On November 1st, 2014, Wayne Static — the frontman of the long-running, platinum-selling industrial-metal act Static-X and a successful solo artist during that band's hiatus and eventual breakup — passed away at his home. He was 48. At the time, Static was scheduled to go out on tour with Powerman 5000 and Drowning Pool in the coming months. In the days prior to his death, the singer-guitarist did several interviews, including this one, his last. Below, read what he said about his love of classic rock, the song he wrote about his wife, and his deep gratitude toward his fans.
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT CHANGING YOUR HAIR STYLE?
WAYNE STATIC [Laughs] How did I know it was going to be a hair question? I don't know, that's a stupid question. It's my hair, who cares about fucking hair?
FAIR ENOUGH. WILL THE WORLD EVER SEE ANY NEW STATIC-X MUSIC?
Ask Tony [Campos]. It's all Tony. He's the one who broke up the band and he's the one who dislikes me. I've offered to make amends and he told me to fuck off. So ask him. But I wrote all the songs and I still do — it's just different players up there now [in my solo band], so it's still Static-X. Tony just won't let me call it that. But the band is actually better now than Static-X was because I got to choose who the best players I could find. The band is just smoking right now. It's just on fire, man. It's awesome.
IS THERE A NEW SOLO ALBUM IN THE WORKS?
I'm working on another record, here and there when I have time off. We have been touring a lot, so it's been kind of difficult to sit down and write a whole song. I need a year off, with nothing else to do, in order to really write the whole record. So I think what I'm going to do is write an EP. It's been three years since [Static's 2011 solo album] Pighammer came out, and that's way too long. I'm hoping that next year to get a new record deal and release an EP and tour with that. I don't think you really need to release a whole record. I don't think fans really care just as long as they get to hear something new. To me, in the old days, which are the Seventies, bands put out two records a year sometimes and they toured. But the records only had, like, eight songs on them. So why do we need to have 14 songs on a record now? It's stupid.
OUT OF ALL OF YOUR SONGS, WHICH ONE IS YOUR FAVORITE AND WHY?
It's a tie between [Static-X's] "Skinnyman" and "Just in Case." The reason why is because I still get goosebumps when I listen to those songs. And normally I can't listen to my own music. I hate it. It drives me crazy. But those two songs, for some reason, I love them to death. I can still listen to them and that means I did something right. Those are the best songs I have ever written.
WHAT'S PIGHAMMER SONG "STATIC KILLER" ABOUT?
"Static Killer" is about my wife Tera. It's a really funny story. She makes all these sex noises in it, like all these porno noises going on in the background. Well, that shit is all real because me and her were having sex one time and I turned the microphone on in the room and she didn't know it. I just let it run for, like, an hour, and I got a lot of really good stuff on it.
WHAT BANDS ARE YOU LISTENING TO NOW?
I listen to classic rock for the most part. I'm an old guy so most of the new bands I just don't get it. [Laughs] I'm, like, one of those old guys: "I can't understand the vocals! Why are they screaming? What the hell is going on? I can't understand it. Grrrrr!" I like Journey, Bad Company, Soundgarden and Aerosmith. I like bands with really good vocalists, because I've always been jealous of dudes that can sing really good. I can't do that. I have my own thing that I do really well, but it's not singing. It's more of a screaming-type thing. I wish I could sing like Steve Perry, I'm so jealous. I wish I was a great vocalists. But yeah, those are the kind of bands that I like to listen to.
IF YOU COULD TOUR WITH ANYONE, WHO WOULD IT BE?
Rush. Probably one of my all-time favorite bands. I've never met them because we're obviously a generation apart and we are all whole different style of music. I've met a lot of other great bands — like KISS, Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio before he died. But I never met Rush. I would love to chill with them.
SINCE YOU ARE LEAVING HOME TO GO ON TOUR, DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES WHEN YOU'RE OFF THE ROAD?
I go off-roading. I have two off-road trucks and one truck. I used to be into muscle cars, but I had to sell them all because I was broke. It was the year of my life — that was the year from hell — I had surgery and couldn't work and it sucked. I had to sell my '69 V-28 and that was one of the fucking hardest days of my life. But yeah, I love off-roading. My favorite truck I own, we built for the cover of a magazine in 2006.
YOU DID MUSIC FOR THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED MOVIE. NOW THAT ANNE RICE HAS NEW VAMPIRE BOOKS COMING ALONG WITH A NEW FILM, WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PART OF THE NEXT MOVIE?
That would be awesome. Interview With a Vampire is one of my favorite movies of all time. Queen of the Damned, not so much one of my favorite movies, but it's one of the best soundtracks of all time. But yeah, I would love to be a part of anything she did.
PARTING WORDS, WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR FANS TO KNOW?
It's been a long journey and, honestly, I can't believe that I'm still relevant to the music scene. I can't believe I'm still touring and still making records. I never in a million years expected all this. It's all because of my fans. I have the best fans in the world. They're hardcore and diehard. I do it all for them. I keep going for them. I want to keep everyone happy and excited. I realize that's my job. The reason I'm on this planet is to make people happy. I used to think my job was to rock out with my cock out and shit like that, but that's not my job. My job is to make people happy. I go onstage and I see people's faces light up and I see everyone smiling. I don't see people fucking banging their heads and shit, I see everyone smiling at me, having a good time and singing along. I'm just really glad that I can provide that service to everyone and take an hour out of everyone's shitty day, so that they can have a good time and enjoy themselves. So thanks you to all of my fans for sticking by me. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing till I'm dead.
