Local Scene

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2023-03-30

STATIC-X – FEAR FACTORY – MUSHROOMHEAD – LIVE

On 3/22, Static-X brought their “RISE OF THE MACHINE” tour to Toad’s Place in New Haven, Ct. with Fear Factory, Mushroomhead and Dope for support.

I have seen Static-X at least four times, with the Evil Disco King, Wayne Static, at the helm. I hung out with him at the WCCC Rock Expo Family Picnic in 2004. He was sweet, funny, kind and dare I say even a bit vulnerable. Out of the 8 bands that played that festival, Wayne spent the most time with the fans. FYI – It took him 20 minutes to get his hair like that and Aqua Net was his hairspray of choice. We somehow got on the subject of school and he mentioned he never went to his prom. This comment led to us taking pics in the “standard prom pose”. I couldn’t wait to see his set. I was right up front when the first guitar twang went off and holy hell it was so loud I almost shit myself! An unforgettable performance that demanded your attention. The metal world was momentarily silenced on November 1, 2014, when Wayne Static died at the age of 48.

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Photo Credit Holly Roy Photography

Having shared that time with Wayne, getting to know him a bit, I was very pessimistic about the revamped Static-X line up. Curiosity won out over my cynicism when my esteemed publisher and kick ass photographer both asked me to review the gig. Here we go, please put your trays in the upright position and fasten your seatbelts.

There were only seven dates not sold out on this forty-two show tour. The Toad’s show was a sell out and the line to get in snaked all the way down the adjacent alleyway. It was an impressive turn out which I haven’t seen in a while. If it’s been a minute since you been to Toad’s, I’ve been unable to bring in a bag of any kind and have to pass through a metal detector on the way in. Due to the delay in entry, I only caught the last Dope song. It was “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”, originally recorded by Dead or Alive. The venue was already packed and the crowd responded positively to the song, everyone was having a great time.

Mushroomhead was up next and honestly I didn’t know a lot about them. Each member sported a horror inspired mask and the percussion utilized non-traditional water drums versus a standard drum kit. I would describe their vibe as Slipknot (sorry, can’t avoid the comparison), Faith No More and Static-X combined. Their sound was fantastic and these motherfuckers had me hooked from the first note. Their high energy singer, XstrikeX, dove into the audience immediately. Mushroomhead continued at 1000 mph the entire set, which was 8 songs from their 8 studio albums. “A Requiem for Tomorrow”, “Seen It All” and “Our Apologies” were the first tracks. My photographer texted me “How many members are in this band?!?” I believe the answer is 8.

“Sun Doesn’t Rise” and “12 Hundred” were next tunes up. A guy behind me knew every word to every song. The crowd answered the band’s non-stop energy by clapping, singing and crowd surfing through the entire program. “Empty Spaces” and “Born of Desire” wrapped it up with the audience clamoring for more. Mushroomhead hung out with fans, answered questions, took photos, for an extended amount of time. Loved this so much, a lot of bands charge money for limited interactions these days – but not our beloved Mushroomhead.

The foursome that is Fear Factory took their turn on stage. Having experienced frequent line-up changes through the years, the members on this night were Dino Cazares (Guitars), Pete Webber (Drums), Milo Silvestro (Vocals) and Tony Campos, also of Static-X, on bass. Their setlist consisted of ten songs from their inventory of, I believe, ten studio albums. They opened with “Shock”, “Edgecrusher”, “Disruptor” and “Dielectric”. The sound quality was good, the performers gave it their all and the crowd was into them. I saw a guy at the merch booth singing and moshing by himself. In my opinion, however, the performance was lackluster compared to the Mushroomhead frenzy we had just witnessed.

The set dragged on with “Powershifter” and “What Will Become?”. Milo changed his mic or something, altering his vocals and this caught my attention, I liked those songs better. He proclaimed they were playing “Archetype”, just for us, just for tonight. He then announced they were “going back to 1995” and “let’s see this fucking place open up” which led to “Demanufacture” followed by “Zero Signal” and “Replica”. I think Fear Factory was in the wrong spot on the line-up. Mushroomhead should be on after FF and before Static-X. It must be tough for Tony Campos to play a set with FF and then roll right into Static-X.

As the moment of truth was upon us, I took up a spot along the sound board because I wanted a good view but didn’t want to get caught up in the frenetic pit action and take a boot to the head or lose my review notes. Even that far back in the venue I was standing in a small flood of sweat and spilled drinks. A fan next to me had the Static-X Machine logo tattooed on his arm. The pre-song on the PA was Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show which made me reminisce about Wayne’s style and sense of humor. The current members of the resurrected version of Static-X took their marks and XerO (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar) declared “We are Static-X and we are here to destroy you!” before they belted out “Permanence”.

The crowd surfing amped up during “This Is Not”. Xero addressed the audience again “Are you guys ready? Everybody fucking jump!” (He would say this several times during the show) for “Structural Defect”. The fans conformed and jumped so hard I could literally feel the floorboards shaking under me. XerO ordered the crowd to jump again before “Black & White”, and yet again before “Love Dump”. Everyone was clapping, singing, jumping, headbanging and crowd surfing. I thought to myself, “Jesus Christ what are they gonna do for the hits?” I found out when XerO broadcasted “Welcome to the 20th anniversary of Machine! Now here’s some Wisconsin Death Trip Shit!”

“Wisconsin Death Trip”, “Fix” and “Bled For Days” were bestowed upon us and the fans’ love for it hammered on. There were screens all around the stage behind the band and mind trippy visuals were up for “Sweat of the Bud” and “Terminator Oscillator”. XerO called for the crowd to “get those phones out and light this fucker up!” A small percentage listened as they played “Just In Case”. Then we got “Everybody fucking jump!” Again!”Destroy All”, “Dirthouse”, “Bien Venidos/Get To The Gone”,” Cannibal” and “Terrible Lie” (Nine Inch Nails Cover) kept the crowd thumpin and surfing.

XerO spoke again, “Connecticut Let’s Go! Connecticut, lemme hear you scream! Let me see your motherfucking hands! Get your hands up and move em side to side!” A huge picture of Wayne popped up on the main screen and we lost our minds. The image changed to a countdown clock and then it looked like someone ripped open a down pillow in front of a fan but I guess it was some kind of foam. It didn’t really work out, they should change that up. They also released giant red beach balls into the crowd and that was fun. The band dedicated “Cold” to Wayne.

Tony Campos (Bass/Backing Vocals) explained that this was a tribute to Wayne. He explained that the band and XerO were his friends and knew him well and wanted to memorialize him. XerO spoke to us one last time, “make some noise for the other bands!” “We usually play Worcester” to which the crowd replied with loud ass boos. He introduced the band, Tony, Ken Jay on Drums, Koichi Fukuda, the assassin from Osaka, on Lead Guitar and himself XerO from the fictitious Otsego Industries. The set wrapped up with” I’m With Stupid” and “Push It”.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I had a disdainful attitude going into this show. I was wrong. I am 100 percent sold on the current Static-X line up. A really fun show with great sound and positive crowd response. I like how they explain this is a tribute to Wayne. XerO looks like a terminator type cyborg with a metal mask, red laser eyes and Wayne Static hair. His identity has yet to be formalized, but fans have done their investigating and word is that it’s Brian Ebejer, known professionally as Edsel Dope, the lead singer of Dope. I wholeheartedly believe that Wayne Static would approve and probably be overjoyed that his music is still being revered.

Thank you, faithful readers! I look forward to the next show I bring to you. Rock on!