RIP Wayne (Wells) Static

It was by complete fluke that I forgot to shed a little light on this crappy situation.  Over the weekend, most of us in the metal industry learned of the untimely death of Wayne Static (aka Wayne Richard Wells) at the young age of 48.  According to the press release by Wayne's publicist, Wayne passed away quietly in his sleep on November 1st, 2014.

“HOLLYWOOD, CA (November 1, 2014) – Today is a sad day in the music industry – Front-man and founding member WAYNE STATIC of STATIC-X passed away quietly in his sleep at his home last night.

The couple [Static & his wife Tera Wray,] was getting ready to leave for a Fall/Winter tour this morning. They were to have left the night before on Halloween, but decided they would head out early in the morning November 1st.

The couple known for partying heavy, had left hard drugs in 2009 and had not touched them since. Static’s first solo album – Pighammer – was a tribute to his new non-drug life and hoped it would help others to get clean from hard chemical drugs.

More official information about his passing will be released in the following days. This is not a drug related incident or an O. D. Please be courteous to his family and wife and leave positive messages.”



As I never met the guy let alone see a performance by Static-X, they were a major influence on me in my youth.  I used to push my fellow band members constantly to throw some covers in our set such as "The Only", "Destroy All", and "Start A War".  There was always something about that eccentric hair and those very distinct screams made his music very appealing to me.  Kind of sucks that I will never get to see the group perform as a whole again.



“I would like to thank everyone on behalf of all the Wayne’s family and myself for all the kind words from all of Wayne’s friends and fans and other bands. Wayne went very peacefully in his sleep and probably didn’t even know that it happened (Which makes me feel better that he wasn’t in pain). It will be sometime before we know why it happened but I will keep everyone informed.

He had so much more to give the world. As his wife, biggest fan, and worshipper, I will keep him alive and finish everything that I can that he has been working on. He will never die and I want to share everything that I can that he has to give to his fans and friends. I will try my hardest to be strong and make him proud.” -Tera Wray (Wayne's wife/widow)



So that being said, I think Wayne would want his fans to remember him by cranking some of his tunes and playing along for those who have an instrument.  Chances are I will be fiddling with my guitar this week learning some Static tracks.  Enjoy life while it lasts.  I am pretty sure Wayne did.