Metal-Rules.com recently conducted an interview with former Fear Factory and current Divine Heresy guitarist Dino Cazares. A few excerpts from the chat follow:
Metal-Rules.com: I gotta ask the question about FEAR FACTORY. Is the relationship with Raymond and the rest of the guys still strained or are there any improvements on that?
Dino: No, I don't want to play nu-metal anymore. Just kidding. No, I don't want to talk to them anymore. After all the legal battles and stupid shit that went on…nah. I got a new band. I don't really need to look back to that but at the same time, I don't regret anything that I created in Fear Factory because to this day, bands are still influenced by it and still love it. There's a band called Epica. They got a female singer and they just covered "Replica" on their album ["The Divine Conspiracy"].
That would be interesting with a female singer.
It actually sounds pretty good. It was on their MySpace page for a while. It still influences a lot of people to this day and I think that's cool. I mean, I think that maybe Fear Factory might have influenced nu-metal but I don't think we were nu-metal. I think that on "Digimortal", the band lost focus of what it was and we had other members in the band who wanted to write more. Previous to "Digimortal", it was always me and Raymond who wrote all the music. When "Digimortal" came around, the bass player, Christian [Olde Wolbers], was like, "I want to be more part of this band. I want to start writing for the band." I was against it. Raymond was for it. Burt was for it. Christian brought in a lot of hip-hop influence, which, for some reason, I still seem to get the blame for. I'm not a hip-hop guy and it just kind of went south. It was a good thing that it ended when it did because I was able to do things that I hadn't been able to do because of Fear Factory. I was able to broaden my horizons and do other things. I was able to travel to other parts of the world that I'd never gone to. I was able to go back to my people with Brujeria and Asesino and then, of course, create Divine Heresy.
So is "Bleed The Fifth" the type of album that you thought Fear Factory should have gone towards instead of "Digimortal"?
Oh yeah. It was what I was fighting for. I think that's one of the things that definitely led us apart was because I was trying to put my foot down but kept getting pushed back in the corner by three dudes and they say a lot of the reason was because of personal reasons. To me, that's personal. When they don't want to do the music that I believed that we should have done, to me I take that very personally.
You were one of the founders of the band, too.
Yeah. Me and Raymond basically started the band together and the whole concept was we were going to be an extreme metal band and things kind of went different.
The ironic thing is that "Digimortal" actually sold pretty well, didn't it?
"Digimortal" actually sold very well. Even though it got a lot of slack for it, it sold quite well across the world.
Do you think the fact that the band's sound branched out contributed to those extra sales?
Extra sales, no. We didn't do extra sales. "Obsolete" was our biggest-selling record to date but "Digimortal" was right behind that. It wasn't a failure. It was a failure as far as what the fans expected.
Yeah and the label probably.
No, the label was still behind it but as far as what the fans expected, no. But it still sold well and it kind of got us to different people because different songs that were on the record were on the radio. When you're on radio, you're going to reach different people besides metal kids and that's pretty much what happened with that. But like I said, it wasn't a failure but it was a failure in the sense of we didn't please our fans. I knew that when the record came out. It was really hard to do interviews on that record because no matter what you do, you have to back up what you do. But even though I wasn't really happy, that's what we had to do. I saw things going south. When we were making the record, the guys in the band weren't even talking to me because I was being an asshole because I wanted to go in a heavier direction. I thought that we needed to go back to how we were on "Demanufacture". I felt like we needed to go back to that and they didn't.
Do you wish that you would have left the band before "Digimortal" and not had your name attached to the record at all?
No! I'm not disappointed at all. There are still some good songs on that record. I don't regret anything that I created. I just regret letting other people write. I regret letting the label take control. The label would suggest "You know, we need to write more commercial songs," and "We need to use these kinds of producers," and stuff like that. I was like, "Oh my God. What are we doing? It's not going to work. We're not this kind of band," and it just got worse. It got worse. It got out of control. It got very out of control.
And then after "Digimortal" came out, FEAR FACTORY wasn't with Roadrunner anymore.
Yeah, but I still was. They got dropped.
When I first heard some of the tracks on "Archetype", it sounded like you were still in the band.
Well, they had to do that. They had to prove to the fans that they could still continue without me. So basically, who better person to mimic what I had started than Christian? Christian pretty much learned from me. Learned my style. Learned the Fear Factory style and was able to emulate what I had created already. When I first popped in "Archetype", I thought it was me for a second. I thought it was me. I'm like, "This guy does me well!" The first song ["Slave Labor"]….I thought it was "Shock"! Exactly those same riffs. I was even thinking in my head, "Could I sue for someone ripping off my riffs?" (laughs) But at the same time I'm like, wait a minute. I'm suing my own band because I am legally still a shareholder of Fear Factory. Legally I still get paid. Legally, whatever they put out, they still pay me a quarter of their percentage. So even if Christian started ripping off my riffs, I'll have to sue myself because Fear Factory is a corporation and I'm a quarter shareholder of the corporation. So if I sue the corporation, I'd be suing myself (laughs). So I was like, "Okay, just let it go." Just be happy, sit back, collect a check and shut up. (laughs)
Is there any chance down the line that you guys might get back together? I mean Sepultura, Van Halen. Who ever thought Van Halen would get back together and now they got a big world tour lined up…
But Van Halen's not really back together.
Well yeah I guess. Michael Anthony's not in there is he?
Yeah and Sepultura's not back together, either. They can talk about it all they want. But Andreas Kisser is saying, "I want us four to get back together." Us four, not us five. You know who they mean when they say us five?
Max's wife/manager, Gloria?
Yeah, Max's manager. Andreas wants them to get back as buddies and as friends. You know, us four, not us five.
Right, and that's the problem.
That's the problem.
So you're saying the chapter is closed on Fear Factory?
No, I'm never going to go back. For what? If Divine Heresy becomes successful, even half the success that Fear Factory was, I'd be happy.
Read the entire interview at Metal-Rules.com.
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