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Tuesday October 30th, 2001
Wayne Static cranks it up on Machine
Interview and photos by Lisa Sharken
With an unmistakable sound that blends industrial, metal and techno elements, Wayne Static and Static X exploded into the mainstream. With the release of its debut, Wisconsin Death Trip [Warner Bros.] in 1999 and the strength of songs like Push It and the albums title track, Static-X quickly achieved cult status through steady touring with groups like Fear Factory, highlight sets on two Ozzfest outings and most recently, on the Extreme Steel tour with Pantera and Slayer. Each tour exposed Static-X to wider audiences and expanded its fan base, who anxiously awaited the groups follow-up disc and the announcements of upcoming tours.
Just as Static-X was about to begin rehearsing material for its new album, Machine [Warner Bros.], guitarist Koichi Fukuda parted ways with the group, leaving Wayne Static to track all the albums guitar parts on his own. After the album was completed, guitarist Tripp Eisen (formerly of New York City-based rock band Dope) was invited to join the ranks. Having worked together when their bands shared the bills on previous tours, Eisen was already acquainted with Static-X and its live show, making the transition quite smooth, both personally and professionally.
Wayne filled us in on the origins and evolution of Static-X - how he developed the groups trademark style and how Gibson guitars have always been the backbone of his sound. Its very cool to be affiliated with Gibson, he says, explaining how it was his destiny to play Gibson guitars. I suppose that I was just brainwashed by the early Kiss records, since the album covers always said, Kiss uses Gibson guitars because they want the best. So I played Gibson guitars because that was what they played - but they really are the best.
What were your earliest musical influences and what initially inspired you to play guitar?
My whole family is musical, so it wasnt a matter of whether or not I was going to be a musician, it was what instrument I was going to play. I picked up the guitar when I was very young. Id have to say that it was Kiss that made me realize what a rock band was and made me realize that was what I was going to do. I suppose it was around 76 or 77 when I bought my first electric guitar and then shortly after that, I started my first band.
Who were the players that inspired you in shaping your tone?
Early on, the first player whose tone I was really impressed by was Alex Lifeson of Rush. That was back in the early 80s and Id never heard anything like that. I tried to duplicate that tone. The next thing that really freaked me out was the heavy sound of bands like Prong and Metallica, which was back around the late 80s. They both had that super-chunky thing going on and I had tried to get that sort of tone.
But for guitars, I had always played Gibsons.
You can get any type of sound with a Gibson....How did those tones affect your preference for guitars, amps and effects?
Well, prior to that, I was still playing with an Alex Lifeson kind of tone, which was more of a softer, chorusy tone that didnt have very much distortion. Then when I started getting into the Prong sort of thing, I realized that I couldnt do that kind of sound with my Roland Jazz Chorus. It just wasnt happening! So, I went out and got my first Marshall head and 4x12 cabinet, which must have been around 88 or 89. I had never really played metal before that, even though Kiss originally got me into listening to heavier stuff. As far as my own playing goes, I was always into more melodic and cleaner kinds of stuff. Then suddenly, I was transformed into this raving metal head. I suppose it must have been the Marshall amp that really affected me as far as tone goes. But for guitars, I had always played Gibsons. You can get any type of sound with a Gibson, if you put it through the right amp.
Which Gibson guitars were you playing at the time?
The first one I got was an SG Junior. It was a pretty old guitar. Unfortunately, I sold that guitar many years ago, when I needed to pay rent. It was a classic guitar and Im sorry I had to sell it off, but I suppose we all have to do that sometimes. Then I started playing Explorers and Ive had so many Explorers since then that its hard for me to remember them all. I went through these phases where Id have a few guitars, then Id lose my job and Id have to sell all but one of them to pay my rent. But the Explorer has been a favorite of mine for a long time.
When did you get your first Flying V?
