Rockstar Stops Touring With His Band After Solo Success: Latest on MJ Lenderman and Wednesday

One of rock music’s quickest rising stars is leaving his band to fly solo—sort of.

MJ Lenderman, guitarist of the band Wednesday, announced in a new GQ profile that he’d no longer be touring with the band. He will, however, continue to record music with them.

The news makes sense for Lenderman from a career perspective, as the Asheville, North Carolina rocker has become one of the genre’s most popular acts seemingly overnight.

His breakout solo album, 2022’s Boat Songs, was one of the year’s most critically acclaimed projects; it scored an 8.3 and ‘Best New Music’ award at Pitchfork. His 2024 followup, Manning Fireworks, was even more of a critical and commercial success and shot him into the mainstream—or, at least, made him famous enough to get profiled in GQ.

Lenderman joined Wednesday in 2020 at the request of his then-girlfriend, lead singer Karly Hartzman, who launched the band in 2017. They started dating in 2021 around the time the group released their album Twin Plagues, but by the time Lenderman released Manning Fireworks in 2024, the couple had broken up.

With the news of his departure from touring, it seems Lenderman’s final show as a member of Wednesday took place earlier this year in Japan.

Lenderman is currently on tour for his solo music with his backing band, who are known as The Wind.