DINO CAZARES Says He Is The 'Riff Master' And 'Innovator' Behind FEAR FACTORY's Classic Albums

Blasting-Zone.com recently conducted an in-depth interview with DIVINE HERESY/ex-FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares. Several excerpts follow:

Blasting-Zone.com: What ultimately led to your departure from FEAR FACTORY?

Dino: "Good question. I don't really know what happened. All I know is that [FEAR FACTORY drummer] Raymond [Herrera] and [FEAR FACTORY bassist-turned-guitarist] Christian [Olde Wolbers] were writing songs supposedly for video games that obviously turned out to be songs for albums. [FEAR FACTORY vocalist] Burt [Bell] and I had a lot of clashes musically because he didn't want to sing heavy anymore on 'Digimortal'. He wanted to go lighter and I wanted him to be more aggressive. There were just a lot of clashes. A lot of people say it was personal and maybe it was personal for them, but for me, a lot of it was musical and I just wasn't happy. FEAR FACTORY wasn't any fun for me anymore. At the time, I wasn't on the same page with the band, ya know? The band wanted to go in a different direction with 'Digimortal'. Christian wanted to have more of a hip hop element and I wasn't happy about that. Whether it was musical or personal, we just started to clash. I'm happy not being in the band anymore. I'm definitely a much happier person. People have asked me recently if I would ever go back… No, definitely not. Going back to playing with FEAR FACTORY would be like going back to an old girlfriend that cheated on you or going back to an ex-wife that you hated for fifteen or twenty years, ya know? What's done is done. Let the classic records be the classics."

Blasting-Zone.com: Were you disappointed when the group reunited and opted to not include you in their plans?

Dino: "I kinda knew even before the band broke up that they had some secretive plans that they never told me about. Of course they didn't want to include me. No matter what they tell you, it was pretty much planned out. They'll never admit that. Of course I was definitely disappointed, but at the same time, a big weight was taken off my shoulders, ya know? I knew that 'Digimortal' wasn't exactly the best record and the tension between me and the rest of the band just didn't feel very good. I was always stressed out and always worried. When they decided to put the band back together without me, I was sad, but at the same time, I was relieved, ya know? I am still part of FEAR FACTORY one way or another because I'm obviously on all of the history records. I'm actually still part owner of the name FEAR FACTORY. One way or another, I'm still part of it (laughs). I'm just behind the scenes. We don't communicate at all whatsoever. Everything is communicated between lawyers when things need to be handled. I don't really plan on talking to those guys ever again. As a matter of fact, I don't want to and I'm glad that I don't have to…"

Blasting-Zone.com: How do you respond to Raymond's accusations that Christian's a better guitarist than you?

Dino: "That's Raymond's opinion… I think the music speaks for itself. All of the great records were done when I was in the band. There's no doubt about that. Everybody knows that 'Demanufacture', 'Soul Of A New Machine' and 'Obsolete' are classic records and they'll always be the classic records, ya know? They're always trying to discredit me from a lot of things, but whatever. They can say what they want to say. I think the proof is in the music. Christian does a great job of copying my riffs. But then again, he was in the band for ten years, so he knew my style, ya know? He learned my style. Honestly, when I first heard 'Archetype', I thought it was me playin'. I was like, 'Whoa, wait a minute…is that me?' He did a great job of imitating me. I'm not gonna discredit him from that. But I was the innovator and that's it. I was the original guy and people know that. The true FEAR FACTORY fans know that…they know this is the main, right-hand man here. This is the riff master."

Blasting-Zone.com: Do you feel the group blames you for the commercial failure of "Digimortal"?

Dino: "Actually, 'Digimortal' sold a lot of records. It actually sold a lot of records, but the problem was that 'Obsolete' went gold in America, ya know? So the record label was expecting us to go past gold…like a million copies or something like that. I'm assuming I got the blame (laughs),ya know? The guys really didn't talk to me, so they didn't tell me. If there was an issue with me, no one told me. No one talked to me about it, so I don't know. I can only assume, just by reading a lot of the articles out there, that I got blamed for 'Digimortal', which is funny because I didn't write a lot of stuff on 'Digimortal'. Christian wrote a lot of stuff on it and I think people don't know that. Christian actually wrote a lot of riffs on 'Digimortal'. As a matter of fact…on the albums 'Soul Of A New Machine', 'Demanufacture' and 'Obsolete', Raymond and I wrote everything. Raymond and I wrote all of the music. Christian didn't actually write anything until 'Obsolete'. He wrote a couple of riffs here and there. It wasn't until 'Digimortal' that Christian started pushing the issue that he wanted to write more. Raymond told me, 'Christian's gonna write some music, so chill out…' So I let Christian use a lot of his ideas and that's how the record kinda came out. It's a more groovier, hip hop-influenced album. I'm not trying to push the blame on anyone because all four of us were in the room together and we all did it together. I'm just sayin' there were a lot of influences that didn't come from me, ya know? All four of us were collectively at fault. Unfortunately...they blamed me. I think they had to. They had to make the press believe that they could continue without me, so they had to badmouth me."

Blasting-Zone.com: Did you have concerns about what direction the music on "Digimortal" was going in before the record was even completed?

Dino: "I kinda knew after 'Obsolete' that we either had to stick with the 'Obsolete' vibe or go more towards 'Demanufacture'. I kinda knew that and trying to fight for that was…me against three. I remember Christian's exact words were, 'I wanna buy a house, so I wanna write a song that's gonna be on the radio…' The record label was definitely pushing for that…and everyone got caught up in that, ya know? I kinda knew in my heart that we needed to go more brutal… Raymond and I created a lot of killer music together and that's probably one of the only sad things…that me and him aren't jammin' together. Raymond is really talented and if you listen, you'll know that my riffs and Raymond's drum style go really well together."

Read the entire interview at Blasting-Zone.com.