Home
News
Photos
Bios
Discography
Tour Dates
Links
Blog
For
Fear Factory, the future was certainly looking grim. With their last
album (2001’s Digimortal) faring less than well with long time fans’
expectations, Burton C. Bell decided to officially leave the group in
March 2002, citing musical directions and his ongoing conflict with
guitarist Dino Cazares as the cause.
However, in a turn around
of events, the group reformed without Cazares, with bassist Christian
Olde Wolbers taking on the guitarist position.
So, after the
surprise announcement of Fear Factory’s appearance on Australia’s 2004
Big Day Out bill, I decided to find out from Burton just how the shows
went going down with the crowd, what the current label situation with
the band was, and everything I could get on their upcoming album
Archetype.
2002 was Fear Factory’s most bleak year in their
thirteen-year history. And as dramatic as things seemed to be at the
time, Burton saw the bigger picture, rather than just one member
leaving.
“We just had to let things change, because for things
to continue in Fear Factory, things had to change. We took care of that
in the best way we could. We did it by doing it our way, and in the
only way we could do it. We were off doing our own things, and
basically it all started off with the point to get off Roadrunner
Records. Basically Roadrunner Records put our contract into suspension.
It was it a situation where they weren’t doing anything with us, but we
were still on their label. So we took care of that. And as we were
working together, it seemed to be working so well that we decided to do
record a whole new record.”
Even though Wolbers has taken on
the role as guitarist within Fear Factory (Formerly as the bassist in
the band), Burton is quick to explain that the transition wasn’t really
a difficult one at all.
“Well let me put it this way. I
wouldn’t have done this new album if Cazares were still in the band.
That was the ‘something’ that had to change, and that was the big shake
up. That’s what had to happen, and the fact that Cazares wasn’t
involved was the reason why we decided to continue doing the demo and
work on the Fear Factory project again.”
Although Digimortal was a good album, fans’ criticism seemed to drown
out any noise that emerged from Fear Factory at the time.
“I’ll
go as far as to say that it’s my least favourite record! (Laughs) There
are some good aspects about that album, but on a whole, and as an
artist, I think I could have done better. I head David Byrne say
recently talk about the new Talking Head’s box set. As he was putting
it together, compiling it and listening to all the songs, he said he
wishes he could go back and redo all the songs and make them better. I
guess every artist feels the same way. But having said that, there’s
got to be a point when you put it down and walk away. So there are some
good aspects about Digimortal, but on a whole, it’s my least
favourite.”
After the release of ‘Digimortal’ in 2001, and the
subsequent split of the band, Roadrunner Records decided to release
both ‘Concrete’ (Their original unreleased debut album from 1992, but
released in 2002) and the compilation album ‘Hatefiles’ in 2003.
Burton, to say the least, is unhappy with both.
“I can
honestly say that I didn’t have any control over them. They are what
they are, and I didn’t want either to be released. But then Roadrunner
Records own the master tapes, and they have full control over what they
wanted to do. That’s changed, and right now we’re now on a label called
Liquid 8, an independent label based in Minnesota. If you check out
their website, there are so many people freaking out already. Fans
don’t understand why we decided to go with a label like this. It’s not
for anyone to understand (Laughs), but it’s an independent label and
they wanted to work for us, and they’re ready to promote Fear Factory
and let us have control. It’s a good spot for Fear Factory at this
point. We’re only licensed to Roadrunner Records in Australia and
Europe, but with Liquid 8, it means we have a lot more control over
what happens to Fear Factory.”
Although details about the new
album are hard to obtain from Burton himself, he does have a few things
to say about upcoming new album, Archetype.
“It comes out in
April worldwide. The name itself basically says it all. It’s archetypal
of all things Fear Factory. It’s all the best parts that we wanted to
continue, and all the parts that people know and love about Fear
Factory. So it’s tight and heavy, it’s got the great riffs, it’s got
the great drumbeats, and it’s got the vocals. It’s just archetypal. I’m
very proud of this album. The grab you can hear on our website is the
beginning part of the first single ‘Cyberwaste’. You know, you can’t
please everybody. With Digimortal, everyone in the band was in their
own headspace. I’ll admit that I wasn’t into making the album at all. I
just wanted to get it done and get on with it. But this time it’s a
little more focused, and it’s more of the whole band involved
cohesively. It’s hard to predict what people are going to think, but I
think some hardcore fans are going to like this record.”
