The man known for his jet-black, vertically ascending hair is back, and he’s likely to give a shot in the arm to the industrial music front. Static-X frontman Wayne Static has endured multiple lineup changes (most recently with former guitarist Tripp Eisen being ejected after being convicted of having sex with a minor) and the ever-evolving musical climate, but he remains one of the most focused musicians in rock today.
Comparing the problems to a “
mosquito buzzing” around his head rather than a major crisis,
Static was never fazed enough to have writer’s block. As the primary songwriter for the band, Static put all of his energy into Static X’s latest release
Cannibal and is ready to get it out to the masses.
Static recently talked with UG writer
Amy Kelly about creating Cannibal and how the return of original guitarist
Koichi Fukuda helped complete the band’s sound.
UG: The new record has been called “stripped-down” and “back to basics.” Was that your goal going into making the record?
Wayne: It was definitely our goal to bring it full circle on this album and to get back to basics for us, but then actually push it in a new direction as well. So it’s definitely more metallic than our other records.
Did the return of guitarist Koichi Fukuda initiate some of that thinking?
Obviously we’re very happy to have him back. I think that it had very little to do with the direction of the record. I’ve always played all the rhythm guitars on the records anyway. I’ve always been the primary songwriter. It was just like maybe coincidence that he’s back and I’m done exploring some other direction. I really wanted to get back to basics. His main contribution on this record was the shredding guitar solos, which he did a really great job. That was the job I gave him in the past, and he did a lot of programming as well. This time he just focused on the guitar solos.
The title track “Cannibal” just explodes at the start, pulls back, then begins to build rapidly again. How did that song take shape?
I had the basic idea for that song in my head for a couple months, just sort of thinking about it. I knew that I wanted to do that kind of blasting thing with those breaks in the middle. I knew that I wanted to have the chugging guitar riffs. I had those couple ideas for a while, and after thinking about it for a while, I actually put that down and tried to figure it out. It’s actually the first song I wrote for the album, and I had a strong feeling it was going to be the first song on the CD as well when the track was finished.
It came together pretty easily, as most of my better songs do. It probably took me 3 or 4 hours to sit at the studio and come up with the drumbeat, the guitar riffs, the programming, and some vocal ideas. I just made a demo from there basically. It might have taken a little longer to work on the lyrics, but that song came together pretty quickly.
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| "Most of the time, if I don’t finish the song in the first day or two, I just abandon it completely." |
Did the original idea for “Cannibal” stem from programming rather than a guitar riff?
That was a song that I kind of heard the whole finished song in my head. Maybe half of the time, that’s kind of the way the songs start with me. I hear songs in my head, and then it’s my job to figure out how to take it out of my head and put it on to tape. That’s how I write. I write on my sampler and then I make demo right there on the spot after I figure everything out so I don’t forget stuff.
Did “Destroyer” get written in a similar way?
Yeah, yeah. That one came together in a few hours as well. That one, I didn’t hear the song in my head to begin with, though. That one, I started with a drumbeat. Sometimes I like to challenge myself and come up with one drumbeat, then try to write the whole song around the beat without changing it. So basically I thought, “Well, let me start with the simplest rock and roll beat.” It’s that four on the floor. It’s like almost every AC/DC song. I just program that beat in the drum machine and just let it play for a little while, then things started popping into my head like building guitar riffs. Then I got on my keyboard and started messing around for like the synth bass line and the chorus.
It just came together as well fairly quickly. A lot of times, the things that end up changing when we get the whole band involved are like the bridge section, things like that. Other than that, I kind of get the whole skeleton of the song done first.
It sounds like you have an extremely quick turnaround time. Did any of the new songs take a bit longer to iron out?
Yeah, the song “Cuts You Up” probably took the longest. I probably went though 4 or 5 incarnations. The only thing that survived all of these incarnations is probably the chorus. The song started out as sort of a half-time thing. Then I worked on the chorus more and got into start recording, and it just didn’t seem right. I just kind of set it aside a while.
A couple months later, I kind of had some cool ideas for it. It’s rare that I do this with a song. Most of the time, if I don’t finish the song in the first day or two, I just abandon it completely and don’t go back to it. But there was something about the chorus on this song that I really thought was good. So instead of completely abandoning, I just put it aside for a couple months and then went back to it later after writing some other things. It finally came together. I think it’s pretty strong and pretty cool, but still catchy.
When you eventually picked “Cuts You Up” again, did you still need to experiment with different programs or riffs, or was it all in your head?
It was just one day something popped in my head. Usually what I do is I go to the studio, and I didn’t necessarily have an agenda when I went into the studio that particular day. So I thought I’d listen to some of the other stuff that I worked with in the past. I guess the whole idea of the verse, that “duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh” kind of thing sort of entered my mind. So I tried to put that together with a chorus, and it seemed to work that time.
