The Secret Life Of Wendsday
Sydney based Alternative artist wendsday has unveiled their latest single ‘I’m Fine Thanks’, the second release for the clandestine artist. Delivered via We Don’t Exist Records, the new track will feature on the artist’s forthcoming album ‘Now or whenever’ along with the previously gifted ‘2001 Was More Fun’ and is coming some time in the near future. Under the cover of darkness, we caught up with the entity that is wendsday to chat about their secret life, their music and their Zuck-daddy.
Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for Music Kingdom Australia
No, thank you! I want to know what a couple of your favourite albums are.
For those that haven’t heard your music before, how do you describe the Wendsday sound?
If frustration & total honesty was an audio frequency and 90’s / early 2000’s anthemic rock started to explore what’s happening in hip-hop production, you’d be close-in on where wendsday is going.
Wendsday, you have just released your second single ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ Tell us about your new song. What does the song mean to you?
To me personally it’s a likely futile but a necessary shove against the tide of bullshit coming at us from all angles. Maybe I’m just crazy (ha!) but it feels like the world's just cooking itself alive like lobster-in-the-pot and not just in terms of the environment. That feels bad. A lot of us are feeling bad right now. But brands are still being like ‘Find your happy place with ½ price laundry detergent’ and Youtube business wizards are like ‘You could make $5,000 dollars from home with this one simple thing!’ and an alarming amount of content creators are like ‘You HAVE to try this skincare product made from the jizz of possums from Madagascar’ while dressed in a kimono and eating chapstick for an algorithm’s approval. Like fuck, what the hell is going on?! This is what a sentient species capable of Macbeth and splitting the atom has been reduced to?! Why am I so addicted to the internet when I know it sucks?!
So yeah, ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ is nihilism as a form of protest and an existential crisis in real-time. Which meant not playing the social media game in earnest, because ‘wendsday’ wouldn’t do that.
“The creative process was being unemployed for a few months there and actually getting the bandwidth to feel how I was feeling. ”
What came first the music or the lyrics? What did the creative process for the song look like?
For this one it was the riff in the verses and the first line came with it pretty much immediately. The creative process was being unemployed for a few months there and actually getting the bandwidth to feel how I was feeling. Which was fine and dandy, obviously.
Which lines resonate with you most?
“Space to “be”, transmit me up to Mars (I hear it’s nice this time of year)”
I love space and it’s a shame I’ll be long dead before I can vacation at a cheap but charming motel on another planet. Or roll a few dice at one of Elon Musk's lunar sex casinos. I’d also just watched ‘Watchmen’ and was vibing a little too hard with Dr Manhattan when he freaks out and leaves earth to go and be emo.
“it was the first track I wrote for ‘wendsday’. So, it seemed fitting to kick things off with it in terms of promotion. Like a manifesto of sorts. ”
How does ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ compare to your debut single ‘2001 Was More Fun’?
It’s certainly more genre-identifiable. And it was the first track I wrote for ‘wendsday’. So, it seemed fitting to kick things off with it in terms of promotion. Like a manifesto of sorts. 2001 Was More Fun - which soft launched a month ago - has more elements of where wendsday is headed sonically, in terms of samples & genre-mashing playing a larger role.
Both tracks are set to feature on your debut album ‘Now or Whenever’, what else can fans expect from the body of work?
haha I’ll save the surprise. I will say that the next single is either gonna completely tank or be a whole thing. I don’t think it will be somewhere in the middle. But what do I know?
“He makes me feel safe, like a handsome doona.”
You live in Sydney but recorded the album in Newcastle at the Sawtooth Studios, was this to protect the secret or was there another reason you didn’t use one of the many studios in your local area?
nah, I lived in newie for a good while there and knew Clint from his fingerlicious bass work in SF Wrens. We just click musically and in terms of always putting the idea of the track first. He makes me feel safe, like a handsome doona.
You are keeping your identity a secret, with your parents not even knowing you’re releasing music. Why?
More room to manoeuvre, actual freedom of speech, staving off making decisions based on ‘stakeholder’ fear or concern, social anxiety, day-job restrictions (I have dialled back my workload a lot in order to do ‘wendsday’ properly though) and wanting to see if there was a place for a kind of internet ghost / meme that’s come back from the dead to haunt our noisy and fragmented online world with music.
