STATIC-X Announces 'Rise Of The Machine' North American Tour With FEAR FACTORY, DOPE And MUSHROOMHEAD

STATIC-X will bring more of its self-proclaimed "Evil Disco" to the masses with its "Rise Of The Machine" North American tour 2022. The 37-date run, produced by Live Nation, kicks off on February 21 in Portland, Oregon and runs over five weeks, wrapping up on April 3 in San Francisco, California. General tickets go on sale starting Friday, September 17 at 10 a.m. local time.

The tour will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band's RIAA-gold-certified sophomore album "Machine" which is being re-released next year and will serve as a continuation of their memorial tribute to honor their late singer Wayne Static. Joining STATIC-X on the bill will be fellow industrial metal pioneers FEAR FACTORY and DOPE, along with special guests MUSHROOMHEAD and TWIZTID (appearing on select dates). The "Rise Of The Machine" tour will also celebrate career anniversaries for both FEAR FACTORY and DOPE, with FEAR FACTORY celebrating their 30th anniversary as a band and DOPE celebrating the 20th anniversary of their cult metal anthem "Die MF Die".

"Rise Of The Machine" will mark FEAR FACTORY's first tour since the departure of original singer Burton C. Bell in late 2019. The identity of the group's new vocalist has not yet been revealed, but FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares said in a recent interview that he was "somebody who is kind of known."

STATIC-X said in a statement: "We are so excited to finally get back out on the road. We plan to play most of the songs off of both 'Machine' and 'Wisconsin Death Trip', as well a number of nice surprises that are being incorporated into the set list. It is going to be awesome to have FEAR FACTORY, DOPE and MUSHROOMHEAD back out on the road with us to share in all of this nostalgic insanity. All in all, this package is going to be one for the ages and we can’t wait to get out there and celebrate 20 years of our 'Machine' record, while we continue to remember all of the good times that we had with Wayne and to share it live and loud with all of our fans night after night."

DOPE frontman Edsel Dope said: "We are honored to be part of this tour. STATIC-X, FEAR FACTORY and DOPE toured together back in 1999. It was the first time that we all met, and it laid the foundation for all of the tours that DOPE and STATIC have done together. I can't wait to get back out there and get crazy with all the fans."

Cazares said: "I'm beyond excited to finally turn the FEAR FACTORY machine back on and start crushing stages alongside our longtime friends in STATIC-X."

The 20th-anniversary release of "Machine" — scheduled for February 18, 2022 — features newly remastered audio by Ulrich Wild and features all 12 tracks from the original release, as well as three new bonus tracks: "Wisconsin Death Trip (Live 2019 Regeneration featuring Wayne Static)", "Sweat Of The Bud (Live 2019 Xer0)" and "I'm With Stupid (Live 2019 Regeneration Featuring Wayne Static)". Originally released in 2001, "Machine" would ultimately turn out to be the last album recorded by the four original members of STATIC-X. All of the lead vocals and guitars on "Machine" were performed by Wayne Static, while bass, backing vocals, drums, and programming contributions came from founding members Tony Campos, Ken Jay and Koichi Fukuda. The limited-edition release will have packaging featuring fully reimagined artwork and will be available in multiple configurations, including multiple color vinyl sequenced on two discs, with an etching of the STATIC-X Shock symbol on side D.

Tour dates:

