Formation, Wisconsin Death Trip and Machine (1994–2001) Static-X was founded in 1994 after the disbandment of
Wayne Static's prior band, Deep Blue Dream. Static played in the band in the late 1980s with future
Smashing Pumpkins frontman
Billy Corgan. However, when the Smashing Pumpkins began to gain popularity, Corgan made the choice to commit all of his attention to the Smashing Pumpkins, and Deep Blue Dream eventually disbanded. Static and Ken Jay later moved to
Los Angeles to start a new band with guitarist Emerson Swinford, whom they had met through their mutual friend, Chicago singer-songwriter,
PJ Olsson. They formed a band called Battery and released a demo tape as a trio.
Tony Campos then joined the band on bass, and thus they changed their name to Drill. Another demo tape was released around the same time. After Swinford left to pursue touring and session work, they recruited guitarist
Koichi Fukuda, and renamed the band Static; however, during the recording of their debut album, they realized there were multiple other bands named Static, and subsequently renamed the band to Static-X. Soon after, they released their first single "
Push It", followed by "
I'm with Stupid" and "
Bled for Days" in 2000. and "definitely not [...] amicable". Despite this, the band still managed to find success, with the second album,
Machine, releasing on May 22, 2001, and eventually being certified gold with 500,000 units sold.
Tripp Eisen replaced Fukuda on guitar for touring in support of the album. As a remedy of this, Davis contacted a number of metal vocalists, Static included, to sing on the songs he had written. Static provided vocals for one track, "Not Meant for Me", with the
Queen of the Damned soundtrack releasing in February 2002. The band's third album,
Shadow Zone, was released on October 7, 2003, and debuted at no. 20 on the
Billboard 200 charts, but failed to achieve the platinum or gold selling status of their prior two albums. Two singles were released to promote the album, "
The Only" and "
So". The band proceeded to hire Nick Oshiro, formerly of
Seether, as Jay's replacement and the band's permanent drummer, to tour in support of the album. July 20, 2004 saw the release of
Beneath... Between... Beyond..., a collection of rarities and demos. Shortly after the release of
Beneath... Between... Beyond..., the band toured again with Fear Factory, and commenced work on their fourth studio album,
Start a War. In February 2005, Tripp Eisen was arrested in a sex scandal involving minors, and was subsequently fired from the band. Former guitarist Koichi Fukuda, who had been providing samples and keyboards for the new album, rejoined Static-X to fill the gap left by Eisen.
Start a War was finally released on June 14, 2005. "I'm the One" and "Dirthouse" were released as singles from the album.
Cannibal and Cult of Static (2007–2009) Their fifth album,
Cannibal, released on April 3, 2007, marked the studio return of their original guitarist, Koichi Fukuda. One of the new tracks called "No Submission" was released on the
Saw III soundtrack prior to the album's release. "
Cannibal" was released as a
digital download single at
iTunes. "
Destroyer" was released as a lead off radio single, before the album was released. On March 20, the album was preceded with an exclusive
Destroyer EP, with a video being produced for the title track. The album itself debuted at No. 36 in the U.S. with sales of over 30,000. On May 10, 2007 it was announced that the band would be playing on the main stage at
Ozzfest 2007. Additionally, at the time, Static first announced his intention to release solo material, referring to it as "Pighammer". In the meantime, in November 2007, Campos temporarily joined
Ministry as a touring bassist for Ministry's C U LaTour in the wake of
Paul Raven's death. The band began working on their sixth studio album,
Cult of Static, in January 2008 after returning from the Operation Annihilation tour in Australia. Static stated they intended to mix the longer buildups and break downs from
Wisconsin Death Trip with the heaviness that was present on
Cannibal. On October 14, 2008 Static-X released their live CD/DVD,
Cannibal Killers Live. On December 11, 2008 Static revealed the album's release date and name saying "I had hoped to announce it here first, but my publicist beat me to the punch! The new record is indeed entitled
Cult of Static and will be released March 17. The "cult" part of the title is not to be taken in any religious manner, I am referring to and giving respect to the loyalty of all you good people that have supported us through the years. This record is definitely darker than
Cannibal and has more synths and loops as well. And this is also the most crushing guitar tone I have ever had. There are 11 songs instead of our usual 12, and they are mostly longer and more epic than ever before." The album debut at No. 16 on the
Billboard 200 chart, the highest since their second studio album,
Machine. A new Static-X song called "Lunatic" appeared on soundtrack to the movie ''
Marvel's
Punisher: War Zone''. Drummer Nick Oshiro left Static-X prior to the start of the tour, being replaced by touring drummer Will Hunt. The tour in support of the album lasted for the rest of the year, playing major concerts such as the
Download Festival and
Rock on the Range.
