Richmond - Jason John Buckland, aka Scorpio Static, is a one-man techno band currently hailing from Richmond.  However, his cultural roots extend far beyond our fair city.  Jason was born in Hong Kong and is a dual citizen of the United States and Great Britain, not to mention being a world traveler who never ceases to explore new realms of music.  His more obvious DJ influences include Paul Oakenfold, BT, Ferry Corten, and Moby, but he also makes reference to David Gilmour, Angus Young, and even Kurt Cobain.  

Having grown up in Florida’s rave scene in the 90s, Jason’s main passion is techno.  “In techno, there are usually no vocals to tell a story, so you tell the story instrumentally,” says Jason.  “I want to take people on a trip.”  Using progressive house trance as a launch pad, he then incorporates elements of rock, blues, reggae, dub, and funk into an all-encompassing vision of music that, most importantly of all, makes people move.  “I think the techno scene is biting at the heels of Richmond,” states Jason.  “I want to elevate the scene.  It needs to be woken up.” 

When I catch his set in the downstairs lounge of Europa, the place is awake indeed, especially for a Wednesday night.  His show typically begins with a slowly building set of trance that gets everyone in the appropriate dance mode.  Once properly seduced, he straps on a guitar and gets heavy.  Scorpio Static uses no pre-programmed material – everything is performed live manually.  While looping his keyboard tracks, he pounds power chords literally in the faces of the audience, and while this may seem slightly unconventional to a techno-based crowd, the audience is very much into it.  He even throws in a cover of Prince’s “Kiss” that sounds very little like the original but has the crowd bumping nonetheless.

Scorpio Static’s debut album Tranceformation is due out in late August, and he will be supporting the album this summer with shows in New York and Washington, D.C. in June, as well as some Montreal appearances in late July.  He is currently circulating copies of his single “Never Again,” an instrumental techno song that evolved into a reggae/hip-hop jam with vocals by Cuban B.  Be sure to mark down July 7, when you can throw down with Scorpio Static during his next appearance at Europa. 

scorpiostatic@aol.com

By Editor-In-Chief and Correspondent: Andrew Lutwin

Andrew is originally from Boston, but has spent equal time in Richmond and considers both home.  He graduated VCU with a B.A. in English and looks forward to seeing if his degree will be worth a damn.  While attending Northeastern University, Andrew began covering music for the Zig-Zag Live website and tour campaign, which won him the undying affection of Bostonians because of his access to free rolling papers.  He is fortunate enough to have parents with great taste in music and owes much of his musical sensibilities to them.  Some of his favorites include the Beatles, the Clash, My Morning Jacket, Mastodon, Mission of Burma, all 70s R&B, and anything that can be considered "outlaw."  Other hobbies include food, guitar, whiskey, hiking, Boston sports, and maintaining his beginner-level fish tank.