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Static-X rose to fame in the late 90's and early 00's, during the heyday of nu-metal. Their blend of crunching riffs and, futuristic themes and electronically infused industrial grooves set them apart from the rest of the thuggish, crotch grabbing and backward red hat wearing nu-metal crowd. While many of their peers disbanded once the fad wore off, Static-X's originality ensured that they could keep going, releasing albums and touring the world over.
Although the band have had a relatively quiet period in recent years, frontman and main creative force behind the band, Wayne Static has been anything but quiet, constantly working on soundtracks, and last year releasing his first solo record Pighammer. I spoke to the iconically spiky haired frontman about his recent decision to put Static-X back together and hit the road again.
Altsounds: What made you decide to put Static X back together and get back on the road?
Wayne: It seemed like the right thing to do and the right time to do it you know? I did my solo thing that I’d been wanting to do for a long time and we got some good offers for Static X for the summer so it seemed like a good time to get that running again. So here we are!
Altsounds: How have the first few shows been?
Wayne: They’ve been awesome, really cool.
Altsounds: Good turn out?
Wayne: Totally. Everything’s been great.
Altsounds: Any plans to take it anywhere apart from the US? Maybe Europe or Australia, or is it just a stateside thing for now?
Wayne: I’m hoping to go to Australia. We really like it there, we’ve been there a few times and had a really good time so there’s definitely plans to get to Australia. Europe I’m not sure about, it’s been a little tougher for me over there to try to break even so I don’t know if we’re gonna hit Europe or not.
Altsounds: Is it a new line-up of musicians that you’ve got behind you in Static-X or the original line up?
Wayne: Yeah I’ve got the same players that I used for my solo tour. The other guys that were in Static-X don’t wanna do it anymore, which is all good, they can do whatever they want, but I wanted to do Static-X again so I got some new guys in. Ashes is playing guitar and Brent [Ashley] on bass and Sean [Davidson] on drums and the new line up is totally slamming. Everyone’s having a good time so it’s awesome.
Altsounds: And you’ve got Prong and Davey Suicide in support.
Wayne: Yeah the bands we’ve got on tour with us right now, it’s really cool and it totally makes sense with the styles that they play and we all know each other so it’s pretty cool. It’s very comfortable.
Altsounds: Your song ‘Assassins of Youth’ on Pighammer is about how you recently quit taking drugs. How is it touring now that you’re clean and sober? Are you tempted to slip back into that lifestyle?
Wayne: Well I’m not sober, I still drink. It’s not like I went to AA or any of that crap. I still party and like to have a good time, it’s just that I stick to alcohol now.
Altsounds: How have you found it re-visiting the old songs and creating the setlist for the show?
Wayne: It was cool, we pulled out a few old songs out of the hat that we haven’t played in a long time and its kind of fun to revisit some of that and re-learn how to play that stuff. There’s one old song called ‘Justice Case’ that we pulled out and we’ve actually never played it live. We’re covering stuff from every record but it’s definitely heavier on the first couple of Static –X records.
Altsounds: Have you ever thought about doing what a lot of bands seem to be doing these days and playing an album from start to finish?
Wayne: Yeah, I’ve thought about doing that. It’s funny that you bring that up because we’ve actually been thinking of doing something like that maybe for next year. I think that it’d be really cool. It’d be kind of hard to do because I have a lot of material to cover so we’d still have to cover a lot of other things. So maybe it’d be the kind of thing where the setlist would change every night but I think it would be cool to do that.
Altsounds: How about working with DJ’s – More and more bands, Korn for example, have been working with dubstep producers, and I know Static-X have a big electronic influence in their music so would you consider doing that?
Wayne: I like working with other people and I’ve had really cool success doing it in the past, but as far as writing my own record, I’m kind of a control freak so I don’t do well collaborating with others. Any of the collaborations I do end up being for a soundtrack or something like that. Usually when it’s just my thing I really have everything set in my mind exactly how I wanna do it, so I’ll probably stick to that as far as my records go. But I’d love to do other collaborations for other people’s stuff.
Altsounds: Have you got anything else in the pipeline recording wise once the tour is done? Another Static –X album or another solo album?
Wayne: Right now we’re focusing on the tour and we’re just gonna keep rolling as long as we can. There will definitely be another record out probably some time towards the end of next year realistically. I have a bunch of ideas started but I don’t have any finished songs yet and I don’t know at this point whether it will be a Static-X or a solo record, it’s hard to say. There’s a lot of variables to consider.
Altsounds: How was the response to the solo album?
Wayne: It was really good, I was very happy with the way it turned out. All my fans seem to really appreciate it and like it. You know, it sounds very much like an old Static-X record anyway so I didn’t expect anyone to really not like it. If you like Static-X then you’re gonna like the solo album for sure.
Altsounds: It’s a cool concept behind the ‘Pighammer’ i.e. a plastic surgeon turning a woman into a pig.
Wayne: Yeah it was a kind of strange, dark humour, somewhat controversial thing. I got quite a few negative comments actually, I don’t think they got the joke. I just thought it was funny you know? Some people don’t get my humour (laughs).
Altsounds: If you were to have plastic surgery and be turned into an animal, which animal would it be?
Wayne: I don’t know, I’m happy being one hundred per cent human for now.
