Q: Hey! Do you have a favorite costume that you've worn or a costume that you really want to do in the future?
A: This alien I did as a kid was pretty epic…. my sister was a George Bush cop that year? My mom just let us do whatever basically. The year I went as a “nondescript singer” was epic too just cause how my life turned out
My dream costume would be like really good practical effects demon like on Buffy… or maybe one of the scary guys from the “Hush” episode of that show
Q: I am in the process of coding my own website on neocities - inspired by the discovery of prisondivorcebombshell.com!! so firstly thank u for triggering a deep dive into the indie web and all things html <3
I am wondering whereeeee you made the super cute custom avatar from your homepage?? I was always obsessed with doll makers and dress up on the internet and am looking for the perf mini-me for my page!! if you know of any other gd avatar makers or sites to get graphics plsss put me on!!!
thanks karly and please never stop making your art, lots of love from east london :* (ps saw u at rough trade in august u killedt that)
A: https://www.avatarsinpixels.com/chibi/clothing/Body here you go!!!!!!
Everyone should make one they are so fun!!!
also comment ur website when you get it online <3
Q: hey karly!
i was at the oakland show october 18, and before that was at the san francisco show for rat saw god!
at both shows we were moshing like crazy people the whole entire set. i think at the sf show you even said something about it implying it was excessive lol.
i'd love to know how you feel about the constant, kind of tone-ignorant moshing at your shows, and if it's something about wednesday fans or just something about the bay? from your POV does it feel like people are ignoring the actual tempo/vibes of the music, or like it's our first rock show and we're out of our minds, or do you like the energy?
from my POV, we weren't moshing because we mistakenly think the songs are really hardcore or anything. everyone was just SO EXCITED for every song!! we were all smiling like crazy people thrashing to elderberry wine because we just love it so much!! those 2 shows are some of my favorite memories because everyone was just so freaking psyched!
i pray we don't seem ignorant or god forbid ironic. we fucking love you guys!!!
p.s. at the rat saw god show i gave you a black and white and orange accordion zine with all the lyrics written on the back. hope u liked it!
A: I pretty much always fuck with moshing!! It definitely comes off more as excitement than like aggression at our shows.
I always usually say something into the mic if the crowd is getting too crazy… like I’ll explicitly be like “yo don’t push people up against the stage or barrier” or “hey please don’t mosh to this song its a sad one”
9/10 times though the crowd moshing/jumping gives me so much energy !! Which I usually need cause by the time we play it’s usually after a long ass day.
Oakland specifically was the most exhausting day on tour so far… we woke up around 6:30 to drive from LA for 6 hours and then had sound check and blah blah blah… but the crowd giving us that much energy made it soooooooOOOOO much easier to give ya’ll all the energy we had left. That was such a fun show.
Q: Did you ever watch the Addams Family growing up? If not, what were some big media influences to you as a kid?
A: I didn’t watch that much Addams fam. I did really like the movie with blonde Joan Cusack tho.
I would say like Cartoon Network shit like Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Tim Burton stuff and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark were all mad formative to me.
I was also OBSESSED with computer games. Nancy Drew, Putt-Putt, Pajama Sam and like the internet in general. Myspace, AIM, Club Penguin, etc etc.
Early music was def like pop punk and indie rock yadda yadda. I looooved the Shins, Rilo Kiley, Low in middle/highschool a lot, i don’t talk about them in interviews v much but they were very formative.
Q:
KH! First of all, thank you for all of the energy that you and your bandmates have put into Wednesday so far!! I’ve been coming back to Bleeds repeatedly since it released…strong contender for AOTY 2025.
Here’s my question: were there any notable teachers/professors/classes that inspired you to follow your passion for writing lyrics and playing music? What about them or their classes gave you either skill or confidence to do what you do today?
Looking forward to seeing everyone perform live when the band comes out to LA soon!! Much love and longevity to you and yours!!
A: I was not super super into school to be quite honest.
My favorite teachers I ever had were my high school English teacher Mr. Post and my middle school history teacher Mr. Auman. Both of them were just really relaxed with how they let me interpret assignments and understood/encouraged my like… style of writing?
I had english teachers that tried to correct a lot of my like creative choices and it annoyed the shit out of me… cause like… it wasn’t like I was slackin!!! I was tryna try something that would keep me interested.
