MURDERDOLLS have confirmed who will be on stage for their 2027 reunion: vocalist Wednesday 13 will be joined by guitarist Acey Slade and bassist Eric Griffin, the two musicians who toured the band's 2002 debut Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls. The news came on Thursday, November 12, the same day the band was confirmed for the U.K.'s Download Festival, held June 9–13, 2027, at Donington Park.
Download joins Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium, which was the first booking we reported last week. The Download announcement came with a teaser set to "Dead In Hollywood" from the debut album, which turns 25 next year, and the line "25 years ago, evil arrived. Next year it returns."
The 2027 shows are billed as a memorial tribute to two late members: co-founder Joey Jordison, who played guitar in MURDERDOLLS while drumming for SLIPKNOT and died in July 2021 at 46, and Ben "The Ghoul" Graves, the debut-era drummer who died of cancer in May 2018 at 45.
They will be the first MURDERDOLLS performances since 2018, when Wednesday 13, Slade and Griffin shared a stage for the first time in more than a decade at Lucky Strike Live in Hollywood, at an event celebrating Graves's life.
The confirmed trio carries some history. Slade, Griffin and Graves toured Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls worldwide, including dates with IRON MAIDEN, but did not play on either of the band's records. The second album, Women And Children Last (2010), was made by Wednesday 13 and Jordison alone, and Slade later said he had not been invited to take part. More recently, Wednesday 13 publicly accused Slade of taking over the band's lapsed trademark without his or the Jordison estate's knowledge; Slade answered that he did it to get the debut back on streaming services and vinyl.