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Static-X

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Los Angeles industrial-metal machine behind the 'evil disco' churn of Wayne Static's era, carrying the catalogue forward with the surviving lineup and a masked frontman.

Static-X trace back to Wayne Static's previous band, Deep Blue Dream, in which he played alongside future Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan before that group's success pulled Corgan away. Static then moved to Los Angeles with drummer Ken Jay, working through several names, Battery, then Drill after bassist Tony Campos joined, before guitarist Koichi Fukuda came in and the band settled on Static, then Static-X once they discovered other acts already using that name.

Signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1998, the band built its sound on mechanical, down-tuned riffs, programmed electronic textures and Wayne Static's barked vocals, a combination he called 'evil disco.' It surfaced alongside the nu-metal wave of the late 1990s but leaned harder on industrial rhythm than most of that movement.

Debut album Wisconsin Death Trip came out in March 1999 and eventually went platinum in the US, powered by the singles 'Push It,' 'I'm with Stupid' and 'Bled for Days.' The band toured relentlessly behind it, playing Ozzfest twice in support of Fear Factory, and followed with a promotional EP, The Death Trip Continues.

Five more albums followed over the next decade, Machine, Shadow Zone, Start a War, Cannibal and Cult of Static, taking the band's worldwide album sales past three million by 2011. Wayne Static then paused the group to work on a solo record, Pighammer, briefly reformed Static-X in 2012 with his solo touring band, and broke the group up for good in June 2013.

Wayne Static died in November 2014 at the age of 48. Original members Tony Campos, Koichi Fukuda and Ken Jay reformed Static-X in his honor in 2018, performing with a masked singer, and released Project: Regeneration Vol. 1 in 2020, their first studio album in eleven years, followed by Project: Regeneration Vol. 2 in January 2024.

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