Hiatus, breakup and Wayne Static's death (2010–2017) After finishing their final tour dates in Australia at the end of 2009, the band began to cave to Static's friction with the rest of the band: Fukuda wanted to focus more on his new family, and Oshiro's newfound sobriety was clashing with Static's substance abuse; and eventually joined the metal band
Soulfly. but clarified that the band had not broken up, but rather, members were just doing different projects at the time; Campos maintains he never left the band. He released his debut solo album
Pighammer on October 4, 2011. In 2012, Wayne Static decided to reform Static-X, but none of the original members joined him. Instead his solo band toured under the name Static-X. In June 2013, Static announced Static-X's official break-up. Static blamed it on a disagreement with Campos over the rights of the band; citing that Campos was paid by Wayne for the use of the name while touring, but during that tour, Wayne took ill; in a 2019 post, former tour manager Eric Dinkelmann claimed, however, that the illness was just an official cover and the real reason for the tour cancellation was "a drug bust", which Campos later also alluded to. Static ended the band soon afterwards. Despite breaking up the band, Static still performed the band's music under his own name and solo band in 2014, most notably playing the
Wisconsin Death Trip album in its entirety to celebrate the album's fifteenth anniversary. On November 1, 2014, Wayne Static died at the age of 48. Static's wife,
Tera Wray, released a statement stating that despite Static's prior history of drug use, he had stopped his drug use in 2009, and that his death was not drug or
overdose related. Despite her claims, the coroner's report, released in March 2015, indicated that his death was the result of a combination of excessive
prescription drugs and alcohol in his system, though the
manner of death was deemed "natural." Wray herself died of suicide in 2016. featuring an unidentified vocalist named "Xer0" wearing a mask some confused to be that of Wayne Static. This decision received mixed feedback, with some journalists calling it a "creepy Wayne Static
cosplay" and "zombie Wayne Static". and Jay noted that it fit Static's "terrifically morbid sense of humour". Edsel himself denied this initially, but later admitted to his role, saying that he and the band felt Xer0 should be a separate entity from Dope. The mask was made by the late Laney Chantal, wife of
Twiggy Ramirez. On February 6, 2020, the band released the first new song from their forthcoming and renamed album
Project: Regeneration Vol. 1 titled "Hollow (Project Regeneration)". It was then announced that
Project Regeneration would now consist of two volumes, both with at least 10 songs, all of them with vocals by Wayne Static. The album was slated to be released May 15, 2020, but was eventually pushed to be released on July 10, 2020 due to the manufacturing delays associated with the
COVID-19 pandemic. The band resumed work on
Volume 2 shortly after the release of the first volume. On August 22, 2021, Campos stated that the band was working on
Project: Regeneration Vol. 2, which also consists of recovered material, as well as entirely new songs. On February 8, 2023, the band announced the album would be released later in the year on November 3. The lead single for
Project: Regeneration Vol. 2 was a cover of
Nine Inch Nails' "Terrible Lie". The band went on tour that winter with
Fear Factory,
Dope,
Mushroomhead,
Twiztid supporting on select dates. On June 12, the Machine Killer Tour was announced with Static-X co-headlining with
Sevendust. The album's release was eventually pushed back to January 26, 2024, nearly ten years after Static's death. Edsel Dope has cited the songs "Black Star" and "Stay Alive" as the reasons for the delay, both of which were built from material discovered in the last minute. Regarding the next Static-X album, Campos stated that it was up to the fans if the band could continue making music without Wayne Static. In March 2024, a documentary about the band,
Evil Disco: The Rise, Fall, and Regeneration of Static-X, was announced. The band are confirmed to be making an appearance at
Welcome to Rockville, which will take place in
Daytona Beach, Florida in May 2026. ==Musical style and influences==