Xer0 is widely believed to be Dope vocalist Edsel Dope, who has spoken at length about his position in the band. STATIC-X — featuring the lineup of Campos, drummer Ken Jay, guitarist Koichi Fukuda and Xer0 — will hit the road in 2023, headlining the « Rise Of The Machine » tour with FEAR FACTORY alongside DOPE, MUSHROOMHEAD and TWIZTID. The 42-date trek kicks off February 25 in San Francisco, California and wraps up April 15, in Los Angeles, California. Dates have been selling out across the country, with select markets upgrading to larger venues to meet the demand for the tour. STATIC-X also recently revealed plans for a tour of Australia and an appearance at the Blue Ridge Rock Fest this year. In advance of their headlining Rise of the Machines tour with special guests Dope, Fear Factory and more, Static-X have just unveiled an all-new mask and outfit for the anonymous frontman known only by the pseudonym Xer0.

Edsel Dope breaks silence on speculation he is Static-X’s new vocalist

Last week, Static-X fans thought they had identified the reformed band’s mysterious vocalist Xer0 as Edsel Dope – but the frontman of Dope has since quashed those claims, comparing the speculation to “an episode of Scooby-Doo”. « When it came time to put it on stage and take it on tour, it was, ‘There should never be another singer of Static-X that’s a person. » It quickly developed into something even bigger as Drama Club toured with Black Veil Brides, Falling in Reverse and Set It Off in 2014, followed by a Warped Tour run the next year. The timing was quite ideal too as metalcore and other heavy music styles began incorporating more synth/dance/electronics elements in their writing, bridging the gap between what was once perceived as two radically different fanbases.

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« The motive behind it is that I, Edsel Dope, have zero interest in being the frontman, face or [being] known as the singer of STATIC-X, » he said. « I feel like as long as we never put another face to STATIC-X, Wayne will always be the face of STATIC-X. It’s appropriate. That was the number one most important thing. I’ll help my friends. This all started in 2014. In 2014, I moved to L.A. I was working on the DRAMA CLUB project and I really, really wanted to produce another band and make a great record without me being in the band. I just wanted to move the controls, do what I do and help another band sound great. I had done it with a couple of other bands that I produced, but I wanted to do it with a band of note. Static-X vocalist Wayne Static passed away in November 2014, which of course made everyone think the band was over. Static-X’s founding members then resurrected the band in 2018 with live vocalist Xer0 (widely believed to be Dope vocalist Edsel Dope– who is also the band’s day to day manager and Executive Producer to their music) to play shows, and would eventually release Project Regeneration Vol. Yang, alongside creative director Edsel Dope (who just dropped a new Dope album, Blood Money Part Zer0, today – Feb. 24) and Ed McDonough of ECCO Studios, have provided Xer0, the figurehead paying tribute to the late Wayne Static onstage with StaticX, with a well-timed update.

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« I think if myself and Dave Mustaine could have co-existed for four years, it would have been a very different band. » Dope continued, saying that if Static-X had hired just a regular old non-costume-wearing vocalist, there would’ve been a shitstorm. And he’s probably right – Wayne Static was the face of Static-X, and trying to put someone new in his place would’ve been a bad call.

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DOPE leader Edsel Dope has shared his thoughts on « Xer0 », the masked frontman of STATIC-X who is widely believed to be him. In a recent interview with BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Edsel talked about the unique position of fronting STATIC-X in place of deceased vocalist/guitarist Wayne Static while trying to remain faceless. In an interview with the Battleline Podcast, Dope explained in detail why he feels the band isn’t a cash grab and why he thinks that Static would be proud. On the topic of the former, Dope said it’s essentially way too expensive to put on a Static-X show for it to be a « cash grab; » and on the latter says he feels Static would approve of his legacy being upheld. See the music video for that cover here and look for the album to be released on Nov. 3 later this year. Dope is currently touring Europe with Static-X, and will support the nu metal band on the second leg of their North American tour, which kicks off in Austin, Texas November 8.

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The first jaunt kicks off on Feb. 1 and you can see all the upcoming tour dates at the Static-X website. After a big year in 2022, which included a summer tour supporting Rob Zombie and Mudvayne and openers Powerman 5000, Static-X are hitting the road again hard with North American dates from Feb. 25 through April 15 on the books. STATIC-X — featuring the lineup of Campos, Fukuda, Jay and Xer0 — will hit the road in 2023, headlining the « Rise Of The Machine » tour with FEAR FACTORY alongside DOPE, MUSHROOMHEAD and TWIZTID. Just yesterday (Oct. 7) Static-X revealed a U.S. tour with DevilDriver, Dope, Wednesday 13 and Raven Black.

