Wednesday (American band)

Last updated

Wednesday
Wednesday PS23.png
Wednesday performing at Primavera Sound 2023
Background information
Origin Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres
Years active2017–present
Labels
Members
  • Karly Hartzman
  • Alan Miller
  • Xandy Chelmis
  • Ethan Baechtold
  • MJ Lenderman (studio only) [5]
Past members
  • Margo Schultz
  • Daniel Gorham
Website www.wednesday.band

Wednesday is an American alternative rock band from Asheville, North Carolina, currently signed to Dead Oceans. The band consists of vocalist Karly Hartzman, guitarist MJ Lenderman, lap steel player Xandy Chelmis, drummer Alan Miller and bassist Ethan Baechtold. The band's style has been described as a mixture of shoegaze and country rock, while their lyrical content has been praised for its storytelling about life in the American south.

Contents

Wednesday was formed in 2017 as a solo project of Karly Hartzman. The band added Lenderman, Chelmis, and Miller to the lineup in 2020. The band's second studio album, I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone, was released in 2020 to positive reviews, followed by Twin Plagues in 2021. The band released a covers album titled Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'em Up in 2022. Months after the album's release, the band left its label and signed with Dead Oceans. In 2023, Wednesday released its fifth studio album, Rat Saw God. A new upcoming album, Bleeds, is already recorded with its release set for September 19, 2025. [6]

Career

Karly Hartzman performing in Pittsburgh in January 2024. Karly-hartzmann-wednesday-pittsburgh2024.jpg
Karly Hartzman performing in Pittsburgh in January 2024.

Hartzman was inspired to start playing guitar after watching Mitski's NPR Tiny Desk concert. Wednesday initially began as a solo project of Hartzman's. [7] Hartzman attended college in Asheville, where she met Daniel Gorham. The two recorded an album together under the moniker Wednesday titled yep definitely. [8] The band's name was inspired by the British band The Sundays. [9] In 2017, Hartzman met Lenderman after he slept over at Hartzman's family home after a show. Lenderman would join Wednesday in 2018 for an EP called How Do You Let Love Into the Heart That Isn’t Split Wide Open. [10]

Hartzman formed another band called Diva Sweetly, alongside members of the band Pictures of Vernon, which released an album in 2019. [8] However, Hartzman was interested in making music that was closer to shoegaze, a departure from the style of Diva Sweetly. After Gorham left the band to work on other musical projects, Hartzman gathered new members from the local music scene in Asheville to join Wednesday. The group released their second album, titled I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone in 2020. [11] [8] The group released their third record, Twin Plagues , on August 13, 2021. Twin Plagues is the first Wednesday album with Lenderman as a full member of the band. [12] [13] [10]

Hartzman and Baechtold playing with Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2023. Wednesday live in Grand Rapids 17 33 29 721000.jpeg
Hartzman and Baechtold playing with Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2023.

On March 11, 2022, the band released a covers album titled Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'em Up, featuring cover versions of songs by Gary Stewart, Chris Bell, Roger Miller, Drive-By Truckers, Hotline TNT, Greg Sage, Vic Chesnutt, Medicine and The Smashing Pumpkins. [14] [15] On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single "Bull Believer". [16] On January 18, 2023, the band released the single "Chosen to Deserve" and announced a fifth album, Rat Saw God , which was released on April 7, 2023. [17]

The band performed at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona on June 4, 2023, where the band, playing on the Amazon Music stage, went on an anti-Amazon speech prior to "Bull Believer" and dedicated the song to "any warehouse workers who have ever been mistreated." [18]

In March 2024, while Wednesday was touring in Tokyo, Hartzman and Lenderman broke up after six years. The two kept this hidden from the other members of the band, but it was eventually publicized in a July 2024 interview that Lenderman did with The Guardian . [19] [20]

In February 2025, Lenderman announced his departure from touring with the band. He said that he still planned to record with the band. [19]

In May 2025, Wednesday shared a new single, "Elderberry Wine", and performed it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with Lenderman as a member. [21]

Musical style and influences

Wednesday's sound has been described as country, shoegaze, and indie or alternative rock. [10] [22] Hartzman said her first formative record was Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays. After discovering the shoegaze band Swirlies, she knew she wanted to "combine The Sundays’ vocals with [Swirlies'] music and country lyrics." [23]

The band's music contains semi-autobiographical details about Hartzman's past life experiences in Greensboro. Some songs mix minor details in the environment with darker tales of drug abuse. Hartzman credits the alt-country band Drive-By Truckers as a songwriting influence, mentioning the band in the song "Bath County". According to The Ringer, the band was also influenced by "country storytellers" like Lucinda Williams and Richard Buckner. [10] [22] Hartzman cites Lenderman himself as an influence, having been a fan of his solo work under the name MJ Lenderman before the two met. The pair started dating around the time of Twin Plagues, and several Wednesday songs have since made reference to their relationship, [10] though they have since split. [20]

Band members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Studio albums

TitleDetails
Yep Definitely
  • Released: January 31, 2018
  • Label: Self-released
I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
  • Released: February 7, 2020
  • Label: Orindal Records
Twin Plagues
  • Released: August 13, 2021
  • Label: Orindal Records
Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'Em Up
  • Released: March 11, 2022
  • Label: Orindal Records
Rat Saw God
  • Released: April 7, 2023
  • Label: Dead Oceans
Bleeds
  • To be released: September 19, 2025
  • Label: Dead Oceans

Live albums

TitleDetails
Wednesday on Audiotree Live
  • Released: September 21, 2021
  • Label: Audiotree