You have many roles within the band as the vocalist, programmer, and rhythm guitarist. Do you consider yourself one more than the others?
I consider myself a songwriter first because I’m not a really great guitar player. I’m not a great programmer. I’m not a great singer. I do all right. I have my style for everything, but I’m not a virtuoso by any means on any particular instrument. So I’m a songwriter first.
Which instrument did you first pick up?
Guitar.
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| "I consider myself a songwriter first because I'm not a really great guitar player." |
Did you experiment with programming shortly after?
The programming thing was fairly new to me. I didn’t really get into that until when we were maybe doing demos for our first record. When you’re a really poor, struggling musician, you don’t have money to go buy a keyboard a sequencer. It was all I could do to afford a halfway decent guitar and amp. That was always the priority. So once we had the money to actually buy some gear, then I started getting into that. Koichi did all the programming for the first album.
Is there certain equipment that you used on the latest album that drives home the Static-X sound?
I’ve been writing with the same sound since Machine. Death Trip, I wrote on a really crappy old Alesis drum machine from the 80’s. We didn’t even have a sampler on that. We were actually literally dropping in samples off of cassette tapes! We didn’t have any SMPTE code or anything. We’d get to programming parts, and we’d actually just be pressing play on the keyboard! We’d be in the studio and trying to do it manually. After that, I actually bought a sampler, an Akai MPC-2000. I’ve been using that ever since. I put all the songs together on that and sample the keyboard lines. I can make demos on it, sample guitar riffs and things like that.
So that’s my main tool for putting songs together, and it’s pretty old school technology! It’s very intuitive for me and I don’t have to think about it. People are always like, “Why don’t you upgrade in ProTools?” I’m like, “I don’t know. I’m trying to make a record here. When I’m writing songs, I’m just trying to get my ideas down as fast as I can without having technology get in the way.”
As far as my keyboard of choice, this entire record was down with a Korg Electribe MX. It’s a tiny little box, the size of a laptop computer. It’s got a little sort of keyboard thing on it. It’s more of a sequencer. But it’s got a 12AX7 preamp tube in it and you can control the tube saturation. It’s got all these different effects. It’s a really cool little box.
Did you use the Korg Electribe on the other records?
I got the box about midway after into Start A War. So I used it on a few songs on Start A War. A lot of the programming on Start A War was Koichi’s effort as well.
You have a great thick, dirty guitar sound. What guitars and amps do you use to get it?
People can never believe it when I tell them this, but I’ve used Marshall Solid State amps for every record since the beginning. On the first 2 albums, I used the old Valvestate. But the albums since then, I’ve used the MG100. I don’t know if it’s a combination of my playing style or what, but it’s like the cheapest amp that Marshall makes. You can go buy a new MG100 at Guitar Center for like $400. But they just rock! We’re all into hearing 4x12 cabinet, turning it up loud, and it works! It’s awesome.
Did you find yourself dialing in several different tones while making Cannibal?
I think that guitar tone is a very integral part of Static-X. Usually I dial in the tone for the recording session and I don’t touch it. I leave it there to track all the rhythm guitars to the same tone. I use the keyboard to shape the songs more. The guitar tone is the one very consistent thing from album to album for us.
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| "It's very therapeutic to get onstage and to scream for an hour!" |
There was some talk that the band might end after the release of Beneath…Between…Beyond… Was that ever a consideration?
No, I’ve never had any thoughts of that! For some reason, there was some rumor. Apparently when some bands break up, the labels kind of put out whatever they can to sort of capitalize. When Jane’s Addiction broke up, the label put out all these greatest hits things after that. I assume that because people saw this compilation coming out, maybe they thought it was the end. In reality, the compilation was the band’s idea just to get something new out while we were working on the next record. We had this enormous catalog and we decided to remix it and stuff, various things. And the ones that had never been released, I thought it would be a cool idea to put it all together in one package.
The lineup for Static-X has changed several times over the years. How did that effect you, considering you’re the primary songwriter for the band?
It was a minor distraction. It’s like we’re charging full-steam ahead and maybe there’s a mosquito buzzing around my head, maybe slightly annoying me. The other guys in the band are very important obviously, but because I’m the main songwriting guy, we can make a record without one of the guys and have it turn out awesome. In the meantime, we’ll certainly be looking for someone on the side. Obviously, it’s nice this time around not to have to deal with that type of drama, figuring out someone else to take somebody’s place. It’s definitely nice this time around to keep everyone in tact for sure.
Are you ready to get back on the road?
I’m very excited! We haven’t done a full tour in over a year, so I’m really anxious to get out. It’s very, very natural. I’ve been playing shows my whole life, a lot longer than my recording career, so I just love to get up there and have a good time, interact with the crowd. It’s very therapeutic to get onstage and to scream for an hour!
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