Wednesday 13 und The Birthday Massacre

Joseph Poole’s earliest musical excursion came playing guitar in the heavy metal band Misery, which later changed its name to Psycho Opera. Following his departure in 1992, the singer formed the Maniac Spider Trash alongside guitarist Abby Normal, bassist Michael Patrick, and drummer Sicko Zero. The band’s debut release was the 1994 EP “Dumpster Mummies”, followed a year later by the full-length “Murder Happy Fairytales”.

Again featuring guitarist Normal and drummer Sicko Zero, Joseph Poole’s subsequent band, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, was formed in 1996. From 1996 to 2002, the group issued the studio albums “The Late, Late, Late Show”, “Night of the Living Drag Queens”, “Songs from the Recently Deceased”, “Viva Las Violence”, the compilation “6 Years, 6 Feet Under the Influence”, and the box-set “Little Box of Horrors”. Following work with Slipknot’s Joey Jordison and his horror punk band the Murderdolls, Poole focused on his solo releases under the Wednesday 13 moniker later releasing his debut “Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying, and the Dead” in 2005.

A year later Wednesday 13 followed the release with his second studio album “Fang Bang” in August 2006. Led by the single “My Home Sweet Homicide”, the record was marked by glam themes and represents the signer’s most playful album to date. The full-length “Skeletons” followed in 2008 as did the EP “Bloodwork” and the live record “Fuck It, We’ll Do It Live”. The following year in 2009, Poole formed the group Gunfire 76 and released the album, “Casualties & Tragedies”, the same year. In 2010 returning to work with the Murderdolls, the group released the album “Women and Children Last”, before issuing the Wednesday 13 EP “Re-Animated” in 2011.

The studio album “Calling All Corpses” appeared in 2011, after which he issued the EP “Spook & Destroy” in 2012, the full-length “The Dixie Dead” in 2013, and the acoustic album “Undead Unplugged” in 2014. Marking 10 years of Wednesday 13, the 84-track compilation “Dead Meat: 10 Years of Blood, Feathers & Lipstick” was released in 2014, featuring demos, remixes and songs from his other bands Murderdolls and Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13. Following the release of the singles “Tunes From the Crypt V.1” and “Trick Or Treat… We’re Going To Kill You” in 2014, Wednesday 13 issued his sixth studio album “Monsters of the Universe: Come Out and Plague” in January 2015.

Originally forming under the name Imagica and only using nicknames, the band took shape when Rainbow (rhythm guitar) met Chibi (vocals) while studying art at college in London, Canada and the pair decided to collaborate on a musical project. Soon after they were joined by Rainbow’s childhood friend Falcore (lead guitar) and their classmate Aslan (bass) to complete the line-up. The newly formed band rehearsed and wrote material for months before they played their first show in 2000 at the Diversity Club. At the show they released a limited edition seven track EP which included the song “The Birthday Massacre” which they would eventually adopt as their band name.

As the band prepared to release their debut album, they relocated to Ontario, Canada in 2001 where the changed their name to The Birthday Massacre. In 2002 the band self-released their debut album “Nothing and Nowhere”. The following year the band were joined by Adm on keys as The Birthday Massacre toured relentlessly around Canada steadily building up a loyal following. With the majority of them having studied art at college, the band used this to add to their uniqueness as they continued to experiment with visuals on their website content before introducing it to their live shows intertwining it with their fantasy inspired sound.

In 2003 Rhim joined the band on drums and the following year they self-released the “Violet” EP before embarking on their first venture outside Canada to the US touring relentlessly. In 2005 The Birthday Massacre signed with Metropolis Records as they re-released “Violet” and took the band international touring Europe.

Using the gothic online forum Vampire Freaks, on New Year’s Day in 2007 the band streamed a demo version of the “Kill the Lights” and it quickly acquired an incredible amount of listeners on the website. In September The Birthday Massacre released the album “Walking with Strangers” which hit the Billboard Heatseekers chart at number ten.

In 2014 for their sixth album “Superstition”, The Birthday Massacre looked to their fans through crowdfunding site Pledge Music in conjunction with their label Metropolis Records to fund the forthcoming album and in less than 24 hours the band had already reached their target.

The Birthday Massacre have played alongside a plethora of bands including: Mindless Self Indulgence, Combichrist, Black Veil Brides and Emilie Autumn as well as playing festivals: Junofest, Wave-Geffen-Trot and M’era Luna. Prizing themselves on fan interaction, The Birthday Massacre actively engage with their passionate fan base, personally updating their websites and message boards and further extending that unique intimate experience.