I guess it was when I first moved to Los Angeles in 94. Id always wanted a Flying V. I had this old Dean, which was kind of like the one Dimebag Darrell used to play, but something was wrong with it. Id got it really cheap - for about $200. I guess it was too good to be true because after I started playing it, I realized that something was wrong with it and it wouldnt stay in tune, so I decided to sell it. That was right after the earthquake here in L.A. I went to Guitar Center and told them that I wanted to trade in the guitar towards a new Flying V. The guy showed me a V that had fallen off the wall during the earthquake and it had a few really bad gouges in it, but it was otherwise a brand new guitar. As it turned out, I traded him straight up for this Dean that didnt work. So that was my first Flying V. I still have that guitar and it was my main guitar for a long time, until I started playing the Gothic models.
The main thing thats been the same throughout the inception of this band is the guitar sound and the tuning that we use. Tell us how Static-X has evolved in terms of style and tone. Whats changed and whats remained the same?
The main thing thats been the same throughout the inception of this band is the guitar sound and the tuning that we use. [Drummer] Ken Jay and I started this band in 94 and at that point, I was already playing Gibson guitars through a Marshall amp and playing in the C tuning we still use. Thats pretty much been the basis of our sound and thats the only thing that has stayed the same throughout. When we first started the band, we were doing stuff that had a slow and heavy groove with Black Sabbath-type riffing and melodic vocals. We did that for about a year and it wasnt really working. People would come to our shows and stand there, wondering what we were doing. I think it was just too slow and heavy. Around 95, we started incorporating drum machine stuff. Id started listening to old Ministry records and I got inspired. Then we tried something different and we felt the magic, so we just kept building on it from there.
In our music, what really sets us apart from other bands is the tight guitar style with the broken-up staccato parts that leave lots of breathing room in the music. Its the space in between that gives some definition to what the guitars doing. That was a conscious decision when we started doing what were doing. Id been going out and seeing a lot of bands when I first moved to L.A. and I noticed that with so many of the bands that had a lot of complicated guitar parts going on, they would sort of lose that through the crappy PA systems in clubs and the guitars would just turn into this mush of stuff that you just couldnt even define. So I thought that we needed to build some space into our music so you could tell when the guitar was starting and stopping and it would give some definition to the music.
How are your guitars tuned?
We use a standard tuning, but its transposed down two steps lower, so its tuned (low to high) C, F, A#, D#, G, C.
What gauge strings do you use to compensate for the difference in tension from standard tuning?
Just a click away...
Right now, Im using an .011-.054 gauge set with a wound G. However, for the first couple of years, I was using a .010-.046 set, which was kind of floppy, but it worked. I didnt really feel the need to change it until we started recording the first album. I had no choice but to fatten up the strings because I could really hear how floppy it was on tape. I dont really know how Id dealt with it before then, but for some reason, I had gotten used to playing my guitars that way. At first, it was hard to change over, but Ive gotten used to it and I do notice that the guitar does sound better than it did with the .010s.
How do you have the action set on your guitars?
Its set fairly high. Its not like we do a lot of fast stuff where it needs to be low. I prefer to keep the action set a little bit higher because sometimes when were playing live, I have a tendency to hit the strings pretty hard and if the action is set low, then Im just jamming the strings down against the fretboard and it doesnt sound very good.
What kind of picks do you use?
I use the 1.14 mm Dunlop purple Tortex picks, which are pretty heavy. The ones I use are the big rounded triangular-shaped picks. Theyre the same picks that our bass player Tony Campos uses. Theyre unbreakable.
Describe your live stage setup.
I use Nady wireless system and I run the guitar signal through a Boss Noise Suppressor pedal, which is the only pedal I use. Then I split the signal with a Whirlwind A/B box into a Marshall Valvestate VS100 and a Marshall G100, which is a solidstate amp. Each head powers one 4x12 cabinet and each cabinet is loaded with two different types of speakers. There are two Celestion Vintage 30s are top and two Celestion G12M75s on the bottom. So there are actually two different types of speakers in each cabinet and we put different Electro-Voice mics on each type of speaker to combine the sound in the live mix. It seems to work out well. The 30-watt speakers break up a little more and the 75-watt speakers tend to push the low end a little harder. When I get cabinets from Marshall, I order two cabinets loaded with the different speakers and then my tech just swaps out the speakers for this configuration. My first guitar tech turned me onto this set up. Ive been running them that way for a couple of years. Tripp is doing that now, too.