Well, we hope he stays human too if it means that Static-X will keep touring and bringing their industrial thrash to the world. Static-X are currently on tour with Prong and Davey Suicide.
Tour dates are available here.
Wayne Static - Pighammer is out now.
Although the band have had a relatively quiet period in recent years, frontman and main creative force behind the band, Wayne Static has been anything but quiet, constantly working on soundtracks, and last year releasing his first solo record Pighammer. I spoke to the iconically spiky haired frontman about his recent decision to put Static-X back together and hit the road again.
Altsounds: What made you decide to put Static X back together and get back on the road?
Wayne: It seemed like the right thing to do and the right time to do it you know? I did my solo thing that I’d been wanting to do for a long time and we got some good offers for Static X for the summer so it seemed like a good time to get that running again. So here we are!
Altsounds: How have the first few shows been?
Wayne: They’ve been awesome, really cool.
Altsounds: Good turn out?
Wayne: Totally. Everything’s been great.
Altsounds: Any plans to take it anywhere apart from the US? Maybe Europe or Australia, or is it just a stateside thing for now?
Wayne: I’m hoping to go to Australia. We really like it there, we’ve been there a few times and had a really good time so there’s definitely plans to get to Australia. Europe I’m not sure about, it’s been a little tougher for me over there to try to break even so I don’t know if we’re gonna hit Europe or not.
WATCH // 'Assassins of Youth'
Altsounds: Is it a new line-up of musicians that you’ve got behind you in Static-X or the original line up?
Wayne: Yeah I’ve got the same players that I used for my solo tour. The other guys that were in Static-X don’t wanna do it anymore, which is all good, they can do whatever they want, but I wanted to do Static-X again so I got some new guys in. Ashes is playing guitar and Brent [Ashley] on bass and Sean [Davidson] on drums and the new line up is totally slamming. Everyone’s having a good time so it’s awesome.
Altsounds: And you’ve got Prong and Davey Suicide in support.
Wayne: Yeah the bands we’ve got on tour with us right now, it’s really cool and it totally makes sense with the styles that they play and we all know each other so it’s pretty cool. It’s very comfortable.
Altsounds: Your song ‘Assassins of Youth’ on Pighammer is about how you recently quit taking drugs. How is it touring now that you’re clean and sober? Are you tempted to slip back into that lifestyle?
Wayne: Well I’m not sober, I still drink. It’s not like I went to AA or any of that crap. I still party and like to have a good time, it’s just that I stick to alcohol now.
Altsounds: How have you found it re-visiting the old songs and creating the setlist for the show?
Wayne: It was cool, we pulled out a few old songs out of the hat that we haven’t played in a long time and its kind of fun to revisit some of that and re-learn how to play that stuff. There’s one old song called ‘Justice Case’ that we pulled out and we’ve actually never played it live. We’re covering stuff from every record but it’s definitely heavier on the first couple of Static –X records.
Altsounds: Have you ever thought about doing what a lot of bands seem to be doing these days and playing an album from start to finish?
Wayne: Yeah, I’ve thought about doing that. It’s funny that you bring that up because we’ve actually been thinking of doing something like that maybe for next year. I think that it’d be really cool. It’d be kind of hard to do because I have a lot of material to cover so we’d still have to cover a lot of other things. So maybe it’d be the kind of thing where the setlist would change every night but I think it would be cool to do that.
Altsounds: How about working with DJ’s – More and more bands, Korn for example, have been working with dubstep producers, and I know Static-X have a big electronic influence in their music so would you consider doing that?
Wayne: I like working with other people and I’ve had really cool success doing it in the past, but as far as writing my own record, I’m kind of a control freak so I don’t do well collaborating with others. Any of the collaborations I do end up being for a soundtrack or something like that. Usually when it’s just my thing I really have everything set in my mind exactly how I wanna do it, so I’ll probably stick to that as far as my records go. But I’d love to do other collaborations for other people’s stuff.
WATCH // 'I'm With Stupid'
Altsounds: Have you got anything else in the pipeline recording wise once the tour is done? Another Static –X album or another solo album?
Wayne: Right now we’re focusing on the tour and we’re just gonna keep rolling as long as we can. There will definitely be another record out probably some time towards the end of next year realistically. I have a bunch of ideas started but I don’t have any finished songs yet and I don’t know at this point whether it will be a Static-X or a solo record, it’s hard to say. There’s a lot of variables to consider.
Altsounds: How was the response to the solo album?
Wayne: It was really good, I was very happy with the way it turned out. All my fans seem to really appreciate it and like it. You know, it sounds very much like an old Static-X record anyway so I didn’t expect anyone to really not like it. If you like Static-X then you’re gonna like the solo album for sure.
Altsounds: It’s a cool concept behind the ‘Pighammer’ i.e. a plastic surgeon turning a woman into a pig.
Wayne: Yeah it was a kind of strange, dark humour, somewhat controversial thing. I got quite a few negative comments actually, I don’t think they got the joke. I just thought it was funny you know? Some people don’t get my humour (laughs).
Altsounds: If you were to have plastic surgery and be turned into an animal, which animal would it be?
Wayne: I don’t know, I’m happy being one hundred per cent human for now.
Well, we hope he stays human too if it means that Static-X will keep touring and bringing their industrial thrash to the world. Static-X are currently on tour with Prong and Davey Suicide.
Tour dates are available here.
Wayne Static - Pighammer is out now.
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