Wayne Static: Troubled heavy metal frontman with a gravity-defying hairdo
1965-2014
WAYNE Static, who died three days before his 49th birthday, was the frontman of the group Static-X, which fused industrial and nu-metal music; he was noted for his vertical hairstyle, which required 20 minutes a day in front of the mirror.
“When I’m in a bad mood,” said Static in 2004, “I feel better listening to someone else who sounds like they’re in a bad mood. That was especially true when I was a kid and I was mad at my mom or dad for whatever reason. Listening to Ozzy Osbourne at full blast always made me feel a little bit better. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone.”
Born Wayne Richard Wells in Muskegon, Michigan, on November 4 1965, Static (he adopted the name in the ’90s) was an early convert to the guitar, winning a school talent show aged seven with Skip to My Lou.
As a teenager, inspired by the glam-rock band Kiss, Static began to devour rock music, and in 1983, while studying for a degree in mathematics and computing at Western Michigan University, he wrote his first song. “It was a very cold day in December,” he recalled. “I had half an hour between classes to kill. I sat down and wrote the lyrics on this freezing park bench.”
Static’s early songs were unlike the heavy metal that later made him famous. After a move to Chicago, he formed a band called Deep Blue Dream with drummer Ken Jay and bassist Eric Harris. “We were an acoustic-type band, very melodic and not metal at all,” he said.
Relocating to Los Angeles, Static and Jay formed Static-X in 1994 with bassist Tony Campos and guitarist Koichi Fukuda. The reaction to the music was immediate, he remembered.
“I started this band purely for fun. I didn’t expect to get signed, [but] people just started showing up at our shows and we were selling out . . . All the labels were like ‘F***, I guess we better sign these guys!’ ”
Static-X’s first album, Wisconsin Death Trip, was an instant success on its release in 1999, certifying platinum two years later. Two Ozzfest tours and a slot on the 2001 Family Values tour followed.
The shows could be chaotic, recalled Static: “I did a tour in
There was crazy stuff going on . . . I went on Prozac and thought I was gonna kill myself
Mexico where people were throwing chains, knives, bottles and s*** on the stage.”
Static became a popular figure in the metal community, guest-hosting on the MTV programme Headbangers Ball. In 2008, he married Tera Wray, an actress in pornographic films.
In 2011, Static issued a solo album, Pighammer, but by this time he was dealing with an array of personal and financial issues. “I developed a really bad hernia. I had to cancel the tour and go have surgery,” he recalled last year. “My tour manager ended up getting involved in a drug deal and he tried to pin it on me and Tera. So we had felony drug charges in Kentucky that we were fighting, so I had to pay $20 000 out of my own pocket and went bankrupt . . . I went on Prozac . . . and thought I was gonna kill myself.”
In addition, Static, by his own account, was “a serious drug addict for many years”.
“There was all kinds of crazy stuff going on, like piles of cocaine on the countertop and the cops busting in . . . I felt like it was affecting my health and ability to do my job, so we . . . moved out to the desert, left LA and got off drugs.”
Static, who died of undisclosed causes, is survived by his wife. — © The Daily Telegraph, London