Since its inception in 1998, the Family Values Tour has become one of the most successful ensemble rock shows, taking over the crown once worn by Lollapalooza and Ozzfest. With a track record for pairing unknown bands and artists with more successful groups, the Family Values Tour tries to expose audiences to new bands in the growing nu-metal genre while stabilizing the bill with proven rock veterans. This year, Static-X is one of the featured rookies of the tour.
Combining hard rock with digital sampling and synthesizing, Los Angeles based Statix-X features Tony Campos on bass and vocals, Tripp Eisen on guitars, Ken Jay on drums, and Wayne Static on vocals, guitars and programming.
“We had done Ozzfest before, so we knew what it would be like to be in multi-band lineup,” said Wayne Static. “But we gain better exposure playing with all these bands.
In the past, the Family Values Tour has been a steppingstone to success for many bands such as Staind, Linkin Park, and System of a Down. After a supporting role in the 1999 tour, Staind is now one of the featured headliners of this year’s tour.
“The Family Values Tour has a track record for breaking bands,” Static said. “We wanted to tour in support of our album Machine, and we were offered the Slipknot tour, but we felt we could reach the most new people on this tour.”
Speaking from Indianapolis before Tuesday’s show, Static said the tour started well.
The tour started better than expected, said Static, but the weakest show so far was when the band opened last week in Cleveland.
Static-X is playing the second of five slots in a tour that features Stone Temple Pilots, Staind, Linkin Park and Deadsy.
“We are playing a 30-minute set, and will play after Deadsy and before Linkin Park,” Static said.
Static said he and the band enjoy ensemble tours and the opportunity to hang out with other bands and musicians.
To show how close these groups get while on tour, Richard Patrick of Filter joined STP on stage in Chicago to sing “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” and Static joined Staind to help out with the end of Crawl.
“Aaron has a beautiful voice, and I can’t really sing. What I do is scream into the mic, so I join Staind on stage for Crawl and do my thing on that song,” Static said.
Static said no one has joined Static-X on stage yet, but the band is open to offers.
“After the tour, we’ll probably continue touring for another 8 months or so,” he said. “We haven’t wrote much new material and we want to keep playing live. The essence to our band is in the live show.”
The Family Values Tour stops in Columbus on Friday, October 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for $42.50.
