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Wednesday 13 | |
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_(cropped).jpg) Poole in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Michael Poole |
| Also known as |
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| Born | (1976-08-12)August 12, 1976 (age 48) Lexington, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Genres | |
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| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels |
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| Website | officialwednesday13 |
Joseph Michael Poole (born August 12, 1976), better known by his stage nameWednesday 13, is an American singer and musician. Apart from his solo career, he was the frontman of thehorror punk/glam metal bandMurderdolls and has also played in several other bands, including Maniac Spider Trash,Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, Bourbon Crow, and Gunfire 76.
Joe Poole's musical career began in 1992 when he played guitar in his first band Mizery, which was later renamed Psycho Opera. Other members included Ray Franks (guitar), Michael Patrick (bass guitar), Jeff Washam (drums), and Todd Cage (vocals). Soon after, Poole moved on to being the vocalist for Maniac Spider Trash with Ray Franks (guitar), Michael Patrick (bass guitar), and Doug McCollum (drums). Poole fronted the band from 1992 to 1996. The band released a 6-song cassette called Dumpster Mummies in 1994 under the fictitious record label, Dead/Hell Records. In 1995, the band also recorded a full-length album called Murder Happy Fairytales. Unfortunately, the band broke up before the album saw an official release. Many years later, in 2010, Joe Poole and Ray Franks worked together for a CD release of Dumpster Mummies and a digital release of Murder Happy Fairytales.
In 1996, Joe Poole decided to leave Maniac Spider Trash behind and formed the more punk inspiredFrankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13 with Doug McCollum (drums) and Robby McGalliard (bass). With the release of the band's first album, The Late Late Late Show, the members revealed their new stage names - Wednesday 13, Sicko Zero, and Seaweed. As a 3-piece band, Wednesday 13 handled the song writing, vocals, and guitar work. In 1997, Ray Franks was invited to step in to carry the guitar duties and assumed the stage name Abby Normal. The years that followed spawned many songs that would go on to become horror punk cult classics and many performances that left audiences entertained, shocked, and bewildered. By 2002, a revolving door of band members eventually left Wednesday 13 as the only remaining original member, but not before Wednesday 13 had four studio albums and a number of singles under his belt, including contributions to tribute albums forAlice Cooper andSweet. Because Wednesday 13 had written and produced every album by Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, he caught the attention of Joey Jordison from Slipknot. Jordison contacted Wednesday 13 about joiningMurderdolls in 2002 and the following year was spent recording and touring for Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls. In May 2006, the Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 announced a reunion, which was followed by the release of Little Box Of Horrors, a box set of the band's complete discography. A touring line-up of Wednesday 13, Sicko Zero, and Abby Normal was assembled for a limited number of performances.
Poole was contacted byJoey Jordison ofSlipknot and was asked to join Jordison's new horror punk band,Murderdolls. Originally formed as a collaboration between Jordison andTripp Eisen ofStatic-X andDope, Poole became the driving force of the band after he moved from bass guitar to lead vocals. Murderdolls released one EP in 2002,Right to Remain Violent, to promote a forthcoming album the same year,Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls. Most of the songs on the album were re-recorded versions of songs by Poole's previous band, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13. Two singles were released from the album, including a cover ofBilly Idol's "White Wedding". The album reached No. 40 on the UK album chart.
Murderdolls played their last show on January 17, 2004. After this, they broke up, with Jordison returning to Slipknot. Both Poole and Jordison maintained that the band did not split up for good, and that they would return to record a second album in the future. In February 2010, while on a solo tour in Australia, Poole toldDrum Media, "We're possibly going to do another Wednesday record, record it in the summer and have it out around Halloween. 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. It's just talks right now. We're having the same conversations that we were having in the very beginning of the band. Right now, we're just trying to get a game plan together."
In March 2010, Jordison toldKerrang! magazine[1] that Murderdolls had reunited to work with the producer Chris Harris. Jordison said, "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!" Murderdolls released their second album,Women and Children Last, on August 31, 2010. In March 2013, Wednesday 13 announced in an interview that the Murderdolls had split up for good in 2011.
After the Murderdolls broke up in 2004, Poole went on a solo tour of the United Kingdom in March, called theGraveyard A Go-Go tour. For his live performances, he was joined by members of the horror punk band Death Becomes You, though this was not meant to be permanent.[2] Poole returned to North Carolina in June 2004 and began to put together a more permanent band, with whom he would perform under the Wednesday 13 name. He brought in the former Frankenstein Drag Queens member, Ikky, on guitar. The band is heavily influenced byKISS and Alice Cooper, while not straying far from Poole's previous horror punk projects. In September 2004, Ikky was replaced byMatt Montgomery. Wednesday 13 toured Europe in November 2004 on theLook What the Bats Dragged in tour. Some of the dates were supported by the English rockersViking Skull.
