The Murderdolls’ debut album “Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls” is 20 years old, and bandmates Acey Slade and Eric Griffin have launched a website (murderdollsoffical.com) and will stage an event to celebrate the anniversary. Slade and Griffin were also set to host a signing and meet-and-greet for the record over the weekend in Massachusetts, and the event was to be live-streamed on several platforms.
Last week, Murderdolls frontman Wednesday 13 took to social media to announce his stance on the events. “It’s unfortunate that this has to be said, but here it is: Muderdolls was created in 2002 by Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13,” he wrote. “The name, the look, the lyrics, the music was all created by Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13. Anyone besides Wednesday or Joey claiming to be the Official Murderdolls is NOT OFFICIAL. Any merchandise being advertised using Joey and Wednesday’s original Murderdolls logos, music and lyrics is NOT Approved or Authorized.” Slade took to social media over the weekend to respond saying he hopes all Murderdolls alumni would be open to celebrating the album.
“Hey Gang, Acey here and I would just like to clear the air on some things,” he wrote. “The Murderdolls as a band does not exist. There are no current members, only alumni. There are no plans for a tour, new single, nothing of the sort. That’s the bad news. Now for the good news. It became apparent before 2020 that none of the Alumni wanted to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining the legacy or the business of the band. All of the business/legal ends of the band were abandoned. Reinstating the assets was time-consuming and expensive as you can imagine. It also came to my attention that we were approaching the 20th Anniversary of ‘Beyond..’. I reached out to Warner Brothers to see if they had any plans for a re-release and I was informed they did not. But they also indicated that they would be elated if I would like to license the album and all of its assets. This means the re-release of ‘Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls’ is officially licensed! And with that, any images, photos, music videos, artwork that came with the album. We spent months trying to track down the original master tapes. But no one seems to have them. That should also give you an idea of bad a state the business affairs had fallen.”
“I’d like to invite Jack, Racci, Roman, Jason, Eric and, obviously Wednesday and Dizzy to join in on this celebration. And should they ever need to use the band as a platform for their own endeavors, it would not only be welcome but encouraged, but that will be their choice. Reconnecting the alumni with the Murderdolls fans and us extending the legacy of everyone who built it, is what this is all about. But most of all, I’d like to invite everyone to come together and Celebrate this landmark album!”
