Xandy Chelmis

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.

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.

Career

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. Hartzman attended college in Asheville, where she met Daniel Gorham. The two recorded an album together under the moniker Wednesday titled ''yep definitely''. The band's name was inspired by the British band The Sundays. 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.''

Hartzman formed another band called Diva Sweetly, alongside members of the band Pictures of Vernon, which released an album in 2019. 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. 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.

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. On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single "Bull Believer". 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.

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."

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''.

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

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.

Musical style and influences

Wednesday's sound has been described as country, shoegaze, and indie or alternative rock. 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 wirlies'music and country lyrics."

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. 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, though they have since split.

Band members

Current members
*Karly Hartzman – vocals, guitar (2017–present)
*Alan Miller - drums (2017–present)
*Xandy Chelmis – lap steel (2020–present)
*Ethan Baechtold – bass guitar (2023–present)
*MJ Lenderman – guitar, vocals (2020–present)

Former members
* Daniel Gorham – bass guitar (2017–2019)
* Margo Schultz – bass guitar (2020–2022)

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Extended plays

Singles

References

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Musical groups established in 2017
Musical groups from Asheville, North Carolina
Indie rock musical groups from North Carolina
American country rock groups
American shoegaze musical groups
2017 establishments in North Carolina
Dead Oceans artists