I have often wondered why the industrial metal sound of Static-X and their contemporaries didn't take over the world. To me it just seemed to be the logical place for metal to go.  I loved Static-X, The Union Underground, and even lighter fare like Stabbing Westward.  Now the man who truly put his heart and soul into this type of sound is gone leaving us with some stories and a lot of great music.

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As I mentioned I was very much into the Static-X industrial metal sound. I was very stoked to interview Wayne Static at one of our shows. Wayne wasn't quite as big and tall as you may think, but that eight inches of hair combed straight up did add to his presence quite a bit.

I had mentally prepared a bunch of questions for Wayne and his answer to one really threw me.  I asked him, what do you listen to that inspires you to write such driving, innovative music.

He gave me some kind of throw away answer like "all kinds of stuff", and I said "so what do you listen to when you're on the tour bus?" and he said "mostly Journey".  I don't know why, maybe it was just because it was such a goofy answer, but everybody around just fell out laughing.  For some reason we were looking at this guy who we all felt was an upcoming metal icon and to hear he listened to Journey cracked us up.

Myself, I just stood there like a mute ape, not even knowing what question to ask next. I guess mentally I was debating on whether to say something smartass about him liking the band.   Now, to this day, I have an autographed Static-X poster  and you can see where a friend put up a little caption next to Wayne's mouth.

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Rest In Peace Wayne Static. I hope where ever you're going they're playing a bunch of Journey, and I thank you for the soundtrack you left us.

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