For rock and metal music fans of Western Kansas, there are not very many opportunities to experience live music and performances. Thanks to Singers bar in Hays, rock and metal heads from around the area can relive the glory days with upcoming events.
On June 17th Wayne Static of STATIC-X will perform LIVE at the Singers venue at 7:00 p.m. Static started the band as lead vocalist in 1994 with friend Ken Jay. The band signed with Warner Brother Records in 1998 and simultaneously released their debut album entitled Wisconsin Death Trip. In three years, the album went platinum and to date, is still the only album by Static-X to do so.
The music of Static-X has a heavy metal influence using fast-paced, aggressive vocals and heavy guitar distortion, thundering bass lines and electronic keyboards. The band had been described by many in the past as “nu metal” but Static and company dub it “evil disco.”
“People always used to ask us in the beginning what do you guys sound like and we’d say evil disco. It has dance elements and the grooves, but yet it’s dark and eerie,” as said in a crypticrock.com interview eariler this year.
Over the next ten years, the band would produce five more studio albums all while going through a number of band member changes.
“It was always my idea that I always wanted to make every album a little bit different in some way. I never wanted to be like AC/DC where every song sounds the same,” according to the same story.
The band disappeared in 2009 after drummer Nick Oshiro left and was shortly followed by Bassist Tony Campos and guitarist Koichi Fukuda who left the band in early of 2010. Static later claimed he was going to work on “Pighammer” a solo project which he released as a debut solo album on October 4th, 2011.
In 2012, Static made the decision to take the name Static-X and make a new band with none of the original members and the band continues to tour, but with a slightly different style.
“I am still Wayne Static and my band rocks. We go out and play all the Static-X songs and it sounds great. It just takes people a little extra time to catch on,” the story said.
Tickets for the show are on sale at ticketstorm.com and in Hays at Tech Junkies. You can also visit the Singers Facebook page for more information on this and upcoming events at facebook.com/SingersLive.
C.D.’s favorite song: Push It (1999)
C.D.’s favorite album: Shadow Zone (2003)