Extended plays

TitleDetails
How Do You Let the Love Into the Heart That Isn't Split Wide Open(with MJ Lenderman)
  • Released: December 13, 2018
  • Label: Sub-Fi
Wednesday
  • Released: May 20, 2019
  • Label: Manic Static
Guttering(with MJ Lenderman) [25]
  • Released: January 22, 2021
  • Label: Super Enema

Singles

SongYearPeak chart positionsAlbum
US
AAA [26]
"Fate Is" / "Billboard" [27] 2019—I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
"November" [28] 2020—
"Handsome Man" [29] 2021—Twin Plagues
"Cody's Only" [30] —
"One More Last One" [31] —
"How Can You Live If You Can't Love How Can You If You Do" [32] —
"She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)" [33] 2022—Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'em Up
"Feast of Snakes" [34] —Non-album single
"Bull Believer" [35] —Rat Saw God
"Chosen to Deserve" [36] 2023—
"Elderberry Wine" [37] 202511Bleeds
"Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)"—
"Pick Up That Knife"—

References

  1. ↑ Liu, Kelley. "Wednesday: Twin Plagues". Pitchfork . Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  2. ↑ Hughes, Mia (February 13, 2023). "Wednesday: fearless gang behind one of the year's defining rock albums". NME . Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Sodomsky, Sam. "Wednesday: Rat Saw God". Pitchfork . Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  4. ↑ Deville, Chris (August 10, 2021). "Album Of The Week: Wednesday Twin Plagues". Stereogum. Stereogum Media. Retrieved August 18, 2024. If Wednesday initially scan as yet another band working in a well-traveled tradition, they quickly begin to stand out for the unique way they swirl disparate aesthetics into that old slacker-rock template.
  5. ↑ Strauss, Matthew. "MJ Lenderman Will No Longer Tour With Wednesday". Pitchfork . Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  6. ↑ Hartzman, Karly (September 3, 2024). "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved January 17, 2025.
  7. ↑ McDermott, Patrick D. (September 6, 2022). "Wednesday in Athens". Oxford American . No. 118. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 Manno, Lizzie. "Wednesday: The Best of What's Next". Paste . Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Singles Club: March • Off Shelf". Off Shelf. April 7, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Wednesday's Curdled Beauty". Pitchfork. January 25, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  11. ↑ Moura, Rob (February 19, 2020). "Wednesday - "I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone" Album Review". Post-Trash. Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  12. ↑ Jones, Abby (August 13, 2021). "Wednesday Share New Album Twin Plagues: Stream". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  13. ↑ Liu, Kelly. "Wednesday: Twin Plagues". Pitchfork . Retrieved September 3, 2021.
  14. ↑ DeVille, Chris (March 11, 2022). "Hear Wednesday Cover Smashing Pumpkins, Vic Chesnutt, Medicine, & More On Their Rad New Covers Album". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  15. ↑ Curto, Justin (April 7, 2023). "Wednesday Can Find a Song Anywhere". Vulture. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  16. ↑ Moreland, Quinn (September 8, 2022). "Wednesday Sign to Dead Oceans, Share New Song "Bull Believer": Listen". Pitchfork . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  17. ↑ Strauss, Matthew (January 18, 2023). "Wednesday Announce Tour and New Album, Share "Chosen to Deserve" Video: Watch". Pitchfork . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  18. ↑ Williams, Sophie (June 6, 2023). "Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023 review: a comeback worth shouting about". NME. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  19. 1 2 Currin, Grayson Haver (February 21, 2025). "The MJ Lenderman Story You Haven't Heard". GQ. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
  20. 1 2 D'Souza, Shaad (July 9, 2024). "Pixar, Catholic shame, and urine-drinking podcast bros: the mixed-up rock of MJ Lenderman". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Wednesday Make Their TV Debut, Playing "Elderberry Wine" On 'Colbert': Watch". Stereogum. May 22, 2025. Retrieved May 22, 2025.
  22. 1 2 Cohen, Ian (April 5, 2023). "Wednesday's Teenage Dirtbag Hymnals". The Ringer. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  23. ↑ Smith, Maddy (March 27, 2023). "Wednesday: "The South is a disheartening place to live – but also invigorating"". The Forty-Five. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  24. ↑ "COVER STORY Wednesday's Year of the Rat". Pastemagazine.com. April 3, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  25. ↑ DeVille, Chris (January 22, 2021). "Stream MJ Lenderman & Wednesday's Collaborative EP Guttering". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  26. ↑ "Adult Alternative Airplay: August 9, 2025 | Billboard chart archive". Billboard. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  27. ↑ Rettig, James (December 12, 2019). "Wednesday – "Fate Is…" & "Billboard"". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  28. ↑ Rettig, James (January 7, 2020). "Wednesday – "November"". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  29. ↑ DeVille, Chris (May 19, 2021). "Wednesday – "Handsome Man"". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  30. ↑ Rettig, James (June 9, 2021). "Band To Watch: Wednesday". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  31. ↑ Rettig, James (July 7, 2021). "Wednesday – "One More Last One"". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  32. ↑ Campbell, Caleb (July 20, 2021). "Premiere: Wednesday Shares New Single "How Can You Live If You Can't Love How Can You If You Do"". Under the Radar . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  33. ↑ Cills, Hazel (February 23, 2022). "Wednesday, 'She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)'". NPR . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  34. ↑ DeVille, Chris (March 25, 2022). "Wednesday – "Feast Of Snakes"". Stereogum . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  35. ↑ Russell, Scott (September 8, 2022). "Wednesday Share Towering New Single "Bull Believer," Sign to Dead Oceans". Paste . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  36. ↑ Lorusso, Marissa (January 18, 2023). "Wednesday, 'Chosen to Deserve'". NPR . Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  37. ↑ Green, Walden. "Best New Track: "Elderberry Wine"". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
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