I realized that this band was bleeding me financially and that I had new priorities on which to focus my money, and that attempting to advertise, book shows, do interviews, get reviews, rehearse and get Static Engine discovered by new fans was so much effort that it detracted from the enjoyment of writing and performing music.
By scaling it back to just a hobby, I could enjoy music again. This allows me to write songs at my own pace, and not have to worry about meeting the expectations of a market or scene in order to sell a thousand CDs that have cost me several dollars to manufacture. I also don't have to rent rehearsal space, or schedule time to prepare for live shows. It's a very liberating feeling to be totally free from expectations and financial constraints.
Can I still buy your music?
Why don't you just give away your old CDs for free?
Will there ever be any new songs?
Will you ever play live again?
How did the band start?
Who was in the band?
What other bands did you work with?
How did you get the name Static Engine anyway?
What do the lyrics to Song-X mean?
What are the other band members doing now?
Yes, both our CDs Submolecular and Isotope are still for sale through
CDBaby.com. Metropolis Records
distribution may still have some available in their warehouses. We used to have an
online store directly on this website, but it was cost prohibitive. CDBaby has excellent
customer service, however, and I trust them to handle all our sales.
As is noted above, all my CDs were manufactured at my own out of pocket expense. No label
or company ever footed the bills for any of my CDs or merchandise. I think everything is
reasonably priced, and I like to keep CDs at around a dollar per song. Besides, since no more
will ever be produced, they're collectors items at this point. Why not buy one?
Absolutely. I've given up running the band as a profession, but I haven't given up music. New
songs will be released on this website as high qualilty MP3 files, on a schedule that I have
yet to determine. They'll be freely downloadable, but I'll probably have some system to "tip"
the band if you like what you hear. Do I expect this to make any money? I don't know, but I'll
probably never stop writing music, and I hope that people will enjoy listening to what I create.
Probably not. I've always had high standards for what it takes to perform live, and that means
rehearsals, lights, a venue that is professional and solid, and lots of time to hone a show to a certain level of professionalism. Nicole,
Darren, and Jason are all busy with their own projects now, and I don't think I could achieve the
kind of show that would be fitting for Static Engine at this point.
In 1994, I was attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and had gotten heavily into the
popular industrial acts of the time, mainly Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Chemlab,
and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. With my digital media background and a MIDI keyboard,
it seemed only natural to give the music thing a shot. We recorded some demo tapes, and performed
in a fraternity basement and at a bar, which was pretty much the beginning of it all.
Initially, it was just myself (Paul Furio) on vocals, my friend Sean Lensborn as the first drummer,
and two girls, Maeve Taylor and Angela Graveline doing vocals on the song Hope, Faith,
Redemption. When I moved to Boston, I enlisted Chris Rae and Izzy Lee to do guitar and
vocals respectively for some recording sessions. Later, once I moved to Seattle, Nicole
Edmonds (of SD6) and Darren Miller (of Noxious Emotion and BATTL) joined Static Engine as
the new keyboardist and drummer. When Darren left because health problems prevented him from
playing the drums, Jason Bazinet (of SMP) filled in on percussion.
While in Boston, I got to hang out with Da5id Din of Informatik, Tyler of Battery Cage, and Adam Jensen
of Grenadier, who wound up doing the remix of Encrypt/Decrypt that is featured as a bonus track
on the Submolecular album. After moving to Seattle, I had the honor of joining SMP as
their live keyboardist and studio tech for two years, during which we went on two tours in various
areas of the USA. I've also done remix work with Diverje, Stromkern, backandtotheleft, Null Character,
Zero Crossing, and Assemblage 23, many of whom are among the people I now consider good friends. For live
shows, I've played with SD6, More Machine Than Man, Icon of Coil, Faith Assembly, Pigface, gODHEAD,
Gravity Kills, Stromkern, and the Genitourturers.
Honestly, I had a list of a few words that I thought sounded edgy, machine-like, cyberpunk, and industrial,
so I punched them into some thesaurus software, and mixed up the words that came out. Static Engine was the
best one of the bunch. Pretty cheezy, I know.
I generally don't like to go into detail about any given song. When you listen to a song, you
develop your own thoughts about what that song means to you, and I'd rather not take that away
my nailing down what may have inspired me to write any particular set of lyrics. Plus, what a
song is about might change with time, even for me.
Nicole Edmonds is playing keyboards and writing music for the band SD6. Darren Miller is the
lead vocalist and a songwriter for the band backandtotheleft. Jason Bazinet is still rockin' out
the cyber-punk rap world with his band, SMP.