bonus tracks, Murderdolls only put out 39 songs overall.
The setlist at this gig was 19 songs. That means Wednesday 13 played 49% of all the songs Murderdolls ever made.
How many gigs have you been to where you can say that?!
The crowd may not have been moshing very much, and I don’t think it was a sell-out gig, but I could tell that everyone was having a nostalgic good time.
Any time Wednesday 13 asked people to clap along, show the horns, or middle fingers, almost eery single person in thy crown complied, because why wouldn’t you?
Why would you go to a horror punk gig and not get involved?
Quality
I just need to talk abut this: the sound was perfect.
I’ve been to enough gigs where the mix is all messed up: the drums are drowning out the guitars, or everything is drowning out the vocals.
This was not like that at all!
I think the lyrics are the most important part of Murderdolls songs, and so it was vital that Wednesday 13 was clear all the way through; and he was.
Not much else to say about it, but I don’t think i’ve ever been to a gig, let alone one in a smaller venue, where the mix was set just so perfectly.
Nostalgia & Personal growth
I was big into Murderdolls as a teenager, and into my twenties.
Now I’m in my 30s and I am still a big fan of the bad, but I do think I’ve matured slightly, and so some of the songs are starting to come off as a tad cringy.
Not the stuff about murder and mutilation – that’s par for the course when it comes to horror punk songs.
But instead, all the songs about how much you don’t care what people think: ‘Motherfucker I Don’t Care’ and ‘People Hate Me’ etc.
I now listen to these songs and think “Well if you didn’t, care, why did you write the song?”
They’re still fun songs, but I think as a teenager they were important songs, and now I think they’re silly fun.
Wrap Up
The Murderdolls broke up in 2011, but the band ended on the 25th July 2021, when Joey Jordison passed away.
He was a great guy who left a big space when he passed, and part of that space with shaped like a coffin with a figure of a girl inside.
However, seeing Wednesday 13 perform murderdolls songs was fantastic! He didn’t miss with any of the songs, and he still sounds phenomenal.
Sadly we saw them on the last day of the UK tour, so if you missed it, you may have to wait another 13 years before it happens again…
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