By Kelley Simms
MORE STATIC
Static-X 2019
W
hen industrial/nü-metal band
Static-X vocalist/guitarist Wayne
Static died in 2014, the band was
allegedly done. Fast forward to 2019, where
original members - drummer Ken Jay,
bassist Tony Campos, and guitarist Koichi
Fukuda - are reuniting the group, along
with the addition of an anonymous vocalist,
to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Plans to
embark on a full-scale U.S. tour in honor of
the late singer and the band’s iconic 1999
debut album, Wisconsin Death Trip, will be
followed by the soon-to-be-released new
album called Project Regeneration.
In 2016, Campos was given some lost
demo vocal tracks of the late Wayne Static
34 illinoisentertainer.com july 2019
by a producer friend. He also discovered
three unfinished songs from the *Start a
War* record and another seven or eight
demos with Static’s lone vocals on them.
With these lost vocal discoveries, the rest of
the band have been able to craft several new
songs in the classic Static-X spirit.
As Campos and Jay have both called
Chicago their home for many years, the
band’s sold-out show at The Forge on July
20 is going to be a raucous “hometown”
event. Campos spoke to IE about the excit-
ing upcoming show, the band’s new album
and more.
Mosh: How did this tour come about?
Tony Campos: Kenny and I reconnected
six-seven years ago, and I never really lost
touch with Koichi. After Wayne had passed
away, a producer friend of ours who had
gotten Wayne’s last demos gave them to me.
I sat on them for a while. Then around 2016,
I was working with Fear Factory, but we
had a lot of downtime, so I started writing,
and I revisited those songs. So, I got in touch
with the guys and said, “Hey, we can do
something with this stuff.” And that just got
the ball rolling. So we briefly talked about
doing something to remember Wayne. And
with the anniversary coming up, if we were
ever going to do (something), the anniver-
sary would be the time to do it.
Mosh: Static-X will hit the road with
DevilDriver and Dope on the first leg of the
North American *Wisconsin Death Trip*
tour. What’s the camaraderie like between
the bands?
T.C.: I go way back with both those guys
(Dez Fafara and Edsel Dope), particularly
Dez, who’s also managing the band right
now. He actually gave us our break in the
Hollywood scene. We were playing this tiny
dive bar in Hollywood called Bar Deluxe,
and he and Meegs (Rascón) from Coal
Chamber just happened to be there hanging
out. When we played there were like maybe
25 people there, and they happened to see
us, and they thought we were cool enough
they hooked us up with all the promoters on
the Sunset Strip, and within a month we
were opening for all the hot local acts like
Coal Chamber, System Of A Down, Snot.
That got the ball rolling for us. I always tell
those guys that I owe them my whole
career; they got it all started for us. And
Dope, the first couple of years that Static-X
toured, we did like three or four tours with
those guys, so we go way back with those
guys, too. This [tour] is another way to
reconnect with that time in our lives.
Mosh: The Forge show sold out quickly
Since this is a hometown show, you guys
must be psyched to be back.
T.C.: Ken and Wayne have a connection
with Chicago because they lived there for so
long, especially for Ken now. It’s going to be
really special, just to get to play there again
It’s his home state, and he’s looking forward
to it a lot. He lived there with Wayne for a
long time, so he has a special connection to
the city for sure.
Mosh: Since you’ve played The Forg
before in one of the many other bands
you've played in, what do you like abou
this venue?
T.C.: I’ve always had great shows there
whether it was with Soulfly, Fear Factory o
Ministry. I was there with Ministry last. It’
a cool venue with excellent sound, and the
fans always show up, and they rage. When
I heard we were going to be playing the
Forge, I knew it was going to be awesome.
know it’s going to be a killer show. I didn’
expect it to sell out as quickly as it did, so
that was a very pleasant surprise.
Mosh: Since you mentioned Ministry, do
you still keep in touch with Uncle Al?
T.C.: Yeah, I stay in touch with him. He
doesn’t live too far from where I am. We’ve
both been kind of busy. The last tour I did
with Al we just played a lot of old shit, so i
was a lot of fun. He’s getting ready for a
European tour, and I’m getting ready fo
this (Static-X tour), so we haven’t had a lo
of time to hang out. But when we both have
downtime I’ll go up there; we’ll have din
ner, catch a game and shoot the shit.
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