WEB-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: WAYNE STATIC ON LATE NIGHTS, MISSPELLINGS, AND BIG HAIR

Wayne Static is a surprisingly cool, laidback dude. The frontman for industrial metallers Static-X, with his ex-pornstar wife, fork-in-socket haircut, and platinum records, should for all intents and purposes be a loud, self-absorbed prick, but during our interview for the Choice Cuts segment of Revolver’s May issue, Static reveals himself as a calm, thoughtful guy who doesn’t think every word out of his mouth is gospel like so many rock stars out there seem to. Which doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a lot to say—to the contrary, our chat extended far beyond simply talking about his favorite tracks on his band’s new record, Cult of Static (Reprise)…

REVOLVER First off, looking at the album cover and title—are you God?
WAYNE STATIC [Laughs] Well, we always do everything tongue in cheek. I don’t consider myself God; I don’t believe in God. I am the king of the Evil Disco. [Laughs] The Cult Of Static is actually just honoring all of our diehard fans. Our first album came out 10 years ago almost to the date, and we’re still going out, still selling out shows. So this is sort of a thank you to all of those people who’ve supported us over the years.

How are you feeling about the album, now that it’s on its way out?
Great. Awesome. It’s everything I want it to be. It’s a labor of love, as all albums are, but maybe a bit more with this one. I moved the studio to my house to do all the writing, and we did all the vocals here as well, so it was very personal. I think it’s an awesome next step for the band’s move to darker, heavier territory, totally.

Let me ask you about “Lunatic.” How close are you and Dave Mustaine, who plays a guest solo on the song, and how’d you approach him for this song?
Well, [Dave and I] have done two tours together, and the last tour we did with them was the end of our last tour cycle, so we ended that with Megadeth. Me and Dave got along great, hung out every night, struck up a great friendship. He’s the coolest guy, and he’s a great performer. I joined him on Rockline shortly after the tour, and I asked him on the air if he wanted to play on our record, and he said, “Really?!! You kiddin’ me?!” And I’m like, “Yeah, let’s do it!” It was a lot of fun, and it’s a real honor—I’ve been a Megadeth fan for years, and anyone who’s into metal at all has some Megadeth records, and he’s just a phenomenal, legendary player, so it’s an honor to have him on our record, much less call him a friend, you know?

Tell me about the song “Nocturnally.” It’s a really cool title and an interesting song.
Well, I got married last year, and this song, as a lot of these songs, is about spending good times with my wife, who’s definitely a night owl as well. Most of this record was written between the hours of midnight and 6 in the morning. It really is the best work time. I moved [my writing process] into the home this time around, and it definitely helps me keep with those hours. I can wake up at 3 in the morning with an idea and run to the studio—it’s great.

A lot of the songs on the album have weird misspelled titles—“Isolaytore,” “Tera-Fied,” etc. Why do you do that? Is it a fuck-you to the English language?
Sort of. We like to experiment with new ideas, strange ways of looking at the world, at music. Language is important to me, of course, as a songwriter. Really, we just wanted to have fun with the spelling of some of the titles and show the listener the song names and the words through our own eyes.

Having been popular at a specific time in metal’s history, do you get lumped in with bands you don’t really relate to?
All the fucking time. We get so much shit about being a nu-metal band, or this kind of band or that kind of band, and we’ve just been making the music we love. Everyone wants to put labels and limits onto you because it’s easy. There are people out there who want to believe we didn’t make any music after “Push It,” so they act like we didn’t. Sometimes you want to ask these people, “Have you listened to our music? Do you know anything about us?” It’s frustrating, but you have to see past that bullshit, and know that you’re making art, and making art the way you want to.

I’m sorry, but I have to ask about the hair. Do you do it yourself, or do you get it done?
Ah, the hair. [Laughs] I do it myself. It used to be a lot of work; I’d use hair gel and egg whites. By now, though, it sort of naturally falls into place and doesn’t take half as much work. I’ve trained it to grow straight up!

Have you ever thought about cutting it?
You know, I used to a lot—just to see how it would look and how people react—but I don’t anymore. Honestly, man, everyone likes KISS better with the makeup on. Seeing Gene Simmons without the makeup is disappointing. My hair is part of Static-X’s image, and it’s my trademark. Cutting it off would be a disappointment to our fans, and that’s something I won’t do.

Interview by Chris Krovatin