Most of my most influential teachers were like… musicians I listened to and writers. Richard Braughtian, Mary Karr, Harry Crews and Lynda Barry are my writing parents <3 I reference them and their work all the damn time.
I’ve never had formal music lessons but Jake taught me a lot when I was learning his songs to play on tour. And then YouTube kinda the best teacher of all time.
Q: hi!! sorry if this has been asked before but I’m curious to know what your zodiac sign is :)
A: I’m a Sagittarius … what does that mean? Please tell me in the comments
I would like to know how/who i’m supposed to be
Q: hiii i need to know your opinion on taylor swift's most recent albums and taylor swift in general
A: Haven’t listened to the new one, probably won’t. I like her song “Fearless” pretty good!
I don’t think about her very much… which feels just right for me
Q: hi karly…. i just read your piece for vulture and oh my gosh…. it was just beautiful. I just wanted to come on here and say thanks for writing the way you do and sharing with everyone. I live and die for North Carolina and it’s so wonderful to see the coolest people on the music scene come out of our state. Anyways I wanted to ask if you’ll be doing more memoir-like prose and if you have any pieces that shaped your writing style/inspired you for this one?
A: Hell yeah NC 4 Lyfeeeeee
Also yes…. I will be/am writing more… working on it:)
I have read soooooooooooo many books to prepare for my nonfiction writing stuff. The main influences rn are Mary Karr’s memoirs and her book about how to write one, Harry Crew’s A Childhood, Ashleigh Bryant Phillips essays Sleepovers, Joan Didion “Year of Magical Thinking” and like a million others but those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.
Q: hiii first want to say love love love the new album. wanted to ask what lipstick ur wearing in the townies mv because it is soooo fierce <3
A: I’ve tried many different ones but my ole faithful is Nyx Liquid Suede in Alien!
Q: does girl girl like carolina murder suicide? my cat johnny is in a trance whenever that song is playing.
A: Girl Girl loves all music…. even when I’m just angry or sad at the house and playing feedback through my amp she is so chill listening from her lil cat tree
Q: i saw a playlist of yours, titled 2025, and was so delighted to see a smattering of polvo tracks in there, from cor-crane secret, and celebrate the new dark age.
over the years i haven't really been able to track down someone who is very excited about polvo. i've come to wonder whether there is some specific sub-aesthetic or cognitive thing about them that draws me to them, and doesn't really cause other people to stop and do a double take/double listen.
seeing them on your playlist was very affirming. and given what i know of your music, i am so curious to ask you what your relationship is to them.
there is an explosive part of "pick up that knife" that struck me, at first, with Harvey Milk inflection. but i heard it again and again and i feel in it, at 00:58, a throbbing and impossibly cantilevered rats nest of angular, serrated and dangerous machinic sounds. I REALLY LIKE IT. there are aspects of it that associate with polvo for me.. but they are also a bit more arid (?) (bleeds is so JUICY and wet... (blood letting?)).
could you share what your feelings are about polvo, and if you have any favorite songs or associations about them?
it's a tradition for me to come to see you guys play when you come through philly. i'm excited for november! we were actually standing next to each other for a moment during hotline tnt's set at your last show but i didn't feel like getting to say hi was worth interrupting the moment you were having with yourself. so here's a delayed hi.
the cold spot in the lake in bitter everyday : ' )
A: bruuuhhh yeah I just had a deeeeep dive moment with Polvo a few months ago. Idk what took me so long to get into them cause they’re everything I love… dissonance, choppy messy guitars, passionate ass vocals, energy energy energy combined with immense beauty and patience sometimes. Also the fellow North Carolinian band thing counts for a lot.
I love Cor-Crane secret that’s been my go to album of theirs.
The thing that made me dig deeper with them is this episode of my favorite podcast Drifters Sympathy.
I love Harvey Milk too but I think what I was channeling for that part of Pick Up That Knife that you’re talking about is this Spirit of the Beehive song around the 1:20 mark. I love this first SotB album… I think what happened with Duster is gonna happen with them and Palm in like 10 years. Both bands are/were doing something so ahead of their time and I think are p underappreciated.
I actually appreciate that I can stand in the crowd and listen to the openers without having ppl come up to me tbh! So thanks for letting me have my peaceful moment in the audience!
