STATIC-X Bassist Explains Why They Won’t Reveal Identity Of New Frontman Even Though ‘Everyone Knows’ Who He Is

Static X With New Singer

During a recent appearance on The SDR Show, STATIC-X bassist Tony Campos talked about the band’s, masked, new frontman —Xer0 — who is replacing late Wayne Static.

When discussing about new frontman, who is widely believed to be DOPE frontman Edsel Dope, Campos said: “When we were trying to figure out how we were gonna do this, live, the first thing that came up was the hologram thing, and that got shot down pretty quick. The thing about the band, for us, was the energy and the vibe that we all got from the interaction the four of us had on stage – and you just don’t get that with a hologram, so that got chucked out the window pretty quickly.

“So, we figured out it had to be somebody,” he continued. “Once we found Xer0 and saw and heard that he could do the job, we were like, ‘Cool. How do we present this in a cool way that doesn’t make it about…?’ Cause we didn’t wanna come out and, like, ‘Hey, here’s STATIC-X with their new singer.’ That’s not what we were trying to do.

“It was about remembering Wayne and remembering the good times we had back in the early days and remembering the fun we all had together 20 years ago touring on ‘Wisconsin Death Trip.’ We really wanted to keep the focus on that and not on the new singer — so the idea of a mask came.

“Initially, we came up with a helmet that looked like the robot from the ‘Push It’ video and even shot some video footage of Xer0 wearing that, and it looked great,” Campos added. “Logistically, it wasn’t gonna work, though, ’cause you’re blind in the thing. And so, what are you gonna do — have somebody walk him out to the front of the stage, make sure he doesn’t fall off the stage?

“So we were like, ‘OK, what else can we do?’ And so we thought of all these different merchandise items that we had — with skulls, with Wayne‘s hair and beard — and thought, ‘Well, let’s try something like that.’ So we gave the idea to a friend of ours who designs masks for the SLIPKNOT guys, John 5, various other people, and she came back with that Xer0 mask.

“And then once we put the hair up, we were like, ‘Oh, yeah. Dude, that’s it.’ And so we went with that.”

When asked if they are still keeping Xero‘s identity a secret, despite the fact that everyone already know who he is, Tony responded: “Yeah, I still like to keep that distinction ’cause, again, I’m trying to keep the focus [on Wayne]… I had a few ideas in my head, but he was the first to come up and actually demonstrate that he could do the job. So I was like, ‘I don’t think I need to look any further.’ [Laughs]

“I knew there would be some negativity online. It was definitely a talking point, for sure,” he continued. “But I think once people heard our story and heard that Wayne‘s family had given us their blessing to do what we were doing… And then once they actually saw it, I think that was the big turning point. Once people came out and experienced the show and saw what we were doing, I think it made most of those people turn around.”

Watch full interview below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82DKKLzeUm4&ab_channel=TheSDRShow