Matt Zane has responded to the recent joint statement issued by the families of late Static-X frontman Wayne Static and his wife Tera Wray regarding a new documentary being headed up by Zane on the deceased couple. The Society 1 vocalist revealed his plans for that unauthorized documentary several weeks ago, aiming to tell the story of the last seven years of the couple’s life.
He claimed that Static & Wray had personally asked him to oversee the project prior to their respective deaths (Wayne died in 2014 following a fatal dose of prescription medication and alcohol, Wray took her own live in 2016.)
Zane also stated that he was in possession of music he had been working on with Wayne for a film that Wray was scheduled to star in, until Wayne‘s label put an end to the project. Zane initially indicated he planned to complete those songs with the use of AI technology.
Speaking earlier this week, the families of Wayne and Wray in no uncertain terms strongly opposed the plans for the documentary and music, claiming that they would be pursuing appropriate legal means should the project progress.
Undeterred, yesterday, December 11th, saw Zane launch a crowdfunding campaign for the film, while also explaining why he chose to continue with the project. That leads us to today, where Zane has now given his response to the joint statement issued by the two families:
“I understand the family’s concerns, especially Wayne’s sister Aimee who is a wonderful person, but my obligation isn’t to the families — it’s to Wayne and Tera. They asked me to do this, and I know they would want the focus to be on the two of them.”
Regarding the families request that any rare or unseen footage of Wayne be turned over for potential usage in the upcoming official ‘Evil Disco” documentary, Zane replied:
“I think the family is a bit confused about the creation of the official documentary ‘Evil Disco‘. I was hired and edited about 85% of that and in good faith allowed my footage to be used within the edit. I never signed over the footage legally for use but was willing to do so if the agreed-upon terms were met. I also allowed my personal footage of Wayne to be used in multiple music videos such as ‘Stay Alive‘ and ‘All These Years‘ even though the band hasn’t officially licensed it from me.”
He went on to add:
“I personally think both movies can exist. I watched a working cut of Evil Disco with Wayne’s sister Aimee and it’s really cool, but it’s more about the band — past and present. My movie is about Wayne and Tera.”
When it comes to the unreleased music he worked on with Wayne, Zane included a brief tease of the track “I Watch” in the below crowdfunding campaign video. He went on to reveal that he may alter those songs in a bid to get them into the film:
“As far as the unreleased music, unfortunately I’m unable to use any of that without the family’s consent. What I may do is create tracks based off of the music Wayne and I worked on and bring in other singers, similar to what Jonathan Davis did for ‘Queen Of The Damned‘.”
“But I can tell you this: there are six tracks Wayne wrote and recorded that I did not have any part in that are truly his final solo works. Yes, his vocals are on them and they were done in 2013.”
As of press time, the the project appears to be off to a rocky start, raising some $200 from 2 backers since launching yesterday.