During an interview in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer, goth metal mainstay Wednesday 13 spoke about his time in Murderdolls: the glam-punk side-project of Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison. 13 – who last year released his ninth solo album, Horrifier – fronted the band from 2002 until their break-up two years later, then again during a brief 2010 reunion. However, as the singer revealed to Metal Hammer writer Dave Everley, he had little idea who Jordison was when he first got the call to join.
“[Slipknot] just weren’t the sort of thing I listened to at home,” 13 explained – despite The Nine being hot off the lauded and, in the UK, chart-topping Iowa album at the time. He later added that, upon meeting Jordison, “I said, ‘So you’re in Slipknot? Now, which one are you?’ And he goes, ‘I’m the cool-looking one.’ We just both started laughing and that was it.”
According to 13, him not knowing who Jordison was, treating the drummer as a peer instead of a heavy metal icon, helped kickstart the pair’s friendship. “Joey actually asked me, ‘Do you like Slipknot?’,” the singer continued. “I said, ‘Not really’ and he just laughed. He loved it that I didn’t care who he was. He wasn’t like, ‘I am Joey Jordison, you better do what I say.’ He never had that type of attitude.”
The reverence actually ran the opposite way. 13 was initially approached to play bass for what would become Murderdolls because Jordison admired his work in horror punks Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13. “He genuinely loved the band,” said 13. “Then he goes, ‘I’ve got three months off from Slipknot before we go back out. I’m gonna fly you over to Iowa, we’re gonna jam, we wanna use some of these [Frankenstein Drag Queens…] songs.’”
Following Murderdoll’s first dissolution in 2004, Jordison returned to Slipknot to write and record what would become Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses. Its single Before I Forget would earn the band their first Grammy Award in 2006. Meanwhile, 13 started a solo career, releasing his debut album Transylvania 90210: Songs Of Death, Dying And The Dead in 2005.
Jordison parted ways with Slipknot in 2013. Four years later, he revealed he had been diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis: a swelling of the spinal cord that left him temporarily unable to play the drums. He then passed away in July 2021, aged 46.
Read the full interview with Wednesday 13 in the new issue of Metal Hammer, which celebrates the 2000s by exploring the nu metal takeover, paying tribute to Dimebag Darrell and interviewing Jackass wildman Steve-O. Order your copy online here.
