MJ Lenderman clarifies his future with Wednesday
Following the success of two hit solo records, MJ Lenderman has clarified his future with the band Wednesday.
The guitarist has been a member of the group since 2020 when he teamed up with Karly Hartzman, who initiated the Wednesday project back in 2017. In that time, the band have released three albums and toured extensively.
Lenderman has always been viewed as a pivotal member of the group, however, he revealed to GQ that he will no longer be playing shows with Wednesday. “With every new phase of my ‘career,’ or whatever visibility I have, I have to make new adjustments to protect what I am doing,” he said.
The ‘She’s Leaving You’ singer cited his break-up with Hartzman and the intensity of his touring schedule as the main reasons behind the decision. “It brings me a little comfort to know where the horizon is, to know when tour is over,” he said.
Continuing: “Before I decided to step back from Wednesday, that was up in the air forever. That made me really nervous.” Considering he also embarked on a separate world tour with his blossoming solo project last year, that stance is one that has been brewing for a while now.
However, he did clarify that he would continue to record music with the band. It is simply on the live front where a replacement will be drafted in. “The guy that’s replacing me? His name is Jake too,” he explained. At present, it has not been clarified who his replacement is beyond that remark.
Lenderman’s last album, Manning Fireworks, claimed fifth place on Far Out‘s best albums of 2024, with Reuben Cross writing: “Despite how despondent the album is, there’s a wickedly wry sense of humour running throughout, and the imagery that Lenderman conjures up is of places you know you’ve been but don’t really want to remember with the same level of scarring detail as he does.”
He continued: “You don’t want to be sat under the half-mast McDonalds flag, and you certainly don’t want to board the houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome. You don’t really want to be anywhere, and Manning Fireworks is the soundtrack to wishing you could get out of whatever shithole you’re in.”
Concluding: “This isn’t a glass-half-full album; the glass is half-empty and cracked, and the strong IPA is trickling away slowly across the table. There’s nothing you can do about it either, so you might as well drink it and start the cycle over again.”
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