DINO CAZARES: FEAR FACTORY Sound 'Became A Staple In Metal Music'

Anthony Morgan of Metal Forces recently conducted an interview with FEAR FACTORY/DIVINE HERESY guitarist Dino Cazares. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the music video for title track "The Industrialist", taken from the band's latest album:

Dino: "It's pretty much the story of The Industrialist, which is an automaton who becomes sentient. He realises that he isn't human, and so he seeks his creator to try to gain more life. The concept was a collaboration between Burton [C. Bell, vocals] and I. The music video was basically shot… We used live footage from Belgium, a festival called Graspop. One of our really good friends named James Zahn is kind of a computer geek who does a lot of stuff with computer technology. [laughs] He does a lot of CGI graphics, and he was able to add a lot of footage from different factories and things like that, things that go along with what we're about. He kind of put them together, and made a video out of it."

On recording 1992 debut album "Soul Of A New Machine":

Dino: "I remember right when we first recorded the record, there was the Rodney King riots. Colin Richardson was from England. He flew from England, and he was really scared to actually land in L.A. because L.A. was pretty much in lockdown because of the riots. People pretty much destroyed the whole city, just about looting and lighting fires. There was pretty much a riot on at that time in L.A. I just remember that our producer almost didn't wanna come to L.A. because he was scared. [laughs] We managed to make it work, and there was actually a strict curfew at night. Everybody had to be home by 10 p.m. — you couldn't be on the streets at 10 p.m. When we recorded the record, we had to make sure that we only recorded during the day. We couldn't even go into the studio late at night, because there were still national guards on the street.

"That was our beginnings, and pretty much the base of FEAR FACTORY. You definitely heard a lot of our influences on that record, everything from GODFLESH to NAPALM DEATH to industrial music. It was definitely just an introduction to who we were. It wasn't until 'Demanufacture' [1995] — our second album — that we redefined our sound, and that became who we are. Production-wise, it was definitely thick, and it was a very futuristic-sounding album. There was nothing else out there that was like it. Also, there were a lot of elements in there that we were able to redefine and make better. We had more of a mechanical FEAR FACTORY, with a guitar-based, drum-syncopated sound. Burton also redefined his vocals; there were definitely more melodic vocals, and heavier vocals. It became our staple; it became a staple in metal music."

On the departure of bassist Byron Stroud [3 INCHES OF BLOOD, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD]:

Dino: "Byron just said that he didn't wanna be in the band anymore, and I said 'Okay'. I didn't have a problem with it. You'll have to ask him why he left though, because I don't know. I really don't know. "

On the future of DIVINE HERESY:

Dino: "I'm hoping at some point to do another record, but FEAR FACTORY pretty much keeps me occupied 24/7. I'm not sure who's gonna be in the band right now [laughs]. A lot of things are going on. [laughs] I'm not sure who's gonna be doing it right now, because the other guys have other projects and are all doing other stuff. I haven't really decided who I'm gonna have play on the record yet but I'm sure Travis [Neal, vocals] will be doing the next record, yeah."

Read the entire interview at Metal Forces.