The official music video for the song “My Parasite” from FACE WITHOUT FEAR, the new industrial rock band featuring ex-STATIC-X and DOPE guitarist Tripp Eisen, can be seen below. The clip was created by South Town Productions from Lubbock, Texas.
Eisen is joined in the group by Reg S. on bass, Kenny “Mantis” Hoyt (CRUSHPILE) on vocals, T.J. Cooke (METHODICAL) on drums and Dante on guitar.
The first visit that Eisen made back to California after STATIC-X frontman Wayne Static‘s passing in 2014 was an emotional time for the guitarist. The mourning process involved spending some time with long-time STATIC-X friends and associates like Tony Campos. He had also re-connected with Ken Jay and they shared in the shock and sadness of the estranged singer’s death. This trip inspired Eisen to pen two songs that he wrote as soon he returned, “Road To Hell” and “Love Kills”.
“Road To Hell” was ultimately retitled “My Destruction” and appears on the 2020 STATIC-X album “Project Regeneration Vol. 1”, but some unused parts of the song evolved into “My Parasite”, which is a highlight of the FACE WITHOUT FEAR setlist.
FACE WITHOUT FEAR had been playing an early version of “Road To Hell”, but with Eisen‘s collaborations with Campos and vocalist Xer0, the song was given up for what Eisen coined “Project-X”, or what became “Project Regeneration”. “Road To Hell” was also the opening song on STATIC-X‘s first teaser in 2018 and Tripp music introduced the world to the return of STATIC-X and the announcement of the upcoming album and tour, after the band’s nine-year hiatus.
The two sister songs “My Destruction” and “My Parasite” therefore have a unique history with both STATIC-X and FACE WITHOUT FEAR.
“My Parasite” is a collaboration between Eisen and vocalist Mantis, and features programming by veteran sound-artist Spydah, who has done several tracks for the band.
Eisen says: “The song is about the type of person that clings to another person and sucks the life, energy and finances from you. But it is also symbolic of the parasites on society that feed off of the rich, the poor or anyone that can act as a host. It’s not a deep concept, but it’s universal.”
Formed in 2017 by Eisen, FACE WITHOUT FEAR draws you in with gritty-yet-polished guitar work, electronic sampling, and metal vocals infused with surprisingly refined melodic phrasing.
In their lyrics, the concepts of individualism, liberty and freedom, as well as the universal experience with human relationships encompass their lyrics.
The band also takes inspiration from the conceptual and futuristic world of Ayn Rand, and is where the band’s name is drawn from (“Atlas Shrugged: Part II”, Chapter 9: “A face that bore no mark of pain or fear… It was a face that had nothing to hide or to escape, a face with no fear…”)
After a slight hiatus due to the pandemic, FACE WITHOUT FEAR is planning several upcoming live shows which will feature an album’s worth of original material, plus a few treats for fans of Tripp‘s previous projects as well as a few dynamic updated covers by such artists at THE BEATLES, RAMONES and MISFITS.
Eisen has not given up on an eventual reconciliation with STATIC-X even after some adversarial jabs in 2020 with his old band and executive producer Edsel Dope — who is rumored to be Xer0 — regarding the details of his involvement with the entire STATIC-X reunion. Eisen will launch a podcast in the coming weeks to chronicle his experiences in STATIC-X and his other bands.
Tripp joined STATIC-X in 1999 and recorded three albums with the platinum-selling band.
A decade and a half ago, Eisen — whose real name is Tod Rex Salvador — served time for meeting and sexually assaulting two underage females in January and February 2005.
Five years ago, Eisen told “Totally Driven Radio” that his arrest and prison sentence was “a difficult time of my life” and insisted that he has “learned from it” and “grown. What happened to me was really bad judgment, terrible mistakes that I made, and I paid a price for ’em,” he said.