In 2005, after touring, Poole released his first albumTransylvania 90210,[3] and made a music video for the track "I Walked with a Zombie", depicting the band members in footage from the originalNight of the Living Dead horror movie. Following the album's release, the group embarked on a tour of the United Kingdom, entitledTour from the Crypt. Also in 2005, they played on the main stage of theDownload Festival atDonington and opened some shows for Alice Cooper around Halloween.
Poole leftRoadrunner Records before signing a new deal withRykodisc, with whom he releasedFang Bang on September 12, 2006.[4] The European version of the album contains a cover ofMotörhead's "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." and the Japanese edition has the same track listing as the European CD, with a bonus song entitled "Good Day to Die". The American edition has "Burn the Flames", aRoky Erickson cover version, as its only bonus track.Skeletons was released in the US on April 29, 2008, available exclusively throughHot Topic locations. It was released in the UK on May 12, 2008, by DR2 Records.[5]
On November 14, 2008, Poole released his first live album,Fuck It, We'll Do It Live. The CD/DVD package was recorded in 2008 at Crocodile Rock inAllentown, Pennsylvania. Wednesday 13 released it exclusively through Hot Topic, just as he had forSkeletons. A two-track digital download entitledXanaxtasy was released on December 24, 2010, throughiTunes. The release was announced on Wednesday 13'sFacebook page on December 20, 2010, and contains two songs recorded during his 2009 sessions. Of the two songs, "Xanaxtasy" was previously released in theBloodwork EP limited edition vinyl and "It's a Wonderful Lie" was previously released on his limited edition vinyl releaseFrom Here to the Hearse. During May 2011, Poole released a remix album/EP titledRe-Animated and announced that a portion of all sales for the first month would be donated to theAmerican Red Cross.[6]
On Wednesday, July 13, Wednesday released the track listing forCalling All Corpses viaBravewords.[7] The album was released on October 11 in the US and October 10 elsewhere. He released his fifth album,The Dixie Dead, on February 19, 2013, and his sixth album,Monsters of the Universe: Come Out and Plague, on January 12, 2015.
His seventh album,Condolences, was released on June 2, 2017, after signing withNuclear Blast. This was followed byNecrophaze in 2019.
On 7th October 2022, he released his ninth studio album, Horifier, after signing withNapalm Records.
Since 2005, under the alias of Buck Bourbon, Poole has maintained anoutlaw country side project called Bourbon Crow. Wednesday 13 was in contact with the former drummer Jeff Washam from Psycho Opera and was going to tour on the East Coast project. Scheduling prevented Washam doing the tour. The band released its first album in 2006,Highway to Hangovers, and a second album,Long Way to the Bottom, in 2009. In 2015, the band released a third album,Off the Wagon on the Rocks.
Poole teamed up withTodd Youth ofThe Chelsea Smiles to write and record an album with a more glam rock sound and without any horror themes,[8] under the band name Gunfire 76. Rough mixes of the album's title track, "Casualties & Tragedies", were uploaded onto the band'sMyspace page on August 12, 2009, for the fans to have an idea of what the band sounded like. The album was released on October 6, 2009.[9] Gunfire 76 toured from December 2009 to January 2010 withBullets and Octane on theFirst Blood tour.
Poole is originally fromLandis, North Carolina. He has one daughter with his ex-wife Roxanne and has a granddaughter who was born in 2017.
The 2019 albumNecrophaze was the first Wednesday 13 album recorded sober by Poole. He has maintained sobriety and continues to tour.
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| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Heat. [10] | US Ind. [11] | ||
| 2005 | Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying, and the Dead
| 34 | — |
| 2006 | Fang Bang
| — | — |
| 2008 | Skeletons
| — | — |
| 2011 | Calling All Corpses
| 21 | — |
| 2013 | The Dixie Dead
| — | — |
| 2015 | Monsters of the Universe: Come Out and Plague
| 25 | — |
| 2017 | Condolences
| 7 | 25 |
| 2019 | Necrophaze
| 2 | — |
| 2022 | Horrifier
| 2 | — |
| 2025 | Mid Death Crisis
| — | — |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Bloodwork (EP)
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| 2011 | Re-Animated
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| 2012 | Spook & Destroy
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| 2014 | Tunes from the Crypt No.1
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| 2021 | Necrophaze - Antidote
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| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Fuck It, We'll Do It Live
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| 2010 | From Here to the Hearse
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| 2014 | Undead Unplugged
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| 2014 | Dead Meat: 10 Years of Blood, Feathers & Lipstick
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| 2020 | Bad Things
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| 2020 | The Warner Years
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |