After the February release of his fifth full-length solo album, The Dixie Dead, WEDNESDAY 13 headlined his first-ever Canadian run, consisting of three dates in May. During the Toronto stop at The Rockpile, W13 sat down with BraveWords.com for an exclusive update. “We finally made it in; the outlaws are over the border!”

Throughout the duration of the 18-date Too Fast For Blood North American Tour, W13 paid tribute to late SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman each night on stage. After the final song of the set, ‘Bad Things’, the band would break into ‘Raining Blood’. Fan-filmed video of this, shot in Lawrence, KS at The Grenada can be seen below. “Nobody expected Jeff to pass. Back at my apartment in LA, every morning I wake up and go on the computer, check my social media sites and stuff, and I saw it. I saw the headline of it and when I read it, my first reaction was bullshit! I read so many ridiculous sites where they say PANTERA’s getting back together every day. When I saw that (Hanneman had died), I hoped it’s not right; I started checking more - plus I know a lot of people in the Slayer camp that I’m friends with. I went to them immediately and it was, oh fuck!"

"It was so sudden, so unexpected. I had no idea; I hoped it was a lie. I’ve got a cool history with Slayer in the fact that I got to open for Slayer in 2002 in Japan at Beast Feast with MURDERDOLLS. I’ve still got the t-shirt and the laminate where it shows every band: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, MOTÖRHEAD, ARCH ENEMY, SHADOWS FALL, all these bands are on there. And at the bottom it’s us, DOWN and SLAYER. I was terrified! Why are we doing this show? It didn’t make sense. We get there and Down cancels, so we’re right before Slayer. I was a little glam rock kid, 26 years old, and all the Slayer guys walk in the dressing room to say hey to Joey (Jordison, from Murderdolls and SLIPKNOT); it was so nice. Standing on the side of the stage watching Slayer in front of 30,000 people; ever since then I truly became a huge Slayer fan! I flipped my car in 2008 to their Seasons In The Abyss album. Slayer is my ultimate favourite heavy metal band of all time.”

Wednesday was unable to attend Jeff Hanneman’s memorial, which took place May 23rd in Los Angeles, CA, as he was on tour in Philadelphia, PA. “But my girlfriend went and told me all about it, I was checking in with her. I felt like such a dick for not being there, I wanted to fly in for it. It’s unfortunate I couldn’t be there, but I did get to meet those guys several times. I toured Australia with them, Slayer is one band that after a show, I would hurry up and kick myself in the ass, ‘get your shit together and go watch Slayer;’ every single night.”

Prior to embarking on the Too Fast For Blood North American Tour in mid-May, W13 had planned to film a video for one of the songs from The Dixie Dead in April. But, that “did not happen because it was one of those things where… we actually still have the ‘Blood Sucker’ video that is yet to be edited. We filmed that when we did the ‘Get Your Grave On’ video, so we still have to do that. We had planned to do it in the Vegas desert but something happened; it was a clusterfuck. But when I do get home, I have plans to start working on getting that together, along with our DVD which we’re going to put out later this year. We filmed our entire UK show, we have everything – eight days from us arriving, going to sleep, picking the bus up; almost like a documentary on us touring. That’s what I’m working on when I get home. I have a month and a half to do that, staring at myself, watching videos over and over. But I’m excited ‘cause I want to do the DVD so it doesn’t just show the live part of the band. I think people need to see the goofy side of the band. I think you get the whole thing when you see our sense of humour. That’s why I want to be there and not just give it to someone; I want to be hands-on with it. It’s got to be like this, like this; that’s why it’s not being edited now because I want to be there doing it.”

As far as a potential release date for the DVD goes… “I want it out by Halloween. We have a European tour that starts in November, and before that we’re hoping to do The US and Australia as well. That’s two months of touring, I would love to have the DVD out before that, so I’m going to go home and bust my ass. I have an awesome title for it, but I’m not supposed to say yet. It took me three months to figure it out.”

While W13’s YouTube channel hasn’t been updated since the release of The Dixie Dead in February, his Twitter @officialwed13 sees new content added almost daily. “That’s where it’s been easier to do it ‘cause I have a new app on my phone, whereas when I was doing the videos, I had to go to the hotel room and it would take 30 minutes to upload. If I had the time, I would do it. But when you get on tour and get busy, you can’t do as much. So I got this new app for my phone to show six seconds of goofiness, and I’ve been doing that non-stop. It keeps our fans held over ‘cause they get to hear about the shows and see stupid clips of us; that’s my favourite little toy lately.”

Progress is being made, albeit slowly, on a horror movie based on The Dixie Dead. “I have the story together now, which is a lot more than I did before when it was just an idea. But I’m not going to rush this out just because I have to get it done. It’s as important to me as doing as my first album; it’s a long time in the making. I can’t put it out shitty; it’s got to be good. And again, I’ve never made a movie so it’s all new to me; I’m taking baby steps with it. I have a really, really cool story; it’s different. It’ll definitely be a Wednesday 13 type movie. It’s totally different from when I talked to you last time. I’ve got this whole new thing that ties in with where I grew up in the south, how it was always scary and the religious stuff; it could be really cool if I do it right.”

It’s no secret that W13 loves horror movies, and two big ones came out this spring; first, the remake of The Evil Dead. “I was pleased with it. I got a movie lesson years ago planted in my head, and I quit being a movie snob. I used to go to movies and come out saying, that fucking sucked! I would get mad and pissed off watching remakes. But with The Evil Dead, I went to see that with the mindset of, alright, it’s not the original; and it was fun, exactly what I expected. What I’m saying is, when I got this planted in my head years ago, I was hanging out with ALICE COOPER and we were talking about movies. He said, ‘Every time I go see a movie, I try to find something I’ve never seen in a movie before, even if it’s one tiny thing.’ And he told me about how he saw Jaws 3. Back in the day it was the worst reviewed movie of all time; it bombed. Alice was on Good Morning America and they asked him what he thought of Jaws 3? He said, ‘I saw a shark eat a helicopter, I’ve never seen that.’ So now when I go see movies - I saw ROB ZOMBIE’s Lords Of Salem two weeks ago in a hotel room. I had read mixed reviews, but I knew it wasn’t going to be Devil’s Rejects. I saw the baby getting licked and spit on by the witches; it was little things like that. I loved the weirdness; it was definitely like a David Lynch / Stanley Kubrick type film. I thought it was cool. I would actually like to get a good copy ‘cause I saw a bootleg version – sorry Rob!”

W13 has always made the fan experience so much more by selling his stage-worn clothes and hand-written lyrics, as well as the opportunity to have your name printed in the CD booklet; all via eBay. However, he has never utilized Pledge Music. “That’s something I would definitely consider. It’s similar to what we did; we did our own little pledge without going to the Pledge company. That’s something I’ve actually talked about doing. I see how it works, and Ginger from WILDHEARTS has mastered that whole thing. I see the quality of the stuff he does; I’m cool with the Pledge thing as long as the artist does it right. There’s people who think they can make a quick buck, or bands say, ‘We need $25,000 to make a video.’ Fuck you! You don’t need that to make a video. If you’re going to do it right, for the fans, it’s a cool opportunity. I’ve also heard a lot of people frown upon it, thinking it makes you look like a cheapskate. The business has changed and you’ve got to roll with the wheels now; things are different. You’ve got to find new ways to get your music out to people, and people want more than just a CD. I get to meet my fans every day; I’m not in arenas separated by barricades. That’s why I’m hands-on; I want to grow with them together. Who knows? Next time we talk I could be in the middle of a Pledge. I have so many ideas of stuff I want to do, I’m just trying to make the time.”