Biography
Emerging from the periphery of Los Angeles's paisley underground during the 1980s, the sharp and vibrant pop outfit Wednesday Week originated as the vision of guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Kristi Callan together with her sister Kelly Callan, who handled drums and supplied backing vocals. The Callan sisters first joined forces in 1979 to create the short-lived group the Undeclared, which became a trio called Goat Deity in 1980 once guitarist Steve Wynn arrived. Wynn departed once his primary project, the Dream Syndicate, demanded full-time commitment, and the addition of bassist Kjehl Johansen, formerly of the Urinals, in 1981 prompted another name shift to Narrow Adventure. The ensemble settled on Wednesday Week in 1983 after David Provost replaced Johansen on bass, though Provost exited before year's end and Heidi Rodewald took his place. Their recording introduction arrived the same year via appearances on two compilations, The Warf Rat Tales (also spotlighting the Rain Parade, the Leaving Trains, and the Last) and The Radio Tokyo Tapes (alongside the Long Ryders, the Minutemen, the Three O'Clock, and the Bangles), plus the five-song EP Betsy's House.
Wednesday Week expanded to a quartet in 1984 with the arrival of lead guitarist Tom Alford, who was succeeded by David Nolte in 1985. This configuration endured for two years and delivered the band's debut full-length, What We Had, produced by Don Dixon and issued on Enigma Records in 1987. Critics responded favorably, and a pair of tracks from the album landed on the soundtrack for the horror film Slumber Party Massacre II (where Wednesday Week inadvertently supplied the backing tracks for teenage girls practicing for a battle of the bands), yet sales remained limited beyond California; by late 1987 Heidi Rodewald had exited and John Talley-Jones, another ex-Urinals member, filled the bass role temporarily. Kelly Callan switched from drums to bass in 1988, after which several drummers rotated through the lineup over the following two years.
Wednesday Week issued their second album, the cassette-only No Going Back, independently in 1990, featuring three different drummers across its tracks, but it generated little renewed attention and the group disbanded at year's end. In the mid-'90s Kristi Callan, Kelly Callan, and David Nolte began performing together in Lucky alongside bassist Mike Lawrence, and in 1998 the classic Wednesday Week lineup of Kristi Callan, Kelly Callan, Heidi Rodewald, and David Nolte reconvened to perform occasional shows in Los Angeles. Noble Rot Records reissued What We Had in 2008, appending the Betsy's House EP, tracks drawn from No Going Back, and assorted singles and compilation cuts as bonus material.
Wednesday Week expanded to a quartet in 1984 with the arrival of lead guitarist Tom Alford, who was succeeded by David Nolte in 1985. This configuration endured for two years and delivered the band's debut full-length, What We Had, produced by Don Dixon and issued on Enigma Records in 1987. Critics responded favorably, and a pair of tracks from the album landed on the soundtrack for the horror film Slumber Party Massacre II (where Wednesday Week inadvertently supplied the backing tracks for teenage girls practicing for a battle of the bands), yet sales remained limited beyond California; by late 1987 Heidi Rodewald had exited and John Talley-Jones, another ex-Urinals member, filled the bass role temporarily. Kelly Callan switched from drums to bass in 1988, after which several drummers rotated through the lineup over the following two years.
Wednesday Week issued their second album, the cassette-only No Going Back, independently in 1990, featuring three different drummers across its tracks, but it generated little renewed attention and the group disbanded at year's end. In the mid-'90s Kristi Callan, Kelly Callan, and David Nolte began performing together in Lucky alongside bassist Mike Lawrence, and in 1998 the classic Wednesday Week lineup of Kristi Callan, Kelly Callan, Heidi Rodewald, and David Nolte reconvened to perform occasional shows in Los Angeles. Noble Rot Records reissued What We Had in 2008, appending the Betsy's House EP, tracks drawn from No Going Back, and assorted singles and compilation cuts as bonus material.
Albums
