“I’ve always been interested in visual work,” confesses Dennis White (aka Static Revenger) while recovering from a post-Coachella Festival flu. “Everybody has the same technological toolbox, so the thing that I marvel at when I see good work is: ‘How did they think of that?’” I wondered that about Dennis the first time I heard his alter-ego perform “Sweetest Day,” off his most recent album Love Song Surprise. A lush downtempo beat interwoven with starry-eyed romantic lyricism, “Sweetest Day” first hit airwaves a decade ago when Dennis was signed to Warner Music. Before he could officially release the song, Warner Music dissolved, and so did the album. “Then a year-and-a-half ago I get this call out of the blue by someone involved with the [Britney & Kevin: Chaotic reality] show saying that Britney wanted to use “Sweetest Day” for her wedding sequence,” Dennis remembers. “That Britney thing turned out to be a blessing, because that’s how I was able to afford to do the whole record.”

Although Dennis is most known for his musical prowess, the Static Revenger’s mesmerizing short movies have also earned him praise. “I started working for a car company called Scion five years ago,” he explains. “[I was] doing music for their website, which later evolved into more multimedia work.” As Dennis’ craft improved, Scion took notice and invited him to participate in their “Easy 10 Filmmaker Series”—a project aimed at giving non-filmmakers a chance to create short movies. Funded by Scion, Dennis traveled to Spain to document a cultural festival he describes as “running with the bulls for pyromaniacs…we came back with all this footage, so I hired a bunch of good animators and editors to cut these movies,” Dennis modestly reveals. “They ended up coming out pretty well.” One of his films, Castellers, won “Honorable Mention” at the Very Short Film Festival, as well as “Best Use of Music in a Documentary” at the Park City Film Music Festival.

“Now, if I do a remix or just work on music, it feels like there is something lacking,” Dennis admits. “I’ve been getting a little more into scoring for film trailers—more interaction with video.” Currently, the Static Revenger camp is working on an online travel series that follows musicians around the world and documents the culture of the towns they perform in. With all this visual & audio innovation surrounding his creative endeavors, I am eager to watch the world through Dennis White’s awe-inspiring looking glass. Hopefully, Britney won’t return the favor by having one of her songs in his movies.

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