Meet STATiC | Guitarist/Multi-Instrumentalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with STATiC and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi STATiC, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was a kid, I felt like a 4,000 year old alien in my human body. I had no ability to relate to other kids, and I preferred to talk to adults. I thought about things differently, but the one thing that did click was music.

I picked up a guitar at 14 years old, and it completely made sense. It became a voice for me, and I was able to express myself in a way I couldn’t express myself before.

Music, playing an instrument and expressing myself with the simplicity of sound really spoke to me; it was one of the few things that made sense to me, and even as I got older, it’s all that inspired and spoke to me and what I wanted to do.

I found that I expressed myself in a way that was so natural and got the response from my peers and people around me that this was who I was.

I can think back to when I was in high school, and people seemed to always view me as the “musician kid” or the “guitar kid”. While that alone isn’t a reason to follow a career like that, it kind of spoke volumes about how I live and what really meant something to me.

From there, it required a lot of practice, focus, dedication, sacrifice, and work to actually turn it into a career and be the kind of musician who could do it consistently, day to day.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a multi-instrumentalist because to me, music’s inside of me.

Even in my approach to music, if I’m playing in a traditional band format or pop or rock song, I view everything the way that a score writer would see a film or a movie.

I try to figure out what the sonic glue or wrapping is that can be put over a whole piece of music, and I do this by really trying to be immersed in the experience. It’s almost through empathy that I know how to accompany a songwriter’s song without even reading the lyrics.

I try to tack onto the feeling that they’re presenting or read the room on what feeling needs to be given to the room through sonic vibration.

I don’t believe anything “worth it” is technically easy, because there’s always some work. Things might be simple, but they’re not easy. For me, it was always believing that what I was doing was a direction that I wanted to be a part of, sticking to my style and how I approach music, and finding like-minded people with good principles and morals who wanted to do this for the art’s sake.

It was never about the business. It was never about the visual celebrity-like success. If I’m playing a part of something creative or musical every day, no matter if it’s one person or 25,000, I am fulfilling what I believe I was supposed to be as a musician.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Because I live in a place that has incredible barbecue — almost every day there’ll be something to do with barbecue! We would start with Bucky’s, because it’s where my friend took me when it first moved down here.

There’s also nothing really like downtown Greenville with all the trees, how clean it is, and the way it’s laid out. Anything you could possibly want to do, you could do in downtown Greenville!

I’d also bring them to the mountains and show them key points like Caesar Head. We’d see a lake, but not move too fast because it’s such a beautiful place. And then we could go out a little later to see some live music!

We would also go to the farm areas to pick our own fruit or lavender — there’s truly so much to see in a very small hour-and-a-half radius!

Most importantly, I’d want my friends to meet the people that we’ve met down here. They’re some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and there’s such a feeling of community and camaraderie.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My cousin, Steven from Long Island.

He’s about 15 years older than me, was a musician, and even when I was younger, before I played music, I always thought he was super cool. When I showed an interest in music, he came up to me at my 8th grade graduation (I’d been playing guitar for about seven months at the time) and he gave me a record by U2 called “War” and Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell”. He said, “these 2 guitar players right here, focusing on these musicians is how you’ll become part of a band and be able to be a musician for your life and career.”

From there, he continued to support me when I was in my younger bands and helped me navigate New York City’s music scene.

Website: staticisnoise.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staticisnoise/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmZCBoLlSSJpOatPOQFqHxA

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3aXtHmSuyYYvemt4p9iXlA?si=VaF3CvK-QKevg4SHAEHOkw

Image Credits
Jacklyn D Photography