Did you use the same rig you use live for recording the tracks on Machine?
Yes, it was pretty much the same setup, but we used a lot more mics. We took every mic we had and put it on every speaker in the cabinet. So we had about eight mics going and just ran that back to the mixer and shaped the tone out of that. All the mics were on the speakers and we didnt use any ambient mics. The ambient mics just made it sound mushy. For our tone, its all about the attack and the release, so the close mics reproduced the sounds we wanted.
How did you go about recording the guitar tracks?
Generally, what we do in the record process is that Ill lay down all the left and right main tracks, which was how we did things on the first record. I think its best to have one person play the left and right tracks, so that its super tight and you get one very chunky guitar tone for all the basic rhythm tracks. I started out playing the left and right guitar parts, and did the whole record like that. Then we just built it up where it needed it, which was mostly on the choruses. Id just layer up guitars on top of there with different tones. I used the Line 6 POD Pro for most of the other kinds of tones that you hear on the songs. Its just so easy to use to dial up different tones with the POD. On some songs, there may be as many as eight guitar parts.
Actually, I did all the guitars on Machine because Tripp hadnt joined the band yet. It was just the way the timing went because Koichi quit while we were already in rehearsals for the new record. When Tripp had called me up, we were already halfway through the recording process. I wish this had all happened earlier because I think that Tripp has a lot of good ideas that could have added to the record. But theres always the next record. Its great to have him in the band because we were already friends and I was quite confident that the whole situation was going to work out. Were really happy to have him in the band.
Did you use the same guitars you play live for the recording?
When I play live, I alternate between the Gothic V and the Gothic Explorer. I just use those two guitars and thats it. I like both of them and I cant decide which one I like best. But in the studio, the Explorer seemed to have the best sound on tape. It seemed a little bit tighter sounding, so I did the whole record with that one guitar.
Tell us about the writing process and how songs typically come together for Static-X.
I pretty much put everything together on my sampler, starting with loops, beats and keyboard parts. Then Ill hear guitar parts in my head that would fit together with those parts, so Ill pick up the guitar and figure out what I hear in my head and then Ill sample some of that stuff. I try to put everything together and document things as I hear them. When Id get things to a point where it was starting to sound like a song, then Id give tapes to the other guys in the band to check out and tell me what they think and wed all work on things together from there. Usually, the tapes had verses, choruses and breakdowns, but they were really rough ideas with drum machines and a simple beat, but no bass lines.
Once you completed the songwriting process, did you then make demos as a band or go directly into the studio to record the material?
We decided not to make any demos for this record because we chose to record the album in our practice space. We started recording the tracks while we were rehearsing. We set up our tape machines and we were rolling tape as we were rehearsing the songs. That way, when we got each of the songs to a point where we liked the arrangement and the drum performance was good, then we would build on things from there.
It was really different from the way we recorded the first album, where we had songs that wed been playing for years and the arrangements were ingrained in our heads. But when youre trying to come up with twelve new songs that the band has never played before and you have a very short amount of time to do it, this was the way that seemed to make the most sense for us, because you get each song down on tape and then you dont have to worry about it anymore. Then you can start worrying about the next one. The only downfall is that when your record is done and you decide which songs you want to play in your live show, then you have to go back and actually learn how to play them. So the whole writing and recording process was a little different than the way we had done things before.
How difficult was that?
