Static X Interview

Discussion
1

So I stumbled across a new interview with Wayne Static and Koichi Fukada from Static X. Not really a teriibly interesting read but the last question had a bit of an Al mention so I figured I would post it here.

Ultimate-Guitar : Wayne, you recently announced a new band called Pighammer. Can you tell us what we can expect from that?

Wayne: It is going to be a side project and I’m going to write with a whole bunch of different people and it is going to be heavy as fuck. And it will not have any boundaries as I’m not going to worry about who is going to play it or if we’re going to play it live. I am just going to do it for fun. It is going to be very extreme and I’ll be working with as many different people as I can. And I’ll be doing all the vocals on it too. But beyond that, I’m going to try and get a bunch of different cool people. I’m going to be writing with John 5, we’ve talking about working with Al Jourgensen too and Tony Campos is also going to help me out. Whoever wants to help out, I’d love for them to so. I’m even talking about working with Tommy Victor from Prong. I want to write some music with these people but then make it my own thing too. But Static-X is really on a roll right now and we’ve had a fantastic year thus far as things have been going up and up. It is full steam ahead for us. The Pighammer thing will happen when I have time. At the moment though, Static-X will remain my main priority.

For those that care to read the whole interview you can get to it here :

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/static-x_were_going_to_attack_full_steam_ahead.html

Peace!

Krowe

2

its a little embarrasing but i actually enjoyed the first two Static-X albums. Hell, as far as guilty pleasures go, you could do a lot worse… Either way, for some reason they abandoned any of the semi-interesting elements of their music after Machine and havent really recovered since.

3

these guys fell victim to my “third album” rule. whereas, the third album by a band is either their last good cd, or their first bad one. other bands i would classify into this classification would be korn (follow the leader=crap), marylin manson(mechanical animals=crap), and fear factory (digimortal=crap).

i do enjoy the first two static-x discs. beats, samples, and heavy guitars? god times. but then … i dunno. i have given all their new material a once or twce over as it has been released, but it just gets ucky.

what is it that changed? they didn’t change their formula at all.

i guess the thinness of their music finally caught up?

4

Third album rule? I never thought about it, but its true. I could start a list a mile long with bands that hit the “proverbial” Third album rule.

5

these guys fell victim to my “third album” rule. whereas, the third album by a band is either their last good cd, or their first bad one. other bands i would classify into this classification would be korn (follow the leader=crap), marylin manson(mechanical animals=crap), and fear factory (digimortal=crap).

i do enjoy the first two static-x discs. beats, samples, and heavy guitars? god times. but then … i dunno. i have given all their new material a once or twce over as it has been released, but it just gets ucky.

what is it that changed? they didn’t change their formula at all.

i guess the thinness of their music finally caught up?

I’d actually have to disagree on a lot of points about this. Static X, while yes, feel into your “third album” rule, I think they have recovered pretty well. Shadow Zone is not very good. There are maybe a 2 songs on there that are really worth it. Start A War was alright. It has it’s moments but tends to stay in the Shadow Zone realm. Their new album Cannibal I find very enjoyable. It’s very much a rehash of Machine but with solos. So that’s pretty decent. I would actually say that Cannibal is a great album (as far as Static X is concerned). And actually the formula did change on those albums… They started getting more mellow with the riffs and the tape loops got a bit overdone and took precedence rather than just a nice steady rythem monster like they started with, but finally found again in Cannibal.

And also, I have to disagree with TWO of the three you mentioned. Marilyn Mansons third was actually Antichrist Superstar, because after Portrait he released Smells Like Children… and Fear Factory’s third album was Demanufacture. Digimortal is a good 2 or 3 releases AFTER that, being their 6th? or 7th? Another band that started off great and got better but by midstream went flop, turned it around (I don’t care what anyone says, Archetype is a pretty solid album) and then flopped again with Transgression (note the title! LOL). Also, along the Burton note and Al referance, just found out today that Ascension Of The Watchers (Fear Factory’s Burton C. Bell, etc.) have set a February 19th release date for their upcoming debut effort “Numinosum”. The album will see a release through 13th Planet/Megaforce.

Peace!

Krowe

6

Heh heh, I totally forgot about the child molestor from Static X. Wasn’t he chatting up little girls on message boards with some schtick along the lines of “Don’t I look like one of the guys from Static X?” You can’t make stuff like that up.

7

ugh, tripp was his name? what a toolbox.

Fear Factory: i was referring to studio albums and not the remix albums. those just never worked for me, personally., but release wise yes you’re right. also, if you re-read my theory, the third is either the last good one or first bad one. i loved obsolete, and digitmortal just wasn’t doing it for me. i liked archetype too, and agree that transgression was shite as well.

i’d also say that antichrist is a great source of heavy ass riffs, and the guitar sound on tour, as well as the vox, were far more harsh/heavy than anything he has done past or present. a great album, imho. can’t say i care for anything after that one. and the heartshaped glasses thing is just…awful.

8

i for one didnt think transgression wasnt that bad. flawed, yes, but at least you gotta give them credit for trying to break the formula.

