Wayne Static – Lead Vocals and Guitar
Tripp Rex Eisen – Guitar
Tony Campos – Backing Vocals and Bass
Nick Oshiro – Drums
(Previous Members:)
Ken Jay – Drums
Kochi Fukada – Guitar, programming, Keyboards
It doesn’t seem that long ago that the world had been shrouded in total misery and darkness before the hybrid of industrial chords and thunderous dynamics of heavy metal hit the airwaves. Wayne Static likes to call this unusual blend of raging industrial chords and electric beats ‘Evil Disco’.
It is not easy to trace the steps of Static-X and find their true origin but their main roots are able to trace back to where Wayne Static grew up in Michigan and Ken Jay in Illinois. Together, they both made the trip for Chicago while playing major parts in a few bands along the way until after long tiring treks across the states, Wayne and ex-drummer met up in a record store where Ken Jay worked with Billy Corgan, lead singer from The Smashing Pumpkins.
After thinking long and hard about the future, the new comers of heavy metal moved to California to see if they could eventually bring a band together. Shortly after settling in on their arrival, it wasn’t long before an unexpected visitor would arrive while Wayne and Ken were at a practise rehearsal studio.
Kochi Fukada, quickly responded to the ad Wayne and Ken had put out for a new guitarist and met up with them at the studios. The Osaka native couldn’t speak much English, but was determined to be a part of the group and was later accepted as a new guitarist and programmer for the group destined to be.
The band was gradually coming together, so far including Wayne Static as guitar and vocals, Ken Jay playing drums and Kochi Fukada playing guitar, programming and occasionally keyboards.
However, the final piece was missing, the band didn’t have a bassist.
After several tryouts for a bassist, their desperate search was over when true Californian Tony Campos introduced himself. Tony was an entertaining guy with a great sense of humour as well as having great bass skills. It didn’t take much persuasive effort for him to be accepted into the band. The band was finally complete and the name Static-X suited them perfectly.
After weeks of practising as a band, they were finally ready to take on the world. They played numerous concerts and local gigs until finally, after years of touring they caught attention of major record company: Warner Bro.s.
Warner Bro.s found their original achievements of being able to combine the effect of techno, the aggressiveness of guitar music and the overtones of gothic and industrial music very effective and welcomed them into the music industry with open arms in the cold month of February 1998.
It would only be a short while before this unique genre was introduced to the world as they begun on their first ever album ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’. This obscure title was after the influence of a book called ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’ which Wayne had bought in previous years.
The book was about true events that had happened in Wisconsin many years ago, such as prison murders and haunting pictures from the press at that current time. All these horrific pictures were a great influence on Wayne and he eventually gave in to call the album after ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’.
After three months of inspiration Static-X had begun to finally record the album that was destined to go Gold. On March 23rd 1999 the ‘Wisconsin Death trip’ album had a successful breakthrough and sold platinum. The dull and lifeless communities worldwide were about to get struck by lightning. Static-X were ready to release their first singles and make a whole new evolution of music.
The singles ‘Push It’, ‘I’m With Stupid’ and ‘Bled For Days’ which was even featured on the film ‘Bride of Chucky’, were an amazing accomplishment for the band and infected TV and radio stations everywhere. It was just one month before the whole world new about Static-X and were popular throughout the globe. Static-X did hundreds of tours with a number of well-known bands and caught the eye and ear of thousands of fans. Wayne’s reputation for an unusual hairstyle really gave the true electric identity for Static-X as it stood on end for every ordeal.
Static-X did many tours especially with Dope where they got to meet Tripp Eisen, their present guitarist and became close friends. However, all the touring for album promotion and trekking across the world seemed to take it’s toll on Kochi, until he eventually left the band to spend more time with his family.
Without another guitarist, Static-X was in need of a replacement, and quick. Although, while Static-X were having problems, Dope was in a similar situation concluding in a band break-up that left Tripp Eisen without a band to belong to.
After Tripp had heard the news about Kochi’s departure, he decided to call up Wayne to see what he could arrange. Distraught and a little bit shy Tripp’s words were: “uh, like um, I heard you need a guitarist and uh.... I\'m out of my band...\". Wayne accepted Tripp’s response and joined the elite team of Static-X.
