For over ten years, Static-X has been one of the biggest underground bands in the industrial metal arena. The purveyors of Evil Disco have had five of their six LPs land in the top 40 of the US and Australian charts, have had Gold and Platinum achievements for Machine and Wisconsin Death Trip and they have built a massive fan base along the way.
Their lead vocalist, guitarist and all-round shock-rocker Wayne Static has a chat with FasterLouder about their latest album and their upcoming tour.
Cult Of Static it’s the sixth album to come from Static-X, how are you enjoying the response so far?
The fans love it, and it’s my favourite record as well. It debuted at number 16 in the US which is actually the highest debut for us. It’s been so great.
Tera Wray, your new wife, was a big influence on the album, wasn’t she?
Yeah, we got married right around the same time that I started writing and all the lyrics are about us getting crazy and having a good time. There was a lot of passion put into the record.
Was there anything else that influenced you?
Uhh no, that’s about it really! You know, I wrote it all that night, so it’s a very dark record. Tera was masturbating next to me the whole time, and that had a lot to do with it as well!
It is a more mature album and gets back to the roots of the band, it’s more industrial and less mainstream. Is that what you were aiming for?
Yeah, you know, I liked the stripped-down feel of Cannibal but with Cult Of Static I really wanted to slow things down and make things darker. I spent a lot more time on the keyboards and the electronic elements and yes I think you are correct in that aspect.
You recruited John Travis who produced Cannibal to also produce Cult Of Static?
Yeah, John’s a great guy to work with, he tells jokes and is fun to hang out with. I think it’s very important when you are choosing a producer that you know you will be spending a lot of time with this person, for the several months to record and produce, so it has to be someone you get along with. I think we had a great partnership, he helped the record sound great and made the record what I wanted it to sound like.
So, why no – œOtsego’ song on this album?
I think the last record to have an Otsego song on it was Start a War in 2005. I think we kind of felt that we had played it out. You know it was fun for a while, but I like to keep things fresh and exciting for me as a writer and artist and I got bored with the idea I guess!
You had originally recorded the song Lunatic and then re-recorded it with Dave Mustaine [Megadeth] doing a solo on the guitar. How did that come about?
Well we were about halfway done recording the record when the producers of Punisher:Warzone came to us and asked us for a song for the soundtrack. So I thought Lunatic would be a great song for that. So I wrote some lyrics that kind of went along with the theme of the movie and we took a week off and finished up that song. Then after we were done with everything I was looking at everything and trying to figure out what song I wanted Dave Mustaine to play on and that was the song I wanted him to play on, so we kinda changed things around and then worked on the solo together.
You are touring in Australia again soon, which city are you looking forward to visiting again?
It’s really hard to say! I really like all of them. Umm, maybe Melbourne? But I do really like all of them. Everyone is awesome and every show is great there and I am really looking forward to the whole tour in general.
What are some of your most memorable moments from being on tour in Australia?
Probably the last time we were there with Megadeth. I hung out with Dave [Mustaine] a lot and it was some good times. Actually the first time we went there with Korn that was pretty cool too. They were really huge shows and a lot of fun. I remember one of the Sydney shows. I think we played two nights there if I remember correctly, but one of them was just off the hook, it was huge.
Static-X are renowned for putting on a spectacular show, and you are certainly still one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live. How do you make each show so memorable?
We just go out and give it everything we’ve got. A lot of it has to do with the audience really you know? We definitely have a great following in Australia and I know all the shows are going to be awesome.
Yeah, you certainly have a large following here.
Yeah, well, we really got a great start there. The first time we visited we were made support for Korn and we got introduced to a lot of people very quickly and then just as quick we developed a great following. This will be our first headline tour there though, and I am curious to see how we will do. Though I think we will do great!
The tour has been downplayed a bit here though, does that faze you?
No. I mean the venues look a little small, but I would rather have it small and crazy than have it large and the promoter not be happy because not enough people showed up you know! It’s definitely downplayed, but I think it’s going to make for some crazy, off-the-hook sold out shows.
So really, just how long does it take to get your hair to stand like that, and how much product to get it to stay that way during a show!?!
Ha ha, well it takes about 20 minutes, and it’s just hairspray! It’s very simple and I usually just leave it up for a couple of days, it’s a bit hard to leave it up all the time though.
It is such a renowned style now in the industry!
Yeah, that was the whole idea in the beginning. I grew up being a fan of Kiss and they always had the idea of putting on a larger than life show. So when I started this band I thought, I really need to do something that is identifiable so that even if you love us or hate us, as soon as you saw it, you knew who it was.
Kiss where an inspiration when you were younger? Who else played a big influence and inspired your music?
Yeah Kiss, Paul Stanley basically inspired me to do what I do, to front a band and play guitar and sing. Early Ministry stuff I like a lot, Pantera inspired me a lot and I think Dimebag was the greatest guitar player to ever live. There are also some lesser-known bands like Pong and Skinny Puppy. I love all of the old industrial stuff a lot.
What made you decide you wanted to be in the industrial scene?
Well I was always a fan of that, and I am an old guy, ha ha. I grew up in Chicago, in the eighties, and Chicago was basically the biggest industrial scene in the world. So I was very involved with all that and when I was coming up with the sound for Static-X, when we just started we were purely metal, and then I just had this idea, why don’t I try to infuse this old industrial sound with this Pantera type of sound. I think Love Dump was the first song that I had written with that in mind and I think that that was the real birth of Static-X.
So, does the X mean anything in particular?
No, not really! We were trying to be very experimental at the time, and you know we started this band for fun and to try to do something different and new and to make music that we had fun playing and that we enjoyed listening to. We did a lot of experimentation in the first couple of years, trying to come up with the sound. I know we may not have created something completely new, but no one has taken the elements and put them together in the same way that we have.
Static-X make the following stops on their tour this month.
Tue 10 Nov -HiFi, Brisbane
Wed 11 Nov – Metro, Sydney
Thu 12 Nov – HiFi, Melbourne
Fri 13 Nov – Fowlers Live, Adelaide
Sun 15 Nov – Capitol, Perth
to listen to their music now on 