9

no offense Catgoat - but your FF count is off either way:

LP1:Soul of a New Machine
LP2:Demanufacture
LP3:Obsolete
LP4:Digimortal
LP5:Archtype
etc… they’ve got a newer one (two?) not counting remixes/eps/etc
or the release of the demo ‘Concreto’ which is better than SONM, IMO.

whatever the count tho, obsolete was indeed the last ‘good one’.

Static-X: YAWN

-E

10

these guys fell victim to my “third album” rule. whereas, the third album by a band is either their last good cd, or their first bad one. other bands i would classify into this classification would be korn (follow the leader=crap), marylin manson(mechanical animals=crap), and fear factory (digimortal=crap).

i do enjoy the first two static-x discs. beats, samples, and heavy guitars? god times. but then … i dunno. i have given all their new material a once or twce over as it has been released, but it just gets ucky.

what is it that changed? they didn’t change their formula at all.

i guess the thinness of their music finally caught up?

I also disagree with some (of course, have to disagree, hehe) Mechanical Animals is awesome, one of my fav manson albums. Different to the first two yeah… (I dont count smells like children, its like an extended EP to me).
Korn, eh, I liked follow the leader, probably because I was 14 when it came out, lol. I think issues was the first “bad” album. (well downhill album anyway, i also didnt mind some of that album).

Fear factory, i dont count concrete… so obsolete was third album… and that is considered a great album, I get a bit sick of it, but better than digi, bleh.

Heh… if Ministry was in the list, land of rape and honey, would be “the” album… or if 12 inch singles was included, it would be Twitch… which hey, some do consider the last good ministry album [laugh]

I like this game… hmm, will have to think of more. Like Jizz said a band like pantera are hard to do this for, do you count right from the start, or from the major label releases, or from just when phil was in the band… ?

Anyway… thats my pick attack done.
There was a molestor in Static X? Dodgy prick.

11

Eye have one “Eye Hate God” CD… Not really too impressed with it. It’s called “In The Name Of Suffering” Eye got it like 10 or so years ago, The only song that really stood out to me was, Eye think, the 4th track… Had some samples of Charles manson… Eye had a buddy who worked for the Wherehouse and got promos and he snatched it for me.
Eye remember asking about this band back when prongs was on the old board and somebody told me this music was called “Sludge metal” I never sought out the genre…
Late,
grmpysmrf

12

pighammer…

i like static-x, but sometimes it feels like he’s trying to impress the godfathers of industrial by being different, but the same…

13

I have a similar rule… and upon reflection, RevCo?
Excluding YGDSOAB, the 3rd album was definitely the last decent one.

14

Now that I think about it, Skinny Puppy’s third full-length (I think…), “Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate” wasn’t terribly great either.

15

Some (not me) would say Sabbaths 3rd : Master of Reality was the last good one. A lot of people seem to be a bit turned off from Vol IV onwards. I like sabotage… not a whole lot afterwards though.
some other singers are OK… Tony Martin shudder, but I can’t get into any full albums post-ozzy.

Edit: have only heard albums up to Eternal Idol, maybe the ones after are ok… I heard one or two tracks of Dehumaniser, it sounds better than some other stuff, and Ice-T is on there, hahaa

16

Now that I think about it, Skinny Puppy’s third full-length (I think…), “Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate” wasn’t terribly great either.

Hmm, I’d have to disagree with you there. First Aid, Addiction, Second Tooth, Tear or Beat, Deep Down Trauma Hounds, Anger…classic Puppy album to me.

1002

17

I don’t buy the third album rule. Far too many exceptions.
Here’s my rule:
95% of bands have 10 years from the release of their first album in which they are vital. After that, their releases will either be completely awful or appeal only to hardcore fans.

18

I don’t buy the third album rule. Far too many exceptions.
Here’s my rule:
95% of bands have 10 years from the release of their first album in which they are vital. After that, their releases will either be completely awful or appeal only to hardcore fans.

you’re right, there are an infinite number of exceptions. it does apply to enough bands to be a classification. at least in my own weird little world.

what is it about that third release that makes it either the last great record or the first in a series of disappointments?

19

I don’t buy the third album rule. Far too many exceptions.
Here’s my rule:
95% of bands have 10 years from the release of their first album in which they are vital. After that, their releases will either be completely awful or appeal only to hardcore fans.

THIS is a rule I can completely agree with. That does seem to be the time limit in which most bands appear to really have “influence” on the masses, other artists and etc. I can’t even begin to start dropping bands into this category as it feels like almost all of them fall here.

Peace!

Krowe

20

[reply]Now that I think about it, Skinny Puppy’s third full-length (I think…), “Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate” wasn’t terribly great either.

Hmm, I’d have to disagree with you there. First Aid, Addiction, Second Tooth, Tear or Beat, Deep Down Trauma Hounds, Anger…classic Puppy album to me.

1002[/reply]

Yeah with Skinny Puppy I’d say from Cleanse Fold and Manipulate through Last Rights is some of their best work. The third Foetus album “Hole” was the start of some of his best work (followed by “Nail” which is my favorite). The 10 year time frame sounds about right but there’s always a wild card like Coil who were pretty good till the end.