Eat Static is Merv Pepler, an electronic music project from England formed in 1990. Joie Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family. Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton met as drummer and keyboard player (respectively) for the Ozric Tentacles, a long-standing psychedelic \"space-rock\" band from Somerset. Although the Ozrics incorporated elements of electronic music, Pepler and Hinton were drawn towards the rave-oriented dance music.