It was very difficult, but it was also very interesting. Sometimes it was actually kind of funny. Ken would be listening to the CD, saying that he didnt remember even playing some of the parts! Of course, we learned how to play the songs. We brought Tripp into the band and figured out how we were going to cover the guitar parts and we also figured out how we were going to cover things vocally. Some of the parts that I sang on the record, Tony is singing live. When we were making the record, we were both doing vocal parts - whoever could hit the part right or whoever had the vocal idea, they would put it down. We didnt really worry about how we were going to play it live. But if theres a part that I absolutely can not play and sing, then I dont have to. Thats the beauty of having two guitar players in the band - Ill let Tripp play the guitar part and Ill just sing my vocal part. In the days when we were just a three-piece band, it was definitely a factor, but now I dont worry about that anymore.
I think that the most important part in any band situation is to not have any ego issues.
What advice can you offer to other guitarists about working together in a two-guitar band?
Well, every band is different. Since we dont really do any guitar solos or have any lead work in our music, were a little bit different from many other two-guitar bands. But I think that the most important part in any band situation is to not have any ego issues. No one should think that theyre the most important part of the band. You just have to keep in mind that the band is a unit and the song is the most important part in whatever youre doing as a band. That should be your goal in the band and if it means chilling out sometimes and not being the hot dog in certain parts, then thats what youve got to do. Im lucky enough to have three other guys in the band who all understand that concept. Ive played in bands in the past where there was a guitar player whod always be noodling around at every break and playing crazy solos at every opportunity. In some bands it will fit at times, but not in our band. So I think the most important thing is to know your role as a member of the band and think of the band as one.
How do you and Tripp separate things, in terms of tone?
Tripp plays through Marshall JCM 2000 Dual Super Lead heads, which are tube amps and my setup has the Valvestate and solidstate Marshall heads. I think that for a live situation, the solidstate tones and tube tones really compliment each other.
What advice would you offer to other guitar players on developing a unique style?
Originally, as I did, youll want to emulate someone that you like in their sound and style. Once you start getting that down, try to work in other influences and change things up a little bit to make it your own. For me, I started thinking of my guitar parts as keyboard parts and that was how I came up with the style that we use in this band. I started listening to all the old industrial records and hearing those keyboard lines. I thought the keyboard lines would be really cool as guitar parts. That was what worked for me. But in general, as a musician, you have do more than just emulate the person you like. You have to ultimately transform what you learn from your influences into a style of playing that you can call your own.
Obviously, learning how to write songs was an important part of developing your own style. What tips could you offer on becoming a better songwriter?
You need to remember that people are going to be listening to your song who have never heard it before and dont really give a damn about you. You have to grab them right from the start by making your song very interesting. Dont get too attached to any of your songs or any particular of a song because sometimes you may have a really cool part that might not fit with the rest of the song. So dont be afraid to throw things away and start over again. Dont get too emotionally attached to anything you write. A song should grab the listener from the beginning and keep them interested throughout. Just hit em hard!
What do you put on when you listen to music for enjoyment?
I listen to music to relax. Since Im out there every night, rocking my ass off and banging my head, thats not what I want to do when I get home. I like to listen to music thats a little bit dark, melodic and relaxed. Some of the new bands I like are Staind and Deadsy, which is a new band that were playing with on the Family Values tour. I think those guys are on their way and theyre becoming a really good band. I think theyre going to do really well on the Family Values tour. I still enjoy listening to Rush, too. Every once in a while Ill throw on one of their CDs. All of the Rush albums from Hemispheres through Signals are still awesome to me.
When will Static-X be out on tour?
We started the Family Values tour on October 11th and that will run through the end of November. After that, things are still up in the air, but Im pretty sure that were going to go back to Europe in December. We were supposed to be in Europe right now with Pantera and Slayer on the Tattoo The Planet tour, but that was canceled. Early next year, were going to do a headlining tour of the U.S. and then well go from there. Im sure well be touring through next summer and then maybe well take a break and think about doing the next record.
Lisa Sharken is a New York City freelance writer. She regularly contributes to national guitar and music media as well as gibson.com.
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