KARLY HARTZMAN OF WEDNESDAY
for issue nine
Karly Hartzman is in the driving seat of the North Carolina band Wednesday. I discovered Wednesday on a Thursday night, when a friend had a spare ticket to their show at the Factory Theatre in Sydney back in February of 2024. The band is made up of Karly on Guitar and Vocals, Xandy Chelmis on the lap steel, Alan Miller on Drums, Ethan Baechtold on Bass guitar, and Jake Lenderman on guitar. What began as Karly’s solo project in 2017 has ballooned into a busy touring band as Karly’s taken on the life of a full-time musician—heading around the globe on multiple headline tours, playing festivals such as Primavera Sound, and are set to play Coachella in 2026.
To those who haven’t heard their music, it’s been described as Creek Rock, Country Gaze, Modern Southern Gothic, and weaves together heavy guitar riffs, Karly and Jake’s vocal harmonies, and emotive lyrics, thickly layered with life, observations and tales of old. Her words are a portal to another life, so far from my own—one that now feels so familiar: the safety of a deck-chair on the dock of an alligator-infected lake. Neighbourhood houses raided by cops, dragging a body out of the creek. Her music is honest, and her stories tell the tales of life and death, and where death came a little too close, and the beauty and tragedy of it all. Her beautiful voice winds up and down octaves and tells a story in its own right. Wednesday’s five studio albums has just become six, with the release of Bleeds. This addition presents an addictive fusion of Southern twang and confessional lyrics. Karly’s been heard saying it’s the most Wednesday album yet—attributed to a tightened grasp on their own identity.
These days—when not on the road—Karly reads, makes her own merch, makes monthly additions to her blog www.prisondivorcebombshell.com, where she replies to Q&A from her fans, and spends time with her cat, GirlGirl. Like myself, she’s a collector and a fan of physical media and ephemera. It’ll be no surprise to you that Wednesday is one of my favourite bands in the whole wide world. To this day I’m in disbelief that I (Me) (Emma) got to speak to her. Mind you, I was shaking in my boots. As I explained this issue’s theme to Karly, she laughed, ‘Yeah, I'm honestly so glad I'm not in my early twenties anymore.’ Taking her music career head-on has changed everything so drastically, so we spoke about her new life and how she got to where she is now—and what’s next.
WANDERER: I wanted to talk about how you stepped back from Instagram and the wider social media space. I think plenty of people consider doing it, but I guess habits and having a distraction and a feeling of connection can make it really hard. What was it that made you take that leap and how has it changed things in your world?
KARLY: I mean, ultimately I kept opening my phone and seeing stuff that I didn't give permission to show itself to me. And I was like, you know what? I could easily just forcibly remove myself from this space and really protect my brain in a better way. I don't know… cause me and my partner of a long time had broken up and there was a pretty in-depth interview that came out having to do with the break-up, and that was a lot for me. That was really the main reason. Now, I have a new relationship with what my private life is. And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna take back a portion... as much as I can of my own life 'cause I'm about to be much more of a public figure and I need to be able to adjust to that and stay sane. The only downside of it though is the news that I do wanna know, with what's happening in the world, I'm the last person to know a lot of the time. So it's nice because I can be ignorant in a fun way, but also I do feel ignorant sometimes. Someone will be like, "oh, did you know that we're at war right now? we just started a war with Iran." And I was like, oh, bitch, I had no idea!
I think so many of us are just feeling that giant hopelessness that comes with everything going on and ugh, it's crazy.
I feel like it gave me more energy to actually contribute though, cause instead of getting pelted with all of it... Like, immigration's a big thing in The US right now with ICE raids and I was able to connect with a grassroots organisation here and actually put some time in rather than just doom scroll and be like, oh, shit what do I do? I have more energy to actually do something.
Yeah totally, you’re not getting zapped. A change of pace now, if we can go back to when you started music, did you have an idea of where you were going? And what you wanted to happen?
My only goal when I started was that I wanted to write songs and play music. I had no career goals. I just wanted to get better. And I think when you do get better eventually, the best intention you can have going into doing something is to wanna do it to the best of your ability. And I think the rest of it–the career stuff and sustainability–comes if you're putting that at the forefront. That's what I think is kind of underrated right now. I think people go into music sometimes–and I understand why, we're struggling to survive out here–thinking about the financial aspects of it, but that's ultimately not gonna serve the art and it's not gonna serve you. But yeah, no goals other than just wanting to play. I didn't start until I was a junior in college. But I always wanted to try. And once I did, having a community that supports you through that process too–which I did luckily in Asheville–is almost the most important part.
How about now, would you say you are driven by goals or you go with the flow? Or a secret third option?
I would say the goal still ultimately is to make music that I like! I'm ultimately just looking for the self satisfaction. I think the rest of it is cool and it makes it easier to keep going. I like all the positive feedback I get from other people, but it seems pretty obvious that the only way I'm going to enjoy the success is if I like the music and if I'm doing the best I possibly can with trying to say what I wanna say and create the sound that I want. That's been the main goal for sure.