Wednesday 13
- Rock Metal Machine
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Artists: Wednesday 13, The Soap Girls, Nocturnal Affair
Venue: Islington Assembly Hall (London)
Date: 4 November 2025
"Four tracks from the new album show the band is still creating and those songs sit well alongside the classics."
Nocturnal Affair from Las Vegas opened proceedings. They have toured with Wednesday 13 before and so it obviously works. They are generally pretty heavy, straightforward Hard Rock with strobes and a few death growls, but behind this lies a lot of traditional skill. Tough looking singer Brendan Shane actually played the organ like a harpsichord at the beginning of one of their songs and contrasting with the hard stuff was a lovely guitar solo full of tone and feeling, as if their musical heritage includes Richie Sambora or John Norum. Their choice of the Pop hit “What Is Love?” to cover also betrays a softer side. They showed true grit and professionalism on stage when necessary though, powering through a few technical difficulties unabashed. They are new to me, but with the stats for views of their videos and chart positions they’ve clearly been doing quite well in their field and are unafraid to become popular.
The Soap Girls Mille and Mie came on in colourful faux fur coats covered with patches like the KISS logo and large blonde wigs. Their appearance, like their music, is unapologetically in your face, an antidote to anyone telling women they cannot be who they wanna be, do what they wanna do and say what they wanna say. As Mie pointed out, “some people don’t like us because we talk about politics”, and Mille followed that up with, “if you’re going through shit just keep going”. Their music has got heavier since I last saw them, with a few death growls thrown in, but it still has a Punk Rock heart with an anarchic rebellious sensibility. There’s also a real empathetic feel to their playing: being sisters gives them a rock-solid foundation to everything they do, blood being thicker than anything else. Mie bounces around in towering platforms throughout the whole set with sheer joy and Mille does double jointed moves, back bending like a crab right down to the floor while still playing her bass! “You’re all gonna die so you might as well live like a f*cker”. Living life in complete freedom is obviously good for you!
Wednesday 13 came on in a cloak as befits this time of year and raised his arms to greet his crowd, a dark prince just like Ozzy. First tracks ‘Look What The Bats Dragged In’ and ‘Too Fast For Blood’ are a (not so) quiet nod to the importance that bands such as Poison and Mötley Crüe had for the generations of bands that followed them, and while the Murderdolls and Wednesday 13 have made Horror Punk a thing, which is more akin to Alice Cooper, their music remains fundamentally Pop Punk, not too deep, but sinfully enjoyable. This tradition began with The Murderdolls and ‘Summertime Suicide’. ‘In Misery’ from the new album ‘Mid Death Crisis’, ‘Good Day To Be A Bad Guy’ and ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ all remain irresistibly singable and in some ways just as joyful as The Soap Girls, even if the band themselves won’t crack a smile. Chants to the spirits of the elements and graveyard imagery aside, everyone is having so much fun, true to the spirit of the early gothic TV heroes The Addams Family, from which Wednesday himself took his name. Four tracks from the new album show the band is still creating and those songs sit well alongside the classics. They finish with ‘Bad Things’ and ‘I Love To Say F*ck’, a cover that they have very much made their own, with a large umbrella bearing a large middle finger that just looks so good on stage even though it shouldn’t! Everything about this band is just a guilty pleasure. Look tough but sing like a muthaf*cker in your (blood) bath!
Review: Dawn Osborne
Photos: Dawn Osborne
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