Static-X is not a new brand of fabric softener, even though the gravity-defying hair-style of lead singer/guitarist Wayne Static looks like it could use a healthy shot of Cling Free. In fact, there is nothing the least bit soft about Static-X’s industrial-strength, hard-hitting brand metal, which combines jagged, piercing guitar crunch with electronic dissonance and throbbing beats that pound the skull like Mike Tyson on an amphetamine binge. Like a combination of Prodigy and Prong, Static-X makes aggressive yet danceable music that appeals as much to ravers as it does to moshers.

“We had a lot of fun working with dance rhythms when we were writing the songs,” says Static. “I’d bring in my drum machine, and we’d come up with these stupid disco beats, just as a joke. Then we’d try to write a song over the top of that, making it sound as heavy as we could.”

Static-X used a variety of techno toys, like computers, drum machines and the Roland Groove Box, when recording their debut Warner Bros. album, Wisconsin Death Trap, but those tools primarily served as accompaniment to a solid foundation laid down by two guitars, bass and drums. “We are not a traditional guitar band,” notes guitarist Koichi Fukudo. “There are no guitar heroes in this band. The music always comes first, which is why we do as much programming as playing.”

“Programming gives each of us our own outlet for expressing ourselves and taking the songs further,” adds Static. “And Koichi is a computer wizard. He comes up with all these crazy ideas on the computer that we’d never have if we just played guitar. Besides, our guitar parts are really simple. We used two-note chords and there are usually only two or three chord in each song. The hardest ting to figure about how we play is our tuning, and I’ll save your readers the trouble by letting them know that we just down two whole steps to C.”

These may be rough days for hard bands, but Static-X is none too concerned. “We just love doing what we do,” says Static. “I never thought we would get signed to a major label. We’re way heavier than what most labels are signing. We just wanted to rock and have fun playing.”

Check out Static-X’s Latest album Cannibal.

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