It's very rare to hear any of the members of Static-X discussing the death of the band's founding frontman, Wayne Static. But, in a recent interview with "Rock & Roll Beer Guy" podcast, bassist Tony Compos addressed his former bandmate and friend's death. Static died in 2014, overdosing as a result of taking Xanax and other prescription drugs, and mixing them with alcohol.
During the interview, transcribed by Blabbermouth, Compos said of Static: "I don't wanna dwell on that stuff. It was just a really bad time for the band and for myself personally. Long story short, the band fell apart. Wayne got really involved with drugs and he got addicted and, unfortunately, it cost him his life.
"You can't help someone that doesn't wanna be helped. You can do whatever you think will help, but if the person doesn't want help, they're not gonna take it," he continued.
"Unfortunately, Wayne wasn't the first friend I lost because of drug addiction, so it was just like seeing it happen all over again to somebody else that I'm close with. And it sucks every time."
When asked if because of Static's death, had he become an advocate against drug use, Compos responded "No, I'm not. I've always had the position of, 'Do whatever you want, but if it starts getting in the way of what you have to do, then you need to start rethinking your priorities.' I got to a point with alcohol where it was starting to affect my performances on stage, and I had to dial it back. And now I'm just old, and I can't handle hangovers anymore, so I've gotta dial it way back now."
Compos noted how easy it is for a musician to get caught up in the drink and drug lifestyle on the road. "When you, as an audience member, go to a show, you may go to a show once, twice, three times a week, maybe, tops," he explained. "For us, as musicians, we're doing this every night, so in every town, there's somebody new going, 'Hey, man. Have a drink. Smoke this. Do a line of this.' And when you do that every day, it catches up to you, man.
"The only thing I ever did was drink and smoke weed," Campos revealed. "I stay away from cocaine, just 'cause I tried crack once when I was 13, and I didn't like it. And that was it. I'm, like, yeah, I'm not gonna do any more coke after that. I guess I got lucky that I avoided that pitfall. And I've seen lots of friends get hooked on that and ruin their lives. It's easy to get caught up in that shit," he repeated.
You can watch the whole interview below. Static-X released Project Regeneration Vol. 1 earlier this year, which featured some of Wayne Static's final vocal performances.
