Static-X: “To see something we did 25 years ago connecting with a whole new generation is pretty humbling.”

When Static-X released Wisconsin Death Trip in 1999, they quickly became a defining force in late-’90s industrial metal. For bassist Tony Campos, those early years were a blur of experimentation and unexpected opportunity. Before labels and gold records entered the picture, Campos met Ken Jay while working phones at Ticketmaster, eventually joining a band still shaping its identity as their sound shifted from punk and grunge roots into something heavier and distinctly their own.

The recording of Wisconsin Death Trip carried that same DIY spirit from homemade drum triggers, to late-night sessions after day jobs, and a commitment to carving out a sound separate from nu-metal trends. Following the release of the album the band went on a relentless touring schedule, touring with Fear Factory and System Of A Down, while crossover success took them into films and video games, and a rapidly growing fanbase. Twenty-five years later, the record remains a cornerstone of the era, and the new boxset arrives as a celebration of its lasting impact.

In our latest Cover Story, V13 sat down with the bassist to revisit the making of Wisconsin Death Trip, the chaos of Static-X’s breakthrough, and the legacy the album continues to carry. From early demos to long-lost photos, he reflects on how the record shaped the band’s trajectory and why its influence still feels just as powerful today.

With the box set for Wisconsin Death Trip due imminently, I‘d like to go back to the album and your memories of that period. When you joined the band, Wayne and Ken had already met. What was the story of your coming into the fold?

“I had met Ken working at Ticketmaster. We would answer phones for people who wanted to buy concert tickets. He sat in a cubicle next to me, and we started talking. I had long hair. He had long hair too. That kind of deal. He asked me if I would play bass for his band, and I turned him down initially because I was already in a death metal band at the time.

After sitting around for a week thinking about it and realising that my band wasn’t doing shit, we had nowhere to rehearse. We had no gigs lined up, so I decided to go jam with these guys. I asked Ken if they were still looking for a bass player, and they were, so he gave me the demo to check out. I learn all the songs on this demo, except for one. The last one I thought was a shitty song, so I didn’t learn it. Saying it out loud now… what an arrogant asshole.

I knock on the door to the rehearsal space, and this guy who looks like Ian Astbury opens the door, and it’s Wayne. He’s got straight, black, long hair, a flowery shirt. This isn’t what I was expecting, so I went in there and jammed with ’em. When it came time to play the last song on the demo, I told them that I didn’t learn it because that song sucks. It turns out it was an Aerosmith cover, so that’s probably why I didn’t like it then. I couldn’t tell you the name of the song, but, apparently, it was an Aerosmith cover.”

When you met Wayne and Ken, what was the vision for the band?

“At the time, it was this slower, heavy, but still a little thrashy, but that direction didn’t last for very long. What I liked about it was that it wasn’t death metal or thrash, and that’s the stuff I’d been doing for years, since I was a kid, since I first started playing bass, so it was different. So, I kept jamming with those guys, and we kept trying different things. We went through different phases. We went more grunge at one point. One point we went more hardcore punk. We were doing Black Flag and Circle Jerks covers at one point.

We kept trying different things, and I really loved that spirit of experimentation that I hadn’t experienced with anybody else, so it was really cool. It was different and, in some spots, I could actually play bass instead of just doubling the guitar line. They gave me the room to experiment and, although I don’t remember the day exactly, there was a second microphone set up and I just started doing vocals, and Wayne kind of looked at me, and that’s how I started doing backing vocals and doing the death metal thing in some of the songs.”

From there, you signed to Warners quite early on. How did they get involved? What was your experience of signing to a major label so early on, and what were your memories of that?

“I don’t know how early on it was. We were slugging it out for a good four years before we got the attention. I remember that it was our management team who started shopping us around. Andy had an imprint deal with Warner Bros., where he was gonna do like his own label imprint, and we were the first band he took to the label. I remember calling my friend and telling him we got signed. He thought we had got an indie deal, and I told him it was Warner Bros. I remember we were making plans to tour, and Wayne wanted to buy a pickup truck and then pull a trailer. It’d have the double cab, and we’d sleep in the cab, and in the bed of the truck, and then we’d pull our gear. That was the height of our touring aspirations. Anything that happened after that was just like fucking holy shit.

I don’t know that I learned anything because the whole time I was just thinking holy shit, is this happening? It was literally a dream I kept waiting to wake up from and go back to work now. It was just such a magical time for us, those first two years of touring. The first time we ever got on a bus as opposed to on an RV. We finally made it. We’re rock stars now. At the end of that tour, our bus got repossessed, so we were back in a van.“

“We kept trying different things, and I really loved that spirit of experimentation that I hadn’t experienced with anybody else, so it was really cool…”

What was your memory of recording the album?

“I think we did what we wanted to do on that record. We did it a little unconventionally. We tracked the drums inside the rehearsal space on Chi’s little iMac computer, those little grey ones with the built-in screen with the little floppy drive underneath it. Koichi built a hand-built drum trigger out of plywood, and he soldered on the triggers. You’d walk into the rehearsal space, and you’d hear and see Kenny slamming on slabs of wood, recording fucking drums. We triggered all the drums on wooden homemade triggers, then, after that, we went into the studio and recorded all the cymbals live. That was a little unconventional, but it was a cool experience.

I kept working. I kept my day job, which was a night job, which was conveniently across the street from the studio we were recording at. I’d get done at the studio, and then at night I’d go work. I’d be there until three, four in the morning. I kept my job until a week before we went out because then we got our first advance check, which I spent paying off all my student loans, so I was outta debt. I was broke, though, so I had to keep working. I wasn’t complaining too much. We were about to go on tour, so it was alright.”

What do you remember about that first tour after the record came out?

“It was awesome. We went out with Fear Factory. It was us, (HED)P.E., System of a Down and Fear Factory headlining. Such an awesome lineup. All friends. Dino took me under his wing and showed me the ways of the road. He’s been a great friend and a great mentor to me throughout the years. It all started on that tour back in ‘99.”

V13 Cover Story – Issue 114 – Static-X

I dare to ask if there are any memorable stories from that tour…

“What’s the saying? Not safe for work. What stays on the bus? Lots of not safe for work stories. I was a late bloomer when it came to the ladies, but once we went out on tour, I made up for lost time, let’s put it that way.“

Wisconsin Death Trip became an iconic album coming out of that nu-metal explosion. Did it surprise you the amount of interest it got, or were you aware of that at the time?