CAZARES: I Don't Think I Could Have Written Another FEAR FACTORY Record With HERRERA, WOLBERS

Joe Matera of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with FEAR FACTORY guitarist Dino Cazares. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: When it came to the new album, "Mechanize", did the creative process differ in any way from previous efforts?

Dino Cazares: Yes. One of things that is different are the tempos. On the earlier records, a lot of the songs' tempos were around 190 to 200 bpms [beats per minute] but on this record, we bumped the tempos out to around 220, 225 bpms. The reason for that is the excitement we had just jamming together. And because of those faster tempos, it makes the record more exciting and more energetic.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Having two new members in the new revamped FEAR FACTORY lineup, in what ways has that changed the dynamic of the music and the band's approach to the creative process?

Dino Cazares: I don't think it has changed the dynamic much, but I think that with Burton [C. Bell, vocals] and I coming back together, it brought that dynamic back to the band. It was missing when I was gone, and sure they held themselves above water, but it wasn't enough to really blow people away. And there were other elements in the band missing as well. I was just one of those elements. The other element was the producer. Obviously, Burton knew he needed those elements back and he was craving that element to be back in the band. And that's why I came back. Obviously, the both of us had to just hang out together first as we hadn't seen each other for about seven years. And that is a long time. But it was like we had never left off. But at the same time, it was an excitement of something new again. With that being said, having both Byron [Stroud, bass] and Gene [Hoglan, drums]… Byron was already in FEAR FACTORY when I was gone and Gene is a legendary drummer from STRAPPING YOUNG LAD who were very much influenced by FEAR FACTORY, so Gene came in and brought in a new style. It wasn't like we had to sit there and teach somebody the parts, he already knew.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Both Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera have tried to stop the new album coming out?

Dino Cazares: That is correct, and they have tried very hard, but the legal issues have been almost resolved. With that being said, though, Burton and I are very much in the right to release the record but they just want to stop it for whatever reasons they have. Obviously, they're upset about the situation and are very bitter. Also, the thing is, and I want to clear this up for the record, but when Burt asked me to come back to the band, he actually asked me to come back to the band as a whole. That is, with also the other members as well [Christian Olde Wolbers and Raymond Herrera]. But the other two turned it down because they didn't want me back in the band.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You mentioned the excitement of the band's new lineup, so do you think if Christian and Raymond had got back together with you and Burton, this new record would have come out sounding unlike how the new record sounds?

Dino Cazares: Well, the thing is I don't think I could have written another record with those two guys because their mentality of what FEAR FACTORY should sound like is very different. And I will tell you why. The music that they're doing now with their other band ARKAEA, they have been telling the press that the band's debut record, "Years in the Darkness" (2009),was supposed to be the "new FEAR FACTORY." But if you listen to that record, it is nothing like it at all. Yet if you listen to what Burt and I are doing now, it is the traditional FEAR FACTORY sound of what it sound, and is sounding like.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Going back to the new record, "Mechanize" really bridges that gap between the FEAR FACTORY of old, in what you have just mentioned, that traditional sound and of the FEAR FACTORY of today.

Dino Cazares: It definitely has all those elements, and I think it has an influence from all the records we've made so far. Comparing to the older records, it has that aggressive style with the fast beats of "Soul Of A New Machine", and shares similarities in the songwriting and the production of "Demanufacture". The production on this record was done by Rhys Fulber, who has been part of the band, like the fifth member-producer guy and he's the guy who adds all the keyboard elements. The songwriting is also very much like "Obsolete" with its epic songs. All the energy on this record is very much apparent. You can hear the chemistry in the band and you can hear a hunger that you normally would hear in a younger band. That was what I heard the first day we started playing together as we were all excited being in the same room together for various reasons.

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.