Feb. 21 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
Feb. 22 - Seattle, WA - Showbox^
Feb. 23 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theater^
Feb. 24 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory^
Feb. 25 - Boise, ID - Revolution Concert Hall
Feb. 26 - Reno, NV - Virginia Street Brewhouse^
Feb. 27 - Sacramento, CA - Ace Of Spades
Mar. 01 - Phoenix, AZ - Van Buren*
Mar. 02 - Albuquerque, NM - El Rey Theater*^
Mar. 03 - Oklahoma City, OK - Whiskey Nights*^
Mar. 04 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues*
Mar. 05 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec Theater*
Mar. 06 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues*
Mar. 08 - Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theater*
Mar. 09 - Orlando, FL - Plaza Live*^
Mar. 10 - Charlotte, NC - Underground*
Mar. 11 - Baltimore, MD - Soundstage*
Mar. 12 - Boston, MA - Big Night Live*
Mar. 13 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza*
Mar. 15 - Montreal, QC - Corona*^
Mar. 16 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix*^
Mar. 17 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall*
Mar. 18 - Ft. Wayne, IN - The Clyde*
Mar. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave*^
Mar. 20 - Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection*
Mar. 22 - Cleveland, OH - House Of Blues #
Mar. 23 - Philadelphia, PA - T.L.A.#
Mar. 24 - Pittsburgh, PA - Roxian#
Mar. 25 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts#
Mar. 26 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues#
Mar. 27 - Minneapolis, MN - The Fillmore#
Mar. 28 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theater#
Mar. 29 - Denver, CO - The Summit#
Mar. 31 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues#
Apr. 01 - San Diego, CA - House Of Blues#
Apr. 02 - Los Angeles, CA - Belasco Theater#
Apr. 03 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore#

* Featuring special guest MUSHROOMHEAD
# Featuring special guest TWIZTID
^ Not a Live Nation date

Campos recently confirmed STATIC-X's plan to release the second volume of "Project Regeneration", containing many of the final vocal performances and musical compositions of late STATIC-X frontman Wayne Static, along with the original "Wisconsin Death Trip" lineup of Campos, drummer Ken Jay, and guitarist Koichi Fukuda. Both volumes are being worked on by longtime STATIC-X producer Ulrich Wild.

Asked in a new interview with Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks if there are any STATIC-X gigs coming up in the near future, Campos said: "We just announced some stuff for Europe next year. We'll be announcing some more stuff in the coming weeks. And hopefully we can get back on track and finally get volume two out — volume two of 'Project Regeneration'… It's songs built from the remaining demos that we recovered. The goal is to, and the real trick is gonna be to keep it sounding, production-wise, consistent with volume one, so it sounds like one cohesive piece of work instead of two separate albums."

According to Campos, "Project Regeneration Vol. 2", like the first volume, will consist mostly of material created around isolated vocal performances by Wayne Static. "Just one [song on the first volume] was something completely new, that wasn't based on anything," he explained. "It was just, like, 'Ah, just throw that in.' But volume two will have one or two new things, just to fill in the space on the record."

Asked if STATIC-X will carry on as a band even after it completes the touring cycle in support of "Project Regeneration Vol. 2", Tony said: "At this point, it seems like it's something the fans want, and I'm certainly not opposed to it. I still wanna go do other things. Next year, I'll be doing stuff with STATIC and FEAR FACTORY. And this year I'm doing stuff with HAIL THE HORNS. And I just got approached… At the beginning of this week, I got approached by [D.R.I.'s] Spike Cassidy. Apparently, D.R.I. has a tour coming up in a couple of weeks, and their bass player can't make it, so they asked me to fill in. So I'm gonna be playing with D.R.I. It's gonna be September 7th through September 19th out on the East Coast."

In 2019, STATIC-X wrapped up a world tour comprised of nearly 100 mostly sold-out dates in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its platinum-selling debut album "Wisconsin Death Trip". The shows also served as a traveling memorial for Wayne, who passed away nearly seven years ago.

While the identity of STATIC-X's touring singer Xer0 has not been officially revealed, strong rumors suggest that DOPE frontman Edsel Dope is the one performing with Jay, Fukuda and Campos and appearing in all of STATIC-X's promotional videos.

Static died after mixing Xanax and other powerful prescription drugs with alcohol, according to the coroner's report. The 48-year-old Static, whose real name was Wayne Richard Wells, was found dead in his Landers, California home on November 1, 2014.

Static founded STATIC-X in 1994 and achieved commercial success with "Wisconsin Death Trip", which included the rock radio hit "Push It".

The group issued five more studio albums before disbanding permanently in June 2013. Static had been pursuing a solo career at the time of his death.

Photo credit: Matt Zane