Artist: Wednesday 13
Venue: The Studio at Webster Hall (New York, NY)
Opener: One-Eyed Doll, Echo Black, Candy Brain, Metallica, Open Your Eyes
Date: 9/27/2016
Label: Independent Artist

I’ve been a fan of the stuff that Wednesday 13 has been doing since I first heard the album “Fang Bang” and in case you didn’t realize this, that particular album recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. I discussed this as one of my “Milestone” posts and you can reflect upon its Horror Punk awesomeness on THIS LINK. It’s been a few years since I’ve caught Mr. 13 in concert and I think that last time was in 2013 in this very room. The show tonight was supposed to be upstairs in the roomier Marlin Room but one of the support acts needed to use the space as they were performing in the grand ballroom since down here was going to be too tight. I made sure to get to the club in time to catch everyone since I liked the whole setup this evening. Here is how the show went for those that couldn’t join in on the fun.

Candy Brain: I’m going to say that this is the second time that I’ve caught Candy Brain in concert and as far as an Independent Gothic Pop project I rather like them. They are fronted by Bunny who used to do a little keyboard for them and she has a whole Wednesday Addams appeal to her. Chelsea plays the bass while Anton plays guitar. There is no drummer and the band performed to programmed tracks. This aspect takes a little bit away from the “looseness” of the band and the ability to be more free form during a set but it seems to work for them. The crowd this evening seemed to enjoy what was going on up on the stage and immediately afterward the band was hanging around the venue and the merchandise booth. Yeah, they are considered “the local act” on the bill but they handled themselves well and that makes me sad to announce that this was their very last gig for the foreseeable future. They have a CD and a cool button available so hit their Facebook Page and order one up and demand that they return sooner than later. Now it was time for Echo Black.

Echo Black: This would be my first time seeing Echo Black so I wasn’t sure what to expect from them. Visually speaking they have a whole “Visual Kei” sort of look like we used to see from the legendary X Japan and those who followed them in history and musically this was a very Electronica/Goth Pop sound. They are a full command of players with the bass, guitar and drums along with singer Danny Blu. Blu is a very engaging person up on the stage and seemed to feed off of the audience members in front of him. Per what I had heard while the band was on the new side, Danny had been active in some solo projects and other groups beforehand. It’s always nice to see something that while new to me, is readily accepted by the fans at the show. There have been too many times where I watched the audience ignore the openers or arrive just in time for the main act. Get with it people as there is a ton of cool stuff happening in the underground. Open Your Eyes was next. There sure was a lot to absorb this evening and that is always a good thing.

Open Your Eyes: This was the second time for me and OYE but I’ve not really focused on their material yet in the off time of catching a live set. It’s very upbeat stuff for sure and they have a brand-new album for this year called “Truth Or Consequences”. Musically speaking the band reminds me a lot of groups like Breaking Point and some of the rest that have a strong “Emo” side to them but I should stress that I don’t mean this at all as a slight. I really enjoyed the level of connection with the fans and the musicianship that they put out there. I’ll catch them again for sure and now it was time for One Eyed Doll who I am always excited to see.

One-Eyed Doll: If I had to think back about when the first time I ever saw One Eyed Doll, I think this goes back to a show at this very same venue when Otep was headlining the night. I didn’t know what the hell I was witnessing that night but wow did I leave with a sense of awe and that I had far too much fun for a serious Metal show. Since that time, I think I have seen OED on each of their regional appearances and I am proud to say that I still have no idea what is going on. Fronted by the sensational Kimberly Freeman, the two piece tour de force is an off the chain blend of spoken word and storytelling and rousing Hard Rock and Metal music. Kimberly is also an excellent guitarist and plays her heart out while making sure to engage the audience between each and every number. OED released their concept album “Witches” this year and there is a comic book to go along with it that you can purchase at the merchandise booth. I’d like to peruse that for the comic book writeups we do on the site so stayed tuned for that if I can get a review copy. If you’ve never seen Kimberly and Junior in concert you are cheating yourself since it’s a hoot. They are excellent musicians and very simply put a whole lot of fun. With Kimberly up in the front she really engages the audience and there is a ton of participation during the show. To say that she wears a lot of hats during a gig is no lie because she quite honestly swaps a lot of hats during the show. We find her wearing a court jester hat or a witch hat and many more. She even jumps into the crowd to jam out and it’s another reason to watch yourself during the show since you don’t quite know when and where she is going to do that. Since I don’t want her to land on my camera and I at a show, I tend to stick to the close sides of the stage and so far, I’ve been quite fortunate. During one of the songs Kimberly called their lovely merch girl Melinda up to the stage to help hand out some candy treats and gear up the audience all the more with responses. Clearly, she appreciates everyone involved in her show. After the set, they would all head to her merchandise booth to meet fans which I always admire about her. It really makes peoples nights even more fun. Now it was time for Metallica to take the stage upstairs so it would not be all that easy to see what was going on since the venue was on lockdown in that section.