Q: hai :3 do you think you’ll be doing any more tour dates in north carolina …..
A: Yes!! There’s another one on the March/April dates but we can’t announce it yet cause of reasonsssssss
And we booked this other other other NC date in 2026 that’s gonna go hard and be very very special…… news on that later
Q: hiii karly!!! first of all wanted to say that the new album rocks (obviously) and i feel sooo lucky to have been able to attend the zine workshop and the secret album release show. it's rare for a band of y'alls size to be so in touch with and passionate about your hometown fanbase and it's just really awesome to be able to attend all of these intimate events. it really means soooo much!!!!
also! i was looking thru yr "faves of all time" page and saw u put stardew valley on there...just got re-obsessed with the game as i do every year around this time and was wondering who u typically marry in the game!!!!!! first time around i married abigail (<3) but now in my new save im trying to get with harvey.......it's such a silly part of the game that i forget about but i am always curious who marries which character.
anyways. i hope you guys can remain in touch with us nc fans as time goes on but i recognize people are getting weirder and weirder and more parasocial so i understand why a lot of artists are getting further and further removed from the idea of doing intimate shows/events. it's unfortunate :( but also totally understandable. people r fuckin weird!!!
A: I’ve played twice and I married Emily both times :))) I just love what a weirdo freak she is.
I think in NC the hometown/home state shit will hopefully be able to stay intimate and fun cause my dream is to remain to be able to hang around town in a regular ass way no matter what the music does/ no matter how popular it gets.
I also might be naive but I feel like the noisy nature of our music really puts a cap on how popular we can get?? Idk…. maybe I just personally don’t want it to get scary and bad and I’m just telling myself that?
So far it’s been chill though and everyones been nice and cool at all the shows.
Q: Hi Karly, not sure if this particular question about the writing process has been asked before. When I write a song, it'll typically fall together from riffs and lines I've written down at random. How much time do you spend on each word, each line? How much do you edit and revise compared to actually writing? I don't think I've talked to many musicians about their revision process for their songs. Anyways, thanks!
A: I’m not a huge reviser honestly…. but I’m writing something now that’s making me have to adjust that a bit.
As far as songs go I’ll usually get down the broad strokes of what I want to say and then I’ll just go back and replace words or lines that could be more interesting/engaging.
My songs usually come together similarly to what ur sayin, I’ll write and record voice notes of riffs over time and pair em together for songs whenever I need an instrumental bit for something.
Q: Hey Karly, hope you're doing well!
I love Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling 'em Up, and on a recent listen it got me thinking. Do you have any favorite covers that other bands/artists have done of Wednesday songs? Also, are there any other songs you're itching to cover yourself?
A: Honestly every time I see someone covering our songs I am fucking astounded… it is so crazy ppl are doing that shit. Theres a full ass cover band called Tuesday that does sets of our songs? Cwazy. Idk if I could pick a single fave.
I have a big ass playlist of covers I wanna do…. Hope to do another albums worth asap. A big one I’ve wanted to do for a loooong time we might bust out on our upcoming tours hehe.
Q: Hi!!! I had a very specific question that I think is truly a good tell of a person. That question is what sound do you use for your alarm ringtone?
Sending well wishes from Boston!
A: On my clock with my ipod on it I usually queue up “Upside Down” by Teethe as my alarm…. It is a beautiful way to wake up
When I don’t have my alarm clock on tour and use my phone it’s just on the default “Alarm 01”
Q: Hi hi hi! Who are your fashion icons? Where do you get your merch inspo? Any fave secondhand/vintage store recs (in NC or anywhere!) - Love your pfp in what I looks like a goodwill fitting room <3
A: I LOVE this question
My big three fashion mothers are PJ Harvey, Brittany Murphy and Helena Bonham Carter. All three dress very true to themselves, comfortably and with messy hair all which is realistic pour moi!
My merch inspo is myself usually! I don’t make many things I wouldn’t wear myself! I try to pick stuff that’s well made and 100% cotton for my handmade merch, and then for our printed merch I handpick all the artists (most of them are tattooers as well)
My favorite second hand stores in NC are usually the charity shops, little old ladies with nice clothes usually donate to these instead of goodwill. For example the ASPCA one (I think it’s next to Mr. K’s) in Asheville is good!
