FEAR FACTORY's DINO CAZARES Explains GENE HOGLAN Split, Clarifies KORN And COAL CHAMBER 'Ripoff' Claims

Metal Wani's William Richards recently conducted an interview with FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares. You can now listen to the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On former FEAR FACTORY drummer Gene Hoglan's recent criticism of the way he was dismissed from the band and Hoglan's claim that FEAR FACTORY's efforts after 2010's 'Mechanize" album — on which he played — "weren't taken as seriously":

"Well, the thing about it was that we actually wanted to use [Gene] for [2012's] 'The Industrialist', but, unfortunately, negotiations didn't go very well. He wanted too much money for us… [more] money than we can afford; I mean, that's basically [it]. It's business. So he, obviously, took the TESTAMENT gig, and so we were kind of left without a drummer, so we ended up using a drum machine. ['The Industrialist'] didn't sell any more or any less than 'Mechanize'. But then again, now we've got a new record ['Genexus'], and it seems to be doing really well. I mean, we were trending on Facebook — allFacebook — over Donald Trump and over Kim Kardashian. So that says something. We're Number One on Metal iTunes, we're Number Four on Rock, we're Number 25 on overall iTunes as of today, which says a lot, you know what I mean. It's kind of like… You go back to sports, okay? I can compare this to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Now, together they were unstoppable; they won three championships in a row. Then drama happened and Shaq left, and everybody was saying, 'Kobe Bryant can't win a championship without Shaq.' Well, he won two more. That's the best way I can describe that. So we feel that we have a great album. We feel 'The Industrialist' [was] a great album. We did have a lot of backlash, because we used a drum machine, which is kind of hypocritical for people to say that, because, you know, FEAR FACTORY… we sing about technology; that's our M.O., that's what we do — sing about where the future's going. And you know what? People use it today, but a lot of bands don't admit it, because theyre afraid of the backlash. But the thing about it is that nowadays, they have computers… You know, everything… I mean, a drum program is not just something to make demos with in your bedroom. People are making albums with drum programs in their bedroom. That's just the way the future's going. A lot of people can't afford to pay studio drummers. A lot of people can't afford to pay for studios. So they do it in their room — 'cause they have the technology to do it now. That's just where it's at, and that's where it's gonna go. Unfortunately, we feel, and we hope it doesn't go that way — at least not in my lifetime — that the musician will be obsolete. Because nowadays you can go to a concert, some dude's pressing 'play' on a laptop, and ten thousand people are going nuts at an EDM concert with just one guy [up on stage]. That's where a lot of money is. We're also singing about how things can become obsolete; we've said that for years. We have a record called 'Obsolete'. You know — how people's jobs can become obsolete, just [how] humans are becoming obsolete. But, you know, we know that there's gonna be a big change in music, and we hope that the musician does not become obsolete."

On Dino's recent interview with "The Jasta Show" where he reportedly "called out" bands like KORN, COAL CHAMBER and MESHUGGAH for being influenced by FEAR FACTORY:

"That's another thing, too — I didn't call them out. If anybody really listens to the podcast, and, actually, if anybody didn't just read the headline… A lot of web sites like to create controversy, so they can get more clicks, which generates more ad space, which generates more money. So they put their own spin on headlines. And I never called out those bands. All I was talking about how was… If you listen to the whole podcast, I specifically talked about a couple of songs. Now, me and Burton [C. Bell, FEAR FACTORY singer] went to go see a band called HELMET. The next day we wrote a song called 'Scapegoat'. So, in other words, that means HELMET inspired me to write a song called 'Scapegoat'. Which, later on, maybe subconsciously, or maybe unsubconsciously, might have inspired KORN to write 'Blind'. So that similar groove, which I was talking about, went that far. Now, there was another song we did called 'Suffer Age'. And that was kind of more inspired by GODFLESH. GODFLESH came ten years before we did, and we were inspired by GODFLESH, and then that particular riff, another band, COAL CHAMBER, was inspired by [when they wrote their song 'Loco'], obviously — subconsciously or unsubconsciously. And then MESHUGGAH, in 2014, the riff [in their song 'Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion'] was the same. And I was only talking about how that riff and that influence is still prevalent today. And if you listen to the podcast, that's what I said; I never said anybody ripped anybody off. I never said that. People just like to do that. I actually wrote a few web sites and said, 'Hey, why did you say that? That's uncool. I can [see] why people are getting pissed off.' And a lot of people did get pissed off, you know what I mean? And some of [the web sites] changed their headline — they changed it. Like Metal Injection, in particular, changed it. So, we were only talking about how the influence and certain riffs, like, how far it's gone, and how far it's still going. And I think it's cool, you know what I mean? There's only so many riffs to go around, there's only so many melodies to go around. It's hard to be original. It's hard not to be influenced by something. I could be at a fucking supermarket, and I heard a killer melody that I might have liked, and then a couple of days later here, I wrote a song… And then, later on, [someone says], 'Hey, man, that sounds like that melody.' 'I don't remember hearing that.' Maybe just subconsciously you had it stuck in your head and then you wrote it. You know what I mean? And later on you write it. It just happens. Those kinds of things just happen. Some of those bands have been quoted saying that FEAR FACTORY influenced them. And that's great. I mean, we were influenced by a lot of bands. And I can tell you every band that we were influenced by that we love — everything from HELMET to fucking early, early NIRVANA to every grindcore, death metal band to all the killer industrial bands: GODFLESH, MINISTRY, NINE INCH NAILS, KMFDM. All that stuff influenced us. So that's what FEAR FACTORY was. On our first record [1992's 'Soul Of A New Machine'], you hear more of the influence. I believe that when we… You hear the influence, but you also hear something new on our first record. Obviously, with the grindcore, death metal growls to the melodic vocals. You hear… 'Okay, wow! I never really heard anybody combine the two together.' You might have heard somebody sing like that on a song — all melodically on one song, or all heavy on one song — but combining the two, that was something that was different on that album. But at the same time, you can hear our influences on the first record, on 'Soul Of A New Machine'. But it wasn't until [1995's] 'Demanufacture' came along, where we discovered who we were and what we were, to where we created our own sound and our own… something that could be inspiring to other people. And I think that's what most people know us for."

FEAR FACTORY's new album, "Genexus", was released on August 7 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment. The follow-up to 2012's "The Industrialist" was co-produced by longtime collaborator Rhys Fulber, along with guitarist Dino Cazares and vocalist Burton C. Bell and mixed by Andy Sneap (ARCH ENEMY, TESTAMENT, EXODUS, MACHINE HEAD). Artwork was once again handled by Anthony Clarkson. Drums on "Genexus" were performed by Mike Heller (MALIGNANCY).