HERRERA: GENE HOGLAN Told Me He Can't Even Play Some Of FEAR FACTORY's Early Songs

FEAR FACTORY/ARKAEA drummer Raymond Herrera was interviewed on the October 25, 2009 edition of the "Uncensored Net Noise". The program can now be streamed using the audio player below. (Note: The Herrera interview begins around the 47-minute mark.) A few excerpts from the chat follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his current status in FEAR FACTORY:

Herrera: "There's essentially a couple of things at play right now. There's a legal battle between our party, which is Christian [Olde Wolbers; FEAR FACTORY/ARKAEA guitarist] and myself, and then the other party being Dino [Cazares; FEAR FACTORY guitarist] and Burt [C. Bell; FEAR FACTORY vocalist]. So there's been a lawsuit that's been going on for, I guess, over eight months now. Dino and Burt are essentially trying to continue the band without me and Christian, but the problem is that we haven't agreed on anything; they're just kind of doing this willingly on their own, just trying to push their agenda. Since then I've heard that they're signing a deal with Candlelight [Records] and I heard that they're doing some dates in South America and Central America. But it's all kind of 'he-said-she-said' right now, 'cause we're not getting anything concrete from them. In the meantime, Christian and I had started writing what was was to be the next FEAR FACTORY record, and we just couldn't get Burt to kind of focus on doing anything — he turned down all the touring that we had, he turned down the record deal that we had; he just turned down everything that was coming our way. So Christian just said, 'Well, if he doesn't wanna work, let's do something else, and when Burt's ready, then we'll do FEAR FACTORY.' So that's what ARKAEA is — essentially a product of Burt not wanting to work. So since then, now they're [Dino and Burt], I guess, trying to take control of the band, so to speak, but there's four members in the company — we each own 25 percent — and right now it's just like this 50/50 kind of pissing contest, unfortunately. I don't know how it's gonna turn out. I guess we'll see."

"The whole thing kind of came to a head around May, maybe June, so it's been awhile now and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

"One of the unfortunate things is that it's kind of all been put in the media from Day One when Dino and Burt did their interviews saying they're gonna continue or whatever, and that just kind of set the precedent, when it all should have really been done behind closed doors, so to speak."

On whether the dispute has to do primarily with how the royalties are going to be split or if it's about something else:

Herrera: "Well, there's a couple of things. One thing is there's nothing on paper that reflects anything that they're anything or that we've agreed to. And two, yeah, they're using the name. What we're saying on our side, it's like, 'Look, if we're out, we're out.' I'd like to know what the reasoning is, 'cause any interviews that they've done, there has not been any reason — it's just been silly excuses or just B.S. And then too, it's like, if this is what's gonna happen, then we need to agree to something where... you know, what's gonna be our pay-off? If it's gonna be a royalty thing, is there gonna be... All of that has to be figured out, which was all figured out when we got rid of Dino; that took about 11 months to get done, because, you know, we weren't just gonna kick Dino out and not pay him anything. I mean, there had to be some kind of resolution, because Dino was in the band for a long time. So it's the same thing — there needs to be some kind of resolution. Right now there isn't; there's just them kind of opening their mouths and whatever they're saying apparently is true, which... It's, like, anybody can say whatever they want."

On whether he preferred working with Dino or without:

Herrera: "I don't know... The problem with Dino was between Burt and Dino. Had they never gotten into a fight, the band would have probably still kept going on with Dino. The problem was the two guys that are best friends now, apparently. Dino and Burt would not get along. Burt is the one that quit the band in, like, '02 or whatever, or '03, saying, 'I can't work with Dino anymore. I'm officially gone.' I'm the one that had to rope him back in. So the question isn't for me to answer, it's more for Burt to answer, 'cause he's the one that had an issue with Dino."

On how he thinks the situation will pan out and whether there is any hope of a reconciliation between the four members of Fear Factory Inc.:

Herrera: "Well, the reconciliation decision is kind of on their end, because we've spoken to their counsel many times and said, 'Look, let's have a meeting. Let's figure this out.' Instead of spending all this money fighting through lawyers, why don't we just sit down and figure out what we gotta do?

"Look, if somebody really doesn't want me somewhere, I'm not gonna stick around. For whatever reason... If they don't wanna work with me anymore because they don't like me anymore or they don't like the way I play drums or they don't like the way I write music or they don't like the way I do business, hey, fair enough, man — I don't wanna be around either. But we just need to resolve it. So, if they don't wanna work with me, then that's fine. I'm willing to work with Burt, I'm willing to work with Dino as well.

"The problem we had was never musical; it's always been a personal issue, for whatever reason. So, if it's gonna work out, cool; if it's not gonna work out, that's fine too.

"The [new FEAR FACTORY] lineup that they [Dino and Burt] picked is killer. That's not an issue, though. The issue is that they wanna use the trademark, and technically they don't have the right to use it. And neither do Christian and I, because we are the other 50 percent, so we, equally — Christian and I — can't say that we own the band. They equally can't say they own the band either unless I jump onto their party and say, 'OK, you guys can do this,' in which case, at which point, they would have 75 percent of the company, and then they could probably do whatever they wanted to do. But nobody can jump on board, because they don't even wanna sit down and have a discussion."

On there not being a lot of people that could easily fill his shoes as far as his double-bass playing goes:

Herrera: "The odd thing about that is I spoke to Gene Hoglan [the drummer in the Dino/Burt version of FEAR FACTORY] a couple of times, and he even mentioned to me, he's like, 'Look, dude, I can't even play some of that [old FEAR FACTORY] stuff.'

"Look, man, it's nothing against Gene — I love Gene. I have nothing against Byron [Stroud; the bassist in the Dino/Burt version of FEAR FACTORY], I have nothing against Gene; this is purely a business thing, [and] I understand that. I'm level-headed enough to understand that, but that's what Gene told me himself — that some of those songs he can't even play. So, you know, for whatever that's worth... maybe they're not gonna play those songs, or maybe... I don't know. That's not a problem for me to even have to worry about, but I mean, really, the problem is bigger than the fact that Gene maybe can or can't play the songs or whatever. There's a bigger underlining issue here, which is the whole legal aspect of this."

Raymond Herrera interviewed on "Uncensored Net Noise": (Note: The Herrera interview begins around the 47-minute mark.)