In a recent interview with The Adventures Of Pipeman, Dope leader Edsel Dope talked about his role in supporting Static-X members Tony Campos, Ken Jay, and Koichi Fukuda in keeping the band’s legacy alive.
He shared that he was a big Static-X fan and talked about the skepticism after the band decided to continue without their late frontman, Wayne Static.
“Of course, everything’s gonna be received with skepticism and, like, ‘I don’t know about this,’ and there was a lot of that, ‘No Wayne Static, no Static-X’ in the beginning,” he explained. “But, again, if you’re doing it for the right reasons and you have a vision for something that really can help the music live and can really help people have those experiences… I know how much I miss the band, and I know that I’m one of millions of fans out there that wanted to get f*cking hammered and listen to ‘I’m With Stupid’ loud and live in a room and going, like, ‘We’re never gonna have those experiences again.’ Well, how can we change that and do it in the right way to where people can not feel guilty when they’re smiling at a Static-X show? Because in the beginning, it’s a mourning, it’s sad.”
“But that was a big part of it, was to keep throwing as much positive energy and, for a lack of better words, fun at it, because Static-X was always such a fun band with fun songs. There’s a lot of metal bands that are serious. That wasn’t Static-X. Static-X was always this fun, almost smile-on-your-face metal band. So it was important for us to figure out how to reconnect fans to that and allow them to participate in a Static-X experience without feeling guilty about it,” he added.
There are rumors that Edsel Dope is Xer0, the masked singer of Static-X. In February 2023, Edsel spoke with Audio Ink Radio about why they chose to keep Xer0’s identity ‘private’ and not reveal the person who has been performing and touring with Tony Campos, Ken Jay, and Koichi Fukuda for much of the last three years.
“I would never be interested in looking at a photo of Static-X or reading a liner note that mentions me as being the singer of Static-X. Edsel Dope has no interest in being the singer of Static-X,” he clarified.
“There’s one living, breathing singer of Static-X and that’s Wayne Static. And then there’s a character, an entity, for lack of better words, that was created in order to allow Static-X to have a future and to continue and be the legacy act that they are and tour and perform, and we gave that character a name that is respective to Static-X and fits the branding of what Static-X is, and that’s what the importance is,” Edsel added.
The band is currently on tour in support of their eighth studio album, ‘Project Regeneration: Vol. 2.’
