DEAD SET ON LIVING
“WHEN I HEARD WAYNE HAD DIED, I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE”
TONY CAMPOS
People who knew Wayne Wells say there was a switch that flipped in his head when he stepped onstage. Away from the spotlight, the Michigan-born, Los Angeles-based singer/guitarist was a man of few words, unless you knew him well. Not so much shy as reserved, taciturn. But once he stepped out there it was game on. His long black hair would be spiked upwards in one electric-shock mass. His voice became a guttural industrial growl. The man who was content to sit quietly and keep his own counsel in private would suddenly become a fulcrum of energy in public. That’s when Wayne Wells became Wayne Static.
“He was quiet as a mouse offstage, then he’d get up there and do the big rock voice, then get offstage and not say
