jen pro ty co umějí dobře naglicky =D
Wayne Static: Vocals, guitar, programming
Tony Campos: Bass, backing vocals
Koichi Fukuda: Lead guitar, keyboards, programming
Nick Oshiro: Drums
Calling Static-X the Terminator of contemporary rock music may seem
like an obvious comparison: The band's blunt-force-trauma melding of
industrial rock, thrash metal and futuristic disco is nothing if not
cybernetic. But when you look back at Static-X's 13-year legacy, the
comparison goes well beyond the musical: Since the 1999 release of
their platinum-certified Warner Bros. debut, Wisconsin Death Trip, the
Los Angeles quartet have weathered musical trends, survived lineup
shifts, and even severed longtime creative partnerships to emerge as
the streamlined metallic machine they are today; and with their fifth
studio album, Cannibal, they sound positively indestructible.
Comprising
12 of the harshest, most stripped-down tracks Static-X have ever
recorded, Cannibal also finds frontman Wayne Static & Co. sounding
leaner and meaner than they have in years-a change the vertical-haired
guitarist, vocalist and chief songwriter attributes to the
back-to-basics approach they took to recording the album. "From the
recording process to the way it turned out, this record feels
old-school for us," Static explains. "I think it's the most metal
record we've ever made, and it's arguably the heaviest record we've
ever made. The last few records found us going in a slightly different
direction; this one makes no compromises, and when people hear it, I
think they're going to go, "Whoa, cool! Static-X is back."
Of course, Static-X never really took a break: In fact, from 2005's
Start a War onward, the quartet have grown tighter, busier and more
road-ready than ever, with original lead guitarist Koichi Fukuda (who
last appeared on Wisconsin Death Trip) returning to the fold after a
four-year split and former touring drummer Nick Oshiro (ex-Seether)
committing to the band full-time. Rounded out by original bassist Tony
Campos, who pulls double-duty in the industrial/death-metal all-star
project Asesino, this lineup saw a successful 2005-2006 not only on
tour, where they headlined U.S. and Pacific Rim stages alongside Ill
Niño and Opiate for the Masses, but also in stores. Start a War had two
singles hit the Billboard Top 30 and two more land on the soundtracks
to the video games Need for Speed: Most Wanted and WWE SmackDown vs.
Raw 2006, and Cannibal's face-ripping "No Submission" landed,
fittingly, on the Saw III soundtrack and gave fans an early taste of
the album to come. Still, Wayne remarks, "We've never had the same
lineup for two albums in a row, so despite the success we've had,
keeping everyone together is a huge win in itself. Actually having
Koichi around has allowed us to have real guitar solos on the new
songs." He laughs. "Even though we've got three-quarters of the
original lineup today, we've been through a lot of changes to get back
to this point."
While it may seem strange that such positive
energy could lead to an album as furious-sounding as Cannibal, as
Static explains it, the newfound stability allowed him to go back to
the process of writing music for fun-although, granted, his idea of a
good time may be a bit harsher and louder than most people's. "When I
was getting into more melodic stuff, like I did on the last two records
[Start a War and 2003's Shadow Zone], I enjoyed it; it was challenging
for me," he says. "But with this record, I had a good time just getting
back to balls-out screaming and challenging myself vocally, as well as
in the songwriting. I felt like I was back working on Wisconsin Death
Trip, where I focused on stripping away the excess as much as possible
to write short, simple, catchy songs."
Getting
those songs to tape would require another change in the band: breaking
with longtime producer Ulrich Wild-who, in addition to mixing Shadow
Zone, had produced every Static-X studio album to date, including the
band's platinum-certified debut and gold-certified follow-up, Machine.
"Ulrich and I have worked together so much that we know what we're
going to do before we even step into a room together," Static says.
"Building a new relationship with someone opened up new doors that may
not have been opened otherwise." So for Cannibal, Static teamed with
producer/engineer John Travis (Kid Rock, Buckcherry). "I had a vision
for this record, which is why I wanted to produce it myself," Static
says. "I wanted it to be really dry and in-your-face, but still really
huge; in terms of inspiration, I was thinking AC/DC's Back in Black:
how it's just, boom! Right there, live-sounding-not a bunch of reverb;
not a bunch of room sound-and John helped me realize that goal."
From
the throat-shredding title track/lead single to the asymmetric
industrial thrash of "Reptile," the results are some of the most
energized, stripped-down and, as expected, in-your-face music in
Static-X's arsenal. The band's classic "evil disco" sound pulsates
through the throat-punching grooves of "Destroyer," "Goat" and
"Electric Pulse," imagining a packed dancefloor in hell's sub-basement;
while the punch-press drumming and serrated riffs of bruisers such as
"Chemical Logic" and "Forty Ways" make even the heaviest tracks on
Wisconsin Death Trip sound like pop singles in comparison.
"I
think this is our most simple and direct record, as well as our rawest,
and it was definitely intentional to keep every song that way," Static
explains, adding that his stripping away the excess extended all the
way down to Cannibal's lyrics. "This time, instead of writing about
personal or emotional subjects, I'd just take a simple idea and work
with it," he begins. "Like, take 'Reptile': I like the word 'reptile,'
and in that song, I'm literally imagining being eaten alive by some
giant reptile." Similarly, the title track finds Static, a longtime
vegetarian, turning the tables on carnivores. "With 'Cannibal,' I was
thinking of how, when I see people eating these big pieces of meat,
it's really disgusting to me," he says. "It's like they could be
cannibals; that you could give somebody a piece of a human and they'd
eat it and not know the difference. So, with that basic idea in mind, I
was able to write the song around it."
Besides looking ahead to
spending the next year on the road in support of Cannibal, the
terminally creative Static says he's already begun writing the band's
next album (one of the benefits of having your own studio); but perhaps
more importantly, he's looking forward to hanging onto the pure,
uninhibited energy that brought these current songs into focus. "The
simple fact is that I love what I do," he says. "I love writing; I love
touring-I can't imagine doing anything else." And as he looks forward
to the next stage of Static-X, it's hard not to return to that old
Terminator analogy-or at least to imagine some post-apocalyptic version
of the Energizer Bunny: "Look at bands like Slayer, Metallica,
Megadeth, Iron Maiden," Static says "Not to put us in that league, but
when I think about our band, that's how I see us. Our touring just gets
stronger every year, and our fans know we're always going to deliver."
He laughs. "Theoretically, I suppose we could keep going forever."
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