Static-X: Death Trippin’
Industrial metal behemoths STATIC-X closed 2025 with a special edition boxset of their celebrated debut album Wisconsin Death Trip and we got the lowdown about it from the band’s bass player Tony Campos. Additionally, we discuss the triumphant return of the band and how they have defiantly carried on, despite the tragedy of losing leader Wayne Static, in whose memory the band have continued laying waste to stages with their evergreen industrial metal anthems.
We commence with Tony telling of how the boxset of Wisconsin Death Trip came about. “We recently ran into the photographer that did the session for the artwork for Wisconsin Death Trip and we ended up getting a hold of a bunch of extra shots and video footage from that shoot and we thought it’d be cool to share that with everybody and make it part of a boxset.”
Tony then delved into treasured memories about the creation and recording of Wisconsin Death Trip. “It was a cool time. For me personally, it was one foot in the rock star world and one foot in the real world, because I still had my job. I used to work at night, so I’d be in the studio during the day, and then at night, I’d go do my job. I would just walk across the street to go to work after we were done at the studio! I was living the dream, making my first big major label record during the day. Then it’s tonight, I gotta go to work!”
Talk then turned to the biggest sonic influences on Wisconsin Death Trip as Tony revealed both metal and electronic acts as influences. “MINISTRY and PRONG. Those bands were huge for us. The electronic movement that happened during that time was also pretty influential for us. Bands like THE CHECMICAL BROTHERS, CRYSTAL METHOD, THE PRODIGY, that kind of stuff. The soundtrack to the movie Spawn, that was huge for us too!”
Upon the release of Wisconsin Death Trip, the band embarked on an impressive bout of touring, playing with everyone from FEAR FACTORY to PANTERA and SLAYER as well as an appearance on the 1999 and 2000 Ozzfests, as Tony tells us. “All those bands are incredible to tour with. FEAR FACTORY were the first band to take us out on our first big tour. We were green as fuck! Those guys really took us under their wing and really showed us the ways of the road, how to how to be a professional touring band. Ozzfest was such an incredible experience, especially for our first time out being a band.”
Tony then enthused about the present and how it is being back on stage with STATIC-X today. “It’s great to get to play these songs again, it’s just so much fun. The songs are just so much fun, bouncy and full of energy and life, really cool.”
He went onto tell about the recent STATIC-X live shows and what the highlights have been. “The tour with GWAR was really cool. It’s a band I always wanted to go see and I’ve never been able to go catch them. So to get to tour with those guys was cool. Both me and Wayne were big fans, so I know he would have been pretty stoked about the tour with GWAR. Then we finished off the year with MUDVAYNE. We go way back with those guys. I think our second European tour was with those guys opening for SLIPKNOT. We were both on our first records, and it’s cool that they’re still out there doing it 25 years later, yeah. Some of the summer festivals we did out in Europe were really cool too!” He then reveals a bit about the bands touring plans for the year ahead. “We’re going back to Europe for more of the festivals out there and definitely looking forward to that.”
Tony then speaks about the STATIC-X documentary that is in the works, which is hopefully going to be released this year. “It’s kind of similar to what we were going through when we were making Project: Regeneration One & Two, revisiting the good times and this time around, we got to revisit some of the bad times too. So, it’s definitely bittersweet, but I think it’s the end product is going to be worth it. We’re in the editing process now, so we’re getting there.”
Tony went onto to tell us about how the return of STATIC-X happened in the first place. “It started out with this handful of demos that Wayne had left behind that I received from a producer, friend of ours, and I got a hold of them maybe a few months after Wayne had passed, and I just kind of sat on them. I think it was around 2016, I was still working with FEAR FACTORY and but we weren’t really doing a whole lot, and I was just sitting at home, and I decided to revisit those demos. That’s when I reached out to the other guys. I was like, ‘hey, you guys want to help me finish these songs’, and it just snowballed from there. The 20th anniversary of Wisconsin Death Trip was looming, it just fell into place, and the rest is history, as they say.”
We finish off with Tony telling of the response to the return of STATIC-X and how it has filled him with joy to have the band back despite all that had happened. “It’s been incredible, man. I mean, No one’s more surprised than me. Initially I was just seeing one US tour, one European tour, then call it a night but the fans just responded so amazingly!”
Wisconsin Death Trip (25th Anniversary Corrosive Edition) is out now via Warner Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS127 here:
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