I have a rule that I’m not allowed to buy clothes second hand online anymore… that shit NEVER fits me!
I don’t go thrift shopping for myself as much anymore either cause I’m trying to not buy so much shit! Recently when I travel I look for places that sell like really well made archival and designer pieces that I’ll buy for maybe a lil more expensive but that I’ll cherish 4 lyfe. I have a map here of a BUNCH of places all over the world.
My PFP is in fact in a goodwill dressing room. I was trying on that pink shirt, I indeed bought in and I wear it all da time now.
Q: just ate some honestly delicious grocery store sushi from wegmans (i was soooo hungry) and thought of you. your music means so much to me btw and i love you! so like....what do you think about grocery store sushi?
A: I’ve had some really shitty GSS (grocery store sushi). In my experience it is pretty reliably mid! BUT it is a great way to quickly get multiple food groups ingested. I usually just go for the veggie stuff at the grocery store, and get fish at a restaurant.
Q: Hiii!! Big big fan of your music, all the way from Australia :) (I missed the show you did down here because I had a work shift I couldn't get out of... I regret it so much ahhh I should've just called in sick T-T).
Recently you said you identify with the 'southern gothic' label, and I wondered if you've ever read Truman Capote's first novel, 'Other Voices, Other Rooms'? It's my favourite novel of all time. It has THE most beautiful lyrical writing (imo), and I feel completely transported whenever I read it. The book is set in rural Alabama (where Capote was raised, and was living at the time), and is a kind of queer coming-of-age story. It actually received quite a bit of backlash at the time for portraying queer characters in a positive/very sympathetic light. It's definitely of its time in other ways though, particularly in its treatment of black characters, so be aware of that. But I would really encourage you to read it; I think you'd love the writing style. It's just so rich and textured !! :-)
Here's a little sample of the first page:
"It's a rough trip no matter how you come, for these washboard roads will loosen up even brandnew cars pretty fast, and hitchhikers always find the going bad. Also, this is lonesome country, and here in the sunken marshes where tiger lilies bloom the size of a man's head there are luminous green logs that shine under the dark water like drowned corpses. Often the only movement on the landscape is a broken spiral of smoke from a sorry-looking farmhouse on the horizon, or a wing-stiffened bird, silent and arrow-eyed, circling endlessly over the bleak deserted pinewoods."
A: Damnnnnn this sounds awesome I’ll def look for a copy!
Mostly posting so other people reading can have access to this recommendation <3
xoxo
Q: Hello!! Fan writing from Columbia South Carolina. A friend and I have been discussing a blossoming indie sleaze revival (Anonymous Blogging, Social media account deletion, cutting off nearly every single original hem of the band t-shirts in our closets), and I was wondering how you went about creating this website. This could be a phenomenon localized entirely within my friend group, but I've been kind of hunting for something similar to this for a while now, any tips would be LOVELY!
Do you have any particular writing process for songs? Your lyrics seem to just have this special quality to them that feels like you just uncovered them in the music itself; I can only imagine that that comes with years and years of practice and four-- soon to be five-- original albums, but if you had any breakthroughs in your perspective on writing while developing your skills that would be wonderful to read about.
Not to glamorize or put you on a pedestal, but I admire your lyrics for the way that the south is portrayed in an honest way. I find it to be absurdly common to have the south demonized in popular (and underground culture) and seeing your love for the south spill through in your lyrics hits home and it makes me feel like i'm not crazy for loving the south despite it's flaws. If u r ever in Columbia on a Friday or Saturday night, stop by New Brookland Tavern! It's a smallish music venue (about 300 cap?) that I run sound for sometimes.
P.s., do you have any hopes for a solo project in the future? Either music or another medium?
A: I just made this website with Squarespace! Neocities is another website building hub to try that’s more accessible $ wise, although the learning curve seems steeper there. There’s website building stuff in the “Resources” tab of this website!
I’ve answered a few asks about my writing process on here! They should be archived under tags underneath posts like “process” or “creativity” or “songwriting” etc. I’ll tag some of those categories on this post for easy access but here’s a direct link to the song writing tag!
https://www.prisondivorcebombshell.com/answering-ur-questions/tag/songwriting#show-archive
No plans for a solo project anytime soon, I love playing with my bandmates too much <3
I have been experimenting with writing in other mediums though, more info on that eventually!