STATIC-X - Live in Brisbane 2023
Written by: Tom Wilson - Sense Music Media | Sunday 21st May 2023
Photos by: Dalton Collis >> VIEW GALLERY
The Machine Has Been Upgraded
In 2012, I saw LAMB OF GOD’s Randy Blythe make the coolest stage entrance I’d ever seen – sprinting onstage, putting a foot on the monitor, taking a massive drag of a Marlboro before flicking it into the crowd and screaming cigarette smoke all over his microphone to open Desolation. Strong contender for second coolest is WITCHGRINDER tonight at Eaton’s Hill, as singer-guitarist Travis Everett strides onstage while flicking the lid off his stubby with a satisfying “ping!” It might not sound that impressive written down, but it was, so shut up. Hard-hitting industrial metal that calls to mind everything from RAMMSTEIN to PANTERA, they plough through a solid set, hamming it up for the photography pit, the crowd, and each other.
Pictured: WITCHGRINDER
Up next, SOIL come out swinging with a set of booming hard rock focused on their 2001 album Scars. Frontman Ryan McCombs explains that he’s so jetlagged he barely knows where he is, but the roar of the crowd between songs is more than enough to sustain him. As he banters with the audience, the conversation shifts to an incident that keeps coming back to haunt him – drinking from an audience member’s prosthetic leg twenty years ago. The crowd chants relentlessly for him to do a shoey, and his band is loving it. A rugged and thoroughly worn-in work boot is produced from the crowd, and with a fair degree of hesitation he pours a drink into it. “I am not happy about this,” he tells us, but there’s no turning back, and he downs it like a champion, though by the look on his face throughout the next song, he’s regretting it. He unscrews the old-school condenser mic from its stand and hands it to the crowd, before climbing over the barricade and jumping into the middle of the mosh to sing Halo while completely surrounded, posing for selfies as he sings. It’s an impressive finish.
Pictured: SOIL
If there is one word you could apply to STATIC-X, it’s “resilience.” Their reformation generated the most amount of outrage commentary this side of the new PANTERA line-up, and they have certainly weathered the storm. Between having all their gear stolen in the early days of the pandemic, a drummer with significant hearing damage, and a disgraced ex-member determined to keep reminding people he still exists, the new incarnation of STATIC-X has been against it since the beginning, but it hasn’t stopped them one bit. Last on our shores in 2019 celebrating Wisconsin Death Trip, this marks the COVID-delayed 20th anniversary of its follow up, Machine … and like a deadly cyborg, the STATIC-X live experience has been upgraded. After a boisterous singalong to PANTERA’s Walk over the PA, the LED screen behind the stage flickers to life, and a booming intro video borrows heavily from the classic teaser trailer for Terminator 2, featuring the band’s mascot, and by extension, Xero, coming off the assembly line and booting up. Ken Jay, Tony Campos and Koichi Fukuda stride onstage, before Xero emerges with red LEDs for eyes – part wraith, part cyborg – and they kick into the shuddering bounce of Permanence.
Pictured: Ken Jay and Xer0 - STATIC-X
You can’t fault the energy onstage tonight, even if, all too often, Xero’s vocals are almost lost in the mix. Structural Defect is devastating, Black & White is a brutal stomp, and on Love Dump, Xero’s vocals are outstanding – the refrain brimming with emotion. Wisconsin Death Trip is a furious neck workout, and Sweat of the Bud makes it seem like the whole venue is riding a pogo stick. They dial it back a notch for Just in Case, but it’s a brief respite, because it’s soon time to Destroy All. As always, Tony Campos looks like a man with the best job in the world, twirling around the stage and singing at the top of his lungs. Get to the Gone is utterly furious, and Cannibal segues into their recent cover of NINE INCH NAILS’ Terrible Lie. They get the crowd to throw their hands in the air and slowly wave, as they dedicate Cold to Wayne, and the video screen plays footage of the man himself as the crowd chants his name. The mood shifts from beautiful memorial to batshit insanity as I’m With Stupid kicks off, and members of WITCHGRINDER appear in the pit and punt massive STATIC-X balloons over the crowd. Tony thanks us for coming out, raising a beer, before introducing the band – Ken Jay hammering out the Terminator 2 theme as they introduce Xero. “We’ve got one more song for you,” Tony screams. “Are you guys ready?” The crowd issues a deafening response, and it’s time to Push It, as a stream of sweaty punters sail over the barricade. There is no encore tonight, but after a finale that good, it doesn’t matter.
All photos by: Dalton Collis - Click below to view the FULL GALLERY
