Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Back in the Eighties, I used to write ballads on my acoustic guitar, so it seems very natural to me to go back to a little singing.
It's been a long time since I lived in Michigan, but I did grow up there for 18 to 20 years of my life. It does feel my home state.
Don't get me wrong: I love the great times I had with Static-X, but sometimes the writing/recording process was frustrating for me.
Well, for me the canning factory was minimum wage, which at the time I believe was $3.40 or something. I was just happy to have a job.
I like all kinds of shows. The small shows are a totally different vibe. I don't care how many people are there as long as they're into it.
Any of the bands that came out at the same time as us, they're either gone now, or they got just mega huge, like System of a Down or Incubus.
My wife and I sold our house in L.A. and we moved out to the high desert in California, by Joshua Tree, and we're out in the middle of nowhere.
I hate it when bands keep making the same record over and over, so we're pushing ourselves to try new things and experiment in our writing approach.
I realized how important it was to have a good team - manager, attorney and label. It's not just about putting out a record and somebody signing you.
I feel like my whole life I've been searching for what I want to do, searching for my identity as a musician and a songwriter, and my band's identity.
I think our first record was a fluke, really. The fact that it went platinum and all that, it was all due to one video and the timing being just right.
Even when metal was on the radio, it was always the watered down stuff. There were only a couple real metal bands - Metallica is one - that broke through.
I'm sure I acted differently after I got married, I know I did. But... people get married and things change. It doesn't mean that the band has to break up.
I can play whatever I want and play whatever the fans want to hear. I don't have to be like a salesperson up there talking about my CD through the whole show.
It's harder and harder to sell records now. You've got to give extra value. You've got to give people a reason to go out and buy it rather than burn a friend's copy.
Interview With a Vampire' is one of my favorite movies of all time. 'Queen of the Damned,' not so much one of my favorite movies, but it's one of the best soundtracks of all time.
I actually re-signed with Warner Bros. on my own. They've been really good to us and all the people over there are great; they love me and I love them. So I'm just sticking with them.
The song 'Assassins Of Youth'... 'Assassins of youths' is what they used to call drugs in the old days when they first started the anti-drug campaign. And it's kind of an anti-drug record.
Here's what it comes down to: I've been making records and touring for over 10 years now. I'm very successful living it, doing it... I'm with an absolutely beautiful wife that's half my age.
When I'm in a bad mood, I feel better listening to someone else who sounds like they're in a bad mood. That was especially true when I was a kid, and I was mad at my mom or dad for whatever reason.
Sometimes things get too layered and compressed or there's too many effects and they turn into mush on record. I strive to keep it raw and live-sounding, like you are in the room watching the band play.
This 'Pighammer' record is supposed to be a side project. And it just so happens that at the same time I'm recording this record, our contract was up with Warner Bros., so it's time for Static-X to re-sign.
Metal never dies. Sometimes it's not on the radio and sometimes it's not at the forefront, but heavy rock or metal, or whatever the hell you want to call it, has always been around and will always be around.
The original lineup, we got on stage, we had a great chemistry, it was awesome, and then when we left the stage, we never talked to each other. There's a lot of bands that way. Who cares? What's wrong with it?
Mexico scares me. There's no law, there's wild dogs and people driving their ATVs down the street. I like to know I can walk down the street and not be arrested for something dumb and have to pay to get my way out.
We had an incident back in 2001 where our drummer threw out a drumstick into the crowd and it hit someone in the eye and they were going to sue us. You just always have to be really careful with that kind of stuff.
Even in those early years of Static-X, there was a pattern emerging where I would spend all my free time writing songs for Static-X and the other guys in the band spent their free time working on their other projects.
I don't know how these bands did it back in the '70s when they would crank out two records a year and tour at the same time, which is incredible to me. I have so much respect for all those bands working so hard like that.
For many records, everyone was like, 'Oh, this next record is going to be their last, blah, blah, blah.' But here we are on our sixth full-length studio album and we debut at No. 16. It's obvious we're not going anywhere.
We didn't have that big-label push. We weren't the kind of band that our label Warner Bros. Records was going to throw all this money at. Their idea was to support us on the road and see what happens. It was a very slow building process.
I remember when we were mixing our record and our manager was in there going, 'You guys need to sing more, so it can be on the radio.' And we were like 'What? We're never going to get played on the radio. Who cares? What are you talking about?'
It's just been really hard, 'cause I had a really hard year in 2012 where I had to have triple hernia surgery, and I was out of commission for a year; I couldn't walk, I couldn't sing, I couldn't do anything with work. So it was kind of a rough year.
Here's the way Static-X has always worked: I write all the songs by myself - totally and completely by myself - I give demos to the other guys, and then they add their parts to it, and then we argue about stuff and compromise and it turns out being Static-X.
After the 2009 'Cult Of Static' touring cycle ended, I felt that, as a band, Static-X had accomplished everything we set out to accomplish, and now I could finally take the time to do my own thing and make a record that is completely my vision without compromising for anyone or anything.
You know, Kiss can always go on as long as Gene and Paul want it to go on. Static-X is the same way. We're the two founding guys and the two vocalists and the driving force of the band. We can go on as long as we want, as long as the two of us are together. If I ever lost Tony, I'm sure I'd start something else.