Wednesday 13

Joseph Michael Poole (born August 12, 1976), better known by his stage name Wednesday 13, is an American singer and musician.

Apart from his solo career, he was the frontman of the horror punk/heavy metal band Murderdolls 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.

In 1996, Joe Poole decided to leave Maniac Spider Trash behind and formed the more punk inspired Frankenstein 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 for Alice Cooper and Sweet.

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 joining Murderdolls in 2002 and the following year was spent recording and touring for Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls.

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 of Billy 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.

After the Murderdolls broke up in 2004, Poole went on a solo tour of the United Kingdom in March, called the Graveyard 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.

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 by KISS and Alice Cooper, while not straying far from Poole's previous horror punk projects.

In September 2004, Ikky was replaced by Matt Montgomery.

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 by Joey Jordison of Slipknot and was asked to join Jordison's new horror punk band, Murderdolls.

Originally formed as a collaboration between Jordison and Tripp Eisen of Static-X and Dope, Poole became the driving force of the band after he moved from bass guitar to lead vocals.

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!"

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 February 2010, while on a solo tour in Australia, Poole told Drum 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 told Kerrang! magazine that Murderdolls had reunited to work with the producer Chris Harris.

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.