GIG REVIEW: STATIC-X Wisconsin Death Trip tour

GREEN BAY DISTILLERY

DEC 3RD, 2019

That sound — a barrage of industrial riffs, techno beats and sharp, haunting vocals — intertwined and evolved into what we know as STATIC-X: Wisconsin Death Trip. Sadly, Wayne died of a fatal overdose in November, 2014. Dope is also celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Felons and Revolutionaries.

Now, fast forward 20 years later, the founding members including: Tony Campos, Ken Jay and Koichi Fukuda, got together again, with the help of a ghoul like tribute of Wayne Static named “Xer0”.

Coming along to celebrate and pay tribute to our lost brother in metal are none other than: DOPE, MUSHROOMHEAD, WEDNESDAY 13 and RAVEN BLACK.Even though Raven Black had to step out due to bus issues, this show slammed nonetheless.

WEDNEDAY 13

The horror-like rock act of Wednesday 13 may seemingly have been a crazy choice for the tour but when you see them live, they fit right in with their tour brothers. Starting their set and a fitting way to slip into the theme of the night, “Necrophaze” was the first to fill the air. Wednesday 13’s live show and theatrics of horror costumes brought Halloween back again this year. Needless to say, the Wednesday 13 die-hards were in attendance, and the newbies were in a paralyzed state of, “What the Hell did I just witness?!?”. Nonetheless, Wednesday 13 also proved they have the musical talent to be in lock step with their stage performance. They really pushed the bar high right out of the gates of hell with their cauldron of nightmarish acts and musical talent. Other songs like “Zodiac”, “Decompose” and “What The Night Brings” kept people in a trance-like state. To explain their sound to someone that never heard them before, could only be a hellish mixture of Rob Zombie - meets - Alice Cooper - meets - Marilyn Manson - meets - Ghost, if you can imagine that. A Great way to start the night.

DOPE

Dope was up next, which surprised some fans. They felt, overall, that DOPE was much bigger than Mushroomhead. With some theories that fans had about the Edsel Dope / Xer0 controversy, it made sense. Whatever the case, the fans were ready for the pseudo-punk / gritty sleaze metal quartet to hit the stage.

Opening up with the elder “Blood Money”, they weren’t holding anything back. Every member from DOPE has the energy and musical talent to completely rip the stage apart. Their 6-song set included “Bring It On”, which Edsel proclaimed “What about tomorrow? Fuck Tomorrow! Middle fingers in the air!”. Edsel has an amazing talent to draw the crowd, which tonight, it was sold out! Looking over the rest of the band, each of them having their own brand of being a frontman of sorts, were just flat out, exciting to see live. Ending their set, Edsel once again had some comments about the last song, saying “Do you all want to here the dumbest fucking song?!?” Jumping off the ego riser, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” begins to start.

Needless to say, DOPE brings it, with no questions asked.

MUSHROOMHEAD

With the tattered flags of “X-Face” flying high above, Mushroomhead, slowly creeps onto the stage. Their opening is as always, creepy and filled with horror-like costumes, with eerie music filling the darkened chasm where the fans are anxiously congregating.

Starting of with “43 Kill Tomorrow” was a surprise to me. The last time I saw them, I recall “Qwerty” was the opener. Regardless, and in true Mushroomhead fashion, they please the diehards. Slamming and pounding through their set as if in a death march in battle, they played "Out of My Mind” and “Before I Die” blazed the stage, along with the stage left and stage right water percussion slamming away. These side stage members are amazing to watch live. Between the antics and chaotic movements, and the tight timing with the main drummer, “Steve "Skinny" Felton, is something to experience.

Later on in the set, they introduce and welcome to the stage, Jackie Laponza. Jackie appears on some of Mushroomhead songs like “Among the Crows” and “We are the Truth”, along with the music video. Her energy and stage presence is almost palatable, even to go as far to crowd surfing during the latter part of the set.

STATIC-X

As the crowd re-entered the main floor after grabbing a moment to get drinks and waiting for stagehands to prep the stage for the last time tonight, the dimly lit stage began to glow with the LED screens slowly transforming bits and pieces of a VERY familiar logo. “STATIC-X” was now fully lit up!!! The reunited Static-X with bass player Tony Campos, drummer Ken Jay, Koichi Fukuda and frontman, only known as “Xer0” filling the spot once held by Wayne Static. The biggest question tonight was, would he pull this off? Xer0 being as respectful to his position as one could ever be, he made this tribute and anniversary something to remember for a long time to come.

Slicing open the night for Static-X was “Bled for Days” and the staccato “Wisconsin Death Trip”. These openers really set the fans off! Grinding through the entire album “Wisconsin Death Trip”, not only brought a sense of nostalgia and great memories, but also a great way to pay respect to Wayne himself”. As they progressed through the night, it was very apparent that there were so many moments that you caught fans pointing up to the heavens as to say thank you to Wayne, Including at the end of the set, Xer0 doing the same. Wayne was truly loved by his fans and bandmates.

In closing, as a fan of Static-X, it was great to see the original members again. It was like they never lost a step. RIP WAYNE, YOU ARE MISSED, BUT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

Special thanks to the Green Bay Distillery, TAG PR, the bands and crew and especially THE FANS! It was a great night!

Image Credits: TStarr Photography