Interview with Burton C. Bell & Dino Cazares
http://fearfactorymusic.com/
Live photo: Zoka
www.sonic-view.com

(It should be noted that my trusty voice recorder was in an uncharacteristically mischievous mood on this day; technical difficulties have resulted in me having had to make some of Burton and Dino's otherwise perfectly in-depth answers a bit more monosyllabic. I apologize!)

For a while there, Fear Factory was stuck in limbo: First creatively, as evidenced by the material found on Transgression; then interpersonally, as Raymond Herrera and Christian Olde Wolbers suddenly fell victim to what was seems like somewhat of a coup d'état. Them being kicked to the curb lead to the return of founding member Dino Cazares and the debut of the legendary Gene Hoglan, which pleased some and angered others, but the one thing that was clear was that the debacle looked to have split the ownership rights of the Fear Factory moniker. Not willing to let Limbo, legal issues or what have you stand in their way, the Fear Factory consisting of Burton, Dino, Hoglan and bass player Byron Stroud went ahead and released Mechanize, an album so solid that its quality alone seemed to wash away any and all controversy.

Prior to their concert at Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, I visited with Burton and Dino. I'd considered bringing up the break-up between them and their former band mates, but when I imagined the fistfight that would inevitably ensue, I realized I would have had to outrun them--and running away doesn't really make for that great of a story. So, we instead chatted about the weather, their songs, conspiracies and other good stuff. Mechanize definitely warrants discussion.

Metal Revolution: Welcome to Denmark. Sorry about the weather!
Burton: Hey, it's Winter. It's supposed to be this way!

MR: If you love cold weather, you should've gotten here earlier; you just missed out on a handful of blizzards.
Burton: [laughs] I don't love cold weather, I'm just saying it IS supposed to be cold at this time of year.
Dino: We were just in Finland two days ago. Now THAT's cold.

MR: You had a day off yesterday. How was that?
Dino: Day off!? Well, I guess you could say that, but we did spend twenty hours in a bus getting here.

MR: You're veterans now; has the touring and traveling gotten easier with time?
Dino: It hasn't really gotten any easier, it's just that now we know what to expect.  
 
MR: This Fear Factory line-up has a couple of fresh-faced youngins--
Dino: [laughs] Youngins!?

MR: --uh-huh, in you and Gene. So how did this album take shape? Would you come up with the riffs first, or was it a collaborative effort?
Dino: Yeah, it was mostly a collaboration between all the members. It wasn't a difficult process. Gene's been in a lot of bands and he's been playing for a long time--Byron has, too, so it went well. I've been friends with Gene for about [10?] years, and me and Byron have been friends for... probably even longer than that. It felt natural.

MR: So you're also a well-oiled [machine] (I said "mashile" or something to that effect, but the guys were kind enough to overlook my gibberish) in concert?
Dino: Oh yeah. We've done around 20 shows so far in places like South America, North America, the U.K.--and now the rest of Europe. It's going well.

MR: Do you have a favourite place to play?
Dino: What was that? Favourite place? No. No, not really. I mean, we like to play everywhere we get a good response... which seems to most places nowadays. [laughs]

MR: You've played literally thousands of shows.
Dino: Yeah, I've done a LOT of concerts with a lot of bands.

MR: Is there any 1 song you'd like to retire for a year or two?
Dino: [thinks it over for a while] ... No.

MR: Oh... Good!
Dino: [laughs] I'm not really tired of playing any of them. We've played "Replica" the most, but hey, it's a good song--I wrote it!

MR: Looking forward to hearing it tonight.
Dino: "Replica"? Yeah.
Burton: Yeah. That's one people have really taken to. Great riff, catchy chorus... It's a very simple song--

MR: Relatively simple, I suppose.
Burton: Well, simpler than most. But it's good!

MR: It has a great hook.
Dino: Some people think songs need 10 riffs and 14 solos to be any good, but one thing that always resonates is simplicity.
Burton: We're a "hooky" band!

MR: Checked out the setlist for a recent show in Sweden; looks great! Which new song are you most excited about playing?
Dino [replying pretty much instantly]: "Powershifter".
Burton: "Powershifter". When we first listened to it back, we knew we had something. It works really well live... when I don't fuck it up. [laughs]

MR: Have you had time to sit back and reflect on Mechanize since its release, or have you been too caught up touring, doing publicity, etc.?
Dino: No, I've listened to it a lot. I've been putting it on before going to sleep recently.

MR: Has its reception taken you by surprise?
Burton: I'm very proud of the record we've made, and I was surprised--but it was a good surprise! I didn't expect there to be so much positive press about the record, although I really do feel like we put out a great one.
MR: Oh yeah, it is well deserved.

