MJ Lenderman has revealed that he will no longer tour with Wednesday.
- READ MORE: MJ Lenderman – ‘Manning Fireworks’ review: literary magic from Americana’s golden boy
The ‘She’s Leaving You’ singer joined Wednesday in 2020 alongside Karly Hartzman, who originally formed the band as a solo project in 2017. Since then, they’ve released three albums – the latest being 2023’s ‘Rat Saw God‘ – and toured extensively.
Now though, Lenderman has shared that his days on the road with the band have come to an end. In a new interview with GQ, he said that a January 4 show at Japan’s rockin’on sonic festival was his final with them.
“With every new phase of my ‘career,’ or whatever visibility I have, I have to make new adjustments to protect what I am doing,” Lenderman told the publication.
He also outlined how his breakup with Hartzman and intense touring schedules contributed to his decision. “It brings me a little comfort to know where the horizon is, to know when tour is over,” he said. “Before I decided to step back from Wednesday, that was up in the air forever. That made me really nervous.”
Lenderman went on to say that he will continue to record music with Wednesday and revealed that the new band member who will replace him at live shows is called Jake.
Lenderman and Hartzman both covered Counting Crows’ ‘A Long December’ at separate gigs in December, each joined by different members of Wednesday.
Lenderman’s fourth solo LP ‘Manning Fireworks’ was released in September and landed a spot on NME’s 50 best albums of 2024 list. The track ‘She’s Leaving You’ was also included in NME’s 50 best songs of 2024.
“Breakup songs can contain multitudes: despair, uncertainty, full-throated resentment. MJ Lenderman’s writing on ‘She’s Leaving You’, on the other hand, is characterised by a shrugging, clear-eyed sadness, leaning into the abject silence of heartbreak in its refrain: “It gets dark, we all got work to do,” NME wrote. “Slacker rock melancholia at its most enlightened.”