• « I didn’t want anybody to know who the fuck I was. I just wanted to put on a mask and disappear and go do something creative and fun, » Edsel said on the Ryan Seaman and Friends podcast.
• The first of two volumes, « Project Regeneration Vol. 1 » featured 12 brand new tracks, containing many of the final vocal performances and musical compositions of Static, along with Campos, Jay and Fukuda.
• To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action.
• « There’s one living, breathing singer of STATIC-X, and that’s Wayne Static. And then there’s a character, an entity, for lack of better words, that was created in order to allow STATIC-X to have a future and to continue and be the legacy act that they are and tour and perform, and we gave that character a name that is respective to STATIC-X and fits the branding of what STATIC-X is, and that’s what the importance is. It’s the importance of recognizing the character as opposed to recognizing the person behind the character. »
• STATIC-X also recently revealed plans for a tour of Australia and an appearance at the Blue Ridge Rock Fest this year.
• Edsel then discussed the role he’s taken on to ensure Wayne Static’s legacy is handled properly, including the 2020 « Project Regeneration » album that consisted of Wayne’s last recordings.

« While remembering Static-X, of course, because no one person was bigger than Static-X; it was an amazing recipe that four guys made, but we all recognize that Wayne was the engine of it. But if he was looking down at that, dude, you couldn’t do anything except for be absolutely blown away and honored by the amount of love and admiration and the amount of work that myself and the band and his family put into orchestrating all that. In his statement, Dope also expressed his gratitude at the chance to tour alongside the nu metal band in honour of Wayne Static and Static-X’s album ‘Wisconsin Death Trip’, which marks its 20th anniversary this year. « When I got to L.A., the first thing I did was a short West Coast tour with Dope and Wayne Static. I purposely did this because I wanted to reconnect with Wayne and start the conversation with him about — I’m a businessman and energy guy. It made no sense to me that Wayne Static was on tour celebrating the anniversary of Wisconsin Death Trip, playing the album in its entirety as Wayne Static to small crowds. Sadly, even though it’s Wayne Static playing Static-X songs, it’s not the same as Static-X. The amount of people showing up to see Wayne Static was infantile to what would have been if it was Static-X. In an interview with Blabbermouth, Dope discussed his choice to go by the name Xer0 and to wear a mask on stage. He also touched on his relationship with the late Static-X frontman Wayne Static and touring with Static when he was going solo in the mid-2010s. « Really and truthfully, it’s not so much about it being private as it is about respecting the brand of Static-X and retaining the respect when writing or discussing it. And a good example I can use for that is Ghost. Everybody knows that there’s a dude called Tobias that’s behind the paint, but when people write about Ghost, they don’t call him Tobias; they respect the entity and they call him Papa whatever the fuck he is. And that’s because they respect the creative, they respect the artistic integrity of it enough to honor that. »

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Thanks to a sneaky photographer, the identity of Static-X singer Xer0 has been revealed as Edsel Dope. The group issued five more studio albums before disbanding permanently in June 2013. « You have to understand that if we didn’t make that an absolute mission of ours that people would shit all over it and they would have done everything they could to discredit it. And if it were Edsel Dope singing for Static-X, it would be, ‘Oh, it’s Static Dope.’ Or if it was Burton from Fear Factory, it would be, like, ‘Oh, Static Factory.’ It’s, like, ‘Go fuck yourself.’ You can’t give people the ability to control your narratives or else they’re gonna control it in the worst fucking way possible, because, for whatever reason, that’s the culture that we currently exist in.

Compared with an old photo of Edsel Dope, the tattoo seems to be an exact match. A super close up shows a similar gap in the tattoo, looking almost like an cartoonish orbital socket. Since his debut in Static-X, Xer0 has covered his neck to conceal any identifying features. However, during an Oct. 7 concert in Hamberg, Germany, Xer0’s neckerchief slipped down, revealing a tattoo on the right side of his neck. Catch dope on the 2023 Rise of the Machines tour with headliners Static-X as well as special guests Fear Factory, Mushroomhead and Twiztid at these stops. In the fall of 2019, Edsel addressed the rumors that he is Xer0 in Static-X and dismissed it all as « clickbait and hilarious » in a lengthy statement.

He’s avoided confirming this over the years and, during a recent interview as well as a promotional video, he admitted he had been touring anonymously as Zer0 in the electronica duo Drama Club. Edsel then discussed the role he’s taken on to ensure Wayne Static’s legacy is handled properly, including the 2020 « Project Regeneration » album that consisted of Wayne’s last recordings. « For me, when coming onboard to help complete the last bit of music that Wayne left behind, which ended up accidentally stumbling into what became a treasure trove of content, which I’m so excited edsel dope xero and so blessed to have been the guy who got to uncover it, » he said. « In many ways, I’m not a big afterlife person, but in this very room, I have felt him tapping me on the shoulder going, ‘Don’t fuck this up, man.’ I have a really great relationship with his family. If there was any pressure, it was self-induced because I try to imagine what it would be like if someone were doing this for me and how much I would want them to care and how much I would want them to make sure it was done right. That was the number one focus. That was where all the energy went.