Now with Tripp, Static-X were feet and ready for a new comeback. They later got to work with the industrial based album, ‘Machine’ released on the 22nd March 2001 that included that thrashing singles, ‘Black and White’, ‘This is Not’ and the unforgettable anthem, ‘Cold’. ‘Machine’ was an album to push the influence of industrial rock, and take things to a new and higher level.
It was a gradual rise, but their songs eventually pushed the album into the sales. Static-X toured side-by-side with the biggest names in music, from Reinventing The Steel alongside Pantera and Slayer, to Family Values with Linkin Park, Staind and Stone Temple Pilots, and amongst Black Sabbath, Godsmack, P.O.D. and Queens Of The Stone Age on OZZfest 2000.
The sold out tour was a distinct achievement for Static-X and again, caught the attention of many more fans. In March 2002 the film ‘Queen of the Damned’ featured ‘Cold’ from the ‘Machine’ album, as is one of their most popular anthems. For unexplained reasons, Ken Jay left the band in the summer of 2003 the band had lost a great drummer, and their co-founder.
Needing of a replacement drummer, Static-X had many tryouts to find a drummer. Out of all the auditions, Nick Orisho happened to stand out above any other competitor, and was soon hired for the job. Formally from the band Seether, Nick was a great choice who already had previous music skills.
Hopefully with a fixed band, that would stay permanent the band was ready to work on another album. The ferocious foursome produced another work of art known to be, ‘Shadow Zone’ which took the world by storm on October the 7th 2003 with it’s first single, ‘The Only’. ‘Shadow Zone’ was a unique and unusual collection of tracks with live drums on each song.
‘Shadow Zone’ was a wild blend of aggressive rage with a hint of soft melody that was sure to create an impact. From industrial rage and clean distress, to a gothic sorrow, ‘So’ was an invention to display where emotion and distress take centre stage on one of the most haunting songs of the band’s catalogue.
‘The Only’ first aired in September 2003. The album was sure to be an accomplishment as it bleeds with immense decibels, a torture for anyone with a weak sense of hearing. It’s content of fury is a relieving outburst for any listener.
‘Shadow zone’ has a whole new approach to the way Static-X writes music and the way the vocals are produced, it was a whole new turn around and an album unlike any of their others. It was a chance to see if they could involve different features like being able to get more hooks and main melodies into the songs rather than rhythmic attempts.
As some might think of it as cliché, each song has evolved efforts developed from their past attempts to tune something from sonic fury to fine-tuned masterpieces. The single’s catchy chorus was a great success, although being ‘the only’ release, the album didn’t quite push the sales.
Even front man Wayne could not compare ‘Shadow Zone’ to any other album, for him, it was an entirely different procedure and with the lyric help of Tripp, it was a refreshing experience for the whole group. ‘Shadow Zone’s unique variety of unusual thoughts seems to give the effect of a place where anyone is welcome. Wayne had always thought that stretching yourself to complete songs that sound the same was boring so the immediate reaction to this was the song, ‘Not Meant For Me’, also featured on the ‘Queen of the Damned’ soundtrack.
Real singing was a totally new experience to Wayne although he received positive feedback for the final production of the song. After realising he could achieve these experimental phases he decided to try and involve his unique singing skills a lot more.
After a short while, Static-X got together with SOiL, Trust Co. and similar bands for the Family Picnic tour of 2004. Only being a short tour, well only a few days, Static-X rocked the joint at loads of venues all around the states and gave it all they got to all the fans out there. It was a huge success.
All this touring slowly left Static-X’s wild trip throughout America to decease, but they weren’t in hibernation for long. Static-X released an incredible collection of rarities onto one disc. ‘Beneath, Between, Beyond’ was released on the 20th July 2004 and was not a disappointment for any fans. This album included never before released tracks as well as early demos recorded in past years.
All of Static-X’s unique qualities of industrial metal, to gothic vibes, truly make them one of the world’s most influential bands to date. And are still working on new presentations for the future.
Long Live Evil Disco.
Bio written by: hellz_hunny |
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