As with
most Fear Factory albums in the past, there’s always been a concept of
sorts. This time however, there seems to be a slight change to the
original blueprint.
Aside for Fear Factory, Burton has also been keeping himself busy with his outside project Ascension Of The Watchers with collaborator/keyboardist John Bechdel.
“Yeah, I’m still working on that with John. We’re writing music and still recording songs. We have three songs that are really good right now. They’re a much better demo quality than anything we have done before. We’ll see where we go from there. So yeah, John and I are still working on that. I guess I’m very busy these days with music, and that’s a good thing.”
As mentioned before, Fear Factory has just completed a round of dates for Australia’s infamous Big Day Festival. But what makes it all the more interesting is that Fear Factory happens to be the organizers secret opening act!
“We had a great time at the Big Day Out shows. It was a fun set even though it was a little early. Just the chance to be a part of the Big Day Out festival was the best part about it all. So all up it was cool, and the ball is starting to roll again so to speak! After some twenty-five months off the road, it’s the best way to announce that we have a new record coming out. It’s perfect. We played the new song called ‘Cyberwaste’, and people seemed to going off on it. Now we’re ready to do more. Going on early is interesting. We haven’t been on this early in a while, but being a surprise guest meant that a lot of people we’re shocked that we were even there. There were a lot of people that knew we were there, and enough showed up to be entertained and enjoy a good show. It was great. When we hit the stage, at least a couple of thousand people were up the front. There was a rumour going on as to who the mystery guest was, but no one really knew until the day before the first Big Day Out show took place in Sydney. The whole decision for the mystery guest was the Big Day Out’s organisers. That’s been their plan, and it’s something that they want to do every year now. I guess they feel that it generates a little bit more spontaneity, a little more interest and something special to add to the shows every year.”
Filling in on bass duties is none other than Zimmer’s Hole/Strapping Young Lab member Byron Stroud.
“I hope we don’t have to look for a new bass player! (Laughs) I hope Byron decides to stay with us for a while. It was very difficult to pick a bass player that we like, and one who could also handle the duties of Fear Factory. We thought long and hard about it, and we’ve known Byron for such a long time. He’s a cool guy, and he’s a great bass player. So when we called him up, it was like – ‘How would you like to be a part of this for a while?’ He said sure. So Byron Stroud is the man as long as he wants to do it. There is a distinct possibility that he could become a permanent member of Fear Factory. It’s all up to Byron though. The option to become a full member is there. It’s something that he thinks about. He loves Fear Factory, and he’s always been a fan. It’s not something that is quite outlandish to think about. It’s very possible that he would want to do that, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Along with the Australian jaunt with the Big Day Out, Fear Factory also just wrapped up the filming promotional video clip of the first single ‘Cyberwaste’ in Western Australia.
“It was more of a live video in a kind of an industrial setting with fans there. It was something different, and something that we’ve never done before. It was exclusive to the Western Australia fans out there. We wanted to pick the point most furthers from way from anything that we know, and Perth really is on the edge of the world! (Laughs)”
It also won’t be the last we hear from Fear Factory anytime soon either. They will return in February with Korn, Static-X and Sunk Loto in tow.
“The whole tour starts in Perth. We’re also really looking forward to the tour because we haven’t played with Korn since 1995. We were both on the Megadeth tour for that year. Watching Korn on that tour was like watching a band explode right before your eyes. It was really quite something to see. As for expectations, we just want to have a good time! (Laughs) We’re just going to go onstage and do what we do best, and enjoy Static-X and Korn. These are local friends of ours, and we’ve known them for a long time. Static-X rehearses literally across the hall from us. So we always run into these guys, and we’ve already toured with those guys before, so the expectation is to have a really good time and enjoy Australia and the warm weather while it still lasts.