Metallica: Based on the configuration of the venue this evening I would completely miss the Metallica slot time and that was unfortunate since I heard they delivered quite a compelling set for a very crowded room. Wednesday’s show was originally supposed to be upstairs in the Marlin Room but with so many performers tonight it was being used by the Metallica guys to prep and store their stuff so W13 was moved down to the tighter confines of The Studio. According to what I learned that night, Metallica has a new album coming out as well so I wish them luck and hope to catch them in the future. Now it was time for Wednesday 13 to take the stage.

Wednesday 13: Mr. 13 arrived to a venue loaded with smoke and dark lights which is the perfect setting for his presentation and this time his entire face was painted black and added a whole new level of intense drama to the performance. The “Monsters Of The Universe” is a very different and very HEAVY album from across his catalog. Its premise is about an invasion and while he would focus on the album this evening he would also make plenty of space for the “classics” that he has under his belt. He would open with “The Fall Of All” and when he got to “Put Your Death Mask On” would place a mask on the back of his head and perform like that. Essentially, he would be really looking at the drummer while the masked back of his head “looked” at the crowd. It was pretty weird but he sure was coordinated in how he did this. When he got to tunes like “I Want You Dead” and “The Ghost Of Vincent Price” it was a little bit more up my alley since I know these tunes better. At the time of this narrative I haven’t fully immersed myself into the “MOTU” release. In time I am surely planning on having a full album review on the site so please tune into your scanners for that one. I’ve just been a bit overwhelmed with how much our city is offering up.

“Skeletons” was a nice one to find in the set but I wish he would bring back “My Demise” as I always envision that one as a “BIG” live concert moment. In my head it plays very dramatically when I listen to it and I must share my thoughts with him one of these days about it when the moment is there to actually chat. “I Walked With A Zombie” remains one of my very favorite tunes and I actually heard this tune during a news broadcast as they went to commercial. It surprised me for sure and I hope that W13 got some money from that since he deserves it. As the night drew towards a close, Wednesday thanked all of the bands that performed tonight including the band Metallica who were upstairs. He mused with us about wondering if they had a chance or not. It was the common comedic line this evening and worked so well based on the timing of the Metallica set. It would have been great to see some of their set as well but it wouldn’t be possible. At least I caught them at the Apollo Theatre a few years ago since that was so cool. Wednesday would share with us his love of saying “F*ck” and bring out his umbrella that sports the word on it and then without meaning any offense to his wonderful fans informed us that he wanted “Bad Things” to happen to each and every one of us. With that he would finish and that was that.

Closing up I had to say that this was probably the most “different” of the W13 shows that I have caught over the years. His performance while rock solid was very dark and with too much smoke which messed with the camera stuff more than it disturbed the fans enjoyment of the gig. Some of the fans that I spoke to cited how they felt that too many masks were donned during the show and they had missed the presence of the side man who used to jump on the stage doing various antics and masked character changes. I guess the statement of the only constant being change stands true for Metal music as well nowadays. It was a great show but more of a serious one than many of his fans might have been used to. All of the bands were awesome in my humble opinion and I even got to meet the lead singer of a new band called Repulsur who was working as W13’s merchandise girl. Her name was “Lerin Gitis” and I did a quick overview of their three song EP on THIS LINK. It made me smile as you never know who you are going to interact with at a show so always be nice and greet people with a positive vibe. That’s all I got right now, see you again soon and if you caught this show please chime in with your own thoughts down in the comments below.

W13 Set List:
1. The Fall of All
2. Keep Watching The Skies
3. Put Your Death Mask On
4. I Want You… Dead
5. The Ghost of Vincent Price
6. Scary Song
7. Scream Baby Scream
8. Bloodline 666 @Tape
9. Serpent Society
10. Skeletons
11. Dixie Dead
12. Get Your Grave On
13. Curse Of Me
14. Hail Ming
15. I Walked With A Zombie
16. I Love To Say Fuck
17. Bad Things

Official Website: http://fuckyeswednesday13.tumblr.com/
Official Website: http://www.oneeyeddoll.com
Official Website: http://www.metallica.com
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/OpenYourEyesMusic/
Official Website: http://www.echoblackmusic.com
Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/candybrainband
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/Repulsur/