MR: You start off the new album with its title track, which is something we've only previously seen you do on Demanufacture. Do you feel that song sums up or best represents the CD?
Dino: Hm. I felt like that song had a killer riff and thought that it would make for a great opener. There wasn't much else to it. [laughs] But yeah... Obsolete didn't start with the title track, I don't think... No, it started with "Shock"... Demanufacture's first song was its title track, and that was a killer album, so...

MR: On "Mechanize", the song, you talk about the loss of individuality--
Burton: False sense of individuality. It's about how people, even if they think they're acting on their own, are all just serving the purpose of whoever's in control.

MR: Do you see there being a solution to this development, or is the human species heading down a bleak one-way street?
Burton: I don't think there is a solution; it's the way the world works. Everyone is just a cog in the big machine.

MR: You recently recorded a video for "Fear Campaign".
Dino: Yup.

MR: How was that?
Burton: [laughs] Filming music videos is not a fun thing. Well, the first one we ever did was fun, but after that...

MR: So you didn't get any creative input?
Burton: Oh, I didn't say that--we had plenty, it's just that the actual filming was no fun. [laughs] We came up with the concept, and the producer mixed it in with his own ideas. It was probably more than fifty percent me and Dino's input, actually. For example, we wanted them to add more shots in there. It's definitely the most true video we've made--"Fear Campaign" is a true representation of Fear Factory.

MR: "Fear Campaign" also comes with a Fear Factory first: A guitar solo.
Dino: Yeah. There was a part written that was perfect for a solo, so it just happened. I actually played solos for Soul of a New Machine, but we ended up taking them out because they didn't fit in with what we were trying to do. It had to be the right solo for the right song, and this was the right solo.

MR: Any chance of it becoming a staple on future Fear Factory records?  
Dino: Only if it's the right solo!

MR: There's an instrumental ["Metallic Division"] that sort of bridges the gap between the final tracks. Is there any deeper meaning behind it, or did you think it sounded cool?
Dino: [laughs] I just thought it sounded cool. I went all the way [down?] to the [F sharp?]--very, very low--and I just really liked the way it sounded, so we we ended up putting it on the record.

MR: From your lyrics, you seem preoccupied with death and destruction. These are all very metal subjects when you're talking about perpetrating them, but in your case, you seem more intent on illuminating the subjects.
Burton: I write about the things that are all around us. When I sing about machines, it's not about actual, physical machines--at least not most of the time. It's usually a metaphor for the world, the government, the destruction of society. And it's all man-made: War, pestilence, famine, terror.

MR: Does death weigh heavily on your mind?
Burton: Yeah. But it's not as though I sit around thinking about people committing suicide all the time or anything. [laughs]

MR: I have to bring up "Controlled Demolition".
Burton: [laughs]

MR: Is that a song you would've written for an earlier album but couldn't because it wouldn't fit thematically?
Burton: No. No, I never thought of writing that song before, it just came to me one day. I've seen controlled demolitions before, and 9-11... that looked like one to me. Makes you speculate if it wasn't...

MR:  ... An inside job.
Burton: Yeah. There's a lot of information about it out there. Zeitgeist, reading up on Prison Planet with Alex--

MR: What about Jesse Ventura?
Burton: Who?

MR: The [former] governor! He's really into that stuff.
Dino: ... "The Body"?!

MR: Yeah. He just got his own show recently... I think it's just called "Conspiracy Theories with Jesse Ventura". He's on, er, your side!
Burton: [laughs] The dark side.
Dino: Yeah, we watch a lot of documentaries about this kind of stuff. It's all about profit.
Burton: Have you watched Zeitgeist?

MR: Only the original. I think it's been revised since then?
Burton: Zeitgeist: Addendum. I have both. It's not really a revision, they just added more to it.

MR: This might be looking a bit far into the future, but what about another concept album?
Dino: It's up to him!
Burton: Well, it would have to be something new. We can't really do another "man versus machine". That won't work.

MR: Hey, I like it!
Burton: [laughs] It's just been done to death by now. I'd have to come up with something completely different. We'll see.

MR: Finally, Dino, I read something about you supporting... yourself?
Dino: [raises eyebrow]

MR: Divine Heresy teaming up with Fear Factory?
Dino: Oh. Yeah! We might try that.

MR: Is that a first for you?
Dino: No, I actually did that with a band called Asesino, opening up for Divine Heresy. Yeah, I can handle it--I've done it before!

Like I said in my gig review, Fear Factory played an integral part in opening my eyes to the world of metal, so meeting two of the people responsible was fantastic. Many thanks to Burton and Dino for doing this interview!

Interview done by Thor