And with parents, friends etc - just to take the pressure off! Often, people who aren’t in the arts first question when they hear you’re doing something like this is ‘how much money are you making’ or ‘how long will you do it until you decide that it hasn’t worked?’. Boo. A few people know though and they’ve been an awesome support.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the anonymity?
Benefit: freedom! Both musically and in terms of promotion.
Drawback: none so far!
“I’ll hopefully retain some degree of ‘anon’ as I keep relentlessly putting out singles against peoples will. ”
W, Do you think there will ever be a time you reveal yourself?
Oh yeah, when I start playing live. In novelty sized sunglasses and a fake moustache, probably. I don’t have social media in my alt life, so I’ll hopefully retain some degree of ‘anon’ as I keep relentlessly putting out singles against peoples will.
Your bio states your day job wouldn’t approve of this side career, any hints on what you do 9 to 5?
haha no way! I certainly couldn’t say that Google is evil and Zuckerberg is a little-boy-lizard who toppled the first real domino that began a worldwide process of isolation and dismantling of the ideals of real community. It’s the kind of field that wouldn’t like that. I’m stepping back from it gradually though, THANK FUCK.
(don’t cancel me zuck-daddy, pls, love u and your rad new chain).
“I’m still hoping that maybe a muso can still make it without playing the algo-game. ”
How do you manage your own relationship with social media do you have methods or strategies so you to avoid overwhelmed?
It’s a corkboard & yarn connected mapping of what makes me dumber or feel crappier. I am addicted to the internet just like a lot of people. I just totally avoid social media situations that have no room for nuance as often as possible. Except when it comes to wendsday; I do have some social presence, but intend to subvert it entire time–hopefully the effect is actually a bit of a relief for anyone who sees me pop up on socials, to not be asked for their attention like a needy megaphone. Youtube I don’t quite count as social media, because at least there people are actively seeking longer-format creativity and nuance. Even if the comments section still looks like a bag of rabid cats and Google owns it now. I do really like Youtube and I’ve trained my algo to stop serving me divisive crap.
No matter what happens, if I get to look back one day and be proud of trying to do it this way, that’s a win. But I’m still hoping that maybe a muso can still make it without playing the algo-game.
I’m screwed aren’t I?
What are your thoughts on streaming services? Are they helping or hurting the industry?
Ooft! On the one hand, I couldn’t do what I’m doing without the likes of Spotify and Apple Music etc–without going into serious debt with a major label (shout out We Don’t Exist records, love ya). And I do really like having the world's music centralized, although more so when the apps were more rudimentary and encyclopedic in function. But it’s really important that people don’t forget how to find new music outside of what’s served to them via algorithm or promotion in-app and take a conscious approach to finding music ethically.
We value what takes effort to find, buy or earn wayyyyy more than what comes without it - and real human journalists that live and breathe music offer real context and passion, so finding music through a like-minded & three-dimensional tastemaker always feels better. Or solid word of mouth. Reciprocal love from music fans and music journos needs a kick up the bum in this dummies view - but thankfully, there’s great nuance happening in the world of podcasts and Youtube video essays when it comes to music, even if the written word has a limp right now because of AI search. It’s temporary.
On another note: people should consider the culture of the ‘album’ as something crucial to be preserved, as nice as it is to have an effortless and totally-accurate-to-taste landscape of playlists. The solution probably lies in a mix of people who use streaming apps understanding what is and isn’t good to come into music from tech-land - and updating their habits accordingly. And streamers having some no-go zones for the sake of the medium.
We’re only in version 1.2 of music streaming, I suspect in a little while there’ll be something akin to what Letterboxd has become for film-lovers. An app that nerfs its own UI to foster a real community that connects artists, music journos / tastemakers and fans, even if profits are thinner. (If this already exists, pls tell me).
“it’s really important that people don’t forget how to find new music outside of what’s served to them via algorithm or promotion in-app and take a conscious approach to finding music ethically. ”
Who in your crew or team deserves a shout out but never gets one? And what is it they do that keeps your world turning?
Shout out to Tim Evans on drums for ‘I’m Fine Thanks’ and ‘2001 Was More Fun’, he’s Godzilla on the kit which will become even more apparent when the next single drops. Clint Topic, you are the Mr Rogers of production with a wicked streak. And Darcy for lending some of his sweet-ass gear.
Do you have a message for the Wendsday fans and supporters?
To the RSL hall sized group of scrappy, swashbuckling scurvy-sea-dog pirates who are listening to wendsday - you deserve a lotto win this week. Thank you.
Interview by Michelle Symes
October 2025
